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.

Tombstone Tuesday: Mulvaney Family Gravesite

Last year, I took a trip to Holy Cross Cemetery in Brooklyn to see a variety of family graves.

This is the stone on the grave of my great grandparents, Veronica Mulvaney (d. 1982) and Joseph Mulcahy (d. 1970), as well as my great-great-grandparents, Julia Toner (d. 1938) and Patrick Mulvaney (d. 1919). Also listed on the stone are several of Julia and Patrick's sons, William and Harold (d. 1933, both of them).

My information on the grave had come courtesy of my uncle, John Griffin, who had requested information on the plot a number of years ago. 

There's additional information in this letter. The plot was purchased by Patrick Mulvaney and his brother John, and I believe that the Gertrude Mulvaney, who died in 1890 at 1 year old, was John's daughter. (John later had another daughter named Gertrude, this one living to adulthood.) Mary Hughes is a mystery; no one has any idea who she was. Raymond Mulvaney was Julia and Patrick's young son, who died as a toddler. (He shows up on the 1905 NYS Census.) I believe Patrick's entire body is buried here, not just his leg. The date of burial corresponds with his date of death, and it's been suggested that he went into the hospital to have his gangrenous foot amputated, but the surgery ended up killing him. Arrangements would have been made to have his leg buried, but, sadly, his entire body needed to be buried instead.

Recently, though, one of my new Mulvaney cousins called Holy Cross, and got information that indicated that neither the gravestone nor the letter pictured above is complete. Holy Cross told her that there are four additional bodies interred in the plot, as well. These, it seems, were initially interred elsewhere, and were moved to this plot after John and Patrick bought it c. 1890. Thus, the information on most of them is spottier, but they were listed as:

Bridget Mulvaney, 53
James Mulvaney, 60
Thomas Mulvaney, 27 (3-1-1889)
James Mulvaney, 8

We've yet to find death certificates for anyone besides Bridget, although I'm looking.

1905 NYS Census - Loughlin/Renehan

This is the 1905 NYS Census of the Loughlin-Renehan family. Julia Mulvaney's sister Elizabeth Toner Loughlin Renehan lived at 213 Conover St., with her (second) husband, Thomas Renehand and several of her children (from her first marriage), Thomas, John E., William, and Kate Loughlin. Thomas is 52, Elizabeth is 48, Thomas Loughlin is 23, John is 21, William is 19, and Kate is 11. Thomas Renehan is a day laborer, Elizabeth does housework, Thomas and John E. Loughlin are "Machinist Help," and Kate is "at school." I wonder whether Thomas and John E. are "help" for their uncle, Julia's husband Patrick, who was a machinist. (It appears that there were several machinists on their block as well; it wasn't necessarily Patrick they were working with.) There's a 9 in parentheses next to "at school" by Kate's name. When I saw numbers in parentheses on the census return for the Mulvaneys, I assumed they referred to the grade the child was in; the numbers over there matched up to what grades the kids would have been in. There, the 11-year-olds (James and his cousin Thomas) have the number 4 in parentheses. Eleven-year-olds in 4th grade is appropriate, but 11-year-old Kate certainly wasn't in the 9th grade. What do you think these numbers mean?

James Mulvaney's Baptismal Certificate

A few months ago, my long-lost cousin Maureen sent me a number of scanned photographs and documents from her branch of the Mulvaney family. Her grandfather James Mulvaney was the brother of my great-grandmother Veronica Mulvaney Mulcahy Hopkins. I've posted some of the pictures in the past, but am just getting around to posting the documents she sent me. (Read: I'm too busy with school to do any research, and it embarrasses me to see my blog lagging. So I'm posting Maureen's stuff instead!) I'd glanced at these, but since they just seemed pretty consistent with what I already knew, I didn't examine them closely. (Although some of the documents that will be posted in the coming days have some really cool information.) (Now if she's had Nana's birth certificate . . . if she had any idea when Nana was born . . . a different story entirely.) But, you know. Visitation Church, James Mulvaney, parents Julia Toner and Patrick. No news. (No news is not good news in genealogy, but documentation is always good news.)

What particularly caught my attention when I looked at this were the godparents. Patrick Harrington and Catherine Higgins? Sound familiar? I still haven't scanned Patrick and Julia's wedding certificate, which Betty and John sent me a copy of right when I first began to get interested in genealogy, but the transcription is here. The witnesses at their wedding were also the godparents of their first-born! I wish I knew who these Patrick Harrington and Catherine Higgins were!

