The Kings of Cloonsunna, Mayo, Ireland

My great-great-grandmother was Mary Ellen King, who married John O'Hara, probably in early 1890s Brooklyn.

Her death certificate gives her parents as Patrick King and Bridget Fadden, and her birth date as 3 December 1875. (The 1900 Census records her birth as being in May 1872.)

A John King lived with the O'Hara family in the 1910 Census. He is recorded as a boarder. John's death certificate gives his parents as John King and Bridget Fadden. His death certificate and WWI Draft Registration Cards record his birthday as being 8 November 1881.

A Martin King also lived with O'Hara family in 1910, but I can't find him anywhere else after that. According to the census, he would have been born c. 1885.

When the O'Hara family returned to Ireland in the early 1900s, they lived in Castlebar. Mary's husband was from the area near Castlebar. Her son John married the daughter of other Castlebar-area natives. I had a strong suspicion that she was from the area near Castlebar, but couldn't be sure.

An index search showed up no Patrick King and Bridget Fadden couples, but did return a John King and Bridget Fadden, from Cloonsunna, Co. Mayo. A page-by-page search of the Catholic Parish records for the area (Castlebar Parish) turned up the following children with parents by those names:

Thomas King, 24 Nov 1856
residence Cloonsinn[?] 

Catherine King, 27 May 1859
residence Cloonsumma 

Michael King, 19 Sept 1861
residence Holy Hill 

Patt King, 29 Feb 1864
residence Ballyhean 

Anne King, 5 Feb 1868
residence Cloonsunna 

John King, 14 Nov 1878
residence Cloonsuma

NOT in the parish registers - and I've double checked - is the Bridget King whose birth 12 Dec 1874 birth was registered on 6 Feb 1875 to John King and Bridget Fadden of Cloonshinnagh.

Also NOT in the parish registers - because they stop at 1880 - is the Martin King whose 26 Jan 1882 birth was registered to John King and Bridget Fadden on 14 June 1882.

Civil records don't begin until 1864, can't be browsed, and mothers' maiden names are not typically indexed, which means that I can only find the children I know to look for. Searching for these particular children yields:

Pat King, 29 Feb 1864
residence Holy Hill 

Anne King, 10 Feb 1868
residence Cloonsheennagh 

Bridget King, 12 Dec 1874
residence Cloonshinnagh

Martin King, 26 Jan 1882
residence Cloonsheenagh

NOT in the civil records - at least not showing up when I search - is the John King recorded in the parish registers as being born 14 Nov 1878.

There is no Mary, but the dates for Bridget are close. The John King born 14 Nov 1878 is a good candidate for the John King I'm interested in, although the lack of a civil record makes me wonder if he survived long enough for his birth to be registered. (Though I find no corresponding civil death record, either.) Patt King born in 1864 is far too young to be Mary Ellen's father, if the parents' names on her death certificate are, in fact, correct.

For most of these births and baptisms, the Kings lived in either Clonnsunna or Cloonshinnagh. They are technically two different townlands, but are only about half a mile away as the crow flies, practically right across the road.

Google sure does send you the long way, though! N.B. There appear to be 2 different Cloonshinnaghs in Mayo, about an hour apart. Google apparently chooses at random which to send you to.

Ballyhean is 2.5 Kilometers, or about a mile and a half, from Cloonsunna. I can't find anywhere in Castlebar parish called Holy Hill, but given that the Kings lived in both Holy Hill and Ballyhean at the same time when Patt was born, I assume it was a place name that referred to the same area.

I should note that neither index searches nor paging through these records revealed any other likely candidates for Mary Ellen King, but Bridget shows that the registers are missing at least one birth in the 1870s.


And that's where we stand.

What would you suggest to confirm or deny that Bridget and Mary are the same person, or that Mary was also part of this family?

