Patrick Bergen and Mary Fitzgerald

The last sibling of my Great Grandfather William "Pop" Bergen that I will talk about, is his older brother Patrick.  Patrick was born in July of 1859 to Edward Bergen and Mary Malone in Ireland - nothing  specific- just Ireland.  The only way I found a date was the 1900 census, which asked for the month and year of birth of everyone counted.  So I think that is as close as I will get to a birth date for him.

Patrick married Mary Fitzgerald 4 Feb 1886 (hey they just had an anniversary this month) in St Mary's Church in Jersey City:

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I found this on familysearch.org.  This one does not say that they are married at St Mary's, but a little birdie told me that's where it was.  I'm not sure where they lived at this point, but in the 1900 census they live at 280 Sixth St in Jersey City.  But before we get to 1900, we have another blessed event (the wedding was the first):

Yup, they had a little girl and you will never in a million years guess what they named her.  Okay, so they weren't very creative.  They named her Mary, born 10 Aug 1888 and baptized two days later on 12 Aug 1888 at St. Mary's church.  The same place that they were married two years earlier.

Now let's move on to 1900 and the aforementioned census.  The 1900 census was a good one, they asked a lot of good questions.  Such as month and year of birth, number of years in present marriage, place of birth, year of immigration, number of years in US and if naturalized, and the ever popular occupation.  There is one more interesting piece of information, it asks "mother of how many children" and "number of these (children) living".

Okay, let's get to the 1900 census.  This census has Patrick and family living at 280 6th St in Jersey City, which looks like an apartment building because there are eight families with the same address.  Patrick is listed as 40 years old, born in July 1859 and married for 14 years.  It says that he came to the US in 1861 (which I think should be 1871), he is a naturalized citizen (I gotta look for his papers in the archives) and his occupation is horse dealer (in Jersey City - who would have guessed that).  His wife Mary, is listed as 35 years old, born in September 1864 in New Jersey, married for 14 years.  She is the mother of one child, who is still living and listed next on the census.  Next is their daughter Mary, she is 11 years old born in Aug 1888 (we knew that from familysearch.org) and she attends school.  Next is Catherine Fitzgerald, age 60, born in Ireland in April 1840, came to the US in 1860.  She widowed and the mother of three children, who are all still living.  Next in the household are the remaining two living children of Catherine: James age 25, born December 1875 in New Jersey, his occupation is listed as Rail Road Laborer Freight, and last on the list is Thomas, age 22, born October 1877 in New Jersey and he is a plumber journeyman.  Tells alot about the family and how they all tended to stay together.  I just realized that I never found them in the 1910 census, but I found them in 1920.

In 1920 it is just Patrick, his wife Mary, and their daughter Mary living at 199 Eighth St. in Jersey City.  This census adds a year of naturalization for Patrick - 1894, and his occupation is now a commercial cattleman - like his brothers William and Thomas, and his brother in law Timothy Kennedy.

One more find before I finish up this post.  I know I've said it before, but the best part of blogging is the research I do before I post a blog.  This time, I was researching Mary Fitzgerald and I realized that she was born in New Jersey, so I was checking FamilySearch.org and I found this:

Yup, I think it's her.  True to form, no one seems to notice her mother.  It makes sense, according to the 1900 census she was born in September 1864, and this fits.  But I wouldn't have found it if I wasn't blogging.

So, in the end Patrick dies at St. Francis Hospital 13 Aug 1933 from what looks like heart disease and prostate hemorage.  He is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery with his brother Thomas.  Mary dies 10 years later at Jersey City Medical Center from cancer of the sigmoid (colon, I think), on 26 Dec 1943.  She is buried with her husband in Holy Cross.

The last thing I noticed is that the informant on her death certificate is Margaret Henzey, who is living at the same address 272 9th St. Jersey City.  Who is she?