The information isn't new, but the realization is. The death certificate of Nellie Donnelly, daughter of James Donnelly and Mary Buchannan, says her father was born in the Irish Free State. James was the oldest son of Patrick Donley/Donnelly and Ann Larkin. While the Donnelly name was most commonly found in counties Armagh and Tyrone, Larkins were more likely in Tipperary. Donnelly is such a common name, that I haven't even searched for the family in Ireland. Since it seems just about every surname could be found in Dublin, I've wondered if the family might be from there. If the death certificate information is accurate, it at least moves me away from continuing to consider Northern Ireland as our Donnelly origin. At least, after the Donnelly-Larkin marriage.
Showing posts with label Donnelly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Donnelly. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 5, 2021
Sunday, December 20, 2020
Book: The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
It's been a few years since I read this book. The Killer Angels is a book of historical fiction, published in 1974 by Michael Shaara. As I've explained elsewhere, I find non-fiction difficult to read, and appreciate well-researched historical novels that give historical context to some of my ancestors.
Shaara's novel follows General Robert E. Lee and several of his staff of officers from June 29, 1863 to July 3, i.e. through just the days of the Civil War. Shaara draws heavily on statements and communications from the officers and combatants to make the account more personal and present, giving the reader the feeling of witnessing the events as they take place, but also the personal struggles of those who participated. While there are many in our family tree who fought in the Civil War, almost all on the Union side, my own Donnelly ancestor is known to have fought with the 60th Regiment of New York Volunteers at Culp's Hill, and I was fascinated and proud to learn about the key role that battle played in the eventual outcome of the larger Battle of Gettysburg and the War itself.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and highly recommend it.
Thursday, May 28, 2020
A New LaBrune!
I've recently been in touch with a DNA match, seemingly through my LaBrune ancestors. I quickly was convinced that she is a descendant of one of my immigrant LaBrune family who disappeared. Here's why:
| My Rationale for Adding Margaret to My LaBrune Family | ||
| My LaBrune family | New LaBrune | Explanation |
| ?nne M. LaBrune (partially readable name on ship's passenger list) | Margaret LaBrune | M. could stand for Margaret |
| ?nne M. was 14 years old when ship arrived in 1833 | Margaret was born in ca. 1820 | Ages are within a year of each other |
| LaBrunes were living in Clermont county, Ohio in 1840, but without ?nne M. | Married Margaret LaBrune Chauvet and her husband were living in Clermont county, Ohio in 1840 | They lived near each other in 1840 |
| LaBrunes moved to Dubuque in 1840s | Chauvets moved to Dubuque in 1840s | Both families moved to Dubuque in 1840s |
| Shared DNA with ten 4th cousin once removed descendants of George LaBrune ranges from 10cM to 29cM, with a median of 17cM (Ancestry can identify about 1/2 of DNA matches for this relationship, and my DNA tools may not be capturing all data below 10cM, so my median will be higher than the theoretical average of 7cM) | Shared DNA with 4th cousin once removed descendant of Margaret LaBrune is 11cM | Shared DNA is within range of my similar cousins |
Here's my preliminary Family Group Sheet for Margaret's family. I'm still looking for information and some of this information may change. But here's what I have so far:
Family Group Record for Adolph Baptiste Chauvet
================================================================================
Husband: Adolph Baptiste Chauvet
================================================================================
AKA: Cauvett, Schauvett
Born: 16 Oct 1816 - Montpellier, Departement de l'Hérault,
Languedoc-Roussillon, France
Died: 19 Jul 1895 - Dakota City, Humboldt co., Iowa
Buried: - Humboldt, Humboldt co., Iowa
Marriage: bet 1837 and ca 1845 Place: Cincinatti, , Ohio
================================================================================
Wife: Jeanne? M. "Margaret" LaBrune
================================================================================
Born: 1820 - , , , France
Died: 4 May 1864 - North Buena Vista, Clayton co., Iowa
Buried: - Holy Cross [Dubuque], IA
Father: Philippe LaBrune (1794-Bet 1880/1887)
Mother: Ann Rayne (1793-1868)
================================================================================
Children
================================================================================
1 F Mary L. Chauvet
Born: 23 Oct 1840 - Cincinatti, Hamilton, Ohio
Died: 6 Nov 1918 - Kansas City, Jackson co., Missouri
Buried: - Kansas City, Jackson co., Missouri
Spouse: Christopher Kalen (1838-1905)
Marr. Date:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 F Margaret L. Chauvet
Born: 24 Dec 1843 - Dubuque, Dubuque co., Iowa
Died: 2 Jun 1909 - Dakota City, Humboldt co., Iowa
Cause of Death: nervous prostration and heart failure
Buried: - Humboldt, Humboldt co., Iowa
Spouse: Albert M. Adams ( - )
Marr. Date: 9 Dec 1876
Spouse: Absalom Little ( -Abt 1863)
Marr. Date: Abt 1859
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3 M Adolphus B. Chauvet
Born: 1852 - , Dubuque co., Iowa
Died: 17 Jan 1890 - Fort Dodge, , Iowa
Cause of Death: inflamation of the bowels
Buried: 18 Jan 1890 - Fort Dodge, , Iowa
Spouse: Sarah J. [Chauvet] (1856- )
Marr. Date:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4 M William Louis Chauvet
Born: 15 Jan 1857 - , Clayton co., Iowa
Died: 5 Jun 1940 - Los Angeles, Los Angeles co., California
Buried: 7 Jun 1940
Spouse: Millie [Chauvet] ( - )
Marr. Date:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
My Genetic Genealogy: Is It Working?
The short answer is "that depends". Lots of work. Some important progress. So far, I'll give it a "thumbs up": yes, it's working.
It's been about a year and a half, now, that I've been chasing family genealogy through DNA. Here's what I've learned so far.
It's been about a year and a half, now, that I've been chasing family genealogy through DNA. Here's what I've learned so far.
- The power of DNA matching is that it identifies for us persons who share identical segments of DNA, and so are likely related. It also estimates what that relationship is, based on how much DNA is identical and other proprietary tweeks.
- The DNA match information is a starting point, but we still must search for our common ancestors, the couple from whom we are both descended. Most of the matches shown are fourth cousins and more distant. Our common ancestors must be five generations or more back. I'll come back to this.
- Since less than half of DNA matches reply to requests for information, it is often necessary to research several generations of their ancestors, i.e., to do all the research unassisted. Among those who do reply, most have little information beyond their own grandparents, so a lot of work is still required to build their family trees.
- Different people undoubtedly have different goals in providing DNA samples for study. I've been researching family genealogy for 25 years and am not interested in finding more distant cousins. My goal is to extend my families back further in time than I have been able to uncover so far. Some have been adopted and are looking for birth families. Some are confirming or refuting rumored infidelities. I don't know what others are doing because they don't reply to my queries.
- Even though I'm not interested in fitting more cousins in my family tree, I need to do it anyway. An important clue when trying to extend and connect my ancestry is to at least identify which branch of my ancestry I'm trying to connect with. Second and third cousins allow me to identify which DNA segments come from which already known ancestors. When I find one of these segments in a more distant cousin, it at least helps me to focus my efforts on connecting to a particular ancestor couple.
- Genealogy DNA testing services differ. I have been using AncestryDNA, MyHeritage, and 23andMe.
- AncestryDNA has the largest collection of clients, so may provide the best opportunity to find connections. Also, since Ancestry.com has been a genealogy research service, providing access to lots of indexed historical records and to customers' family trees, the matches are often more knowledgeable about their family history and have well-developed trees. Surprisingly, though, I still get replies to less than half of my queries. Ancestry will allow you to download your DNA analysis results, basically a map of your chromosomes, but it will not allow you to download DNA matches information to use with third party services or software. Since I'm not an Ancestry.com subscriber, I did find it frustrating, until recently, that I can't view family trees of matches. Ancestry is currently testing a beta version of their service, though. I can now view up to five generations of a tree attached to a DNA match. This has been very helpful. I've been able to see family tree connections now to dozens of DNA matches. (That's about a dozen per DNA kit. I'm working with DNA results for two relatives. Five generation trees have helped me find connections to about a dozen DNA matches for each of them.) After the initial excitement, I've come to three realizations: (1) most AncestryDNA subscribers don't have well-developed trees; (2) five generations allows me to connect with cousins withing my known ancestry, but does not allow me to see connections beyond my current known ancestry; (3) (not really a new realization, but commonly found in family trees) information in a tree is not necessarily true: some is contradicted by my records, and some is often copied from some other tree with no knowledge of where the original information came from; (4) AncestryDNA members seem to be very happy to provide access to their private trees when I explain how were related and what I hope to see in their tree and send them a link to my own online family tree.
- MyHeritage is my preferred service because they allowed me to load raw DNA files downloaded from other services so that I can get matches to all four of my dna files (two parents, two in-laws). While they still allow you to upload DNA files, there are now limits on what information you may access. MyHeritage also allows access to customers' family trees. Most of these trees are either private or contain only a few individuals, but some are quite large which can make it much easier to find a connection. MyHeritage has a new feature that goes through their subscriber trees, through FamilySearch trees, and other available trees, and proposes connections with matches. It hasn't shown me an "important" connections, yet - and by important I mean one that I don't already know and that helped extend my tree back in time - but it might. It does not propose a lot of connections, yet, but it might be very useful especially for those whose trees are not yet very well developed.
- 23andMe is not a genealogy records company. So unlike the above two companies, I never click on a button and get a message that I have to be a subscriber to use that function. They have a variety of interesting gene related reports, some regarding health predispositions, some regarding physical traits. While they do not have a family trees as part of their service, they do permit self-reporting of family surnames and locations, which is often helpful.
- Note: I've read that the testing services may differ quite a bit in their accuracy with different ethnic groups or geographic origins. My ancestry is white European. I have noticed some inaccuracies that I don't understand. AncestryDNA often predicts a significantly more distant relationship than the true relationship and than I expect from the amount of shared DNA (where I assume a simplistic single path between matches). On the other hand, I'm finding many cousins estimated to be fairly close (third and fourth) are actually quite distant (6th and 7th). This latter only after lots of work tracing back so many generations. These cases seem to be for very old American families when there are multiple paths of relationship over many generations that must accumulate to as much shared DNA as a closer relative.
