Happy New Year

From Francis Tolliver, 1914

To Martin Richard, 2013

Peace on Earth, goodwill to men.

Merry Christmas!

My cousin James Edward Clancy enlisted in the U S Army on February 24, 1941, at the age of 31.  He was the eighth child and sixth son of John Francis and Alice (Bryan) Clancy of Lynn, Massachusetts.

In the 1940 census he was living at home with his parents, sister Alice, and 3 brothers at 112 Cottage Street and working as a restaurant manager.

My grandmother, Jimmy's aunt, saved this clipping about him, probably from February or March, 1941.  It most likely appeared in the Lynn Daily Item..

The caption reads In this group are selectees at Fort Bragg, South Carolina, two of whom are from Lynn.  Who is that big man in the front row, white shirt and cigar in mouth?  He is Jim Clancy, Lynn umpire.  He left Lynn one morning with a group of guys from West Lynn and Uncle Sam has not found an army jacket for him.  Directly behind him is John Blackjohn, son of George Blackjohn, proprietor of the 20th Century Barber Shop.

This is the last Christmas card my mother and grandparents received from Jimmy.  The back reads Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Uncle John, Aunt Nellie, Cousin Mary, Love, Jimmy.

Jimmy was a Staff Sergeant, 11th Infantry Regiment, 5th Infantry Division, died January 23, 1945.  He is buried in Plot G, Row 6, Grave 16 at the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial located in Hamm, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg.

Copyright 2015 Kathleen Sullivan. All Rights Reserved

The Year of the McDermotts (Part 3)

The Graves

The next day Mary and I spent the day with Tom in Cork City.  We had a great time shopping for books, visiting the English Market and touring the city.  In the early evening, Tom drove us over Michael's in Castlewrixon so we could all visit.  Michael met us at the car and told Tom he could come back to pick us up in a few hours.

Since it was still daylight, Michael drove Mary and I to visit the family graves.    There are three gravestones.  The gravestone in the center is very hard to read.  It is the grave of "the English lady",  Nora Barry, the wife of  David McDermott.  David emigrated to England at some point and married there.  He and the English lady eventually bought the big house at Castlewrixon and David's parents and siblings moved into the little house on the same property.


The stone on the left is the grave of my great grandparents, Peter and Ellen McDermott.  It reads Peter McDermott Castlewrixon He Died 4 April 1913 His wife Ellen Died 26 September 1918 And of their children, Christina, Peter and David.


The stone on the right is the grave of Michael's parents, Michael McDermott and Bridget Houlihan, Michael's parents and Tom's grandparents.

Michael and I at the family graves.

We had a lovely visit with Michael, Bridie and John Roche, grandson of Christina (McDermott) Roche, my great aunt.  We made copies of the family tree done by Sr. Mary Rosario (Bridget Josephine McDermott) and Michael showed us different family things in the house, including a clock that his aunt Catherine (McDermott) O'Sullivan brought back from America.



Tom came back to pick us up.  He joined us as we were sitting in the parlor.  He said he had not been in that room before, but we were not sure this was the whole truth.  The next adventure was to visit the little house, the home of my grandfather

Copyright 2015 Kathleen Sullivan. All Rights Reserved

es .  

The Year of the McDermotts (Part 2)

The Visit 

I had emailed Tom, looking for a B & B in his area, and he insisted that Mary and I stay with him.  Checking FaceBook just before we left, I saw a post from Tom that he had moved!  He assured me he was still in Churchtown, but at a larger place.

We arrived bright and early in the morning on Sunday, and picked up our rental car.  We received a free "upgrade" vehicle which we really appreciated until we found out it was a delivery van with no back seat.  We set off to meet Tom for the 9 am Mass at St Nicholas in Churchtown.  We found Churchtown earlier than expected so we parked and walked around a bit to get some fresh air and stretch after the long night flight.  We were just wondering how we would find Tom, when we rounded a corner and saw a man standing in the middle of the road, talking on a cell phone.  He was saying "They just drove by, I don't know where they went."  I would have recognized Tom anywhere, since we look just alike.  Well, other than the fact that he is 18 years younger, a foot taller, and has much less hair!

We joined Tom for Mass and then went back to his house to freshen up and take a nap before joining the rest of the family for Sunday lunch at .Springfort Hall.  We had a lovely meal and I had the good fortune to sit next to Uncle Michael for dinner.  He told me about how the family look for my grandfather after losing touch with him.  They had hired a detective at one point to search for him in New York City, but were never able to locate him.  I explained to him how after my grandmother's death the children were separated and eventually abandoned by their father.



Above: U. S. World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942, side 1; Image courtesy of Ancestry.com

Above: U. S. World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942, side 2; Image courtesy of Ancestry.com



The last know residence I had found for him was 200 E 30th Street, New York City.  This was from his U. S. World War II Draft Registration card for what is called the old man's draft.  He was 55 years old and working for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad.  None of us could find any further evidence of what became of him.

After Sunday lunch, Mary and I returned to Tom's house to chat and adjust to the time difference.  We really enjoyed Tom's new coffee machine!  In the early evening, the phone rang, and Tom answered in.  There was a quiet conversation, Tom hung up and turned to us.

"You've passed the test.  You have been invited to the house tomorrow evening!"




Back row: Michael McDermott, Claire McDermott, Tom McDermott
Front row: Bridie McDermott, Mary McDermott, Kathy Sullivan at Spring fort Hall

Copyright 2015 Kathleen Sullivan. All Rights Reserved



The Year of the McDermotts (Part 1)

My major genealogy goal for 2015 is to organize and document my McDermott family, starting with the children of Peter and Ellen (Roche) McDermott who had emigrated to the United States.  This will include, as far as I can tell now,  John, Thomas, Richard, Mary, Margaret, and to some extent, David and Catherine.

My grandfather Richard McDermott disappeared from the lives of his children sometime between 1925 and 1930.  Following the death of his wife on May 26, 1925, living arrangements became confused and the four children lived with various relatives or with foster parents and no one ever knew what became of Richard.  Because we had a copy of his citizenship papers, we knew his full name and birthplace.  Since McDermott is not a common name in County Cork, I was hopeful to make a connection.

My work on the McDermotts of Castlewrixon began in 2009 when I Googled my grandfather's name, Richard, and his birthplace, Charleville, County Cork.  I turned up an email address for a Fr. Tom McDermott, stationed in Churchtown, but originally from Charleville.  I emailed Fr Tom, explaining what I knew of my grandfather and asking about the possibility of being related.  Time went on and I waited, but no response.  After 3 weeks, I had pretty much forgotten about it, when I opened the reply from Tom, which started Dear Cousin Kathy, your grandfather and my grandfather were brothers!.  

Tom went on to detail how he had checked with his uncle Michael and found out that my grandfather had been missing from their family also and they thought he had stayed in America and lost touch.  I had been hoping he had returned to Ireland, so we were both disappointed.

As we corresponded it became clear that I needed to make a visit in person.  My cousin Mary McDermott and I planned to come the following September and spend a week in Cork and Kerry before driving to Dublin for a research week with TIARA (The Irish American Research Association).

On September 25, the 92nd anniversary of  Ellen (Roche) McDermott's death, Mary and I left Boston for Shannon.  Thus began the great adventure.

Copyright 2015 Kathleen Sullivan. All Rights Reserved