August Brady 1884-1907

A few years ago, I wrote a post about Raymond Brady, son of John Brady and Ann Butler.  While I was writing and checking Newspapers.com for more information, I came across an article about August Brady dying in Buffalo, NY.  So I quickly looked for him in my tree, and found that he would have been 23 years old.  I thought it was odd that a young man would die of heart failure and so far from home.  It also said he left behind a wife and two children.  The last record I had for him was the 1900 census, and he was 16, living at home with his family.  That would mean that in seven years he moved to Buffalo, NY, married, and had two children.  That's a busy seven years for a young guy.  Here's what I found out in the last two days during my Covid19 self quarentine.

I was searching August Brady on Ancestry.com and came across a family tree published by someone else that had my August Brady and his new family.  This is what I pieced together.

August Brady was born in Gordon, Pa in 1884, fourth child born to John Brady and Ann Butler.  I'm not exactly sure of the entire story, but I am guessing that he worked in the steel mill in Scranton, and when it closed and moved to Buffalo, Augustus followed to work in the mill.

Apparently, a young lady from Scranton, Margaret Finnegan also moved to the Buffalo area with her family (Father, Mother, and five siblings).  Augustus and Margaret marry on 20 Feb 1902 in W Seneca, NY and on 24 Jun 1903, Margaret gives birth to a son, Allen.  Gus, Margaret and Allen are listed in the 1905 NY State Census at 229 First St, W. Seneca, NY with Margaret's family on 1 June 1905.  Eight days later, Margaret gives birth to a little girl, Eleanor Margaret, on 9 Jun 1905.

On Saturday August 10,1907, tragedy strikes.  August goes to work at the Lackawanna Steel Plant and dies of heart failure.  He leaves behind his wife and two small children, but there is more.  Margaret is pregnant and eleven days later, she delivers a son, Augustine C Brady, Jr.

Margaret marries a second time in 1911, to a man named Gustave Lawrence Stoehr and together they have six more children.

As for August's three children, here is what happened to them:

Augustine C. Brady, Jr married Adele Schmatz on 13 Apr 1937 in Boston, NY and worked at the Bethlehem Steel Plant in Lackawanna, NY.  In 1945 he moved to Trenton, NJ and became a restaurant manager.  On 1 Dec 1945, he had a heart attack and died at age 38.

Eleanor Margaret Brady married William Murphy on 8 Dec 1923 in Buffalo, NY.  William is a salesman of medical supplies, and as far as I can tell, they had three children, Thomas, William, and Judith. Eleanor dies on 3 Dec 1940, and is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, Lackawanna, NY.  She was 35 years old.

Last, but certainly not least, Allen Brady.  As best as I can tell, Allen did not marry and have children.  He did join the US Navy, and according to his obituary, he died in Vladivostok, Siberia on 4 Jun 1922.  He and seven other sailors  disappeared when their boat capsized, and a two day search of Amoor Bay failed to uncover any trace of the men.  The seven men were in a motor launch from the gunboat USS New Orleans, and it is believed that the boat capsized in a sudden squall.  He was 19 years old.

Pretty depressing story, first August dies at age 23 of a heart attack, and his three children all die before their mother.

So maybe this pandemic isn't so bad, look at what I found out with the extra time on my hands.

McConville-Sullivan

When I first started this venture in about 2004, my mom gave me a family tree that her cousin, Lenore had given her.  She had titled it "The Sullivan's and McConville's Ancestral Chart - Five Generations".  It was more of a spread sheet than a tree, but it was actually very clever.  She had different columns, titled Name, Relationship. Date of Birth, Date of Death, Age at Death, Birth Place, and Final Resting Place.  All on one sheet of legal size paper, very informative and compact.  It took me a computer program and a few banker boxes full of censuses, death and marriage certificates, etc... to get to the same info that she has listed on one page.  But because of her, I had a head start.

So I've had this sheet for about 15-16 years, you would think that I would have gone over it with a fine tooth comb, but I didn't.  For example, I learned from her chart that my great grandmother, Johanna Sullivan, was born in London, 6 Sep 1866 to Michael Sullivan and Mary Dunn.  But I never knew that she had a sister Mary Ann and two brothers Timothy and Michael Jr.  Then for some reason I think I heard that the boys came to the US and lived in the midwest.  Her chart lists Timothy dying at age 39 in London, where he is buried, and Michael Jr also died in London, but I don't know when.  Her sister, Mary Ann, apparently came to the US, but died in 1894 at age 26, and is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY.  But while she was here, she married (poorly - according to another of my mom's cousins), so I cannot verify where she is buried because I don't know her married name. (Another difficulty encountered when researching female ancestors.)

One more recent discovery and I won't bore you further.  I think I mentioned that I had found an 1871 Census record from England which lists Michael age 30, Mary age 30, (both listed occupation at Tailor and both born in Ireland) Johannah age 4, Mary age 3, and Timothy age 1.  The children were all born in Lambeth.  Now for the interesting part: their place of residence.

The census says that they live in the Parish of Lambeth, Ward of Princes, Parlimentary Borough of Lambeth, and handwritten in the top right corner is "St Peters Vauxhall". In the box titles Ecclesiastical District St Marys is crossed out.  Here is the good part.  in the column for Road, Street and number or Name of House are ditto marks.  So you have to scroll back about five pages to the the info. It says 1 Vauxhall Row and as you move through the pages it gives a model house number.  The last number I see is Model House 3.

So, with this in mind I was talking a a person at work who is doing her tree and she has people still in England.  Within about five minutes she emailed me this photo:

She texted her friend in England and within a few minutes I had this picture.  When you read all of the small print, the photo is from 1876, five years after the census.  It also says that this was constructed for the Duchy of Cornwall.  The current Duchy of Cornwall is Charles, Prince of Wales (widower of Princess Diana).  This also leads me to believe that family lore may be correct.  Family lore has that Michael Sullivan was a tailor to the Ladies of the Court.  My co-worker's friend said that Buckingham Palace is a 30 minute walk from these houses.   

It also says that there were shops on the first floor and residences above, so maybe they had a tailor shop on the first floor and lived up stairs with the rest of "the help".  Just a theory, but it makes sense.