1905 NYS Census - Mulvaneys at 270 Van Brunt St.

Here I've found the 1905 NYS Census record of the Mulvaney family at 270 Van Brunt St. The family is listed as Patrick, 45; Julia, 37; James, 11; Grace, 9; Mary, 8; William, 5; Thomas, 3; Raymond, 1; and Harold, 6 months old. There are also 2 "boarders," who are their nephews, 17-year-old John Murphy and 11-year-old Thomas Murphy.

What's new here is Raymond. Betty and John had mentioned that they thought there might have been a brother named Raymond who died as a toddler. Never having seen any evidence thereof, I was skeptical. However, it appears that little Raymond did exist, and that he lived at least 15 months. (Harold is 6 months old. Do the math.) As per usual, Patrick is a Machinist and Julia does the housework. Nephew John, at 17, is an office boy, while Thomas, at 11, is in the 4th grade. Patrick and Julia's older children, too, were in school. James, also 11, was also in the 4th grade. They might have been best friends, classmates, or both! Though the number next to Grace looks like a 5, I assume it was just a sloppy 3, and that she was in the 3rd grade, where she should have been. Mary - Auntie Mae - is in first grade.

I was honestly not expecting a lot of new information from these census records. The Mulcahys were nice but not particularly important. The Mulvaneys, on the other hand, are chock full of new things and clarifications. Raymond existed. Good to know. The Murphy brothers lived with the Mulvaneys for at least 5 years. Their parents probably died between the 1900 Federal Census and the 1905 NYS Census. That's important information.

Patrick Mulvaney in the 1892 NYS Census!

Those of you who are not familiar with the intimate workings of the genealogical universe may not know how exciting it is to have an 1892 New York State Census available online from FamilySearch. The 1890 Federal Census was destroyed, so there's a huge information void between 1880 and 1900. These records aren't indexed, though, so I've been paging through them in order to come across our relatives. I'd particularly like to find Julia Toner (since I've never seen her on a census prior to 1900 (unless she's Judith, argh!), and the Madigans and Mulcahys; I've never seen Matthew Madigan living with his second wife and youngest daughter, and I'd like to know whether or not the Mulcahys were living at 85 Luqueer St. before Matthew died or not. I don't have either of those for you, though, but I do have (drum roll, please!) Patrick Mulvaney, living with his brother, in 1892.


Patrick is towards the bottom right, listed as 30 years old, and a machinist, as he's always been. He appears to be - and I'm making assumptions, here - living with his brother John, the John that Betty and John tell us was a Brooklyn alderman around the turn of the century. It appears that John's family are wife Moria (Maria?) and children Agnes, Thomas, and Stella. John is currently a Foreman, though it doesn't say in what industry. He's listed as being 4 years older than Patrick, though when they were kids, he was only 2 years older.

He's not living with Julia yet, of course, as they weren't married until about a year later, in 1893. Back in the day, people didn't live together until they got married.

136 Images Later . . .

. . . I've finally found the Mulvaneys! I was expecting to come across them living much closer to the John Mulvaneys than they actually were, though, as addresses aren't listed in the 1865 NYS Census, I don't actually know how far they were away, geographically, just that they were many pages away. The writing on these pages are very faint, so I'll tell you that the Mulvaneys are the second family on the right side of the page. James is listed as 46 and Bridget as 50. Thomas is 11, John is 8, Patrick is 6, Mary Ann is 3, and James is a month old. Bridget says she's the mother of 5 children, so it appears that all of her children are still living at the time. Both parents have been married only once, and James is still a carpenter. He has been naturalized, but Bridget is still an alien. (I'm going to have to do some research on naturalization laws in the nineteenth century; a wife was apparently not automatically naturalized by the fact of her being married to a citizen.)

This was from page 136 of the 12th Ward of Brooklyn in the 1865 NYS Census on the FamilySearch Pilot Site.

In the name of genealogy

Dear Family,

This is to alert you, in case I'm arrested for stalking in the next couple of days, that it was all in the name of genealogy. Here's the story:

John Griffin has told me that the family story is that Patrick Mulvaney (Julia's husband, Nana's father) had a brother named John who was a Brooklyn alderman. I've come across several online postings by a man doing research on his grandfather, John Mulvaney, a Brooklyn alderman. The time frames fit. These posts were several years old. I responded to one on Ancestry.com, but his account was no longer active and e-mails to his e-mail address came back as undeliverable.