The death certificate of Mary King O'Hara: examining the document that changed everything

My 2x great-grandmother, Mary King, died on 5 November 1949 at the White Nursing Home in Brooklyn. This seems to have been a type of long-term care facility, and yet her "usual residence" is given as 505 Sixth Street, the Brooklyn row house where she had lived for many years. (A bit of newspaper searching yielded very little information about the facility, besides the fact that it was advertised as "Cheerful rooms, home atmosphere, excellent food and care. Licensed." That was a classified ad that ran frequently, maybe daily, in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle during the 1940s.) The Department of Health won't release the cause of death to anyone who can't prove that they have a reason to need it and the right to have it, so I cannot glean any information about her last days from her final illness.

Death Certificate of Mary King O'Hara. 5 November 1949. New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. 

The informant on this death certificate is my great-grandfather, Mary's son John J. O'Hara. He lived in the same building; he had rented an apartment from his parents, the owners, until the building was sold in 1946, and now both mother and son were presumably tenants of some other landlord. The O'Hara family had spent several years in Ireland when John was a boy, and it seems safe to say he would have met his parents' Irish relatives. He could have known the grandparents he named on this certificate. All in all, John is not the least reliable informant a death certificate could have.

Which is why it really gums up the works when the grandparents he names are not the ones I expected.

One piece of information, though, makes me wonder whether John was a truly reliable source, or whether he might instead have been confusing dates. Or was it that he had an excellent reason to get them right? Mary's date of birth is given as 3 December 1875. Her husband, also named John, had died 3 years earlier on 3 December 1946. Did John Jr. provide a date that was familiar for the wrong reason, giving his father's date of death rather than his mother's date of birth? Or was it a date he was sure to get right, forever in his mind after having lost his father on his mother's birthday just a few years ago?

Beyond the issue of her parents' names, the only slightly surprising piece of information on here is Mary's middle name, which I hadn't known, although she was routinely "Mary E." on records.

Trust, but verify; or There goes 1/16 of my family tree

(Protip: Just jump straight to "verify." We can "trust but verify" on Cold War relations and Iranian nuclear deals, but not genealogy!)

I received the death certificate of my 2x great-grandmother, Mary King O'Hara, a couple weeks ago. I had wanted it for years, but had always put off jumping through the Department of Health's hoops. Big mistake.

A relative interested in genealogy had sent me Mary's presumptive birth record years ago, and I took it at face value. It was, of course, a real birth record, for a real person named Mary King, but it no longer seems likely that she was the correct Mary King. There goes 1/16 of my family tree!

Lesson learned. Always verify the research of those who have gone before you. (I always knew that I should check this particular piece of information, but took it as a "starting point" until I could do the research myself. Nothing lost but time, I suppose.) (Also, don't take online trees as gospel, either, because mine is out there and it's (at least) 6.25% wrong.)

I had for years operated under the assumption that Mary King's parents were Michael King and Bridget Hopkins, and that she was born in Claremorris, Co. Mayo, Ireland, but her death certificate puts her parents as Patrick King and Bridget Fadden. I'd like to confirm that with a birth certificate that matches, of course, but right now, I don't know where to look. I've contacted the relative who sent the first birth record to see why he thought that that Mary King was our Mary King. If it was, for example, because Mary (whom he knew as a child) had talked about her childhood in Claremorris, then at least that's a place to start. If it was just because the dates matched on an index search, then I have all of Ireland to search. I'm waiting to hear back from him.

I have Mary's death notice, and it does not include a place of birth.

Mary was born in the 1870s (3 December 1875, according to her death certificate), and the civil registration indexes available for free online in this time period do not include mother's maiden name. Otherwise, this could be a pretty easy search. Other than browsing the registers of every Catholic parish in Ireland at the National Library, I'm not sure how to find Mary's actual birth place and birth record and confirm her parents. I might have to stoop so low as to subscribe to RootsIreland, despite my serious misgivings about the service they offer.


What are your best suggestions for locating an Irish town of origin? 

Family History Tour: Park Slope

Over Memorial Day weekend, some friends and I had a picnic in Prospect Park to celebrate our many birthdays (several of which fall in the last week of May). Afterward, I dragged my husband (and he dragged the cooler) on a family history tour of the neighborhood. (That's what you get to do when it's (nearly) your birthday.)

