Back to Kate Bergen Cavanagh's Family

I know it has been over a month since my last post, but I really haven't done much research lately, and we just came home from Preston Hollow, NY in the Catskill Mountains on New Years Day.  If you remember last year, I blogged from Rangley, Maine, so this year was almost like going south for the Christmas vacation.

Just like the Maine trip blog post, I found out more about Kate Bergen-Cavanagh's decendants.  Kate was my Great Grandfather William Bergen's sister, and she married Bernard Cavanagh, and had three children: Charles, Edward and Mary.  I don't think Edward or Mary ever married, but Charles did.  Charles married Ellen McDowell on 14 Feb 1917 (Valentine's Day) at Our Lady of Grace Church in Hoboken, NJ.  Ellen's parents were listed as David McDowell and Margaret Coleman, and she is 22 years old.  Charles is 23 years old, he was born on 28 May 1897, and his occupation is listed as machinist.  The witnesses listed are difficult to read, but appear to be Thomas Broderick and Carrie Flanagan.

I just want you to know that the marriage certificate is the only document that I have seen that lists Ellen's first name as Ellen, the census records that I have found and Charles' death certificate list her as Nellie.  Now that I look at it, Nellie is almost an anagram of Ellen, but it has an extra letter.  Just thought I'd throw that in.  Anyway, from what I can tell from Census records, Charles and Nellie have three children, Charles, Gerard, and  (wait for it) Mary.  It looks like Charles is born in 1918, Gerard in 1919 and Mary in about 1927.  It appears that young Charles dies in 1928 at the age of 10.  I haven't researched it a lot yet, but I know he is buried in Holy Name Cemetery.  The elder Charles dies on 9 Oct 1937 of syncope due to cardiac disease, probably myocardial infarction.  Now get this, I have had this death certificate for months and never read it completely.  I just saw here that Charles' occupation is listed as Policeman - City of Hoboken.  Remember that his brother Edward Cavanagh was a Policeman in Jersey City.  The two cities are right next to each other, and I wonder if they ever met up with each other on calls when they were working.  I know that when my brother Ed worked in Asbury Park for two years, we only met up once or twice while working.

Now on to what may be a lead to living cousins.  In the Social Security Death Index, I found a Gerard B. Cavanagh, who passed away 23 Jun 1983 in Rumson, NJ.  I googled "Gerard Cavanagh 1919 - 1983" and I got a hit on distantcousin.com, and it gave me a picture of his headstone in Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Middletown, NJ, also on the stone is his wife Florence W. Cavanagh.  A little more research on ancestry.com gives some public record hits with an address at 26 Maplewood Dr. Middletown.  Then I hit the mother lode.  I went to the library and checked microfilm for the Asbury Park Press for June of 1983 to look for an obit. (By the way, Middletown is about 15 minutes from my house) and there it was. The Asbury Park Press24 June 1983 page A21, column 3.  Gerard B Cavanagh, age 63, manager of the Lobsterman's Restaurant, Route36 Middletown died at Riverview Hospital Red Bank. He had lived on Lafayette Street, Rumson. Born in Hoboken, moved to Middletown 18 years ago.  Veteran of the US Army Air Corps of WWII, communicant of Holy Cross Church in Rumson, member of the VFW Waterfront Post, Hoboken. He is survived by his wife, Florence Walker Cavanagh, three daughters: Mary Ellen Cotter, Rumson, Kathleen Maccagnano, Union City, and Janice Cavanagh, Rumson, and one grandson.  The funniest part is that the John E. Day Funeral Home Red Bank is in charge of the arrangements.  I used to work there as a pall bearer, but that was not until about 1994.