Then I came across another posting, by another man looking for his grandfather, John Mulvaney, Brooklyn alderman. I e-mailed him. He responded! He didn't know much, though, he said, and referred me to the family genealogist, his cousin - the same man who had posted on Ancestry. He gave me a different e-mail address, but that one didn't work either, and he didn't have an updated one. He said that if he heard from his cousin, he'd give me updated contact information, but I never heard back from him.

Then, on a whim, last week I tried googling around about John Mulvaney. I figure if any of our relatives are going to show up in a Google search a hundred years later, it'll be the one who was in public life. One of my results was a website, made by the man I'd tried several times to contact. It listed an e-mail address (one of the defunct ones), but also a mailing address. I typed up a quick letter saying I thought we were related, printed out some census records that I believe show our Patrick and his John growing up together, and mailed them.

The next morning, I had a sudden thought, along the lines of "What have I done?! That was completely inappropriate! You don't just mail letters to strangers whose addresses you've found on the internet! I'm a stalker! Can I get that letter out of the mailbox?"

Of course, I could not.

My potential second cousin twice removed (I think) should be receiving that letter any day now. His response could be to file a complaint with the police for inappropriate something-or-other, or to send me a cordial letter brimming with relevant family history information and suggesting we share stories. Let's cross our fingers for the latter.

I also fired off quick snail-mail letters addressed to "Owner" at 85 Luqueer St., as well as to the "Owners" at 89 and 91 Luqueer, all buildings we believe Matthew Madigan to have built, asking if they had any information about the origins of the houses, when they were built, by whom, etc. I'm fairly confident, based on plenty of oral history, that my great-great-great-grandfather was the builder and original owner, but that pesky lack of records is getting in the way of certainty again. Wouldn't a copy of the original deed to the land be nice? Hmm. . . I wonder where you'd find 1870s Brooklyn land records. I'll have to check into it. Those letters I fully expect to be ignored, but I'm hoping it can't hurt to try.

That's what I've been up to, in the completely out-of-character personal letters to strangers category. Chalk it up to losing my mind for the sake of genealogy.

Much love,
Katie

Patrick and Julia's Marriage Certificate

Certificate of Marriage
Visitation B.V.M Church
Verona and Richards Streets
Brooklyn, N.Y.

This is to Certify

That Patrick J. Mulvaney
and Julia Toner
were lawfully MARRIED
on the 9 day of April 1893

According to the Rite of the Roman Catholic Church

and in conformity with the laws of the State of New York,
Rev. John J. Loughnan officiating, in the presence of Patrick Harrington and Catherine Higgins, Witnesses, as appears from the Marriage Register of this Church.

Dated Oct. 13-1942
Wm. Galloway ast. Pastor

This is a transcription record of the marriage of Julia Toner and Patrick Mulvaney, April 9, 1893, at the Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Julia would have been about 21, I believe (though of course, we’ve found no evidence whatsoever of her actual birth, since her parents’ family disappears off the map in the early 1870s), and Patrick, if memory serves, about 31. This certificate itself was created in the 1940s, and I wonder why, as both Julia and Patrick were deceased at this point. I suppose one of their children needed it for something, but I can’t imagine what would require the marriage certificate of your parents. I have no idea who Patrick Harrington and Catherine Higgins were, but I’d sure like to know. We know, from this and from Auntie Mae’s baptismal certificate, that the Mulvaneys attended Visitation Church at Richards and Verona, and John Griffin has told me that the Mulcahys attended St. Mary Star of the Sea. Those are the first places I want to look when I get some more free time in the tri-state area.

1880 Census - Mulvanys at 191 King St.

Finally! For some reason, neither the Mulvanys nor the Toners show up when I search the 1880 census of Brooklyn. It's very frusturating, because I think they simply have to be there. So this morning, I started paging through the 98th district of the Kings County census pages, just scrolling down and looking at every name on every page. I was hoping to come across the Toners, as I have reason to believe they'd be in that district (some Brooklyn Eagle clippings, that I believe are our Toners, that I hope to be able to post soon. But this is more exciting, for the moment). However, there they were, on page 22 (of 59 - I'm still hoping to come across the Toners as I continue) - the Mulvanys!

