WDYTYA in Brooklyn!

This morning, I got an e-mail from the Brooklyn Historical Society, which will be featured on tonight's episode of Who Do You Think You Are? Tonight's episode explores Rosie O'Donnell's history. I hadn't realized it would involve Brooklyn! Just last week, I thought to myself "I wish they'd do an episode with NYC ancestors. I bet I'd be exposed to some resources I'm unfamiliar with." Ask and ye shall receive!

According to both the e-mail and the BHS website,

BHS will be featured in an episode of the popular NBC program "Who Do You Think You Are?" this Friday, February 18 at 8:00 p.m.. The episode will feature actress, singer, author and media personality Rosie O'Donnell on her quest to learnmore about her family history. Mark your calendar and set your DVR. You don't want to miss this!

Interested in doing your own family history research? BHS' Othmer Library and Archival collections contain many resources for those interested in genealogy and family history research. Click here for a detailed listing of our resources that are most frequently consulted by genealogists and family historians. You can also download a pdf guide to Brooklyn related genealogy resources at both BHS and other libraries here.

I'm so psyched! Unfortunately, I'll be in the car tonight when WDYTYA is on. Is there a protocol for the excitedly live-blogging shows while you watch them tomorrow morning on Hulu?

Mulvaney Family, 1875

When I visited the NYPL several weeks ago, this was one of the 1875 NYS Census records that I found, the record of the Mulvaney Family. It's hard to tell, because the addresses are cut off in the image, but I believe that across the margin is written the word "King" and next to that the number "121." If that's so, it's a couple doors down from 127 King, the address where John Mulvaney was living when his father died in 1885. It's a further few doors away from 135 King, where Bridget Rothwell Mulvaney died in 1883, and a couple blocks from 197 King, where the family was enumerated in 1880. They apparently spent at least a decade just moving up and down the street. 

The family is enumerated as James Mulvaney, 48, an Irish-born carpenter and naturalized voter; Bridget, 43, his wife; Thomas, 20; John, 18; Patrick, 15; and Mary A., 13. The children are all Brooklyn-born, and none of them have occupations listed, although 5 years ago, at age 15, Thomas had already been listed as an "Ap. Carpenter." I'd imagine that certainly Thomas and John, and maybe Patrick, were working by this point in time. Looking up the page, however, it seems that only heads of households and other verifiably adult males - men in their 30s and 40s - had their occupations noted. They live in a brick house worth $5,000.