I started out taking excited pictures of St. Saviour's School, where my grandfather, William James O'Hara, attended elementary school. Then I noticed the cornerstone, proclaiming that the building had been built in 1956, the year my 26-year grandfather was married.

We later ran into a gentleman who I think was the parish priest, when he mistook us for a couple searching for the baptism prep class. (Not quite yet, Father!) I asked about the original school, and he told me that a large house that had been used as the school had stood on the same spot where the current building now stands. I found a very brief history of the parish and school, complete with a sketch of what I might guess is the original school building, on the school website, suggesting that my grandfather would have attended grammar school in the old brick house known as "The Little Red Schoolhouse."

St. Saviour's School, Park Slope, Brooklyn

 We also took pictures of the outside of the church, which is where my grandfather was baptized. I tried to get inside to take interior photos, but at 6:30 in the evening on Memorial Day, I wasn't surprised to find the doors locked. (I was surprised that the parish was actually expecting new parents to show up to baptism prep class at that hour on the holiday!)

The cornerstone, dated 1906, shows that unlike the school, the church building was actually standing during my grandfather's childhood.

I also took pictures of 505 6th Street, the building where my grandfather spent his childhood. It was owned by his grandparents, John and Mary (King) O'Hara, and his parents, John and Mary (Quinn) O'Hara were tenants in one of several apartments in the building.

Unfortunately, there was scaffolding on the building next to 505 6th., and so it was impossible to get a picture of the entire building. Instead, I took a photo (above) of the door and address, and a photo (below) of the upper part of the building.

My grandfather used to tell us that because they lived across the street from the hospital (New York Methodist Hospital), there were often cars on their street at a time when cars were not necessarily common on other streets in Brooklyn. He told stories of playing stickball in the street and asking hospital visitors to move their cars, because, "Hey Mister, you're parked on third base!" (In the stories, they always moved their cars. Whether this was because it was a simpler time, with easier parking, or because of rose-colored nostalgia glasses, I'm not sure.)

View of NY Methodist Hospital from outside 505th 6th Street.

My great-great-grandmother, my grandfather's "Nanny," or Mary Gillan Quinn, lived on the next block at 524 5th Street. (My great-grandparents lived with one set of in-laws upstairs and one set around the corner. Blessing or curse?) I took several photos of that building as well. Mary Gillan Quinn lived there in 1940, as well as in 1941, when she died. She lived with "Uncle Terry," her son Terrence Quinn.

I hadn't been to Park Slope since I was a very young child. Growing up, I heard lots of Pop's stories, and when I went back over the holiday weekend, I was able to situate those stories in space for the first time. As Ben dragged the cooler up and down the streets, I was reminded that Pop once told me that they don't call it Park Slope for nothing: when he was a boy, Grandma Molly used to do her shopping at the bottom of the hill. She'd bring a wagon, and the boys could ride in it as she pulled them down the hill to the store. Then she'd fill the wagon with groceries, and they would get to pull it back up the hill. (I'm not sure that Ben found that connection to my grandfather entirely comforting!)

Does that say what I think it says?!

There was a while when I was searching for the passenger manifest showing my great-grandfather, John O'Hara, returning to the US as a child after his family had spent a few years in Ireland. There were a couple of possible John O'Haras in the right time period, but I wasn't ever sure just which one was him. The most likely one showed up on the passenger manifest all by his lonesome, 4 years old, without any parents or younger brothers listed nearby, though it was noted that he was "going with father + mother." I thought I'd looked through all the pages of that manifest to find his father (and the rest of his family?) but either I meant to but didn't, or I missed them when I did. When it finally occurred to me that I should be searching on his brother Eugene's name instead, I got a hit, for Eugene, on the same ship, which sailed in 1902. The family of 5 is listed on 3 different pages.

