The Mystery of my Sullivans in England

I have previously posted about my great grandmother, Hannah Sullivan McConville.  She was born in Lambeth, Surrey, England in 1866 to Michael Sullivan and Mary Dunn.  She is counted in the 1871 Census in Lambeth, and has a sister Mary Ann born in 1868, a brother Timothy born in 1870, and shortly after the census another brother, Michael is born in about 1872.  

Thanks to my Aunt Florence, I learned that both parents passed away sometime between 1872 and the next census in 1881.  Supposedly, Hannah and Mary Ann were sent to Brooklyn, NY to live with cousins George and Ellen Wharton to be nannies for their children.  My problem is that I only find Hannah living with the Whartons in Brooklyn in the US Federal Census for 1880.  So where are Mary Ann, and her two brothers.  

Admittedly, I had only really searched for Mary Ann because Aunt Florence said she had married and died young - in 1894.  Family legend has it that she married "poorly" and was buried in a potters field.  That is until Hannah and her husband, Edward McConville, raised enough  money to give her a proper burial in Holy Cross Cemetery, in Brooklyn.  I could never find a burial for her there, because I don't know her married name.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to search for Timothy and Michael.  It only took me about 20 years to come up with this plan of action, so here is what I found.  I started with the 1881 England Census and I found a family in the municipal ward of Vauxhall, in the Borough of Lambeth.  It is the family of Maurice O'Brien and his wife Catherine.  Maurice is a blacksmith age 50 born in Ireland and Catherine is 47 and born in Ireland.  They have three daughters, all born in Surrey: Mary A is 19 listed as an Ironer, Catherine is 16 with servant scratched out as occupation, and Johanna age 9 is a Scholar (in school).  Next on the list of household members is Mary A Sullivan, age 13 listed as niece, and a scholar, and lastly is Michael, age 9 listed as nephew, and also a scholar.  The ages fit, so if they are my Sullivans, that means that Catherine's maiden name is Sullivan or Dunn.  The other issue is this: if Mary A and Michael are my Sullivans, where is Timothy?  I may have the answer for that.

I started looking for Timothy in the 1881 England Census and came across a Timothy Sullivan, age 11, listed as "inmate" at St. Vincent's Home in Paddington, London.  I was surprised to find him in St. Vincent's Home, so I Googled it.  Turns out the name is St. Vincent's Home for Roman Catholic Boys and it was started in about 1859, and managed by some  members of the St. Vincent de Paul Society.  Quoting from the website: "The Home received Roman Catholic boys who were orphans and who were either destitute or in danger to their faith or morals."  Initially the Home could accommodate 20 boys, but as demand grew this was increased to 30 and then a wing was added to bring the capacity to 40. The other question is if Mary Ann and Michael are with family, why is Timothy in a home for orphaned Catholic boys?  

So, I think there is a good chance that these are my great grandmother's siblings, but I can't be absolutely certain at this point.  I still have some work to do on this.

Michael Reilly 1864-1917

I am going back to Susquehanna, Pa for tonight’s story.  This is about Michael Reilly, brother of my great grandmother, Mary Jane Reilly O’Dea.  Michael was born 21 Sep 1864 in Susquehanna, Pa to Michael Reilly and Mary (AKA Bridget) Kelly. 

As I was researching him, I realized that I was collecting information without adding it to my tree, because I wasn’t certain that the info was for the right Michael Reilly.  This is due to the last name being spelled differently on different documents.  The other thing is that his mothers name in his sister’s death certificate is Bridget Kelly, but in all the census records (and his death certificates, as I would learn in the very end) she is listed as Mary Kelly. 

 

One certainty that I found was the 1870 Census finds 6 year old Michael living in Susquehanna Depot with his father, Michael, a farmer, his mother (listed as Mary) keeping house, his brother Thomas age 18, sister Mary, age 15, and brother James, age 11.

The only other certainty was the 1880 Census, the family lives in Oakland, and the family consists of Michael (father), Mary (wife), and three sons, Thomas, James, and Michael, all listed as farm labor.  In 1890, as we all know by now, there is no census record available. By 1900, Mary (wife) has passed away.  Thomas lives in Susquehanna Depot and he is listed as a Hotel Keeper on Front Street and lives with his wife Mary, and their five children, as well as, his widowed father Michael.  I cannot find James or Michael in the 1900 census.  Mary is married and living in Newark, NJ.

