The O'Deas

I know that I said that I was going to return to Aunt Florence and the McConvilles (sounds like a musical group), but I felt like changing gears back to my father's side of the family.  I knew little about his family and most of what I knew about his mother was that her name was Marguerite O'Dea.  Every time somebody said the name Monica, Dad would say " Monica, that was my mother's name - Monica Marguerite".  Nobody ever said that his mother's name was Monica before, but later on I found her Baptism record and - you guessed it - she was baptised "Monica May O'Dea", so now I wonder where the heck Marguerite came from.  I also remember Dad saying that in his youth, they would visit a relative in Susquahana near Binghamton NY and stay on a farm.  I thought he said that his Grandfather had the farm and it was close to Scranton PA also.

Now I knew that his father was an alcoholic and he was in and out of the picture, so I think that his mother kept the house going and kept the family together.  But I never knew much about her and her family, so I started digging and this is what I found out.

My Grandmother was the fifth child born to Michael Thomas O'Dea and his wife Mary Jane Reilly O'Dea, she was born 5 Nov 1893 in Jersey City, NJ, baptized on 16 Nov 1893 in St Patricks Church in Jersey City, her Godparents are listed as William O'Dea and Mary Sterling (they are her father's siblings).  Marguerite or Monica or whatever her name really is had five siblings: Catherine, Mary, Gertrude, Leo, and William, all born in Jersey City.

I know almost nothing about her mother, Mary Jane Reilly O'Dea, except what I learned from her death certificate.  She was born 3 April 1857 in Pennsylvania to Michael Reilly and Bridget Kelly, she married Michael O'Dea in about 1879 in Pennsylvania, and she died 16 April 1938 in Jersey City, NJ.  That's about it in a nutshell.

I knew even less about my Great Grandfather, Michael Thomas O'Dea until I finally figured out where he lived as a young man.  I learned that he was born in New York and died in 1904 and he is buried in Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City.  My cousin Linda told me that he was out of state when he died and was transported back to Jersey City for burial.  She also said that he was a big man, so big that when he died they had to build an over sized coffin to bury him in and, oddly enough, they called him "Big Mike".  I also knew that he was only about 54 when he died.  So I checked on Ancestry.com and found found a Michael O'Dea in the 1870 US Census in Sanford NY, which is in Broome County near Binghamton.  This Michael was 19 years old born in August 1851, and he had several siblings: Daniel, Mary, William, Catherine, and James.  They are living with James O'Dea and Honora O'Dea.  I had been talking to cousin Linda and knew that Mike had siblings including a Mary and William, maybe more.  I also knew from Linda that Mary married John Sterling and lived in Jersey City also.  But I did not have anything that made me certain that the O'Deas in Sanford NY in 1870 were my O'Deas. At least not for about four years until I did what they tell you to do in every genealogy class.  When you have a record "READ THE WHOLE THING".  I finally read the whole census record and the O'Dea family has two boarders listed as living with them - Patrick McGuan(e) and John Sterling, both working on the Railroad.  Then it hit me, JOHN STERLING, the same man that Mary would marry is a boarder in their house.  Mary is 15 years old and John's age is hard to read, but it is either 25 or 35, either way, within a few years they are married.  In the 1900 census in Jersey City, they have been married for 29 years and have five children, she is listed as 43 years old and he is 53.  So lets do some math, according to the census Mary would have been about 14 or 15 when she married a 24 or 25 year old man.  Can you imagine if that happened today?  A 25 year old man marrying a 15 years old girl, can you say Registered Sex Offender?  I knew that you could.  But the marriage lasted from about 1871 until at least 1930, so that's about 59 years, not too bad.

Just today, (the 118th anniversary of my grandmother's baptism) I found out when Mary and John Sterling were buried and where.  John was buried 4 April 1931, and Mary was buried 22 Jan 1942 in Holy Cross Cemetery in North Arlington, NJ.  Now I have more death certificates to research at the State Archives.

I have found much more info on the elusive O'Deas, but that's enough for now.  I was told that I should leave 'em wantin' more.