Eugene and Patrick are on the first page of the manifest, almost obscured by damage:

As I said, Grandpa JJ is all on his own page:

And their parents, John and Mary, are on yet another page:

Now, it was months ago that I found these records, but it wasn't until last night - I wanted to look at their "place of last residence" to see if I could find them in the 1901 Irish Census - that I looked particularly closely at just what this manifest said. Next to John Sr.'s name, it says in big letters that he's a US Citizen. Written directly underneath that, though (and I mean underneath it, like the handwriting overlaps, not underneath it like on the next line), it says when he became a citizen!

I can't necessarily read the whole thing, but it says something like "Cit. paper of #29 something something Kings Co., NY, Oct 14/98."

Wait, for real? All this time, the exact date of John O'Hara's naturalization had been sitting right there in my files and I hadn't noticed it? I'd been looking at naturalization indexes this week, and, as per usual, the number of John O'Haras who had naturalized in NYC between the late 1880s and 1900 was staggering. (I can't even imagine how people research Smiths, when I have so much trouble with O'Haras!) There was one that seemed particularly likely, but I couldn't be sure and didn't know if I wanted to take the chance on ordering it. This morning, I searched on Ancestry for John O'Hara naturalized in 1898, and lo and behold, that John O'Hara that I'd been tempted by? That John O'Hara was naturalized 14 October 1898!

I think it's safe to say that I'll hesitate no longer!

1905 NYS Census - O'Hara Family

This is the 1905 New York State Census record of the O'Hara family. They're living at 586 Baltic St., only about a block and a half from where they lived at 527 Baltic St. in 1910. In the interim, however, they probably lived somewhere else entirely, as the church they attended in that neighborhood, St. Augustine's in Park Slope, has the 1905 record of their daughter Malinda's baptism, but not what should have been the c. 1908 record of their daughter Mary's baptism. Neither girl lived long enough to celebrate any of the other sacraments.

In 1905, the family is listed as John, 30; Mary, 29; John, 8; Eugene, 6; Pacey, 3; and Malina, 2 mos. Malina should be Malinda, and Pacey should be Patrick, although for all I know he may have been called Pacey. Both parents were born in Ireland, while all the kids are listed as American-born, though Patrick was actually born in Ireland in 1902. The family had moved back to Ireland and lived there between 1900 and 1902. In the column "number of years in the United States," John has answered 17 and Mary 16. I wonder if that's given as "number of years since immigration," or if it's been adjusted for the ~2 years they had spent in Ireland since they immigrated. If the former, they immigrated in 1888 and 1889, respectively. If the latter, it may have been more like 1890 and 1891. All are citizens. (I've yet to attempt to wade through the astronomical numbers of John O'Haras in Brooklyn at the turn of the century to find John O'Hara's naturalization papers.)

John is a stableman, and Mary does house work. John Jr. (my great-grandfather, AKA Grandpa JJ) and Eugene are "at school," but neither "Pacey," nor Malinda is.

John J. O'Hara Death Certificate - 3 Dec 1946

This is the death certificate of my great-great-grandfather, John J. O'Hara. His son, John, who provided the information, was my grandfather's father, aka "Grandpa JJ." John Sr. died 3 December, 1946, at the age of 68 years; his birthdate is given as 1 January 1878. His wife was Mary E. King, and his job was as a realtor. In the 1930 census, Grandpa Molly and Grandpa JJ are seen living in the same apartment building as JJ's parents. But they, like most of the people in the building, rented. John Sr. owned. It's my understanding that he owned the entire building and the rest of the residents were his tenants.

He was born in Ireland, but was a US citizen. His parents names are given as Patrick O'Hara and Bridget Kearney. I would swear to you that I had once seen a document among my grandfather's papers giving John's parents names as Patrick O'Hara and Catherine Walsh, but that was before I got really interested in genealogy, and whatever document that was has been misplaced, and no one I ask has any memory of it ever existing.

John died in Kings County Hospital, where he'd spent all of October and November. The causes of death listed are "Carcinoma of sigmoid" (Colon Cancer) and "Bilateral Pubic Cold Abscesses" (I don't want to know). A contributing cause was the incision and draining of the abscesses, so it seems he may have taken a turn for the worse after they treated him, although the certificate says that the operation was on October 18, and he didn't die until a month and a half later.