- Note 2:
DNA Matches by Service Company Relative New matches Matches to Gr-parents 23andMe Mother 37 D & L: 3
C & H: 10 *
H & M:1.5
L & D: 17.5
[closer: 5]Father 13
C & C: 3 *
P & D: 1
W & A: 2
W & M: 0
[closer: 7]AncestryDNA Mother-in-law 18 P & C: 7
H & C: 1 *
C & K: 0
K & R: 0
[closer: 10]Father-in-law 19 M & W: 0
C & McL: 17
M & P: 0
S & B: 0
[closer: 2]MyHeritage Mother 8 D & L: 3
C & H: 0
H & M: 0
L & D:4
[closer: 1]Father 31 C & C: 2
P & D: 27
W & A: 0
W & M: 0
[closer: 2]Mother-in-law 4 P & C: 2
H & C: 0
C & K: 0
K & R: 0
[closer: 2]Father-in-law 3 M & W: 0
C & McL: 3 *
M & P: 0
S & B: 0
[closer: 0]
- Probably the reason that I have been most successful finding connections for my mom is that all of her ancestors immigrated to the US in the early to mid 1800s. So her family history is not that long, at least not in this country. For my dad, it's more complicated. Because most of his ancestral lines go back centuries in the US, it can be much more difficult to research all the way back to our common ancestor. Also, after so many generation, many of them in the northeastern US (or colonies), there has been a lot of mixing of ancestral lines, so there are multiple paths of relationship and, because each path adds inherited DNA, the estimated relationships implied by the amount of shared DNA may be in error by multiple generations.
DNA Case Study: Hayden Family
So far, my typical DNA connections consist of picking a DNA match and trying to piece together a family tree that connects to my own. This is sometimes successful. Sometimes I ask for help from the DNA match, who sometimes replies. It usually involves lots of work. And as I continue down my list of DNA matches, toward more distant relations, it gets harder and harder.
My Hayden family connection was different. While exploring match profiles on 23andMe, I noticed several that seemed grouped together, frequently showing up as common matches. Almost all replied to my messages. Almost all had researched their genealogies extensively. I fairly quickly established that the common family was the Haydens. Some put me in contact with other Hayden family genealogists. One had attached resources to a Hayden tree on FamilySearch, and also replied to my message. After gathering their information and researching the gaps, I was able to assemble a skeletal family tree, just connecting the DNA matches, not including their families and ancestors families that I have typically included in my tree. I then tried to connect my own Hayden ancestor to their tree. No census records together, no Irish baptismal record, no FamilySearch, Rootsweb, message board, FindAGrave, Google, or other public data information. None of the matches had among their records any mention of my ancestor.
One of my matches referred me to an article they had written many years ago in which I recognized a photograph that had been hanging on my parents' wall for decades, in what they called the "Rogues Gallery", their photos of their ancestors. While my match had guessed at the the identity of the person, ours was labeled Anne Hayden Campbell by one of Anne's grandchildren. So although I was not finding the family connection, this photograph implied that there was a connection and that most likely their Hayden family was my own.
Now I wondered, if my Anne was part of this Hayden family, where would she fit in? All of the others traced back to Martin and Katherine Headen, born in 1796 and ca. 1790, respectively, in Ireland. The baptisms of many of their children took place in the Catholic parish of Myshall in County Carlow, where records state the family lived in the town of Shangarry. The known birth dates were in 1817, 1822, 1825, and 1832. Anne was born between about 1823 and 1826, so would fit nicely into an unusual gap in children. Baptismal records in those early years were infrequent, so she could simply have been missed. But Anne could also have been Martin's niece, in a different branch of the family.
Now I turned to DNA. The amount of DNA shared with matches was about right for Anne as a daughter of Martin. But there can be quite a bit of variation in inherited DNA, so I was not comfortable placing Anne in this tree based simply on shared DNA. Yet. So I constructed the following chart. It requires some explanation.
I identified fourteen DNA matches to my parent on 23andMe who were likely related through the Haydens. Of these, I could place ten on a Hayden family tree. In the chart above I recorded in the lower half the relationships between all these cousins as read from the tree and added average amount of DNA that should be shared between these cousins, if only a simple single relationship exists. 3c-2/0.2 , for instance, is third cousin twice removed, who share an average of 0.2% of their DNA. The four empty lines are the four persons whom I could not place in the tree, and so with whom I cannot know their relationship with the others. In the upper half I recorded the estimated relationship and the measured amount of shared DNA as reported by 23andMe. The columns/rows of x's are Hayden descendants whose DNA was either not analyzed on 23andME or who did not show as a match to my parent. The gray boxes are where DNA matches were not detected/reported, even though both were matches to my parent. Finally, I color coded the results. Basically, green shows 23andMe estimates close to true relationships, "red" (purple) not close, and yellow somewhere in between.
First I compared just the matches among themselves. Now I'm down to eight matches: started with fourteen, four I couldn't place in the tree and two did not show up as a match to my parent. Among these eight persons, there are twenty-eight relationships. Of this twenty-eight, eleven (39%) don't show up at all. This is typical for 3rd/4th cousins. Of the seventeen that do appear, eight (47%) are good/green, six (35%) are so-so, and three (18%) are incorrect. Note that by "incorrect" I mean percent shared DNA is different from what I expect by a factor of two or more. This is only half a generation, or, say, the difference between 4c and 4c-1 (fourth cousin vs. fourth cousin once removed). This may not be a huge error, but it is important in determining where Anne might fit into this tree. So the above numbers, % good numbers, are my baseline.
Now I look just at my parent's relationship with the other eight. In order to have relationships from the tree, I have to place her somewhere in the tree. I placed her as a child of Martin and Katherine. There are eight possible relationships. Of these, none did not show up. That's obvious, because those that don't show up are not visible in my results. Actually, I later discovered that one of the persons who did not show has had her DNA tested on 23andMe, but can't find me among her matches, either. Of the eight that are visible, 50% are green, 37.5% are yellow, and 12.5% are "red". I think these compare very well with the 47%, 35% and 18% baseline. My conclusion is that my ancestor, Anne Hayden Campbell, is the daughter of Martin and Katherine Headen.
Now I need to go back and fill in all those quick-and-dirty sources I noted while assembling a family tree ...
My Hayden family connection was different. While exploring match profiles on 23andMe, I noticed several that seemed grouped together, frequently showing up as common matches. Almost all replied to my messages. Almost all had researched their genealogies extensively. I fairly quickly established that the common family was the Haydens. Some put me in contact with other Hayden family genealogists. One had attached resources to a Hayden tree on FamilySearch, and also replied to my message. After gathering their information and researching the gaps, I was able to assemble a skeletal family tree, just connecting the DNA matches, not including their families and ancestors families that I have typically included in my tree. I then tried to connect my own Hayden ancestor to their tree. No census records together, no Irish baptismal record, no FamilySearch, Rootsweb, message board, FindAGrave, Google, or other public data information. None of the matches had among their records any mention of my ancestor.
 |
| Anne Hayden Campbell |
Now I wondered, if my Anne was part of this Hayden family, where would she fit in? All of the others traced back to Martin and Katherine Headen, born in 1796 and ca. 1790, respectively, in Ireland. The baptisms of many of their children took place in the Catholic parish of Myshall in County Carlow, where records state the family lived in the town of Shangarry. The known birth dates were in 1817, 1822, 1825, and 1832. Anne was born between about 1823 and 1826, so would fit nicely into an unusual gap in children. Baptismal records in those early years were infrequent, so she could simply have been missed. But Anne could also have been Martin's niece, in a different branch of the family.
Now I turned to DNA. The amount of DNA shared with matches was about right for Anne as a daughter of Martin. But there can be quite a bit of variation in inherited DNA, so I was not comfortable placing Anne in this tree based simply on shared DNA. Yet. So I constructed the following chart. It requires some explanation.
 | ||
| Hayden DNA Comparison Chart |
First I compared just the matches among themselves. Now I'm down to eight matches: started with fourteen, four I couldn't place in the tree and two did not show up as a match to my parent. Among these eight persons, there are twenty-eight relationships. Of this twenty-eight, eleven (39%) don't show up at all. This is typical for 3rd/4th cousins. Of the seventeen that do appear, eight (47%) are good/green, six (35%) are so-so, and three (18%) are incorrect. Note that by "incorrect" I mean percent shared DNA is different from what I expect by a factor of two or more. This is only half a generation, or, say, the difference between 4c and 4c-1 (fourth cousin vs. fourth cousin once removed). This may not be a huge error, but it is important in determining where Anne might fit into this tree. So the above numbers, % good numbers, are my baseline.
Now I look just at my parent's relationship with the other eight. In order to have relationships from the tree, I have to place her somewhere in the tree. I placed her as a child of Martin and Katherine. There are eight possible relationships. Of these, none did not show up. That's obvious, because those that don't show up are not visible in my results. Actually, I later discovered that one of the persons who did not show has had her DNA tested on 23andMe, but can't find me among her matches, either. Of the eight that are visible, 50% are green, 37.5% are yellow, and 12.5% are "red". I think these compare very well with the 47%, 35% and 18% baseline. My conclusion is that my ancestor, Anne Hayden Campbell, is the daughter of Martin and Katherine Headen.
Now I need to go back and fill in all those quick-and-dirty sources I noted while assembling a family tree ...
Monday, March 14, 2016
Mary Lang
Here is an example of how much work can be spent chasing down a relative that turns out to be unrelated.
While browsing through census records for information about my Donnelly (and related) family, I found a Mary Lang living with John and Catherine Gorman Murphy. Catherine is a granddaughter of my great great great grandparents, Patrick and Nancy Larkin Donley. Mary Lang is described as a niece. So I embarked on a search for the relationship between the Langs and the Gorman or Murphy family.
A search of historic newspapers revealed that Mary Lang was also a niece of the Murphys' next door neighbors, Alexander and Elizabeth Creighton, and that Mary was from Minnesota or Wisconsin. I'll skip all of the convoluted search details, but it included searches through newspapers, census records and cemetery records. After assembling a tree of over 100 people, I was finally able to find a distant link between families.
Mary G Lang was the daughter of Nicholas Lang and Mary Ann Dinnenny, born in 1885, probably in Waddington, New York. In 1890, Mrs. Lang moved the family to Felton, Minnesota. I have not found any news of Nicholas, so am not sure whether he died or whether they split up. Living in Felton was Christopher Dinnenny and family, whom I believe to be Mary Ann's brother, and probably the reason for moving there. Mary Ann married Albert Fox in 1895. In 1908, Mary G returned to Waddington and spent the next four years with her aunt, Elizabeth Dinnenny Creighton. I'm not sure why she was living next door at the Murphys' in 1910. Perhaps she was renting a room at their house. I'm guessing she was described as a niece of the Murphys because the true relationship was too complicated.
