The Family of Margaret Conlon

From left, Maggie (Conlon) Doyle, Patrick Doyle and ?

Margaret (Maggie) (Conlon) Doyle is my paternal great grandmother. She is someone whom I know little about. I am now revisiting this family and hope I can find the link between Edward Conlon and Maggie.

Edward’s daughter, Mary (Mae) b: abt 1902 was always introduced as my grandmother’s cousin. Mae spent her two week summer vacations with us in Upstate New York while visiting my grandmother Mary Agnes (Doyle) Nunn. I’d also met Mae’s brother Lawrence, and knew about George and Edward Conlon.

From left, Mary (Doyle) Nunn and Mae (Conlon) Harrington

 Yesterday I searched the 1905 New York State census and was surprised to find another child in the family—Anna b: abt 1903. Their parents, Edward Conlon b: abt 1873 and Mary (O’Donnell) Conlon b: abt 1873 and family lived in Manhattan.

Edward reports in the 1910 Federal Census that he is a widower working as an oiler in a powerhouse. A brother named Lawrence, age 31, is living with him.

During previous research I’d found the sons Edward and George Conlon living at the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum for Boys in the Bronx District #35 in 1910. The orphan asylum was located on Sedgewick Avenue and Kingsbridge Road.

Where are Lawrence, Mae and Anna? What happened to the mother and where is she buried. These questions remain to be answered.

In 1915 Edward, George, Lawrence and Mae are boarding with the John and Bridget Conlon family on Wallace Street, Bronx, New York, and then by 1917 the Conlon children still minus Anna are living with Patrick and Maggie (Conlon) Doyle at 164 East 97^th Street in Manhattan.

I’ve come up blank on finding information on Mae’s marriage to John Harrington, his death, and burial. I have Mae’s funeral card with the date of 11 September 1983, but no indication of church or funeral home. I know Mae Conlon and John Harrington were married between the time the census was taken in 1930 and 1935. I’ve looked through the Reclaim the Records index of New York marriages for the Bronx, but now wonder if they went to Manhattan to get married in the same church as my grandparents, St. Lucy’s. That’s my next step.

My challenge is to connect Maggie b: abt 1865 and Edward b: abt 1873 so I can add this branch to my family tree.

And then there is Thomas Conlon living with the Doyles in 1910. Ah, the Irish cousins.

Ireland Reaching Out

This morning I registered with Ireland Reaching Out, a “global network for people of Irish Heritage.”

With a great grandfather named Patrick Doyle, I didn’t think I had a chance of finding him in Ireland.

Ireland Reaching Out is a community of volunteers and family researchers working to make those connections. It is a great marketing tool for Ireland, and a great asset for those of us just starting to search across the pond.

It is easy to register. Just put in your email. An email is sent to you with further instructions and a password into the site. One glitch, however. I never received the original email. This morning I put in my email again, being told that email was already taken, and did “I” forget my password? [smile]

I clicked “forgot my password,” even though I had never been sent one … and I did receive the next email. I was able to reset my password, and from there you can chose if you know your parish or if you don’t. I selected “don’t know,” and from there a message board appeared. I put in my gr-grandfather’s information, as much as I know, and now hope some volunteer or researcher will be able to help me.

We have shared this website with those we know researching their Irish ancestors. I will let you know if I have any success.

Happy New Year

Now that I have posted my modest genealogy goals for 2014, in the light of a new year I face the harsh reality of those mysteries and stubborn brick walls that continue to haunt me.  At the top of the list is the Nunn family.

Of German descent Joseph and Catherina Kurz Nunn had ten children. With the parents both gone by June 1900, all but one of the children were placed in St. Joseph’s Home, Peekskill, NY.  It remains a mystery as to the adult lives of my grandfather’s siblings, Emma Nunn Dorn, Emilie, Joseph, Katie and George, and last but not least the eldest child, Elizabeth Nunn Siebert and descendents of her oldest child, Regina Siebert Eberhard. Followers may remember (or maybe not) that three years ago a comment was made on my blog from Martha Eberhard, wife of Gerard, one of Regina’s sons. I was thrilled. I immediately responded, but never heard another word and had no other way to contact her.  From an emotional high, as time passed with no word, I was devastated.  I don’t know what happened, though I suspect some family crisis intervened, or the family does not want to be found. If I could have 30 minutes with one person from history, it would be with Elizabeth Nunn Seibert. She holds the key to what happened to this family. Her story is amazing.