This is where things get interesting.  While hunting around on ancestry.com I came across two other family trees which have my Reilly family with more information.  On both trees, there are articles about a Michael Riley shooting his wife, Coloma, then shooting himself, in Binghamton, NY.  Coloma survives a serious wound after spending time in the hospital, but Michael is successful with his suicide.  He is buried in Glenwood Cemetery in Dickinson, NY.

There are different newspaper articles about how a week prior to the shooting, Michael gets a gun permit from a local Judge Hart, telling the Judge he intends to return to Susquehanna for a vacation and to "do some shooting".  This is one of the few things that makes me think that this is my Michael Reilly.  But who is Coloma?  I have still not found a marriage record. Plus, I still have that pesky spelling issue, which will not be resolved anytime soon.

When I go back and start looking again, I searched for Michael and Coloma Reilly.  This time I found them on W. Main St in Lanesboro.  It says they have been married for five years and he is a teamster, drawing coal (I assume for the railroad).  It also says they have a three year old son, Francis. Now we're getting somewhere.  Now I find a birth certificate for Francis from 6 Aug 1906.  Unfortunately, the next document I find is a death certificate for young Francis, who dies in Lanesboro 31 Dec 1911.   I cannot read the cause of death, it says "Chloroform ?????, due to weak heart".  Over to the side in blue pencil it has the word "Adenoids".  It looks like he was having surgery for his tonsils/adenoids and the chloroform was too much for his heart.  It is a sad time in the Reilly household this holiday season.  

That is about all of the official documents that I can find, and I still cannot be sure that this is my Michael Reilly.  Michael Reilly is a pretty common name and I'm pretty sure there is more than one in this area, heck, there are two in this family alone.

 On newspapers.com I found another article in the Press and Sun Bulletin in Binghamton.  

This article is 16 Mar 1916, and says that Michael lost his job as a butcher, because he drank too much the night before.  He pleads guilty to the intoxication charge and asked to Judge to free him so he can go to the job he just got as a butcher.  By the way, this is the same Judge who will issue his gun permit next year.  The Judge decides to call the butcher shop to verify his story.  He was told that Reilly was fired when he did not report to work early this morning, the butcher had already hired someone to take his place.  He was sentenced to a $5.00 fine or five days in jail.

Still unable to verify my relationship, I returned to Susquehanna Historical Society to see if they had anything there.  They did not, but did have a suggestion that I go to Binghamton, NY and get the death certificate.

The ride to Binghamton was another 30-40 minutes but it was worth it.  The staff was very helpful and I was able to get a death certificate for Michael Reilly and he is MY Michael Reilly.  The parents names and his birthdate are correct, and the informant is listed as Thomas J Reilly, who I know to be his brother.

It also lists his occupation as butcher, says his place of death is on way to city Hospital, lists cause of death as gun shot wound to the head, and - wait for it - spells the last name right.

I was was happy to be able to get the proof that I needed, but it was also a sad story.  Unfortunately, we see stories like this in the news today far too often.  It goes to show that this is, unfortunately, not a new phenomenon.  It has been happening for years, but it wasn’t talked about like it is today.

Just so you know, Coloma survived her wound, and went on to live in Binghamton as a shoe worker.  On 30 June 1934 she married Albert F. Duren, Sr in New Milford, Pa.  On 23 Sep 1936 she dies in Montour, PA and is buried in Lanesboro Cemetery, Lanesboro PA with her son Francis.

The 1950 Federal Census

Yes, the 1950 U.S. Census has been released to the public.  There’s just one slight problem, it isn’t indexed yet, which means the you can’t search it by name yet.  According to a podcast that I heard today, the indexing should be complete by mid-June.  Until then, you need to know where your ancestor lived in 1950, and get the Enumeration District number.  When you search by E.D., you will have to browse through the entire district to find the house number and street that you are looking for.  It’s not as difficult as it sounds, so give it a try.

I have been looking forward to this census, because my parents married in 1948, and my oldest sibling was born in 1949, so they should be enumerated.  I also know the address in Brooklyn is 470 Rugby Rd.  They lived with my dad’s sister, Aunt Margie and her husband Merritt Whitman, and their daughter - my cousin Linda.