This census shows the Mulvany family living at 194 King St. James gives his age as 52, and Bridget gives hers as 48, which correlate to birth years of around 1828 and 1832 - consistent with what we've seen. Their only 3 children stil living at home (or still alive, and it's a testament to health conditions of the era that we can't say which) are Thomas, age 23, Patrick, age 20, and Mary A., age 17. They have a boarder named William Anderson, a carpenter like James, who was born in Denmark though his parents were Irish, and who, at 42, is a widower. Bridget "keeps house," Thomas (b. 1857) works in a cotton mill, Patrick, (b. 1860) is a machinist (just like he's listed in all later censuses), and Mary is "at home."
Who's as excited as I am to learn that the family didn't just fall off the face of the Earth for a decade?

1870 Census - Mulvany Family

This is an image of the 1870 census of the Mulvan(e)y family. James gives his age as 42 - he's only aged 8 years in the past 10, but with this age, his birthdate would be around 1828. Bridget has aged 10 years in the past 10 years, from 28 to 38, so her birthdate would remain the same, around 1832. James is listed as a Carpenter, still, and his oldest son Thomas is an "Ap. Carpenter" - he's apprenticed, I'd assume, to learn his father's trade. Thomas, John, and Patrick, at ages 15, 13, and 11, have each aged a neat 10 years in the past 10 years, so their birthdates remain around 1855, 1857, and 1859, respectively. They're joined by younger siblings Mary, 9, (b. 1861?) and James, 6, (b. 1864?). Patrick and Mary are at school. Thomas, as we said, is learning to be a carpenter, John has a question mark next to "occupation" (would 13 be too old for school and too young to work in 1870? I didn't think there was such a thing!), and James Jr. seems not to have started yet. Bridget is listed as a dressmaker in this census. Interestingly, James Sr. has an affirmative mark under "Male citizen of U.S. of 21 years of age and upward." We know James was not born a citizen, but he has become one since arriving in the U.S. Either he went through the entire naturalization process, but Bridget did not, or he could have petitioned for naturalization after service in the Army. According to Wikipedia, "An 1862 law allowed honorably discharged Army veterans of any war to petition for naturalization, without having filed a declaration of intent, after only one year of residence in the United States." It doesn't strike me as particularly likely that he served much time, if any, in the Army during the Civil War, however, due to the timing of the births of his youngest children. If he were away at war from 1861-1865, it is highly unlikely that he could have fathered children born in 1861 and 1864. It's not impossibly, however, to imagine that he may have been away for 2-3 years in between their births.

Betty and John have told me that these names seem to match up with the names they know of of Patrick's siblings, and that they're pretty sure that Patrick's brother John was a Brooklyn alderman.

It seems that the family has moved since the last census was taken. They no longer live in the same apartment building as the John Mulvany family, and are now in a single-family house. There is no record of the value of their estate this year, but it wouldn't surprise me if they were doing better than they had been in 1860, simply because the move from an apartment to single-family house tends to be a move up.

Another record of the family that I MAY have found is in the Baptismal Record of St. Paul's Church in Brooklyn. Mary Ann Mulvaney (spelled with the "e" now) was born April 7, 1852, and baptized at the church April 25, 1852. Parents are listed as James Mulvaney and Bridget Rothwell, and godparents are John Mulvaney and Brid Kavanah. This Mary Ann Mulvaney would be about 10 years older than the Mary Mulvaney listed on the census, and would be about 3 years older than Thomas, who appeared to be the oldest child. The parents' names are correct, as, it would seem that the godfather, is as well, although it's cutting it close for John Mulvaney to be in the US in April of 1852, when it would seem that his son Michael was born in Ireland in 1853 - late 1852, I'd think, at the earliest. Possibly, of course, Michael's age is a year or two off. It seems likely, but not definite, that this is another, older child, a girl who possibly died young, born to James and Bridget Mulvaney before their oldest son Thomas. Is anyone familiar with St. Paul's Church and whether the family were parishioners?

1860 Census - Mulvany Families

No, that's not a typo. The Mulvaneys were listed as Mulvanys in both the 1860 and 1870 censuses.