Of Irish descent are the Conlons and Doyles.  They, too, are a difficult bunch, living in a small Manhattan apartment with any number of “cousins” moving in and out.  Patrick and Maggie Conlon Doyle had six children, only two that lived.  My grandmother was one, but what happened to her sister Winnie? I never heard her mention a sister.

I have ignored my Wortman family line over the past several years.  It is time to focus on that line again.

So, my modest to-do list for 2014 isn’t so very modest at all. I have a lot of work to do. I had better get at it.  

Tuesday’s Tip – Timelines in Genealogy Research

“A grasp of history is important in putting the circumstances of an ancestor’s life in context.” Speaking to an audience with experience that ranged from a few months to over forty years, Phyllis (Jule) Legare explained how important timelines are in genealogy research.

Presented in PowerPoint format, Phyllis showed a number of ways timelines can be developed to help fill out an ancestor’s life.   She explained that timelines provide chronological information of our ancestor’s lives as they fit into local and even world events.  Timelines can be historical events, a list of individuals in your family, or any combination. 

I decided to try one of her options, which was to develop a timeline for an individual.  I chose my grandfather, Harry Nunn, since he was the person who got me started on my genealogy journey. I thought I had pretty much filled out his life, so this database should be easy to fill in.  Wrong.

My fields were: Year, Event, Town, County, State, and Source. What I quickly realized was that since I had started his research in the mid-1990s, things like the five-year NY census were not known/available to us, and his whereabouts in 1910 was still a mystery.

I went about filling those holes in my database.  I cannot find him in the 1905 NY Census. In 1904 at the age of 14 he was sent from St. Joseph’s Home in Peekskill to work with a Mr. Salmon (?), Middletown, NJ.  New Jersey also had a five year census, where I found a George H. Nunn in Morris, NJ, but not a Harry or Henry.

I am convinced that in 1910 Harry was in Alexandria Bay, NY working as a bartender, even though the stated age on that census was “30” when he was actually 20.   At this point I decided that not only is my Irish side creative with their ages, but that tendency seems to be on my German side as well!  I went back to the database and added another field – Age. It will be fun to track how individual’s ages were recorded through the years.

Harry was married in 1914, so in 1915 and 1920 he is living with his in-laws, Patrick and Maggie Doyle.  By 1930 Harry, Mary and their children are living at 1948 Cruger Avenue in the Bronx.  I had assumed that the Doyles died at some point in the 1920s, but again, have had no luck finding their death dates.

Consequently I was surprised that in 1925 the family was living at the Cruger Avenue house, but with Margaret (Maggie) Doyle as head of household. Her daughter Winnie (age 21) was living there along with the Nunn family, cousin Mae Conlon and niece Catherine Murphy.  Now I know that Patrick Doyle died between 1920 and 1925; Margaret (Maggie) Doyle died between 1925 and 1930, and that Winnie was married sometime after 1925.  I have found a couple of options for Patrick’s death certificate on FamilySearch.org, and will be ordering the microfilm.  Fingers crossed.

Developing a timeline database has helped me immensely on a family member I thought I knew pretty well.  Although I had much of this information, pulling it into a database gives a whole different perspective.  I may now expand on the database (or develop a new one) by adding additional family members as well as historical/economic events.

Phyllis (Jule) Legare was a speaker at Introductory Genealogy and Beyond, a spring series offered by the Fredericksburg Regional Genealogical Society and the Central Rappahannock Regional Library.  The last two sessions in this series will be held at the Free Lance Star building, 616 Amelia Street, Fredericksburg, VA.