Mrs. Catherine Gorman Murphy's much younger first cousin on her father's side, John Augustus Gorman, was married to Anna Fay. Anna's first cousin on her father's side, James Fay, was married to Mary Creighton, daughter of Mary Lang's aunt Elizabeth Dinnenny Creighton. Said another way, Mary Lang's first cousin's husband's first cousin's husband's first cousin is Mrs. Murphy. Or Mrs. Murphy is the first cousin of the husband of the first cousin of the husband of Mary Lang's first cousin. Mrs. Murphy is not Mary Lang's aunt, but the term was used to describe a generation difference in age and some not-simple relationship.
Even though all this work did not lead to Mary Lang being related, it did allow me to answer another difficult question in my family tree. Bridget Donley and Thomas Gorman's daughters, Catherine and Mary Ann, both married Murphys, John and Michael, respectively. I was able to establish that John and Michael Murphy were brothers, sons of Elizabeth Stafford and Moses Murphy. While many of the individuals in this research are not related to me, I have added them to my family tree in order to show the string of relationships between the Murphys and their "niece", Mary Lang.
While browsing through census records for information about my Donnelly (and related) family, I found a Mary Lang living with John and Catherine Gorman Murphy. Catherine is a granddaughter of my great great great grandparents, Patrick and Nancy Larkin Donley. Mary Lang is described as a niece. So I embarked on a search for the relationship between the Langs and the Gorman or Murphy family.
A search of historic newspapers revealed that Mary Lang was also a niece of the Murphys' next door neighbors, Alexander and Elizabeth Creighton, and that Mary was from Minnesota or Wisconsin. I'll skip all of the convoluted search details, but it included searches through newspapers, census records and cemetery records. After assembling a tree of over 100 people, I was finally able to find a distant link between families.
Mary G Lang was the daughter of Nicholas Lang and Mary Ann Dinnenny, born in 1885, probably in Waddington, New York. In 1890, Mrs. Lang moved the family to Felton, Minnesota. I have not found any news of Nicholas, so am not sure whether he died or whether they split up. Living in Felton was Christopher Dinnenny and family, whom I believe to be Mary Ann's brother, and probably the reason for moving there. Mary Ann married Albert Fox in 1895. In 1908, Mary G returned to Waddington and spent the next four years with her aunt, Elizabeth Dinnenny Creighton. I'm not sure why she was living next door at the Murphys' in 1910. Perhaps she was renting a room at their house. I'm guessing she was described as a niece of the Murphys because the true relationship was too complicated.
Mrs. Catherine Gorman Murphy's much younger first cousin on her father's side, John Augustus Gorman, was married to Anna Fay. Anna's first cousin on her father's side, James Fay, was married to Mary Creighton, daughter of Mary Lang's aunt Elizabeth Dinnenny Creighton. Said another way, Mary Lang's first cousin's husband's first cousin's husband's first cousin is Mrs. Murphy. Or Mrs. Murphy is the first cousin of the husband of the first cousin of the husband of Mary Lang's first cousin. Mrs. Murphy is not Mary Lang's aunt, but the term was used to describe a generation difference in age and some not-simple relationship.
Even though all this work did not lead to Mary Lang being related, it did allow me to answer another difficult question in my family tree. Bridget Donley and Thomas Gorman's daughters, Catherine and Mary Ann, both married Murphys, John and Michael, respectively. I was able to establish that John and Michael Murphy were brothers, sons of Elizabeth Stafford and Moses Murphy. While many of the individuals in this research are not related to me, I have added them to my family tree in order to show the string of relationships between the Murphys and their "niece", Mary Lang.
Monday, August 24, 2015
LaBrunes Arrive at NYC in 1833
 |
| LaBrunes on passenger list of ship Robert Morris, arriving in New York City on November 7, 1833. |
First, why I think this is our family. From the 1840 and 1850 US census records of our Philip LaBrune, I have the following family in 1833:
Philippe, b. 1794 in France
Ann, wife, b. 1793 in France
George, son, b. 1824 in France
Unknown, son, b. between 1825 and 1830, probably in France
Nicholas, b. 1831 in France
[born later were:
Unknown, daughter, b. between 1835 and 1840, in France or the US
Jean-Baptiste, b. 1840 in Ohio]
The passenger list shows the following family:
Philippe (probably), 38 years old (b. 1795), male, Weaver, French citizen
? ends in -ria or -nn or -nna, 39 years old (b. 1794), female, French citizen
? ends in -ne M., 14 years old (b. 1819), female, French citizen
? ends in -orge, 11 years old (b. 1822), male, French citizen
? ends in -un C., 7 years old (b. 1826), male, French citizen
? ends in -los, 5 years old (b. 1828), male, French citizen
There is some uncertainty in the names, but what is shown matches well with the LaBrunes whose names we know, the birth years and countries match well, and the arrival fits in the window we thought to be between 1831 and 1840.
They arrived on a ship called the Robert Morris, sailing out of Le Havre, a very large port on the north coast of France, and arrived on November 7, 1833 in New York City. The 153 passengers were mostly from France and Bavaria and included several weavers, seamstresses and shoemakers, as well as bakers and farmers.
This passenger ship record adds some new information about the family. The LaBrunes immigrated in 1833. Philip was a weaver in France. He and Ann had a daughter, name ending in -ne and middle initial M, born in about 1819 that was no longer with the family when we first found them in Ohio in 1840, when this daughter would have been about 21 years old. My guess is that she married, so there is another branch of the LaBrune family somewhere. Philip and Ann's second son's name ends in -n, his middle initial is C, and he was born in about 1826, probably in France. Nicholas may have been born a little earlier than the census indicates, in about 1828. Their youngest daughter, born between 1835 and 1840, was probably born in the US.
Saturday, January 24, 2015
Hypothesis: Philip LaBrune m. Josephine Oligée in Ohio in 1868
[Just realized I posted this information at Iowa GenWeb in 2012, but nowhere on my blog or website. So:]
If there are any LaBrune researchers listening, please let me know if you have any information that might support or refute an hypothesis I'm working on.
What I think I know:
(1) Philip and Ann LaBrune and family were in Clermont Co., Ohio in 1840. Jean-Baptiste was born there after the census. In 1850, the family was in Dubuque co., Iowa. Comparing the 1840 and 1850 censuses, a 20-25 yr old boy and a 10-15 yr old girl are not with the family in Dubuque. (These are the ages they would have in 1850.) Did they stay behind? Did they die? Were they not members of the family, but just living with them in Ohio? I don't know, but I have looked around to see if there are any LaBrunes back in southern Ohio.
(2) We don't know what happened to Philip. He is in the 1860 census. He is listed in an 1865 property tax roll. He is not in Dubuque in the 1870 census. He is not buried with his wife and the other LaBrunes. I have not researched extensively myself, but know of no death records for Philip. As an interesting, a little surprising, side note: Daniel Dooley, a neighbor and father-in-law to Philip & Ann's son, Jean-Baptiste, is buried next to Ann. Ann died in January 1868.
(3) In Oct 1868, a Philip LaBrune married a Josephine Oligée in Brown co., Ohio, a county adjacent to Clermont co., where the LaBrunes lived in 1840. Thinking this might be the missing LaBrune son, who possibly stayed behind, I dug deeper. I found Philip and Josephine in the 1880 census. They were both born in France: he in 1796; she in 1804. This Philip is about the same age our Philip who disappeared from Dubuque. Could it be?
Putting together the pieces:
As I said, the last record I have of Philip in Dubuque is a tax roll in 1865. If he did not die there, I assume he would have remained with his wife, Ann, while she was living. She died in Jan 1868, about 9 months before the marriage in Ohio. Perhaps after the death of his wife, he went back to the Clermont/Brown co. area of Ohio for something. Maybe that's why when Daniel Dooley died a year later, in 1869, the LaBrune family allowed him to be buried in "Philip's plot", since Philip had moved away and remarried. Maybe that's why there is no record of Philip's death in Iowa - he didn't die there?
Why?:
Why would Philip go back to Ohio? I haven't found other LaBrunes there, so I'm giving up on finding the missing son. But what about the daughter? She could have been 5 in 1840 (listed as female under 5 at the time of the census). The first record I'm aware of in Iowa is the 1850 census, so the LaBrunes could have left Ohio as late as 1850. The missing daughter could have been as old as 15 years old when they moved. Still kind of young. I've gone back and looked at the 1860 census of the Oligée family in Brown co., Ohio. Josephine was married to an older Jacob Oligée and had several sons. The three that I saw were all married, and their wives were 20 to 25 years old, the age range of the missing LaBrune daughter.
Conclusion:
I think the missing LaBrune daughter being married to one of the Oligée boys is a stretch. But I think there's a good chance that our Dubuque Philip moved back to Ohio and remarried. The age, the name, the location, the timing, and the lack of other LaBrunes in that area prior to the 1868 marriage are an awful lot of coincidences. I don't spend alot of time on my genealogy, but I'd like to dig up more information to either support or shoot down this theory.
If there are any LaBrune researchers listening, please let me know if you have any information that might support or refute an hypothesis I'm working on.
What I think I know:
(1) Philip and Ann LaBrune and family were in Clermont Co., Ohio in 1840. Jean-Baptiste was born there after the census. In 1850, the family was in Dubuque co., Iowa. Comparing the 1840 and 1850 censuses, a 20-25 yr old boy and a 10-15 yr old girl are not with the family in Dubuque. (These are the ages they would have in 1850.) Did they stay behind? Did they die? Were they not members of the family, but just living with them in Ohio? I don't know, but I have looked around to see if there are any LaBrunes back in southern Ohio.
(2) We don't know what happened to Philip. He is in the 1860 census. He is listed in an 1865 property tax roll. He is not in Dubuque in the 1870 census. He is not buried with his wife and the other LaBrunes. I have not researched extensively myself, but know of no death records for Philip. As an interesting, a little surprising, side note: Daniel Dooley, a neighbor and father-in-law to Philip & Ann's son, Jean-Baptiste, is buried next to Ann. Ann died in January 1868.
(3) In Oct 1868, a Philip LaBrune married a Josephine Oligée in Brown co., Ohio, a county adjacent to Clermont co., where the LaBrunes lived in 1840. Thinking this might be the missing LaBrune son, who possibly stayed behind, I dug deeper. I found Philip and Josephine in the 1880 census. They were both born in France: he in 1796; she in 1804. This Philip is about the same age our Philip who disappeared from Dubuque. Could it be?
Putting together the pieces:
As I said, the last record I have of Philip in Dubuque is a tax roll in 1865. If he did not die there, I assume he would have remained with his wife, Ann, while she was living. She died in Jan 1868, about 9 months before the marriage in Ohio. Perhaps after the death of his wife, he went back to the Clermont/Brown co. area of Ohio for something. Maybe that's why when Daniel Dooley died a year later, in 1869, the LaBrune family allowed him to be buried in "Philip's plot", since Philip had moved away and remarried. Maybe that's why there is no record of Philip's death in Iowa - he didn't die there?