I entered the Brooklyn address to get the Enumeration District number, which turns out to be 24-1688.  Then I searched this E. D., which consists of about 50-60 pages. Their address is listed on page 15:

That is the page and below is the address that I’m looking for:

 Can you read what it says for 470 Rugby Rd?  It has two family numbers because is is a two family house. One family upstairs and one downstairs.  NO ONE HOME, I never saw that before on a census record, but it does say “see sheet 80 Line 1 and Line 3.  Only problem is that I don’t know where Sheet 80 is, not to mention line 1 and line 3.

Looks like I’m going to have to wait for the indexing to be complete.  Story of my genealogical life.

New York City Municipal Archives

I recently saw a few posts on Facebook from different genealogy groups, that the New York City Municipal Archives is digitizing their birth, marriage, and death records, from 1855 - 1949, to put their website.  The collection is searchable and FREE!  Yes, you read it right, free.

The thing that you need for now is the certificate number.  When you search on Ancestry or Family Search and find the record, you will find a certificate number for the birth, marriage, or death.  You will need to put the type of event (BMD), the year, and the certificate number to search to enter into the search.  You will get a good digitized (and downloadable) copy of the certificate.  The documents are in PDF format.  According to their website, the digitizing process is 70% complete as of this date.

So in the last few days, I have downloaded sixteen documents.  Most are on my mom’s side, because they stayed in Brooklyn after sailing across the pond.  I’ve found some interesting things too.  I found out that my great grandfather, Edward McConville and his sister, Mary Emma, were both married in the same church, by the same Priest, in Brooklyn about three years apart.  I was also able to get Edward’s father, Peter’s death certificate from 1874, which has his parents listed (with his mother’s maiden name).  This told me that my research was good, because these are the same names I had gotten by tracking the family back through British census records.

The last thing I’ll mention is that my great grandfather, Edward McConville died 30 Dec 1941 in Brooklyn, although he lived in Jersey City.  My mom told me that he he had some senility issues and he would always try to leave the house, but he wouldn’t go out without his hat.  So her grandmother would get her to hide his hat so that he would not wander off.  Apparently he found his hat and wandered off one night.  Mom said he would try to get back “home” to Brooklyn, and this time he made his escape and made it to his old neighborhood in Brooklyn.  I was told by Aunt Florence that he was found on the street by the church where he and Hanna were married.  The death certificate is not specific about whether he was found on the street or inside a building, or what time he was found, but it mentions 371 Union Ave and it is described as “Bar and Grill”.  I’m not sure what was at that location at the time, but looking at Google Earth for the location of the church where he was married, it looks to be within a few blocks of where the church was located.  So I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

More about my Bradley family from Minersville

 I recently received a message through Newspapers.com from a second cousin in my Bradley line.  She let me know that I had a photo posted in my blog, who was not who I thought it was.  After messaging back and forth several times, I finally got it right.  Then we kept messaging back and forth, and I learned more about my family - not dates and places, but stories.  They make you feel like part of the family.

James Bradley was my great great grandfather, married Ann Pepper and together they had 8 children, including my great grandmother Madge (Marcella).  Most news clippings that I found about him say that he was “of the Delaware” near Minersville.  I never knew what that meant, was it the Delaware River? The Delaware Indians? I had no idea, until I asked my new found cousin.  Apparently it is a little area near Minersville, where the Irish lived. Probably an unincorporated area, possibly in Cass Township.

I found an obit for James that I had never seen before and it illustrates the whole “of the Delaware” thing:

now I know what they are talking about.  But this little article tells me that he was a pioneer of the area, and that he died in Pottsville Hospital.  The other thing about his death is the cross on his grave.  I had posted a picture of it before.  

Here it is again,  just metal pipes with a small plaque with J Bradley on it.  I now know that James’ two sons, Joseph and James, were both blacksmiths and they made this cross for their father’s grave.

One more thing and I’ll call it a night.  I also found a small snippet in the Pottsville Republican”, it tells me that James became a U.S. citizen in December 1889:

I thought this was great.  Next time I go through Pottsville, I’m going to stop at the courthouse and see if I can get his citizenship papers. 

