My Grandmother - Catherine Mary McConville Bergen 1896-1939

I have to start by saying that my wife, Katrina, has been gently prodding me to get back into my family tree stuff.  I don't know any friend of mine whose wife prods him to do things that he enjoys, but anyway, she has also been telling me to blog more.  Man, I have it pretty rough.  So she suggested that I write about my grandmother Catherine McConville Bergen.  Great idea! That is until I started looking in my files for her folder.  I have folders for second cousins twice removed, but I can't find one for my maternal grandmother.  I am at a loss to explain this lapse.  So I will try to make amends with a blog post.

Catherine was born 10 Dec 1896 in Jersey City, NJ to Edward McConville and Hannah Sullivan.  She was the third child born to Edward and Hannah.  She will have four brothers and three sisters.  I was able to find a baptism record on FamilySearch.org, which is the website for the Church of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church).  Actually I found the record for Florence McConville, Catherine's younger sister born in 1899.  I ordered the microfilm from the church and it came to the Family History Center in Eatontown.  When the center was open, you could go view the microfilm on readers at the center.  So I found the baptism for Florence on 26 Nov 1899 at St Patrick's Catholic Church in Jersey City, NJ and I decided to check to see if the ledger went back to 1896.  I found it!!  She was on the same reel of film as her sister two years earlier.  Catherine was baptized 3 Jan 1897, her sponsors/Godparents were William (I can't read it) and Mary Wharton.  Here are the two images:

If you can see right above her entry is written  "Married Edward Bergen Aug 27, 1919 by Rev Costello".  Two records for the price of one.  I think she was married at St Joseph's Church at 511 Pavonia Ave, Jersey City.

Catherine and Edward Bergen would have three children: my Uncle Bill in December 1919, Uncle Ed in January 1922 and my mom in March 1926.  They all lived on Armstrong Ave in Jersey City in the 1930 census.  Edward's father - William "Pop" Bergen lived with them.

On Christmas Eve 1925, while she was about 7 months pregnant with my mom, her younger brother, Edward S. McConville Jr. died of Mitral Regurgitation.  I didn't know what that was either, so I googled it.  It is a leaky heart valve.  His death certificate also says that a contributory (secondary) cause was "La Grippe", which I believe was the Flu.

The other great event to effect her occurred after my mom was born and that was the Great Depression in Oct 1929 and lasted until about 1939 or so with the outbreak of World War II.  I'm not really sure how much effect this had on her life, because the 1940 census says that her husband, Edward, was a proprietor in the Stock Yards in Jersey City. "Pop" Bergen worked there also during that time.

December 22, 1939 Catherine Mary McConville Bergen passed away. I think she died from malignant hypertension, (I have her death certificate, but I can't find it).  Mom said it was basically high blood pressure, which is very treatable today.  Back then family members were waked in their home, not a funeral home.  So she was in a casket in her own living room for a few days before the funeral mass and burial.  Not fun for her husband, not to mention the three children.

Unfortunately I didn't know that much about her, but after my mom passed away, I had the opportunity to talk to her cousin Florence about the family.  She told me that Catherine was a very pretty woman and the everyone called her Kate.  She also said that she was a very good piano player. 

I do have pictures of her.  This one is undated, but appears to be from 1926 to 1928:

I have another picture of her holding my mother when mom was a toddler, and she appears about the same age.  The second one is from 1939, the year she passed away, she would have be about 42 years old:

These pictures are the main reason that I suspect the depression did not effect her that much.  These look to be taken by a Professional Photographer.  I'm not sure that the average person could afford to have portraits taken during this time.

I'm sorry that I never got to meet her, I'm sure she would have been a fun grandmother.  She passed on her musical talent to her children. My Uncle Bill sang in a Barbershop Quartet and I can remember growing up with my mom singing and dancing around the house. Whether she was sweeping the floor or doing the dishes, she was usually singing and dancing her way around.  She told me that when her mom passed away, her dad was so distraught that he drank himself to death and died in 1943 at age 43.

More Bergins living in Borris- in-Ossary, Laois, Ireland

I started hunting around Borris in Ossary, County Laois in search of more ancestors.  I figured that the Irish are famous for producing children so the odds of my great great grandfather, Edward, having only one sibling, Dan, was a longshot.  I searched in Irish Catholic Parish Records and I think I found another brother of my great great grandfather, Edward Bergin.  This brother is Joseph, baptized in the same place as Edward and his younger brother, Dan.  He is listed in Ireland Catholic Parish Records, 1655 - 1915, baptized on 23 Feb 1858 in Borris-in Ossary, Laois, Ireland, to Tim Bergin and Margaret Kavanagh.  Sponsors are listed as Ned Kavanagh and Judith Hyland.  I am guessing that Ned is Margaret's brother, and I don't know how Judith Hyland fits into the picture, but the name Hyland was listed as a sponsor for one or two of Edward and Mary Malone's children.  

Not satisfied with that find, I continued looking through that same set of records.  Lo and behold, I found another son of Tim Bergin and Margaret Kavanagh.  This one is John Bergin, baptized 13 Feb 1852 in the same place as the rest in County Laois.  His sponsors are listed as John McEvoy and Mary Bergin.  I wonder if Mary Bergin is Tim's sister?

I started going a little crazy and checked census records in Jersey City for Dan, John, and Joseph.  I figured that they may have also emigrated to the US like their brother Edward (Ned).  Any idea how  many Bergins named Dan, John and Joe lived in Jersey City in the 1870 or 1880 census?  Lots.  So I tried burial records from the Archdiocese on Newark. Lots more.  I abandoned the US search for the time being, in an attempt to save my sanity.  I'm not so sure I'm succeeding.