Why?:
Why would Philip go back to Ohio? I haven't found other LaBrunes there, so I'm giving up on finding the missing son. But what about the daughter? She could have been 5 in 1840 (listed as female under 5 at the time of the census). The first record I'm aware of in Iowa is the 1850 census, so the LaBrunes could have left Ohio as late as 1850. The missing daughter could have been as old as 15 years old when they moved. Still kind of young. I've gone back and looked at the 1860 census of the Oligée family in Brown co., Ohio. Josephine was married to an older Jacob Oligée and had several sons. The three that I saw were all married, and their wives were 20 to 25 years old, the age range of the missing LaBrune daughter.
Conclusion:
I think the missing LaBrune daughter being married to one of the Oligée boys is a stretch. But I think there's a good chance that our Dubuque Philip moved back to Ohio and remarried. The age, the name, the location, the timing, and the lack of other LaBrunes in that area prior to the 1868 marriage are an awful lot of coincidences. I don't spend alot of time on my genealogy, but I'd like to dig up more information to either support or shoot down this theory.
Saturday, January 17, 2015
Goodwins of Cascade, Iowa from about 1856
Posted this on Rootsweb this week. A brief summary of the Goodwin family, the family of Lydia LaBrune's biological mother, from 1856 Dubuque co. to California in the mid-1900s.
Thomas Jefferson Goodwin, b. 1832 Indiana, m. Eliza A Summers, she b. 1841 in Iowa, in 1856 in Dubuque, Iowa. They had 5 children and raised them in Cascade township: Emma (1880), Alonzo (1862), Ida (1863), Rollie (b. 1876, d. 1877), and Monroe (1879). The 1880s brought big changes for the families.
Emma had married Oscar Albert in 1879, but he apparently abandoned them in 1885 and she was granted a divorce in 1887. By then, the Goodwin family, including Emma, had moved across the state to Sioux County. Emma had four children (as far as I can tell), of whom she was granted custody. I know that Verda was adopted by the Board family in Cascade and that Lydia was adopted by the LaBrune family (my family) in Jefferson twp. [Verda went on to marry William Gearhart, then Daniel Moore; Lydia married Frank Schirmer.] I don't know what became of the other two kids, nor why the children were given up (taken?) for adoption. Emma began a new family with Lars Peterson in about 1894.
Emma's sister, Ida, married Pedermar (?) Jester. They had seven kids before he died in the late 1890s. She remarried Stanley (?) Tibbets.
I don't know what became of Alonzo.
Sometime around 1908 the whole clan moved out to southern California: Eliza Goodwin to LA with Monroe, Emma Peterson and family to San Diego, and Ida Tibbets and family to Long Beach (LA co.). Some of the older grandchildren may have married and stayed in Iowa, as did Emma's children from her first marriage.
I'm especially interested in finding out why the Emma Goodwin Arnold children might have been given up for adoption.
Thomas Jefferson Goodwin m. Eliza A Summers
Thomas Jefferson Goodwin, b. 1832 Indiana, m. Eliza A Summers, she b. 1841 in Iowa, in 1856 in Dubuque, Iowa. They had 5 children and raised them in Cascade township: Emma (1880), Alonzo (1862), Ida (1863), Rollie (b. 1876, d. 1877), and Monroe (1879). The 1880s brought big changes for the families.
Emma had married Oscar Albert in 1879, but he apparently abandoned them in 1885 and she was granted a divorce in 1887. By then, the Goodwin family, including Emma, had moved across the state to Sioux County. Emma had four children (as far as I can tell), of whom she was granted custody. I know that Verda was adopted by the Board family in Cascade and that Lydia was adopted by the LaBrune family (my family) in Jefferson twp. [Verda went on to marry William Gearhart, then Daniel Moore; Lydia married Frank Schirmer.] I don't know what became of the other two kids, nor why the children were given up (taken?) for adoption. Emma began a new family with Lars Peterson in about 1894.
Emma's sister, Ida, married Pedermar (?) Jester. They had seven kids before he died in the late 1890s. She remarried Stanley (?) Tibbets.
I don't know what became of Alonzo.
Sometime around 1908 the whole clan moved out to southern California: Eliza Goodwin to LA with Monroe, Emma Peterson and family to San Diego, and Ida Tibbets and family to Long Beach (LA co.). Some of the older grandchildren may have married and stayed in Iowa, as did Emma's children from her first marriage.
I'm especially interested in finding out why the Emma Goodwin Arnold children might have been given up for adoption.
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Lydia LaBrune Schirmer 1882-1955
Lydia LaBrune is first seen in the family of Jean-Baptiste and Catherine Dooley LaBrune at the age of 13 in the 1895 state census. In 1900, she is described as adopted. And that is all we knew. Very recently I was contacted by a couple of Lydia's great-grandchildren who had discovered through a living relative that Lydia was believed to have a sister by the name of Verda Moore, who lived in Cedar Rapids in the 1930s. A few hours of research uncovered a good deal of Lydia's origins.
Lydia and Verda and another sister, Bessie, were the children of Emma Gooding and Oscar Arnold. Emma and Oscar married in about 1879 (they are together in 1880 in the census in East Cascade, Dubuque co.). The girls were born in about 1880 (Verda), 1881 (Lydia), and 1883 (Bessie). In 1885 the family is together in Cascade; "Lida" and "Virdia" are both there! According to divorce papers (as reported in the newspaper), Oscar was abusive and abandoned the family in 1885 in Cascade. In 1887, Emma filed for and was granted a divorce and custody of the kids. That's the last information I found for them. I couldn't find any more trace of Oscar, Emma, or Bessie. In 1895, Lydia was with the LaBrunes in Jefferson twp and Verda was living with Lewis and Liddie Board and family in Cascade (both in Dubuque co., Iowa). In 1902, Verda married William Gearhart in Dubuque. They had four kids, then William died in 1909. Verda then married Daniel Moore in 1911. I found a newspaper article saying she filed for divorce for cruel treatment in 1920, but apparently they resolved their differences, at least for a while, since they were together as a family in 1930. In 1962, Verda Gearhart was buried next to William Gearhart, so I'm not sure of the history of Verda's relationship with Daniel Moore.
Addendum:
Found more information, regarding Emma Arnold. She was the daughter of Thomas Jefferson Goodwin and Eliza A. Summers. She is with them in the 1870 census in Cascade. Her father died in about 1882 and is buried in Cascade. In 1887 her divorce was filed in Sioux co., in the far western side of the state, far from Cascade. Her mother, Eliza Goodwin was there in 1900 and I suspect that Emma had gone to live with her mother who had relocated there. In about 1894 Emma married Lars Peterson and they had four or five children together. They live next door to Emma's mother in 1900 in Hawarden, in Sioux co. In the 1900 census, I also found a clue as to how Emma's daughter, Lydia, came to be adopted by Jean-Baptiste and Catherine LaBrune. A few houses away from the Goodwins and Petersons in 1900 are Caspar and Adaline Luchsinger. Caspar's first wife was Jean-Baptiste's niece. His second wife, Adaline, was also related to the LaBrune family. So when Emma gave up or lost her children, Lydia may have found a new family through their Luchsinger neighbors. By 1910, both Emma Peterson's and her mother's families had moved out to California: Emma to East San Diego, Eliza to LA. I believe that Eliza Goodwin died between about 1910 and 1918. Emma Goodwin Arnold Peterson passed away in 1940 in San Diego.
Lydia and Verda and another sister, Bessie, were the children of Emma Gooding and Oscar Arnold. Emma and Oscar married in about 1879 (they are together in 1880 in the census in East Cascade, Dubuque co.). The girls were born in about 1880 (Verda), 1881 (Lydia), and 1883 (Bessie). In 1885 the family is together in Cascade; "Lida" and "Virdia" are both there! According to divorce papers (as reported in the newspaper), Oscar was abusive and abandoned the family in 1885 in Cascade. In 1887, Emma filed for and was granted a divorce and custody of the kids. That's the last information I found for them. I couldn't find any more trace of Oscar, Emma, or Bessie. In 1895, Lydia was with the LaBrunes in Jefferson twp and Verda was living with Lewis and Liddie Board and family in Cascade (both in Dubuque co., Iowa). In 1902, Verda married William Gearhart in Dubuque. They had four kids, then William died in 1909. Verda then married Daniel Moore in 1911. I found a newspaper article saying she filed for divorce for cruel treatment in 1920, but apparently they resolved their differences, at least for a while, since they were together as a family in 1930. In 1962, Verda Gearhart was buried next to William Gearhart, so I'm not sure of the history of Verda's relationship with Daniel Moore.
Addendum:
Found more information, regarding Emma Arnold. She was the daughter of Thomas Jefferson Goodwin and Eliza A. Summers. She is with them in the 1870 census in Cascade. Her father died in about 1882 and is buried in Cascade. In 1887 her divorce was filed in Sioux co., in the far western side of the state, far from Cascade. Her mother, Eliza Goodwin was there in 1900 and I suspect that Emma had gone to live with her mother who had relocated there. In about 1894 Emma married Lars Peterson and they had four or five children together. They live next door to Emma's mother in 1900 in Hawarden, in Sioux co. In the 1900 census, I also found a clue as to how Emma's daughter, Lydia, came to be adopted by Jean-Baptiste and Catherine LaBrune. A few houses away from the Goodwins and Petersons in 1900 are Caspar and Adaline Luchsinger. Caspar's first wife was Jean-Baptiste's niece. His second wife, Adaline, was also related to the LaBrune family. So when Emma gave up or lost her children, Lydia may have found a new family through their Luchsinger neighbors. By 1910, both Emma Peterson's and her mother's families had moved out to California: Emma to East San Diego, Eliza to LA. I believe that Eliza Goodwin died between about 1910 and 1918. Emma Goodwin Arnold Peterson passed away in 1940 in San Diego.
Saturday, October 4, 2014
Irish Origins
If you're Math-phobic, skip this article. It will explain and demonstrate a proposed method to assist in locating Irish ancestors.
A valuable resource used to trace families back to Ireland is Sir Robert Matheson's Surnames in Ireland (1909). One of my first posts showed how common (or rare) some of the Irish surnames in our family tree were in Ireland in the 1800s, when all of our known Irish ancestors came to the United States. The bulk of Matheson's report is a table showing the number of births registered for every surname (family name) in Ireland in 1890, and the distribution of these births by province (Leinster = eastern Ireland, Munster = southwestern Ireland, Ulster = northern Ireland, Connaught = mid-western Ireland). Some of the important things to know about this index are: (1) related names are combined and reported as the most common name; (2) 1890 is after the Great Famine (aprox. 1845 to 1852) and deaths and the enormous exodus of emigrants from Ireland in the mid and late 1800s had decimated the population (Population was growing very rapidly before the Famine, peaking somewhere around 8 million people, but was down to about 3.5 million at the time of Matheson's data in 1891), so this data may not accurately portray the distribution of families in the early 1800s; and (3) rare family names, for which less than 5 births were registered throughout Ireland, are not included. In spite of the limitations, because of the sparsity of census-like information in Ireland, this is a valuable resource.