Old Maps

 I have read articles in genealogy magazines about old maps and how they can be helpful in finding the area where ancestors lived, especially in rural, farming areas. There were several companies that produced them.  One of the more well known companies was Sanborn, and these were detailed maps of U.S. cities in the 1800s and 1900s.  Sanborn maps were created to allow fire insurance companies to assess their total liability in urbanized areas of the U.S, according to Wikipedia.  Honestly, I have never used these before, mainly because most of my family (both sides) wound up living in larger cities with actual street addresses, like Jersey City NJ, Scranton PA, and Brooklyn NY.  I didn’t need a map to find a street address  in a large city, but when it comes to rural area like Sandford, NY and Susquehanna, PA, I need more help than a GPS program can give me.

One of the other companies that created maps was F. W. Beers.  These maps show the general topography of the area, with roads, town names, bodies of water, railways, etc....  These maps can also have property owners/residents names on them, which is the part I like.  

I was actually asking about the Beers maps while at the court house, but they did not have any.  I didn't think of Google until I got home - I guess I really am getting old.  When I got home to New Jersey I thought of Googling old maps of Susquehanna County PA, and I found a map from 1872.

If you look in the blue area of the map you can see M. Reilly in the top left corner, and down to the right, you can see E Stack.

Now you can see the resident's names located on the map.  The reason that I used these two names is that Michael Reilly (my great great grandfather) has a son Thomas, and in 1892 he will marry Edward Stack's daughter, Mary Ann.  I guess that single men and single women were far and few between and this visual aid shows that to some degree.  This scenario has repeated itself  several times in my previous generations with co-workers and boarders, and has since mutated into computer dating and such. 

But back in the day it was a realtor’s dream: location, location, location.

Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania

In my last post, I told you that I recently found an obit for my great grandmother, Mary Jane Reilly, and that I found out that she was born in Susquehanna, PA. Last week, I drove up to Scranton, PA and drug my sister, Pat, with me to Susquehanna County, to look for some Reilly relics and fossils in the county courthouse in Montrose.  It was only about a 40 minute drive from Pat’s house to Montrose.  The courthouse was almost empty, I guess everyone was doing some Christmas shopping – so was I. We were able to park right out in front where there was metered parking. I brought a fist full of quarters with me because I figured that’s what would happen. When I went to the parking meter I found that I could park for two hours for a quarter. This place is like Mayberry, at the Jersey Shore you need an app that’s connected to a credit card to use the parking meters; and it’ll cost you a little more than a quarter for two hours, hence the credit card.

Everyone there was very nice and helpful, but we really didn’t find anything. I was hoping to find property records for the farm that they lived on in Great Bend, but there were no deeds to be found. The last office that we visited was historical records, and the woman had nothing there either. She did tell us that we might want to visit the Susquehanna historical society, which was right across the street from the courthouse. We walked across the street, and on the way, I put another quarter in the meter just in case.

When we went into the historical society, very nice lady showed us the file card system for births, deaths, marriages, and ODDS – which was a little articles about various people in the area.  If you found something that you were interested in, you would tell the woman and she would get the article from the other room for you and make copies.

The first thing that I found was an obituary for Mary Jane’s father, Michael Reilly.  He died on 30 June 1903 at the home of his son, T. J. Reilly in Susquehanna Boro.  I know this is her father because she is listed as one of the survivors as Mrs. M. T. O’Day of Jersey City.  Here is the obit:

Since I was in the area, and my O’Dea ancestors lived across the river in Broome County New York, I thought I would look for any deaths under the O’Dea name.  I was looking for Catherine O’Dea, mother of  Michael O’Dea (who would marry Mary Jane).  Apparently spelling really doesn’t matter much with O’Dea / O’Day or Reilly / Riley, they are pretty much interchangeable, so you have to check both spellings. I came across this file card under O’Day:

My first thought was that there must be a mistake, Catherine had recently had a baby (Mike’s little brother, Daniel) I always thought that she must’ve died in childbirth, because Daniel was born in June 1853, wrong again. There was a long article about this railroad accident, downright gruesome in it’s detail. Suffice it to say, that five people were killed instantly, one of whom was our great great grandmother Catherine. The article says the train was leaving Susquehanna Depot on its way to Gulf Summit in New York when, apparently, the boiler exploded, killing five instantly and injuring many others.

Here is a snippet from article that I found in the paper:

Catherine had two small children at home, our great grandfather, Michael, who was two years old, and Daniel, who was two weeks old at most. Why was she out on the train by herself? Was she going to see a doctor maybe? I don’t know, but I’m glad she didn’t take the children with her - or I wouldn’t be here to tell you about it.