Sunday, January 28, 2018

Dinner for Two - 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

This post is part of a project called 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, created by Amy Johnson Crow.  The prompt for this week is invite to dinner.

I would love to have dinner with my great grandmother, Laura Josephine (Shaw) Sullivan/O'Sullivan, also known as Marie Eleanora Chauvin.  For many years Laura was the penultimate brick wall in my genealogy research.  According to the family Bible she was born on January 22, 1878 in Montreal, Quebec.  I had looked for Shaws in Montreal for years, but never found a family that seemed to match what I knew.


Notre Dame Basilica, Montreal
I knew from later records that Laura's mother's name was Mary Ann McCarthy and she was born in Ireland.  I knew that Laura's father's name was Joseph Shaw.  In 2008 I made a research trip to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.  I found an 1881 Canadian census for a Chauveau family with a French father named Joseph and an Irish mother named Mary A.  There were three daughters, with names and ages similar to Laura's known sisters, as shown below:

Josephine Chauveau compared to Josephine Shaw
Marie E. Chauveau compared to Laura Shaw
Louisa M. Chauveau compared to Mary Louise Shaw

Since this census was not available on line at the time, I had a copy printed to take home with me, just in case.  Fast forward to 2011, I was watching Who Do You Think You Are? with Rosie O'Donnell.  She was in Montreal viewing her great grandfather's baptismal record at Notre Dame Basilica.  I was sure if Rosie could find her great grandfather, I could find Laura.  I located Laura and all her siblings that evening in the Drouin database on Ancestry.com, as shown below:


Commonly Known As
Baptismal name
Date and Location
Joseph
Joseph
March 6, 1874, St Vincent de Paul, Montreal, Quebec 
Joseph (buried)
Joseph
Sept 11, 1874, St Antoine de Pade, Montreal, Quebec 
Josephine Shaw
Josephine Sophronie Chauvin
Dec 25, 1876, St Bernard de Lacolle, Quebec 
Laura Shaw
Marie Elionore Chauvin
January 22, 1878, St Bernard de Lacolle, Quebec 
Mary Louise Shaw
Marie Louise Chauvin
March 27, 1881, St Joseph, Montreal, Quebec 
Edith Amelia Shaw
Emmilee Ida Chauvin
April 22, 1883, St Brigide, Montreal, Quebec 
James Simon Shaw
James Simon Chauvin
Feb 6, 1886, Notre Dame Basilica, Montreal, Quebec 


    Mary Ann (McCarthy) Shaw and a daughter
    In these records, the parents were identified as Joseph Chauvin and Mary Ann McCarthy.  Laura, her siblings and her mother emigrated to Boston by train in 1886.  I haven't found any record of her father, Joseph, in Boston, other than his mention in family obituaries.
    Some of the questions I would like to ask Laura are below.
    1. How did you lose your hearing, and what was it like living as a deaf person in the early 20th century?
    Family stories vary about how Laura lost her hearing.  I was always told that she had scarlet fever as a child, which left her deaf.  June was told that she lost her hearing because of an explosion where she was working.  My grandfather spoke to her with a kind of sign language. 

    We know that she belonged to a group for deaf people and that she had deaf friends.   My cousin June has a panoramic photo of a large group of deaf people, including Laura, visiting Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C.

    2. How did you cope with losing all your immediate family members in a 5 year period, from 1898 to 1903?
    In 1898, Laura's sister Josephine was the first to die, from pulmonary phithisis.  She was followed by sister Mary Louise from consumption of the lungs in 1900 and Edith Amelia in 1902 from phithisis.  Her mother, Mary Ann (McCarthy) Shaw, died in 1903 from phithisis.  This left Laura, age 25, with five young children, and her brother, James Simon, age 17, as the only surviving members of the family.
      Despite her deafness, and the prevalence of tuberculosis in her family, Laura lived to be 88 years old.

      Name
      Date of Death
      Cause of Death
      Burial
      Josephine A. Shaw
      May 5, 1898
      Pulmonary Phithisis
      Calvary, Mattapan
      Mary L. (Shaw) Callhan
      Feb. 28, 1900
      Congestion of the lungs
      Calvary, Mattapan
      Edith Amelia Shaw
      June 5, 1902
      Phithisis
      New Calvary
      Mary Ann (McCarthy) Shaw
      Aug. 28, 1903
      Phithisis
      New Calvary

      3. When did you come to Boston, and who came with you?

      Other than Laura, who married in 1897,  the Shaw family has not been located in Boston in the 1900 census.  According to various birth marriage and death records they lived at 29 Spring Street, 5 Ransom Court and 42 Wall Street, all in the West End.  James Simon Shaw's naturalization papers, filed on February 13, 1922, state that he emigrated by rail on the 21st of January 1886.  He gave his birth date consistently as January 21, 1884, but he was baptized on February 6, 1886 in Montreal, Quebec.  He may not have known his actual birth date, and may have believed that he came to Boston around the age of 2 years.

      Copyright 2018, Kathleen Sullivan. All Rights Reserved

Sunday, January 21, 2018

Longevity - 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Hannah (Dealy) Sullivan (1841? to 1919)


This post is part of a project called 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, created by Amy Johnson Crow.  The prompt for this week is longevity.    My longest living direct ancestor would be Hannah (Dealy) Sullivan .... maybe.

My great great grandmother, Hannah Dealy Sullivan was very consistent in reporting her date of birth as May 1, 1841.  When she died on October 31, 1919 her age was reported by her daughter Hannah as 87 years, 5 months, with a birth date of May 1, 1932.