I have used this book from time to time to give me a general idea of where a branch of my Irish ancestors came from. Because comprehensive searching of data has not been easy (at least in the past), I have not actually found any of my ancestors using this data. But I hope to.
It has occurred to me that this information can be used mathematically to narrow a search for an ancestor. The listings in Matheson's table are essentially the probability of finding a family with this surname in the various provinces. Using Hogans as an example:
Surname Births in: Ireland Leinster Munster Ulster Connaught
Hogan 193 59 115 5 14
can be recalculated as
Surname Probability of birth in: Ireland Leinster Munster Ulster Connaught
Hogan 100% 31% 60% 3% 7%
[Because of rounding, numbers don't add to 100.] So I would expect that my Hogan family was most likely from southwest Ireland, but may also have been from eastern Ireland. It is unlikely they came from northern or western Ireland.
I recently found a marriage record that Mrs. Hogan's maiden name was Rice. Matheson's data for Rice is:
Surname Births in: Ireland Leinster Munster Ulster Connaught
Rice 99 33 18 48 0
and can be recalculated as
Surname Probability of birth in: Ireland Leinster Munster Ulster Connaught
Rice 100% 33% 18% 49% 0%
Nearly half of the Rice families were in northern Ireland, where there weren't many Hogans, but there were many in eastern Ireland and several in southwestern Ireland. By combining this data, multiplying the probabilities that both families were present in the province, and normalizing:
Surnames Probability of marriage in: Ireland Leinster Munster Ulster Connaught
Hogan-Rice 100% 46% 49% 6% 0%
Note that this method assumes that the bride and groom were actually from the province in which they were married. In this case, a Hogan and Rice married in Ireland were likely from eastern or southwestern Ireland, only slightly different from the conclusion I would have drawn from considering Hogan alone.
Applying this to the other families in our family tree for which I know both surnames:
Probability Start in
Surnames of marriage in: Ireland Leinster Munster Ulster Connaught counties:
Hogan-Rice 100% 46% 49% 6% 0% Dublin
Donnelly-Larkin 100% 38% 7% 50% 5% Dublin, Armagh
Cushing-Casey 100% 6% 87% 0% 8% Cork, Limerick
Casey-Brady 100% 60% 12% 20% 8% Dublin
Shannon-McHugh 100% 5% 2% 56% 37% ?
Waters-Murphy 100% 24% 76% 0% 0% Wexford
Murphy-Stafford 100% 78% 9% 13% 0% Wexford, Dublin
Unfortunately, I don't think the underlying data for this table still exists. If it did, we could further analyze this data by county. In Matheson's table, he also indicates in which counties the most births occured. Using these (unquantified) indicators, I estimated the most likely counties in my table, above. The only test I have on this method is that the Cushing-Casey family is known to come from Co. Limerick, near where it joins Cos. Tipperary and Cork. The table above tells me that the family was very likely from Munster province (correct), and the county notes would have sent me to Cork and Limerick counties.
Unfortunately, at this time, there are very few couples in my tree that were married in Ireland and for whom I know the wife's maiden name. In the table above, only three are direct ancestors, and for the one most strongly placed (Cushing-Casey) we already know where they're from. The other four families are parents of in-laws in my tree to help others connect to our family, but not of enough interest to search their origins.
A valuable resource used to trace families back to Ireland is Sir Robert Matheson's Surnames in Ireland (1909). One of my first posts showed how common (or rare) some of the Irish surnames in our family tree were in Ireland in the 1800s, when all of our known Irish ancestors came to the United States. The bulk of Matheson's report is a table showing the number of births registered for every surname (family name) in Ireland in 1890, and the distribution of these births by province (Leinster = eastern Ireland, Munster = southwestern Ireland, Ulster = northern Ireland, Connaught = mid-western Ireland). Some of the important things to know about this index are: (1) related names are combined and reported as the most common name; (2) 1890 is after the Great Famine (aprox. 1845 to 1852) and deaths and the enormous exodus of emigrants from Ireland in the mid and late 1800s had decimated the population (Population was growing very rapidly before the Famine, peaking somewhere around 8 million people, but was down to about 3.5 million at the time of Matheson's data in 1891), so this data may not accurately portray the distribution of families in the early 1800s; and (3) rare family names, for which less than 5 births were registered throughout Ireland, are not included. In spite of the limitations, because of the sparsity of census-like information in Ireland, this is a valuable resource.
I have used this book from time to time to give me a general idea of where a branch of my Irish ancestors came from. Because comprehensive searching of data has not been easy (at least in the past), I have not actually found any of my ancestors using this data. But I hope to.
It has occurred to me that this information can be used mathematically to narrow a search for an ancestor. The listings in Matheson's table are essentially the probability of finding a family with this surname in the various provinces. Using Hogans as an example:
Surname Births in: Ireland Leinster Munster Ulster Connaught
Hogan 193 59 115 5 14
can be recalculated as
Surname Probability of birth in: Ireland Leinster Munster Ulster Connaught
Hogan 100% 31% 60% 3% 7%
[Because of rounding, numbers don't add to 100.] So I would expect that my Hogan family was most likely from southwest Ireland, but may also have been from eastern Ireland. It is unlikely they came from northern or western Ireland.
I recently found a marriage record that Mrs. Hogan's maiden name was Rice. Matheson's data for Rice is:
Surname Births in: Ireland Leinster Munster Ulster Connaught
Rice 99 33 18 48 0
and can be recalculated as
Surname Probability of birth in: Ireland Leinster Munster Ulster Connaught
Rice 100% 33% 18% 49% 0%
Nearly half of the Rice families were in northern Ireland, where there weren't many Hogans, but there were many in eastern Ireland and several in southwestern Ireland. By combining this data, multiplying the probabilities that both families were present in the province, and normalizing:
Surnames Probability of marriage in: Ireland Leinster Munster Ulster Connaught
Hogan-Rice 100% 46% 49% 6% 0%
Note that this method assumes that the bride and groom were actually from the province in which they were married. In this case, a Hogan and Rice married in Ireland were likely from eastern or southwestern Ireland, only slightly different from the conclusion I would have drawn from considering Hogan alone.
Applying this to the other families in our family tree for which I know both surnames:
Probability Start in
Surnames of marriage in: Ireland Leinster Munster Ulster Connaught counties:
Hogan-Rice 100% 46% 49% 6% 0% Dublin
Donnelly-Larkin 100% 38% 7% 50% 5% Dublin, Armagh
Cushing-Casey 100% 6% 87% 0% 8% Cork, Limerick
Casey-Brady 100% 60% 12% 20% 8% Dublin
Shannon-McHugh 100% 5% 2% 56% 37% ?
Waters-Murphy 100% 24% 76% 0% 0% Wexford
Murphy-Stafford 100% 78% 9% 13% 0% Wexford, Dublin
Unfortunately, I don't think the underlying data for this table still exists. If it did, we could further analyze this data by county. In Matheson's table, he also indicates in which counties the most births occured. Using these (unquantified) indicators, I estimated the most likely counties in my table, above. The only test I have on this method is that the Cushing-Casey family is known to come from Co. Limerick, near where it joins Cos. Tipperary and Cork. The table above tells me that the family was very likely from Munster province (correct), and the county notes would have sent me to Cork and Limerick counties.
Unfortunately, at this time, there are very few couples in my tree that were married in Ireland and for whom I know the wife's maiden name. In the table above, only three are direct ancestors, and for the one most strongly placed (Cushing-Casey) we already know where they're from. The other four families are parents of in-laws in my tree to help others connect to our family, but not of enough interest to search their origins.
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Some Dooleys in St. Louis: Party and Recovery
Some e-mail I sent to family a few years back:
Hi, everyone.
It's a common goal in genealogy to trace your family history back just far enough to find a connection with the family tree of Charlemagne. I think that just about everyone with European ancestry is somehow tied to him, so if you can find the connection you can claim that you're related to royalty.
Well, here's the best I've come up with so far ...
Our Dooley ancestors came from Callan, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland to Dubuque, Iowa in the late 1830's. One branch of the family, the only that I know of with the name of Dooley, settled in Saint Louis around 1860. ... [Our parents] had Dooley 2nd cousins in St. Louis ... One of these Dooley cousins, Joseph, married Edmer Anheuser, a granddaughter to Eberhardt Anheuser, the original owner of what later became Anheuser Busch brewery. (By 1829, Joseph remarried, and I don't know what became of Edmer Anheuser.) So there's our link to American "royalty".
[Follow on e-mail:]
Hi, again.
This is so ironic, you may not believe it's true.
So, the other day I sent a message about how we're connected to Budweiser through Joseph Dooley, a cousin in St. Louis. Joseph had a twin brother, William, who married Cornelia Howe. Cornelia's father was the inventor of TUMS (the famous antacid)! William was the Secretary of Dr. Howe's company, the Lewis-Howe Company. So apparently the Dooleys were well prepared for both the party and the recovery.
Another interesting coincidence: The William & Cornelia Dooley house is now part of the Webster University campus (I think it houses the English Dept.). The Dooleys must have been living there when [private] went to school there (previously Webster College) in the early '40s. It was "The Dooley House" when the University bought it in about 1984, and has now been renamed Pearson house. The Howe house, next door, is now also owned by the University. These houses, and Webster U., are located in Webster Groves, near St. Louis.
Monday, June 30, 2014
Famille LaBrune à Dubuque, l'Iowa, E.U.