This 1860 census lists, numbered family 224, James Mulvany, his wife Bridget, and their 3 sons, Thomas, John, and Patrick. Patrick is listed as 1 year old, which gives him a birthdate somewhere in the vicinity of 1859-1860 - still pretty much in the range we have based on his ages given over the years and the age he was said to be when he died. James gives his age as 35, which means he was born around 1825, and Bridget says she is 28, meaning she was born around 1832. Both parents were born in Ireland, but all three boys were born in NY. James is a Carpenter by trade, and the value of his personal estate is $40. None of the boys - Thomas is, at 5, the oldest - have been to school yet.

What's possibly more interesting is that the family two above them, numbered 222, is the family of John and Ann Mulvany. More Mulvanys, at the same address? I can only imagine that John and James Mulvany were brothers. Possibly they were not - they were cousins, or it was pure coincidence. But brothers is not an unlikely possibility. John Mulvany was 30, and so, being 5 years younger than his probably-brother James, was born around 1830. He's a carpenter, too - might they have worked together? - with his personal estate valued at $50. His wife Ann is 26, and so was probably born around 1834. Both of them, and their oldest son, Michael, 7, were born in Ireland. Their next child, oldest girl Ann, 5, was born in NY, which means that this Mulvany family, at least, immigrated sometime between 1853 and 1855. I can't say whether the same is true for the family of Bridget and James, but given that their 5-year-old, too, was born in NY, I wouldn't be too surprised if the brothers had immigrated together, with their families (although, of course, we don't even know whether James and Bridget were married yet, or whether they married in the US or Ireland). They have another Patrick, this one 4 years old, as well as a two-year-old named Mary. Of all of these cousins, only Michael, 7, has attended school within the past year. I don't doubt, though, that his sister Mary and cousin Thomas would be joining him soon.

It looks like James named his second son after his brother, and the fact that both Mulvany boys named a son Patrick suggests to me that it may have been an important name in the family - or possibly they both had a devotion to St. Patrick, being Irishmen leaving home. But again, we've entered the realm of pure speculation. Does anyone know anything about Patrick's brothers and sisters, or where he grew up? There are no addresses listed in censuses from this early.

November 8, 1919

On this day in 1919, Julia Mulvaney and her children were mourning, having just buried Patrick the day before, after his death on November 8, 1919. Here's the long-ago promised transcription of his death certificate.

STATE OF NEW YORK
Department of Health of The City of New York
Bureau of Records
STANDARD CERTIFICATE OF DEATH

Register No. 21480

1. Place of Death: Borough of Brooklyn
Name of Institution: St. Peter's Hospital
2. Full Name: Patrick Mulvaney
3. Sex: Male
4. Color or Race: White
5. (Marital Status): Married
6. Date of Birth: [blank]
7. Age: 58 years
8. Occupation:
a. Trade, profession, or particular kind of work: Retired
b. General nature of industry, business or establishment in which employed: [blank]
9. Birthplace: U.S.
a. How long in U.S.: life
b. How long resident in City of New York: life
10. Name of Father: James Mulvaney
11. Birthplace of Father: Ireland
12. Maiden Name of Mother: Bridget Rothwell
13. Birthplace of Mother: Ireland
14. Special INFORMATION required in deaths in hospitals and institutions and in deaths of non-residents and recent residents:
Former or Usual Residence: 270 Van Brunt St.
Where was disease contracted, if not at place of death: [blank]
15. Date of Death: November 8, 1919
16. I hereby certify that the foregoing particulars (Nos. 1 to 15 inclusive) are correct as near as the same can be ascertained, and I further certify that deceased was admitted to this institution on October 31, 1919, that I last saw him alive on the 7 day of November, 1919, that he died on the 8 day of November 1919, about 3:45 o'clock AM, and that I am unable to state decisively the cause of death; the diagnosis during his last illness was Gangrene of foot due to obliterating End-arteritis (operated) Pulmonary Edema.
Duration: [blank]
Contributory: chronic Myocarditis
Duration: [blank]
Witness my hand this 8 day of Nov. 1919
Signature: Heictor Meudelsohn, MD
House: Surgeon
17. [No autopsy]
18. Place of Burial: Holy Cross Cemetery
Date of Burial: November 11th, 1919
19. Undertaker: Henry J. Flood
Address: 297 Van Brunt St.