Mary E. King O'Hara Death Notice, 1949

From the November 7, 1949 edition of the Brooklyn Eagle, via Fulton History:

O'HARA - MARY E. (nee King), of 505 6th Street, on November 5, 1949, beloved wife of the late John J.; dear mother of John, Eugene, Patrick and Joseph. Reposing McCaddin Funeral Home, 24 7th Avenue, until Wednesday 9:30 a.m. Solemn Requiem Mass, St. Saviour's Church, 10 o'clock. Internment Holy Cross Cemetery.

This one will be a new experience for me. Grandma Mary King O'Hara died so recently that her death certificate will have to be ordered from the NYC Department of Health, not the Municipal Archives, like I usually do. (1949 is the dividing line for where death certificates are held.) I haven't let myself spend money for a vital record in months. I'm getting so excited!

John J. O'Hara Death Notice, December 1946

From the December 4, 1946 edition of the Brooklyn Eagle, via Fulton History:

O'HARA - JOHN J., of 505 6th Street, December 3, 1946, beloved husband of Mary E. (nee King); devoted father of John J., Eugene W., Patrick F., and Joseph A. O'Hara. Reposing Henry McCaddin & Son Home, 24 7th Avenue, until Friday, 9:30 am. Solemn Requiem Mass, St. Saviour's Church, 10:00. internment Holy Cross Cemetery.

And as a treat to myself for finishing a paper I had due yesterday, I'm going to let myself order the death certificate! Stay tuned. . .

Claremorris, County Mayo Records

Some time ago, Uncle Jack gave me this information about Grandpa JJ (John O'Hara)'s mother, Mary King O'Hara:

Birthdate - June 21, 1874

Place - Carraconnor, Ballindine,Claremorris, County Mayo

Father - Michael King

Mother - Bridget Hopkins

This evening, I was playing around on the Ireland GenWeb site, looking at the Mayo records, which include transcriptions of parish registers from Claremorris, and I found the following citations:

Marriage
26 Mar 1865 Michael King to Bridget Hopkins-pt-Thomas Conry, Catherine Roache

Baptisms
11 Sept 1842 - Michael of Nicholas King and Margaret Conoly-sp-Michael King, Mary Conoly
25 Sept 1837 - Henry of Nicholas King and Margaret Creary-sp-Henry King, Margaret Creary
25 Dec 1837 - Henry of Nicholas King and Margaret Conry-sp-Henry King, Margaret Conry(?)
15 Sept 1844 - Pat of Nicholas King and Pegy Creaby-sp-Pat King, Mary Creaby
26 Nov 1846 -Thady of Thady Charles and Mary Judge-sp-Nicholas and Mary King--Cuilmore(?)--
26 Nov 1846 - Ann of Nicholas King and Mary C.(?)-sp-William McGah, Mary King--Cuilmore--
9 May 1853 - Honor of Nicholas King and Margaret Curraby-sp-John King, Catherine Curraby--Cloonmore--

If these are accurate - and the microfilms are now on my list for whenever I make it a Family History Center, so I can check - it looks like my great-great-great-great-grandfather was Nicholas King, and my great-great-great-great-grandmother was Margaret C-----y. There appeared to be a couple related King families in the area, but only one Michael King that I came across. I found a couple Hopkins families, but not a Bridget Hopkins other than in the marriage record.

It looks like Michael King had siblings Henry, Pat(rick?), Ann, and Honor - he being the second oldest - and possibly aunts and uncles named Michael, Henry, Pat, Mary, and John. It also looks like one of the witnesses at his wedding may have been a relative on his mother's side, but I'd really like to see the handwriting myself to see if I can gain any insight on Margaret's disputed maiden name - and to check whether these are, in fact, all the same Margaret.

I included one citation up there that's not of a King child - but on the same day as Ann King was baptized, "Nicholas and Mary King" were godparents to another child, Thady Charles. This could be either Nicholas King and his wife Mary C. King/Margaret Conoly-Creary-Conry-Creaby-Curraby King OR Nicholas King and the Mary King who was Ann's godmother, potentially a sister or cousin.