Jean-Baptiste
LaBrune était benjamin de, je crois, cinq enfants nés à Philip
et Ann LaBrune. De leur voyage de la France, je sais peu: une des enfants est née entre 1835 et 1840 en France et Jean-Baptiste est né à l'Ohio aprés le recensement en 1840 et dans 1850 la famille était arrivée, moins deux enfants, à Dubuque, Iowa, une destination populaire pour les immigrés français. (Avant la Vente de la Louisiane en 1803, la plupart de la territoire entre la rivière Mississippi et les montagnes Rocheuses appartenait (au moins en excluant les peuples indigènes) à la France, à l'exception de quelques années sous le contrôle de l'Espagne. Cette territoire était en plus grande partie ni développée ni explorée, donc la rivière Mississippi était la frontière d'une étendue sauvage, du point de vue des Etats-Unis. Beaucoup de trappeurs français se sont installés dans des lieux comme Dubuque le longue de la rivière d'où ils faisaient commerce de peaux avec l'Est.) Donc la famille LaBrune a quitté la France vers la fin des années 1830s, aurait pu voyager d'abord au Québec, et se cheminait vers les villes françaises à l'autre côté de la rivière Mississippi. Il est possible que quelques uns des enfants avec eux ne soient pas leurs propres enfants (les noms des individus n'étaient pas enregistrés dans le recensement de 1840) ou qu'ils se soient mariés ou installés quelque part en route ou qu'ils aient péri. Je crois que les familles qui se déplacaient en migration vers l'ouest avaient tendance à s'installer quelque part pendant quelques années, puis continuer, donc il se peut que notre famille LaBrune est restée faire de la cultivation des années à l'Ohio avant de reprendre la route à Dubuque. Le fils aîné, George, s'est marié à Dubuque en 1846. Peut-être il y est allé et puis a persuadé ses parents d'amener la famille là-bas. J'ai très peu d'information sur leur voyage. En tout cas, en 1850 la famille était aux parages de Dubuque où elle est restée de nombreuses années. Ann est morte en 1868 et est enterrée dans le cimetière Catholique St. Joseph. Lisez mon post antérieur sur Philip, mais il a disparu. Il est possible qu'il s'est déménagé à l'Ohio et s'est remarié après la mort d'Ann.
L'enfant aîné, George, s'est marié à Domathilde Breault à Dubuque en 1846. Elle est née à Montréal en 1826 et je suppose qu'elle avait un assez fort accent français parce que la plupart des traces écrites lui assignent les noms de Mathilda ou Martha ou Mary. Ils ont élévé neuf enfants aux environs de Rickardsville: Mary (m. Peter Limoges), Celina (m. Casper Luchsinger), Josephine (m. John Liebold), Caroline (m. Amab Cousley), George Nicolas (m. Adeline Crevier), John B (resté célibataire), Joseph (m. Josephine Limoges, soeur cadette de Peter), Edmire (quelques fois dit Adeline m. Martin Cunningham), et Mathilda (m. John Schwind). Quelques uns des enfants se sont déménagés vers l'ouest à Sioux City et la Dakota Territory (Mary Limoges, Celina Luchsinger, George N. LaBrune, and Joseph LaBrune). Tôt dans leurs mariage, George et Martha étaient propriétaires d'une taverne sur la route des diligences qui traversait Rickardsville, mais tous les recensements disent qu'ils étaient fermiers. George est mort en 1873. Lorsque leur fille, Mathilda, s'est mariée en 1866, Martha est allée vivre avec elle à Dubuque. Martha est morte en 1914 et était enterrée à côté de George dans le cimetière St. Joseph à Rickardsville.
Trois des cings enfants dans la famille de Philip et Ann à l'Ohio ont disparu: un fils né en fin des années 1820s en France, Nicholas né vers 1831 en France (ce dernier était avec la famille dans le recensement de 1850 à l'Iowa, mais puis a disparu), et une fille née en fin des années 1830s en France. Je continue à chercher des traces écrites d'eux.
Jean-Baptiste, le benjamin de la famille et le seul né aux E.U., s'est marié à Catherine Dooley, une voisine à Jefferson Township originaire de l'Irelande. Jean-Baptiste a eu du succès comme fermier. Ils ont élévé six enfants: John P (m. Elizabeth Rooney), Anastasia (m. James Hogan), Mary (morte à l'age de 19 ans), Daniel (resté célibataire), et Lydia (m. Frank Schirmer). Trois autres enfants sont morts très jeunes: William (1 mois), Thomas (2 ans), et Josephine (3 ans). Je crois que Lydia est née Lydia Maxwell, une voisine de la famille LaBrune, et était adoptée par eux après le décès de ses parents. Anastasia s'est mariée à James Hogan à St. Louis, où ils ont élévé leur famille. Le frère de Catherine Dooley LaBrune (mère d'Anastasia), William, était épicier prospère à St. Louis et sa femme était de la même famille que les Hogans. Anastasia et James se sont fait leurs connaisances chez l'oncle William, sans doute. John, Daniel et Lydia sont restés aux environs de Dubuque.
L'enfant aîné, George, s'est marié à Domathilde Breault à Dubuque en 1846. Elle est née à Montréal en 1826 et je suppose qu'elle avait un assez fort accent français parce que la plupart des traces écrites lui assignent les noms de Mathilda ou Martha ou Mary. Ils ont élévé neuf enfants aux environs de Rickardsville: Mary (m. Peter Limoges), Celina (m. Casper Luchsinger), Josephine (m. John Liebold), Caroline (m. Amab Cousley), George Nicolas (m. Adeline Crevier), John B (resté célibataire), Joseph (m. Josephine Limoges, soeur cadette de Peter), Edmire (quelques fois dit Adeline m. Martin Cunningham), et Mathilda (m. John Schwind). Quelques uns des enfants se sont déménagés vers l'ouest à Sioux City et la Dakota Territory (Mary Limoges, Celina Luchsinger, George N. LaBrune, and Joseph LaBrune). Tôt dans leurs mariage, George et Martha étaient propriétaires d'une taverne sur la route des diligences qui traversait Rickardsville, mais tous les recensements disent qu'ils étaient fermiers. George est mort en 1873. Lorsque leur fille, Mathilda, s'est mariée en 1866, Martha est allée vivre avec elle à Dubuque. Martha est morte en 1914 et était enterrée à côté de George dans le cimetière St. Joseph à Rickardsville.
Trois des cings enfants dans la famille de Philip et Ann à l'Ohio ont disparu: un fils né en fin des années 1820s en France, Nicholas né vers 1831 en France (ce dernier était avec la famille dans le recensement de 1850 à l'Iowa, mais puis a disparu), et une fille née en fin des années 1830s en France. Je continue à chercher des traces écrites d'eux.
Jean-Baptiste, le benjamin de la famille et le seul né aux E.U., s'est marié à Catherine Dooley, une voisine à Jefferson Township originaire de l'Irelande. Jean-Baptiste a eu du succès comme fermier. Ils ont élévé six enfants: John P (m. Elizabeth Rooney), Anastasia (m. James Hogan), Mary (morte à l'age de 19 ans), Daniel (resté célibataire), et Lydia (m. Frank Schirmer). Trois autres enfants sont morts très jeunes: William (1 mois), Thomas (2 ans), et Josephine (3 ans). Je crois que Lydia est née Lydia Maxwell, une voisine de la famille LaBrune, et était adoptée par eux après le décès de ses parents. Anastasia s'est mariée à James Hogan à St. Louis, où ils ont élévé leur famille. Le frère de Catherine Dooley LaBrune (mère d'Anastasia), William, était épicier prospère à St. Louis et sa femme était de la même famille que les Hogans. Anastasia et James se sont fait leurs connaisances chez l'oncle William, sans doute. John, Daniel et Lydia sont restés aux environs de Dubuque.
Sunday, June 29, 2014
LaBrune Update
I had a few LaBrunes floating around in my data that I've attached to our family.
Jean-Baptiste LaBrune was the youngest of, I believe, five children born to Philip and Ann LaBrune. About their journey from their native France I know only that one of the children was born in the mid to late 1830s in France and Jean-Baptiste was born in Ohio after the 1840 census and that by 1850 the family, minus two of the kids, was in Dubuque, Iowa, a common destination for French immigrants. (Prior to the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, most of the land between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains was French territory, though for a short time under Spanish control. This land was largely undeveloped and unexplored, so the Mississippi River was the edge of wilderness, from the point of view of the United States. There were many French trappers that settled in places like Dubuque along the Mississippi where they traded their pelts with the East.) So the LaBrunes left France in the late 1830s, may have gone first to Quebec, and were making their way west to the French towns across the Mississippi. Some of the kids with them may not have been their own (no names are given in the 1840 census) or may have married or settled somewhere along the way or may have perished. My sense is that families that migrated west tended to settle in the east, then move on after a few years, so maybe they spent a few years farming in Ohio before deciding to move on to Dubuque. The oldest son, George, married in Dubuque in 1846. Perhaps he had gone ahead and persuaded his parents to bring the family. There is very little information about their travel. In any case, by 1850 they were in the Dubuque area where they remained for many years. Ann died in 1868 and is buried in St. Joseph's Catholic cemetery. See my earlier post about Philip, but he disappeared. It's possible he moved to Ohio and remarried after Ann's death.
Their oldest known child, George, married Domathilde Breault in Dubuque in 1846. She was born in Montréal in 1826 and I assume she had a heavy French accent since most records name her Mathilda or Martha or Mary. They raised nine children in the Rickardsville area: Mary (m. Peter Limoges), Celina (m. Casper Luchsinger), Josephine (m. John Liebold), Caroline (m. Amab Cousley), George Nicolas (m. Adeline Crevier), John B (did not marry), Joseph (m. Josephine Limoges, younger sister to Peter), Edmire (aka Adeline m. Martin Cunningham), and Mathilda (m. John Schwind). Some of the kids moved west to the Sioux City area and to the nearby Dakota Territory (Mary Limoges, Celina Luchsinger, George N. LaBrune, and Joseph LaBrune). Early in their marriage, George and Martha operated a tavern on the stagecoach road through Rickardsville, but every census record lists George as a farmer. He passed away in 1873. When their daughter, Mathilda, married in 1886, Martha went to live with her in Dubuque, Martha passed away there in 1914 and was buried next to George at St. Joseph's Catholic cemetery in Rickardsville.
Three of the five children in Philip and Ann's family in Ohio disappeared: a son born in the late 1820s in France, Nicholas born in about 1831 in France, and a daughter born in the late 1830s in France. I'm still looking for traces of them.
Jean-Baptiste, the youngest of the family and the only one born in the United States, married Catherine Dooley, an Irish-born neighbor in Jefferson township. Jean-Baptiste did well as a farmer there. They raised six children: John P (m. Elizabeth Rooney), Anastasia (m. James Hogan), Mary (died at the age of 19), Daniel, and Lydia (m. Frank Schirmer). Three other children died as infants: William (1 month), Thomas (2 years), and Josephine (3 years). We think that Lydia was born Lydia Maxwell, was a neighbor of the LaBrunes, and was adopted by them after her parents passed away. Anastasia married James Hogan in St. Louis, where they raised their family. Catherine Dooley LaBrune's (Anastasia's mother) brother, William, was a successful grocer in St. Louis and was related to the Hogans. Anastasia and James undoubtedly met at uncle William's house. John, Daniel and Lydia stayed in the Dubuque area.
