Irish Ancestors - Patrick and Margaret (Conlon) Doyle

I've broken down two brick walls over the last week. I found the death certificates for my greatgrandparents, Patrick and Margaret (Maggie) Doyle. Identifying their exact birth and death dates had been frustrating for me over the years, but now those records are digitized. Patrick Doyle was born 17 May 1858 in Ireland. He died 31 May 1924 at 1948 Cruger Avenue, Bronx, New York. I know this is "my" Patrick, because my grandparents, my father and his siblings lived at that address. It gives his occupation as a Street Cleaner, which I knew. What I didn't know was his parents names, John and Mary Doyle. Margaret (Conlon) Doyle was born abt 1867 (no exact date), and died 1 January 1928 at 1948 Cruger Street, Bronx, New York. What I didn't know were her parents Michael and Catherine Conlon. The executor is listed as Mary Nunn (incorrectly listed as Neenn), who is my grandmother. When I found these folks I jumped up and did a happy dance. But these documents did not tell me where they were from in Ireland. Information I want to learn before I attend the Irish SIG hosted by the Manatee Genealogical Society on December 12. This new SIG is being offered due to the generousity of Irish genealogy expert Donna Moughty. Through the census years I had documented the "cousins" who had lived with the Doyles. One set of "cousins" were the Gormley brothers. I had researched them at an earlier date and found they emigrated from Ballinclee, Ireland. Maggie Doyle had Conlon cousins that I knew about, in fact I met two of them when I was small, but so far have not been able to find documentation of the relationship to Maggie. Those cousins weren't helpful because they were all born in the U.S. I remembered I had noted a woman, Margaret Hoey, who lived with my grandparents in the 1930 census. I searched Margaret Hoey in the Ancestry database and Bam! She was really easy to find. The immigration database showed her birth date as 13 Sepetember 1908, her birthplace Ballinclee, Co, Longford, Cobh, Ireland. She arrived in New York on 29 March 1926. Then the cincher: Her parents were listed as Ernest Hoey and Catherine (Conlon) Hoey. Could Margaret's mother be Maggie's sister, named for their mother? I will have to make a trip over to the Godfrey Library and use their International Ancestry subscription to work on that angle. She listed the person in the U.S. as John Conlon, but she stayed with the Nunn family (my grandparents) at 1948 Cruger Avenue, Bronx, New York. Margaret Hoey married Michael Lennon, of County Monaghan, Ireland. They lived at 1807 Archer St. Bronx, New York. With this research, I'm pretty certain my Patrick and Maggie Doyle were from the Ballinclee area of Ireland.

Conlon Family

The San Diego Genealogical Society provides random acts of genealogical kindness and for a small donation will do lookups for those searching in their geographic area. So while I wait for the obituaries of Belden and Mildred Mohrman, I did some work on the Conlon family.

The Mohrmans and the Conlons are not related. But they are part of the monograph I am ready to publish on my grandfather Harry J. Nunn.  Or at least I hope the Mohrmans are!  I hope these obituaries will lead me to descendants who will know enough about Mildred to ascertain whether she was our “Aunt Millie” aka Emilie Nunn b: 1897 and Harry’s sister.

The Conlons are cousins of Harry’s wife, Mary Agnes Doyle.  The cousins are Edward, George, Lawrence and Mae Conlon.  I have found this family difficult to research.  I do not know the parents’ names or what happened to them. To find the answer to that question I wrote to the New York City Department of Records for Edward’s birth certificate and received the dreaded “Not Found” letter.  I may have to break down ($$) and request Mae’s birth certificate.

Something happened between Mae’s birth in 1902 and 1909 as in 1910 Edward and George are shown living in the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum for Boys, Sedgewick and Kingsbridge Road in the Bronx. 

I cannot find Mae or Lawrence during this time. By 1920 Edward, George, Lawrence and Mae lived with the Doyles in their Manhattan apartment. 

In 1940 Mae is married to John Harrington, Lawrence lived in an apartment on East 101^st Street and Lexington, working for the Sanitation Department. Edward married Elizabeth E. [Unknown] b: 1894. Edward worked as a civilian clerk for the police department, and George lived with Edward and Elizabeth working for a delivery company as a helper on their trucks.

And so while waiting for my obits I was able to add a little more detail to the story of the Conlon family even if many questions are yet to be answered.

I guess that is what genealogy is all about – there is always more to be done.

Funeral Card Friday - Mary A. Harrington

 I came upon this funeral card today. The dearth of information imparted is testimony that she had no living relatives to provide such.  I remember clearly the early October day this card arrived in our mailbox. We were living in Newfield, New York at the time, and although I had not seen her in over ten years, we exchanged birthday and Christmas greetings.  But in 1983 my greeting for her 15 September birthday arrived too late.  I am thankful to the kind gentleman neighbor who intercepted the birthday card and then mailed me the funeral card with a note that Mary (Mae) had passed away.

There were too many Marys – Mary A. Harrington’s maiden name was Mary A. Conlon. She was my grandmother’s (Mary Doyle) cousin.  By 1920 Mae b: 1902, and her three brothers, Edward b: 1897, George b: 1899, and Lawrence b: 1901 were living with the Doyle’s in their Manhattan apartment. I suspect since my grandmother was “Mary,” they nicknamed Mary Conlon, “Mae.”  And that is how we knew her.

In the 1920s Mae started work in the fire department as a stenographer. She married in the early 1930s, and lived in the Bronx for the rest of her life. The 1940 census shows John and Mary A. Harrington living in the Bronx. John works as a “typest” for the fire department; Mae is not working. At some point she went back to work as I remember so well how proud she was of her position as “Secretary to the Fire Chief of New York.”

Mary (Nana) Doyle Nunn and Mae Conlon Harrington
1486 Taughannock Boulevard, Ithaca, New York
late 1960s 

During my growing up years Mae spent her two-week vacation at our Taughannock Boulevard house, visiting my grandmother, her cousin, Mary Doyle Nunn. 

Cousins - Mae and Nana on Anna Maria Island

Upon retirement she then could join us during our time on Anna Maria Island, Florida, again, able to spend time with her favorite cousin.

A kind gentle soul, Mae was a wonderful lady, soft spoken, and with a very sweet smile.