1930 Census - O'Haras at 505 6th St.

This census record is a 2-for-1 deal. It was the first O'Hara census record I ever found, and despite the interminable number of John and Mary O'Haras who were running around Brooklyn at the time, I thought it was safe to assume that these were our John and our Mary, since, after all, their children were Uncle Jack and Uncle Ted. Grandpa JJ is 34 and Grandma Molly 35, and Uncle Jack is 6, while Uncle Ted is 4. Molly and JJ say that they first married at 28 and 27, respectively, meaning their wedding should have been around 1923. They rent their home for $60. Uncle Ted can't read. (He presumably later gained that skill.) All were born in New York. Grandpa JJ is a clerk at a brokerage firm. At some point, I know he worked at 120 Broadway, the building where my dad would later spend most of his career, at a brokerage firm. Perhaps this was when he worked there? He's listed as a veteran of World War I. (I believe he was in the Navy.)

Where does the 2-for-1 deal come in? Glance upward several lines to find John and Mary O'Hara Sr., JJ's parents. They live in the same building, but they own their home - presumably they owned the entire building and that $60 in rent that the younger O'Haras were paying was being paid to them. Their youngest son Joseph is still living at home. John is 60, Mary 55, and Joseph 15. They say they were first married when John was 28 and Mary 23. Joseph is still in school. On this census, they give their immigration dates as 1890 and 1889, which matches what they said in 1900, but not what they said in any of the censuses in between. None of them are working. (Though I'd argue that "landlord" is an occupation, wouldn't you?)

When I first sent Uncle Ted this record, he told me he and Jack had grown up with Roy Larossa who lived in the building, as well as with the son of the Gibbens family:

"There was listed a Larossa and Wife and son Roy who lived in the same apartment house we lived in. Jack and I grew up with Roy. Also listed was a Gibbens who we also knew from the old neighborhood."

1920 Census - O'Haras at 303 Vanderbilt Ave

This is the 1920 census of the O'Hara family at 303 Vanderbilt Ave. They are listed as John, 47, Mary, 48 (didn't she used to be younger than he?!), John J., 23, Eugene W., 21, Patrick, 18, and Joseph, 5. John Sr., Mary, and Patrick were all born in Ireland. John and Mary say they immigrated in 1895 and naturalized in 1900, while Patrick is said to have immigrated in 1902, which is presumably the year they returned from their years back in Ireland. John is a hostler at a department store, while the boys are all clerks; Grandpa JJ at a "Prov. Co." (anyone want to guess what that means?), Eugene at a Bank, and Patrick at an "Engr. Co." Joseph, being 5, doesn't have a job. All of them are salaried employees.

Oct. 29, 1910 - Malinda O'Hara's Death Certificate

The City of New York
Health Department

STATE OF NEW YORK
CERTIFICATE AND RECORD OF DEATH
of
Malinda O’Hara

No. of Certificate: 21332
Sex: Female
Color: White
Age: 5 yrs, 6 mos

Single, Widowed, Married, or Divorced: Single
Occupation: no
Birthplace: US

How long in US (if of foreign birth): Life
How long resident in City of New York: Life

Place of Death: 527 Baltic St.
Character of Premises: Ten

Father’s Name: John O’Hara
Father’s Birthplace: Ire.
Mother’s Maiden Name: Mary King
Mother’s Birthplace: Ire

I hereby certify that I attended the deceased from Oct. 27^th 1910 to Oct. 29^th 1910, that I last saw her alive on the 29^th day of Oct 1910, that she died on the 29^th day of Oct. 1910, about 10 o’clock PM, and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, the cause of her death was as follows:
Scarlet Fever
Acute Nephritis
Asthemia

Witness my hand this 30^th day of Oct. 1910
(Signature) Eugene J. Kenny MD
(Residence) 291 Prospect Pl

Place of Burial Holy Cross
Date of Burial Oct 30 1910

Undertaker Peter Farrell & Sons
Place of Business 201 Third Av

The above is a transcription of Malinda O'Hara's death certificate. (The bolded terms are what was filled in on the form, while the unformatted font is the standard text on the form.) She died October 29, 1910, of Scarlet Fever, Nephritis (kidney failure), and Asthemia, an archaic term whose definition I'm unsure of. I was a little shaken to see that she died of Scarlet Fever; I had Scarlet Fever when I was not much older than she. I guess it's not usually fatal anymore, but it's unsettling to know that my. . .let's see, my great-great-aunt. . .died of something that I once survived. They were still living on Baltic St. at the time, as they had been mere months before when she was recorded on the 1910 census.