Jean-Baptiste LaBrune was the youngest of, I believe, five children born to Philip and Ann LaBrune. About their journey from their native France I know only that one of the children was born in the mid to late 1830s in France and Jean-Baptiste was born in Ohio after the 1840 census and that by 1850 the family, minus two of the kids, was in Dubuque, Iowa, a common destination for French immigrants. (Prior to the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, most of the land between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains was French territory, though for a short time under Spanish control. This land was largely undeveloped and unexplored, so the Mississippi River was the edge of wilderness, from the point of view of the United States. There were many French trappers that settled in places like Dubuque along the Mississippi where they traded their pelts with the East.) So the LaBrunes left France in the late 1830s, may have gone first to Quebec, and were making their way west to the French towns across the Mississippi. Some of the kids with them may not have been their own (no names are given in the 1840 census) or may have married or settled somewhere along the way or may have perished. My sense is that families that migrated west tended to settle in the east, then move on after a few years, so maybe they spent a few years farming in Ohio before deciding to move on to Dubuque. The oldest son, George, married in Dubuque in 1846. Perhaps he had gone ahead and persuaded his parents to bring the family. There is very little information about their travel. In any case, by 1850 they were in the Dubuque area where they remained for many years. Ann died in 1868 and is buried in St. Joseph's Catholic cemetery. See my earlier post about Philip, but he disappeared. It's possible he moved to Ohio and remarried after Ann's death.
Their oldest known child, George, married Domathilde Breault in Dubuque in 1846. She was born in Montréal in 1826 and I assume she had a heavy French accent since most records name her Mathilda or Martha or Mary. They raised nine children in the Rickardsville area: Mary (m. Peter Limoges), Celina (m. Casper Luchsinger), Josephine (m. John Liebold), Caroline (m. Amab Cousley), George Nicolas (m. Adeline Crevier), John B (did not marry), Joseph (m. Josephine Limoges, younger sister to Peter), Edmire (aka Adeline m. Martin Cunningham), and Mathilda (m. John Schwind). Some of the kids moved west to the Sioux City area and to the nearby Dakota Territory (Mary Limoges, Celina Luchsinger, George N. LaBrune, and Joseph LaBrune). Early in their marriage, George and Martha operated a tavern on the stagecoach road through Rickardsville, but every census record lists George as a farmer. He passed away in 1873. When their daughter, Mathilda, married in 1886, Martha went to live with her in Dubuque, Martha passed away there in 1914 and was buried next to George at St. Joseph's Catholic cemetery in Rickardsville.
Three of the five children in Philip and Ann's family in Ohio disappeared: a son born in the late 1820s in France, Nicholas born in about 1831 in France, and a daughter born in the late 1830s in France. I'm still looking for traces of them.
Jean-Baptiste, the youngest of the family and the only one born in the United States, married Catherine Dooley, an Irish-born neighbor in Jefferson township. Jean-Baptiste did well as a farmer there. They raised six children: John P (m. Elizabeth Rooney), Anastasia (m. James Hogan), Mary (died at the age of 19), Daniel, and Lydia (m. Frank Schirmer). Three other children died as infants: William (1 month), Thomas (2 years), and Josephine (3 years). We think that Lydia was born Lydia Maxwell, was a neighbor of the LaBrunes, and was adopted by them after her parents passed away. Anastasia married James Hogan in St. Louis, where they raised their family. Catherine Dooley LaBrune's (Anastasia's mother) brother, William, was a successful grocer in St. Louis and was related to the Hogans. Anastasia and James undoubtedly met at uncle William's house. John, Daniel and Lydia stayed in the Dubuque area.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Photos of 1928 Party at Liberty Park, Sedalia, Kansas
Among the old photos I found recently were these from a party
at Liberty Park in Sedalia, Missouri, for 4-year old Marie Donnelly.
The photos were labeled as shown.
The children are: (1) Junior Klang (Archias), (2) Martha Jane Kenagy, (3) Martha Jane Jones, (4) Mary Margaret Cater, (5) Ruth Elaine Scruton, (6) Mary Lou Reid (McEmiry), (7) Betty Reid, (8) Genevieve Stanley, (9) Janet Stanley, (10) John Joe McGrath, (11 & 12) Charlotte & Mary Smith, (13) Mary McGrath and (seated on right end) Marie Donnelly.
The children labeled in this second photo are: (1) Marie Donnelly, (2) Mary McGrath, (3) Martha Jane Kenagy, (4) Ruth Elaine Scruton, (5) Jimmie Keck, (6) Betty Trader, and (three standing, left to right) Eleanor Wormshoe, Mary Schrankler, and dorothy Bockelman.
In the 1930 census of Sedalia, I find Helen and Louise Donnelly (Marie's aunts), Arthur Klang, jr (parents Arthur and Elise Archias Klang), Martha Jones (parents Gilbert & Aphea), Mary M Cater (parents Fred & Alma), Elaine Scruton (13 yr old daughter ? of Ruth and Kelly), Mary Lou & Betty Reid (daughters of Joseph & Elizabeth), Genevieve & Janet Stanley (daughters of WP & Genevieve), John J & Mary McGrath (children of John & Katherine), Charlotte & Mary Smith (daughters of EA & Jeanne), James Keck (son of Oscar & Lydia), Betty Mae Trader (1940 census: daughter of Emmet & Dellamae) and Dorothy Bockelman (11 year old daughter of Norman & Tropha).
The children are: (1) Junior Klang (Archias), (2) Martha Jane Kenagy, (3) Martha Jane Jones, (4) Mary Margaret Cater, (5) Ruth Elaine Scruton, (6) Mary Lou Reid (McEmiry), (7) Betty Reid, (8) Genevieve Stanley, (9) Janet Stanley, (10) John Joe McGrath, (11 & 12) Charlotte & Mary Smith, (13) Mary McGrath and (seated on right end) Marie Donnelly.
The children labeled in this second photo are: (1) Marie Donnelly, (2) Mary McGrath, (3) Martha Jane Kenagy, (4) Ruth Elaine Scruton, (5) Jimmie Keck, (6) Betty Trader, and (three standing, left to right) Eleanor Wormshoe, Mary Schrankler, and dorothy Bockelman.
In the 1930 census of Sedalia, I find Helen and Louise Donnelly (Marie's aunts), Arthur Klang, jr (parents Arthur and Elise Archias Klang), Martha Jones (parents Gilbert & Aphea), Mary M Cater (parents Fred & Alma), Elaine Scruton (13 yr old daughter ? of Ruth and Kelly), Mary Lou & Betty Reid (daughters of Joseph & Elizabeth), Genevieve & Janet Stanley (daughters of WP & Genevieve), John J & Mary McGrath (children of John & Katherine), Charlotte & Mary Smith (daughters of EA & Jeanne), James Keck (son of Oscar & Lydia), Betty Mae Trader (1940 census: daughter of Emmet & Dellamae) and Dorothy Bockelman (11 year old daughter of Norman & Tropha).
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Some Old St. Louis Photographs: Mr. & Mrs. Wm. Dooley
I came across some very old photographs recently. Fortunately, two of them identified the subjects, relatives though not direct ancestors. I'm trying to figure who these folks are. All of the photos were taken in St. Louis, home of our Hogan ancestors and Dooley relatives. Here's what I know so far.
These first two are identified. They are of Mr. and Mrs. William Dooley. William Dooley was a successful grocer in St. Louis. He immigrated in about 1850, and in 1863 married 25 year old Elizabeth Martin, also an Irish immigrant. William Dooley was the brother of Catherine Dooley LaBrune, my great great grandmother. Elizabeth Martin Dooley was the sister of Anastasia Martin Hogan, another great great grand-mother. So they are not direct ancestors, but close relatives.
When were these photos taken? Elizabeth died in 1881, so hers was taken earlier than that. Since they are no longer here to be offended by my guesses at their ages, my guess from the photos is that she was about 40 years old, and he 45. From their dates of birth in 1838 and 1827, respectively, the photographs might have been taken in about 1878 and 1872. Since the two photos are sequentially numbered, they were probably taken at the same time.
For more information, I googled Scholten Photography in St. Louis and found two lists of historic photographers with helpful information. Early St. Louis Photographers lists photographers in St. Louis and their known dates of operation at given addresses. Their information places these photos between about 1863 and 1875. Langdon's List of 19th & Early 20th Century Photographers was not precise for these two photos.
Putting all of this information together, I'm guessing these photos were taken in about 1872, when Elizabeth and William were 34 and 45 years old, respectively.
When were these photos taken? Elizabeth died in 1881, so hers was taken earlier than that. Since they are no longer here to be offended by my guesses at their ages, my guess from the photos is that she was about 40 years old, and he 45. From their dates of birth in 1838 and 1827, respectively, the photographs might have been taken in about 1878 and 1872. Since the two photos are sequentially numbered, they were probably taken at the same time.For more information, I googled Scholten Photography in St. Louis and found two lists of historic photographers with helpful information. Early St. Louis Photographers lists photographers in St. Louis and their known dates of operation at given addresses. Their information places these photos between about 1863 and 1875. Langdon's List of 19th & Early 20th Century Photographers was not precise for these two photos.
Putting all of this information together, I'm guessing these photos were taken in about 1872, when Elizabeth and William were 34 and 45 years old, respectively.
Monday, April 1, 2013
Buchanans in Fort Covington
A previous post was about one of the Margaret Donnellys in our tree, a daughter of James and Mary A. Donnelly, originally in Waddington, New York, but then longtime residents of Burlington, Vermont. Margaret's mother was Mary Buchanan, born in Fort Covington, Franklin co., New York. I believe I found her family in the 1850 census in Fort Covington. Her parents, John and Margaret, were both born in Ireland in about 1795. From census and cemetery records, I've put a very sketchy story together until I can find more information. Buchanan is a Scottish name, and almost all Buchanan's lived in northern Ireland, according to Matheson's surname study. I believe I found John Buchanan buried in the Protestant Community Cemetery in Fort Covington, so the family was likely Episcopalian or Presbyterian. It appears there were two sons born in the early '20s, and there may have been others that had moved out before I found the family in census records. These children would have been born in Ireland or Canada. A daughter, Margaret, was born in New Brunswick in 1826, which may have been while the family was en route from Ireland to the United States. The next child I know of, James, was born in New York in 1830. Another son was born in the early 1830s, followed my Mary Buchanan (eventually Donnelly) in 1834. Since Mary and James' daughters did not marry, and had no children, we are not directly related to anyone in this branch of the family.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Margaret Donnelly no. 2
Our second Margaret Donnelly, aka Maggie, was the niece of Margaret no. 1. Maggie was the daughter of James Donley (the oldest of Patrick and Nancy's sons, the only one born in Ireland) and Mary Buchannan. I don't know alot about this family. James and Mary were married in the early 1850s. Maggie was born in 1856 in Fort Covington, about 40 miles east of Waddington (where our Donnelly family first settled) along the St. Lawrence river. It could be that James and Mary lived in Fort Covington, or that Mary was from there and she had the baby in her parents' home. In 1860 they were living in the village of Waddington. In 1868, when Maggie was 12 years old, they sold their home and moved to Burlington, Vermont, where they remained. What little I know about Maggie is that in 1880 she was selling or making hats, that in 1899 she died of heart disease, and that as far as I can tell, she never married. She is probably buried in Burlington in a family plot.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Margaret Donnelly no. 1
I was once told that my Aunt Peggy (given name Margaret) had wanted to research and write a book about the Margaret Donnellys in our family before she passed away. I don't think she knew about the first in our American family ...
