John and Mae (Conlon) Harrington of the Bronx, New York

On 24 March 2011 and 4 January 2013 I wrote blog posts about this couple. Mae is my grandmother’s cousin. In the past I’ve found very little about her and her family. Yesterday I decided to try again.

Thanks to Reclaim the Records, the books listing New York City marriages have been posted online. In 1930 Mae lived with my grandparents Harry and Mary (Doyle) Nunn in the Bronx. In 1940 Mae and her husband John Harrington were living in the Bronx, and stated they were at that same address in 1935. That cut the window for their marriage to five years. Their marriage date was found to be 25 March 1932. (Note my first blog post about Mae was a day after her 25 March wedding date-coincidence?)

My main goal is to connect Mae’s father, Edward Conlon, with my great-grandmother, Margaret (Conlon) Doyle. That I did not accomplish. But I’m getting close. There are other mysteries surrounding this family. I believe the mother Mary (O’Donnell?) Conlon died between 1905 and before the 1910 census as Edward listed himself as widower. I need to find her death date and cause of death. Then what happened to her husband, Edward? Mae and Anna disappear for a few years, until Mae is seen living with the Doyles. Where’s Anna? Mae’s brothers are in an orphanage, until they, too, are living with the Doyles in the 1920s.

I found an Ancestry.com family tree that had Mae’s brother Edward married to Elizabeth “Lil” E. Graham (1892-1973). Earlier I’d found from a census document that Edward had a wife named Elizabeth, but had no maiden name. Now I do. Unfortunately, the woman who posted this tree on Ancestry has not been active for over a year. I sent her an email anyway, but we know what that tells us – sigh.

The other problem with this family is most did not marry, and the ones that did produced one or no children. There might not be much more information to be found, but their story deserves to be told and I intend to do that.

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.