Away to America!

The Marriage of John Clancy and Alice Bryan

Inistioge, County Kilkenny



My great aunt, Alice (O'Brien/Bryan) Clancy, was born in Inistioge, Kilkenny, on May 1, 1872, the daughter of Michael and Ellen (Tobin) Bryan.  I knew from the ships manifest that she emigrated to Boston from Queenstown in September of 1899 with her future husband, John Francis Clancy, on the S. S. Cephalonia.



S. S. Cephalonia

Alice and John are both listed on the manifest, and although O'Brien is lightly crossed out, there is nothing else written in.  Both listed their last residence as Kilkenny, and while John had $5 with him, Alice had $100!  That was a lot of money in 1899.  Calculating for inflation, that would be over $2,700 in today's money.  Alice had been in the United States before, in Boston, in 1898.  They were going to her brother, Patrick O'Brien, at 140 Bennington Street, in East Boston.

Although John and Alice had a large family, and their first son Michael John was born on July 22, 1900, a mere 10 months after landing in Boston, I was never able to locate a marriage record for them in Massachusetts.  I had looked in Boston, where they first lived, then in Lynn, where they eventually settled.  When I was in Dublin last year I looked in Kilkenny, but there was no record marriage there either.

I expanded my search and found their marriage on September 12, 1899 in Queenstown, County Cork.  Their names, age, condition and father's names matched.  Since the ship left Liverpool on September 12, it appears they were married just before boarding by Fr. Thomas Madigan.  Alice's name may have been listed as O'Brien on the manifest because the ticket was purchased in that name before she married.  Residence at time of marriage for both is listed as Harbour Row, which is in the area of the docks.

Cobh is almost 90 miles from their home in Inistioge.   On the map at left, Inistioge is in the upper right hand corner and Queenstown in the lower left.   Even if they had planned to emigrate, if the marriage was approved by the families, you would expect it to be in the local parish.

Alice's mother had died earlier that year, and most of her siblings were grown.  Her sister Mary had already married.  Her brother Patrick and sister Johanna had both emigrated to Boston and married there.  That left Edward, Kate, Nellie, William and Michael at home.  Nellie and William eventually left to joined Alice in Lynn, Massachusetts.    Her father may not have wanted to her to leave, with five children still at home.  Why they were married in Cobh may never be clear, but it appears they eloped.

From now on, I'll take the possibility of elopement into account when looking for a marriage!


Pictured on the right, circa 1940, from left to right is Alice (Clancy) Hyde, Alice's daughter, Mary Scanlon, Nellie's daughter, Nellie (Bryan) Scanlon and Alice (Bryan) Clancy.



Copyright 2013 Kathleen Sullivan. All Rights Reserved

Breaking Down a Brick Wall

Last month I attended NERGC in Manchester, NH. There is always more to learn and great people to meet. On Friday evening I attended Michael Brophy's special interest group on Irish-American research. People had great questions, and participants ranged from beginners to experts.

One questioner caught my attention. Lea Zina was looking for her great great grandmother, Katie Kavanagh of Wenham. She was married in 1866 to Sherburne Morey in Gloucester, Massachusetts. I have a soft spot for Cavanugh/Kavanaughs, and my grandmother's sister was a Catherine Cavanaugh. The group had many suggestions for Lea, and I suggested she try the 1865 Massachusetts State Census on Family Search.

That evening, I tried searching the 1865 census, but I couldn't find a Katie Kavanagh of the right age. There was a Katie who was six years old, but she wouldn't have married in 1866. The next day, I ran into Lea after a talk. I told her I had been in the same special interest group and asked her if she had any luck with the suggestions. I told her about the Katie I had found, who was obviously not the right one.

Lea shared her research with me. What she knew of Katie, based on census and vital records was the following:

• Katie was from Wenham, or Salem
• she was born in Massachusetts between 1848 and 1851,
• her last name was Cavenough, Cavender, Cavanagh, Cavenaugh, or Karagan
• her mother's name was Kate Durgin,
• her father's name was John Cavender

Lea and I exchanged email addresses and when I got home from the conference, I started looking for Katie in earnest. I went back to the 1865 Massachusetts state census for Wenham. Listed directly following the family of six year old Katie was another Cavanaugh family. This family consisted of father Martin, age 60, mother Catherine, age 55, and three daughters, Catherine, age 14, Hannah, age 16 and Margaret, age 20. The parents were born in Ireland and the three girls in Massachusetts. This Catherine was much closer in age to the Katie we were looking for.

I followed the family in the 1870 US Census, still in the same location, directly following the younger Cavanaughs in Wenham. Now the family showed only Martin and Catherine, both age 62, born in Ireland. Catherine, Hannah and Margaret may have married or gone into service, as they were no longer in the home.

Next, I looked at vital records for Cavanaughs in Wenham, and found the death of Catherine “Dargan” Kavanagh later the same year on July 23, followed by the death of Martin, widower, on September 18, 1878. Lea and I reviewed the results and it seemed pretty clear that Catherine Dargan Kavanagh was “Kate Durgin” and Martin Kavanagh was “John Cavender”.

Since that time, Lea has gone on to locate 7 potential siblings (4 brothers and 3 sisters), their marriages, offspring, naturalization records, and deaths and is well on her way to documenting the entire family through census records. She found through census records the family emigrated in 1854, so it is likely that all the children, including Katie, were born in Ireland.

Copyright 2013 Kathleen Sullivan. All Rights Reserved

Who Do You Think They Are?

Orvil & William Raney 1911 

Orvil and William Raney

This is a portrait of Orvil and William Raney taken in 1911.  I found it in a lot of postcards I bought at auction.

I located Orvil and William, the sons of Orvil W. and Anna D. Raney in the 1910 Census in Sharon, Mercer County, Pennsylvania.  Orvil was age 4 and William age 0, which would make them around 5 and 1 in this picture.

Both parents and all four grandparents were born in Pennsylvania.  Mr. Raney was a public school teacher.  By the 1920 census, Jennie Douglass, Mr. Raney's mother-in-law and Anna's mother had joined the family.  Anna D. Raney was Anna Douglass before her marriage.  Mr. Raney is now a high school teacher.

By the 1930 census, Mrs. Douglass is no longer with the family.  Mr. Raney is still teaching school, Orvil is age 24 and William is 20.

In the 1940 census, Orvil is living with his wife, May and daughter Carol May, age 3, on South Oakland Avenue in Sharon.  He is employed as a timekeeper for a transportation company.  The name in this census is transcribed incorrectly as David.

According to her obituary, Mrs. May Gladys Raney, age 92, wife of the late Orvil Douglass Raney died Tuesday, July 16, 2010 at her residence in Aiken, South Carolina.  She was born in Sharon, Pennsylvania, the daughter of William and Christine Cartwright.  She and her husband had lived in Sharon, Pennsylvania, Warren, Ohio and Aiken, South Carolina.  She was survived by her son William D. Raney of Orlando, Florida, her daughter, Carol Scott of Aiken, South Carolina, six grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren. 

I would love to return this picture to any of Mr. Raney's children, grandchildren or great grandchildren, should they happen to see this blog.


Copyright 2013 Kathleen Sullivan. All Rights Reserved