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