Baptismal Proximity

Not surprisingly one will find family groups living, working and worshipping near each other. As I eagerly await the further uploads of the rest of sacramental transcriptions of the Archdiocese of New York at FindMyPast, scanned images of the original registers are slowly appearing online. As I compiled my family details I realized that my paternal grandfather and both his maternal and paternal first cousins frequented primarily just the Church of the Immaculate Conception and St. Gabriel.

Grandpa’s father and uncles were Joseph, Patrick and Michael Cassidy. Joseph and Michael married McKeon sisters at Immaculate Conception in 1878 and 1882. Their wives bore children that were baptized there in 1882 and 1883. Patrick Cassidy arrived in America already married but he and his wife baptized their American-born children at Immaculate Conception in 1882, 1884, 1889, 1891 and 1895. 

Joseph remarried twice more. His daughter by his second wife, my grandfather and 5 of 6 of Grandpa’s maternal cousins were all baptized at St. Gabriel in 1882, 1886, 1888, 1888, 1890, 1893 and 1893. The one Benson cousin not baptized at St Gabriel was christened at nearby St. Stephen in 1884. 

I realized too that my paternal grandmother was baptized at St Raphael in Hell’s Kitchen along with her half-brother, three paternal cousins and three maternal cousins. The Goodwins were baptized in 1894, 1896, 1896 and 1898. The Gormley half-brother in 1905. The McGinn cousins were baptized in 1903, 1907 and 1912. 

The neighboring parish is Holy Cross just blocks away. Not surprisingly Grandma’s Goodwin cousins and brothers were baptized there in 1890, 1891, 1892, 1892 and 1894. Her widowed mother remarried there in 1903. Three McGinn cousins were baptized there in 1902, 1905 and 1914. Three of the Goodwin siblings were godparents to their McGinn cousins in 1905 and 1914. 

Sacred Heart, also in Hell's Kitchen, was the site of baptism for a Goodwin baby in 1901 and a McGinn baby in 1905. A McGinn baby was baptized at St Ambrose in 1909.

It is important to check and identify the witnesses to weddings and sponsors at baptisms.  

Cousins and proximity to baptism

Cassidy Benson

Immaculate Conception

1882 Mary 

1882 Mary 

1883 Joseph M 

1884 Joseph A 

1889 Patrick 

1891 Edward 

1895 Francis

St Gabriel

1882 Dominick 

1886 Mary 

1888 Ann 

1888 George 

1890 James 

1893 Joseph 

1893 Edward

St Stephen

1884 John

Goodwin McGinn

Holy Cross

1890 Patrick 

1891 Owen 

1892 Francis 

1892 Owen 

1894 Hugh 
1902 Patrick

1905 Catherine 

1914 Mary 

St Raphael

1894 Peter 

1896 Sarah 

1896 Thomas 

1898 Catherine 

1903 Johanna 

1905 Francis 

1907 Margaret 

1912 John

Sacred Heart

1901 John
1905 James

St. Ambrose
1909 Alice