In order to resolve this discrepancy I developed a time line for Hannah's life, as shown below:

Date
Event
Source
1832 May 1
Birth of Hannah Dealy
"Massachusetts State Vital Records, 1841-1920," database with images, Family Search
1850 February 7
Married at Bantry, Jeremiah Sullivan
“Church Records” database with images, IrishGenealogy.ie
1851 January 9
Baptism of daughter Mary
“Church Records” database with images, IrishGenealogy.ie
1852 October
Baptism of daughter Helena
“Church Records” database with images, IrishGenealogy.ie
1857 November 8
Baptism of son Jeremiah
“Church Records” database with images, IrishGenealogy.ie
1861
Birth of daughter Hannah, New York City
Notation in daughter Hannah’s will that she was born in New York City
1880
99 Pleasant St, Boston, Mass.; age 40
1880 United States Federal Census; Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints
1887
Naturalization, Boston; Birth date May 1, 1841, age 47
 U.S. Naturalization Record Indexes, 1791-1992 (Indexed in World Archives Project); Ancestry.com
1888 May 23
Naturalization, Boston; birth date May 1, 1841, age 47
Massachusetts, State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1798-1950 Ancestry.com
1894 September 1
Arrival at Boston from Queenstown, Ireland; age 52
Boston Passenger and Crew Lists, 1820-1943; database with images, Ancestry
1900
180 Chelsea Street, Charlestown, Mass.; age 60
1900 United States Federal Census; Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints
1910
180 Chelsea Street, Charlestown, Mass.; age 70
1910 United States Federal Census; Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints
1919
Death of Hannah Dealy, Charlestown; age 87 years, 5 months
"Massachusetts State Vital Records, 1841-1920," database with images, Family Search

It seems pretty clear from the date of Hannah's marriage and the birth dates of her first two children, that 1832 is a more likely birth date.  There are not civil records from Bantry in the time from 1832 to 1841.  I could not find a baptism for Hannah in that time period either.

But why, other than for reasons of vanity, would a woman consistently report her age as 9 years younger on all available legal documents?  I believe the answer lies in this quote, taken from the Family Search Wiki on United States Naturalization and Citizenship.

The Act of May 26, 1824 allowed immigrants who arrived before their 18th birthday to, upon reaching age 21, petition for naturalization without filing a prior declaration of intention.  Petitions filed under this provision are usually called "Minor Naturalizations" because they relate to individuals who arrived as a minor (but who were an adult, age 21 or older, when actually naturalized).  They are also examples of "one paper naturalizations" because no declaration was required.  Many courts combined the declaration and petition documents into a form for this document which may or may not include the word "minor" in the title. Regular forms will cite the 1824 Act.  The minor naturalization provision was often abused and was repealed in 1906.

Because her Naturalization petition reports her arrival as May 5, 1858, she would have been age 17 years and 4 days on the date she arrived in America.  I think that starting with the 1880 census, this was Hannah's strategy for citizenship.  For this  reason, I am confident that her correct birth date is May 1, 1832 and she is my longest living recent direct ancestor.




Copyright 2018, Kathleen Sullivan. All Rights Reserved

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

My Favorite Photo - 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks


This post is part of a project called 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, created by Amy Johnson Crow.  The prompt for this week is my favorite photo.  This is a photo of my mother’s second cousin, Michael J. Manning.  One reason it is a favorite of mine is the note on the back.  The writer names everyone in the photo and where they are from:
 
Joe Cheparon Omaha
Gene Shepard Ogden
Mike Manning ?
Wm. Jarrell N. Carolina (Rebel)

Any genealogist or family historian appreciates this attention to detail.  Fortunately, I know Mike Manning and I know where he is from.  Michael Joseph Manning was born May 31, 1924 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the third child and second son of Michael and Mary Ann (Scanlon) Manning.  Mike enlisted in the U S Army of February 16, 1943 and served through February 24, 1946.  Mike died on June 19, 1984 and is buried at Good Shepherd Cemetery, Monroeville, Pennsylvania.  His wife Joan Alice (Riffle) Manning died September 15, 2002 and is buried with him.

The other reason I love this photo is Mike and Joan were very close to my mother.  Although I don’t remember ever meeting them, they always kept in touch with letters and photos.  It made the distance from Pittsburgh to Boston seem very small.  Although my mother had over 40 first cousins, her second cousin Mike and his wife Joan are ones I remember hearing about.

This is what I know about the Manning family:

Michael Thomas Manning was born  on May 6, 1888 at Ballyneanig, County Kerry, the son of Thomas and Mary (Shea) Manning.  He married, circa 1920, Mary Ann Scanlon, born November 3, 1890, at Scrag, Dingle, County Kerry, daughter of Patrick and Catherine (Foley) Scanlon. 

The children of Michael and Mary Ann (Scanlon) Manning, born Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania:

Mary Ellen, born April 29, 1921; died July 25, 2002; married (?) Irvine
Thomas Michael, born April 29, 1922; died August 3, 1998, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Michael Joseph, born May 31, 1924; died June 19, 1984, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; married Joan Alice Riffle
John Francis, born July 3, 1926; died October 28, 1957, Miami, Florida; married Elizabeth (?)
Catherine Theresa, born September 23, 1927; died July 1982
Brendan, born and died December 31, 1928, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Florence, born December 15, 1929; died December 22, 2005; married (?) Ott

I would love to hear from any members of the extended Manning family of 7060 Kelly Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.


Copyright 2018, Kathleen Sullivan. All Rights Reserved