1910 Census - O'Haras at 527 Baltic St.

This is the 1910 Census of the O'Hara living at 527 Baltic St. They're the last family on the page. Since we've last seen them, we know they've returned to Ireland and then come back again. We know this through family stories - Grandpa JJ telling us that he got teased for his Irish accent when he got back, and that his last memory of Ireland was being sent up the hill to the post office to mail a letter. We also know that Patrick was born there, though that is (incorrectly) not evident on this census.

The family is listed as John, 41; Mary, 35 (she's only aged about 8 years in the last 10); John Jr., 13; Eugene, whose age is hard to read, but who should be about 11; Patrick, 8; and Malinda, 6. There are also "boarders," John and Martin King, though I'm nearly certain that these are Mary's brothers.

The younger sister Mary is not on this census. I plan to post her death certificate next; I know this girl existed. Why isn't she on the census now? She should be about 2, and won't die (of Pneumonia) for another year. Her baptismal record also wasn't on file at St. Augustine's which it should have been, since she was born while they were living in the area (unless they moved out and back within 5 years, which, of course, is not impossible). I know she lived a short life, a mere three years, but there should still be more evidence of her existence than her death certificate and a memory passed on through Uncle Jack and Uncle Ted. Mary the mother is also listed as having only given birth to 4 children, which simply isn't true, unless her age was misrecorded on her death certificate (the difference between being 1 year old and being 3 years old is huge).

All the adults are listed as having been born in Ireland, while all the children are listed as having been born in NY, although this is not true; we know Patrick was born in Ireland. Now John and Mary both say they immigrated in 1891, which is different from the answer they gave ten years ago. John has been naturalized (Mary probably is, too, by marriage, though I'm not sure of the laws relating to this at the time). John and Martin King say they immigrated (possibly together?) in 1907, and are not naturalized. John O'Hara is listed as a stableman at a livery stable (which is similar to his earlier occupation of coachman), while John King is an Engineer for a Gas Co. and Martin is a fireman at a Gas Co. All the kids had attended school in the past year, except for Malinda. They rent their home.

1900 Census - O'Haras at 253 Clinton Ave

Here's the earliest O'Hara family census I've found. In 1900, the O'Haras lived at 253 Clinton Ave. John, age 31, says he was born in February 1869, and Mary E., 28, says she was born May 1872. Their two eldest boys, John J and Eugene, are 3 and 1 and their birthdates are given as June 1896 and December 1898. John and Mary say they've been married 5 years, which means they married some time around 1895. Mary's only given birth to the 2 children now living. They say they immigrated in 1890 and 1889, which means they were probably married in the United States. I'll be looking for further records of that. John has naturalized; the problem with relatives named John O'Hara is that 345209 other men named John O'Hara also lived in Brooklyn, and were also naturalized between 1890 and 1900. (That is why I focused my early efforts on relatives with names like Veronica Mulvaney - people I didn't have to pick out of a haystack.) I'd love to find those records, though. Neither boy has attended school in the past year. (They're 1 and 3. Duh.) They rent, rather than own, their home. John is a coachman, and both parents can read, write, and speak English.

They also, though, spoke Irish, according to Uncle Jack:

My grandparents did speak Irish but not when they came to the US. I never heard them speak in Irish. However, a story told by my grandmother: My Grandfather used to play Eueka (an Irish card game). His partner also spoke Irish. Their two opponents did not speak Irish. My Grandfather and his partner would converse in Irish about their game strategy. Alas, an Irish trick.