April 27, 2013 – Session I - Probate/Courthouse Records: Understanding Them and Locating them, and Session II – Civil War Research

May 11, 2013 – Session I – DNA in Genealogy, and Session II – Continuing the Family Legacy: Honoring Heritage through Lineage Societies

Follow Friday - Immigration and Naturalization

Yesterday we attended a presentation by professional genealogist, Penny Hartzell, on immigration and naturalization.  In a concise manner Penny lead the audience through the three phases of immigration: Phase 1 was 1820 – 1854. This period covers the failure of the German Revolution and the Irish Potato Famine. Phase 2 covers the years 1855 – 1891 when Castle Garden opened in New York harbor.  Immigrants’ entry through Castle Garden was a way for the government to better control the great influx. Many people were being scammed at the docks, left with no money or luggage.  Officials at Castle Garden provided security and assistance for those arriving on U.S. shores.  Many marriages occurred at Castle Garden as immigrants had to be met by someone. Women were especially vulnerable, so they would arrange to have a male waiting for them and a quick marriage performed.  Phase 3 of immigration covers the years 1892 – 1920 and the establishment of Ellis Island. Penny mentioned that during the years 1890-1900 the U.S. had 30,725 immigrants per month.

She then went through three scenarios of what she found and did not find in immigration records giving her audience a good perspective.  She reminded everyone that Italian wives traveled under their maiden name, so when looking for this family, look for the children. 

Canadian border crossing lists began in 1906.

Naturalization indexes and cards are being put online every day, so keep looking. She mentioned Familysearch.org, Footnote.com, and of course Ancestry as good sources for immigration and naturalization information.

My Follow Friday entry therefore is www.bloodandfrogs.com. Penny shared an immigration form available on this site. The form covers the years 1880 through 1930 and is a good way to track and compile what your immigrant ancestor reports on each census. This Jewish Genealogy site has a wealth of information, and of course, there are many more useful forms shared there.

A couple of years ago I had asked Penny about my great-grandfather’s naturalization documentation. Since the year of his naturalization was 1887 she said there wouldn’t be much of anything. I asked yesterday if that answer was still correct. She said there should be a card for him and that I should take the document I have and go to NARA in New York City, show them the document and ask what they might have in their files.

My husband couldn't wait... so we had to go check Ancestry.org and we found the card for my great-grandfather, Patrick Doyle. But as you can see, there is no information there that I didn’t already have. Except for the name, John Carroll. The back of the card just states Great Britain/Ireland. 

Sigh... my family continues to be a trial…but I shall keep looking

Surname Saturday - Gormley Brothers from Ireland

In reviewing notes fom September 2008 in my handy composition notebook, I came across information I had jotted down from the 1910 Federal Census.

In that census I noted that Patrick and Maggie Doyle (my paternal great-grandparents) who lived in a Manhattan apartment had as boarders three brothers with the last name of Gormley – James b: abt 1880; Patrick b: abt 1886; and Michael b: abt 1889.

James and Patrick Gormley were employed as laborers in a car stable; Michael worked as a doorman at a hotel. By 1920 the Gormley brothers had moved out of the Doyle apartment – and other “cousins” had moved in.  I have not traced these gentlemen further, so if there are any Gormley family researchers out there I would be interested in learning more about them. 

Patrick Doyle - Street Cleaner

Irish immigrant Patrick Doyle arrived in New York on the first day of July 1885. Because the potato famine had driven almost two million Irish immigrants to American shores thirty years earlier, the Irish Emigrant Society was set up to help these immigrants find jobs, food, lodging and medical care.  I like to think that a Society member welcomed Patrick to America and helped him get settled.

Patrick Doyle

The city that Patrick now called home had streets not paved with gold; most were not paved at all, and they were filthy.  At first he found work as a laborer, but at some point after 1900 he worked as a street cleaner for the city’s sanitation department.

Fortunately, Patrick’s employment came after Col. George Edwin Waring had been put in charge. Waring demanded the sanitation workers stay out of bars, refrain from fighting, and from using foul language.  And they would now wear white uniforms that would proclaim them as “Soldiers of the Public Health.” 

At first I didn’t feel my great-grandfather’s occupation was important, but after reading about the history of New York City’s Sanitation Department, I learned that Patrick had a very important position. He served as the first line of defense in protecting public health. And that is why I love genealogy.