Margaret Donnelly was born in 1837 in Madrid, New York, the seventh of Ann and Patrick Donley's nine children. We know little about her youth. She did not marry and was principally helping her mother run their farm home until about the age of 30. She must have learned to sew well, as she earned a living as a dressmaker after she left home, probably in the late 1860s. I haven't found her between about 1860 and 1875, when she was living in Chicago. Her brother, Edward, may have been living in Chicago in 1872 (according to a marriage record), so perhaps they met there after Edward's service in the army ended in 1865. Her younger sister, Mary, joined her in Chicago after their mother died in 1875. Margaret remained in Chicago, working as a dress maker, until about 1883, when she returned to Waddington, New York, formerly part of Madrid, her native town. By this time, her only sibling in the area was Kate Donnelly Gorman, though the husband and some of the children of her late sister, Bridget Donley/Donnelly Gorman, lived in Waddington, and her brother John and his young family lived just across the river in Morrisburg, Ontario. I can only speculate on what happened between 1883 and 1900. [I've removed the perhaps and maybes from the following, which is "historical fiction" - my guess at what might have happened based on what little we know.] Margaret probably lived in Waddington a few years, working as a seamstress, enjoying visiting with her many nieces and nephews and her sister, Catherine, just five years older than she. When her brother-in-law, Jim Graham, passed away in the early 1890s, she went to Memphis, Michigan, to help her sister, Ann, now widowed and with no children. She ended up staying in Memphis. Her older brother, also Jim, came to live with her at some point, possibly when Jim Graham died, possibly after the death of his daughter, Maggie Donnelly, in 1899. Ann passed away in 1895. When brother-in-law Christy Gorman passed away in 1900, Margaret and Jim moved back to Waddington. I wonder if, at this point, Margaret was mostly living off of inheritances and relatives. (She was named in the wills of her mother, Nancy, in 1875, and brother Michael in 1881. Being Ann's only family in Michigan when she passed away, I would guess that all of Ann's property was passed on to her and Jim. The 1900 census says that Margaret had not worked for most of the previous year. In 1910, she was living with the family of her niece, Catherine Gorman Murphy.) In October of 1912, Margaret moved back to Chicago, where she developed a severe bronchitis. Two months later she passed away. She was returned to Waddington for burial.
Margaret Donnelly was born in 1837 in Madrid, New York, the seventh of Ann and Patrick Donley's nine children. We know little about her youth. She did not marry and was principally helping her mother run their farm home until about the age of 30. She must have learned to sew well, as she earned a living as a dressmaker after she left home, probably in the late 1860s. I haven't found her between about 1860 and 1875, when she was living in Chicago. Her brother, Edward, may have been living in Chicago in 1872 (according to a marriage record), so perhaps they met there after Edward's service in the army ended in 1865. Her younger sister, Mary, joined her in Chicago after their mother died in 1875. Margaret remained in Chicago, working as a dress maker, until about 1883, when she returned to Waddington, New York, formerly part of Madrid, her native town. By this time, her only sibling in the area was Kate Donnelly Gorman, though the husband and some of the children of her late sister, Bridget Donley/Donnelly Gorman, lived in Waddington, and her brother John and his young family lived just across the river in Morrisburg, Ontario. I can only speculate on what happened between 1883 and 1900. [I've removed the perhaps and maybes from the following, which is "historical fiction" - my guess at what might have happened based on what little we know.] Margaret probably lived in Waddington a few years, working as a seamstress, enjoying visiting with her many nieces and nephews and her sister, Catherine, just five years older than she. When her brother-in-law, Jim Graham, passed away in the early 1890s, she went to Memphis, Michigan, to help her sister, Ann, now widowed and with no children. She ended up staying in Memphis. Her older brother, also Jim, came to live with her at some point, possibly when Jim Graham died, possibly after the death of his daughter, Maggie Donnelly, in 1899. Ann passed away in 1895. When brother-in-law Christy Gorman passed away in 1900, Margaret and Jim moved back to Waddington. I wonder if, at this point, Margaret was mostly living off of inheritances and relatives. (She was named in the wills of her mother, Nancy, in 1875, and brother Michael in 1881. Being Ann's only family in Michigan when she passed away, I would guess that all of Ann's property was passed on to her and Jim. The 1900 census says that Margaret had not worked for most of the previous year. In 1910, she was living with the family of her niece, Catherine Gorman Murphy.) In October of 1912, Margaret moved back to Chicago, where she developed a severe bronchitis. Two months later she passed away. She was returned to Waddington for burial.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Leo Hogan
Leo LaBrune Hogan was born in St. Louis in 1900 to James and Anastasia Hogan. He was a great competitive swimmer. He began college at St. Louis University, probably in the Fall of 1917.
You can imagine the world wide excitement at the 1920 games. The 1916 games that were to take place in Berlin had been cancelled in turmoil preceding the start of the first World War. The 1920 games were held in Belgium, a country that had been occupied by Germany in the War. [I don't know whether this location had been chosen long in advance, or was selected to symbolize the victory of the Allies in the War.] Germany was not invited to the 1920 games. In what must have been the lingering euphoria of victory, a record number of athletes were sent to these games. The five ring symbol of the modern Olympic Games was introduced that year. Duke Kahanamoku was the best known of the men's swimmers that year.
His obituary in the New York Times summarizes some of his achievements:
Although he never married and had no children of his own, he spent a great deal of time with his sister's family, also in the Chicago area. He reportedly drove his big sister nuts, his wild personality the opposite of hers. But the children loved his antics and his stories. He passed away at his home in 1948. In a reflection of both his wild side and his prominence in the business community, his funeral was attended by the mayor of Chicago and the entire kick-line from the Club Alabam, one of the hottest night clubs in Chicago.
Alton Evening Telegraph, Alton, IL, April 21, 1918He served at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station for 16 months, first as a radio electrician, then as a hospital apprentice. He stayed at Great Lakes as a swimming instructor and in 1920 travelled to the Summer Olympics as a men's swimming coach.
Leo Hogan of St. Louis in the Navy
Friends in Alton have received word that Leo Hogan, eighteen year old son of Mr. and Mrs. James Hogan of McPherson avenue, St. Louis, has enlisted in the radio service of the navy and is at the Great Lakes Training Station near Chicago. Hogan was a student of the St. Louis University and enlisted upon reaching his 18th birthday.
He is the son of James Hogan, formerly of Alton, and is well known here, where the family visits frequently. His elder brother, Lieut. Dan Hogan, is in the 432nd Aero Squadron, in the state of Washington. Miss Marie Hogan, a sister, visits with Mrs. James B. Cahill of Madison avenue very often.
Alton Evening Telegraph, Aug 3, 1920
Leo Hogan, son of James Hogan, a former Altonian, but of recent years residing in St. Louis, has sailed for Antwerp, Belgium, as coach for the men from the Great Lakes Training Station at Chicago, who will participate in the Olympic meet. Hogan is 21 years of age and is the youngest coach at the Great Lakes. He has been coach at the Great Lakes since 1917. He will spend the summer in Europe. Hogan is the brother of Miss Marie Hogan, who visits frequently in Alton.
You can imagine the world wide excitement at the 1920 games. The 1916 games that were to take place in Berlin had been cancelled in turmoil preceding the start of the first World War. The 1920 games were held in Belgium, a country that had been occupied by Germany in the War. [I don't know whether this location had been chosen long in advance, or was selected to symbolize the victory of the Allies in the War.] Germany was not invited to the 1920 games. In what must have been the lingering euphoria of victory, a record number of athletes were sent to these games. The five ring symbol of the modern Olympic Games was introduced that year. Duke Kahanamoku was the best known of the men's swimmers that year.
In about 1922, Leo graduated from St. Louis University and moved to Chicago. In 1927, he founded Hogan & Farwell real estate, of which he was president until his death in 1948. Hogan & Farwell owned some of the most prominent buildings in Chicago. He joined the Navy again in World War II. The following is probably from the Chicago Tribune:
One of his nieces remembers Leo saying that the most exciting thing he ever experienced was when his ship returned to the US mainland from duty in the Pacific, having crossed the Pacific Ocean. When the ship passed under the Golden Gate bridge it was covered with cheering people welcoming them home. Another recalls hearing Leo's stories of some of his shipmates tortured during the War. They say he was not the same after his return.
His obituary in the New York Times summarizes some of his achievements:
New York Times, 5 June 1948
Leo L. Hogan, Headed Chicago Realty Men
Chicago, June 4 - Leo L. Hogan, former president of the Chicago Real Estate Board and a prominent real estate broker here since 1927, when he founded the firm of Hogan-Farwell, Inc., died today after a long illness. His age was 48.
Mr. Hogan was elected president of the Chicago Real Estate Board in 1946 after serving a term as president of the North Central Association, a group of real estate dealers.
He came to Chicago in 1922 after he was graduated from St. Louis University in the city of his birth. After working as a salesman for five years he established the firm of which he held the presidency until his death.
A veteran of both World Wars, he spent three and a half years as a lieutenant commander in the Navy during the recent war and won the Silver and Bronze Stars and the Purple Heart while serving aboard the carrier Intrepid in the South Pacific.
He was a member of the Racquet, the Chicago Golf, the Tavern and the Mid-Day clubs.
Surviving are a sister, Mrs. James L. Donnelley of Evanston, and a brother, Daniel.
Although he never married and had no children of his own, he spent a great deal of time with his sister's family, also in the Chicago area. He reportedly drove his big sister nuts, his wild personality the opposite of hers. But the children loved his antics and his stories. He passed away at his home in 1948. In a reflection of both his wild side and his prominence in the business community, his funeral was attended by the mayor of Chicago and the entire kick-line from the Club Alabam, one of the hottest night clubs in Chicago.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)