(Next Page)
I hereby certify that I have been employed as undertaker by Julia Mulvaney the wife of deceased. This statement is made to obtain a permit for the burial or cremation of the remains of deceased Patrick Mulvaney.
Signature: Henry J. Flood


If Patrick was 58 when he died in 1919, he would have been born around 1861, which is approximately in line with the birthdate he's given in the past of 1863. His parents were Bridget Rothwell and James Mulvaney. (I bet you never knew we were Rothwells!) I believe I've come across their family on 1860 and 1870 census records, which I'll hopefully be able to post tomorrow. I had heard from Betty and John that Patrick had died of complications from diabetes, which could seem to be related to the gangrene of the foot that is listed as his cause of death. I had difficulty reading the doctor's handwriting, but I believe that what I transcribed above is pretty accurate, although his chronic disease seems to be heart-related more so than diabetic. If anyone has any idea what any of those medical terms mean, please do let me know.

1900 Census - Mulvaneys at 270 Van Brunt St.

This census shows Julia and Patrick Mulvaney and their family living at 270 Van Brunt St. in 1900. Patrick says he was born in April of 1863, and is 36; Julia says she was born in May 1869 and is 31 (note that this is in keeping with the age she generally states throughout her life, but not with the age she would be if she were the Julia Toner from the 1860 census we've looked at). This time, they appear to have been married to each other for the same number of years, which is 7, giving them an approximate marriage date of around 1893. Julia has given birth to 4 children, all still living at this point. Both were born in New York, and all of their parents were from Ireland. Their home is rented, not owned, and both can read, write, and speak English. Patrick's occupation is "Machinist." Their four children are John, 6 (b. 01/1894), Grace, 4 (b. 08/1896), James, 3 (b. 08/1897), and William, 1 (b. 08/1899). John shows up on the census only this once; he presumably died young, before the 1910 census, in which he would have been 16. He has been attending school for 10 months, the only one of his siblings to do so so far. Grace's birthdate here is fairly consistent with what is later recorded. Interestingly, though, she continues to be listed as the second oldest on later censuses. Most ages that we see given for James make him 2-4 years older than he is said to be here, giving him a birthdate closer to John's and making him appear to be Grace's older brother, not her younger brother. Willie's birthdate is later listed as being as late as 1902, making him a solid 3 years younger than he should be here.

They have two boarders, who are not the nephews living with them in 1910. These, apparently two brothers, are James and John McGuirre (McGuine?), ages 34 and 31. Both are American-born, and James, too, is listed as a machinist. One wonders if he met Patrick at work, and was offered a place to live, or perhaps was an unemployed boarder for whom Patrick found a job? John is a chair-maker.

UPDATE: While my wonderings above about the McGuirre brothers still apply, they may have been something more than just boarders. I came home this weekend for my mom's birthday, and was looking through the family papers I have at home. Betty and John had sent me photocopies of Julia and Patrick's marriage certificate (9 April 1893 at the Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary) and of the certification of Auntie Mae's baptism, also at Visitation Church. Auntie Mae, it says, was born 18 January 1897, and baptized 4 February 1897. (Why she doesn't show up on this census is a mystery, but the birthdate matches what it would be if her reported age in 1910 was accurate.) Her sponsors (godparents) are listed as John V. (or D.?) Murphy and Rose McGuirre (McGuine? - different person, different handwriting, and still I can't tell whether that's a rr or an n). I'm wondering just who these godparents may be - possibly John Murphy is Julia's brother-in-law, father of the Murphy nephews who would later (1910) live with them? Or not. Murphy is an extremely common name, after all. And Rose McGuirre makes me wonder whether the McGuirre men listed as boarded in 1900 were really just boarders. Could they have been relatives or friends who ended up boarding with the family? Did the Mulvaneys just become close enough with the families of their boarders to ask one to be godmother to Auntie Mae? Does anyone know who John Murphy and Rose McGuirre were?

1910 Census - Mulvaneys at 270 Van Brunt St.

This is the 1910 census, showing the Mulvaneys living at 270 Van Brunt St. Julia and Patrick give their ages as 48 and 40, which means they have approximate birthdates of 1862 and 1870. Interestingly, in the column "number of years in present marriage" they give two different answers. How could Patrick have been married to Julia for 17 years, if Julia's only been married to Patrick for 16? That's one of my favorite things I've come across in my genealogical searching, because it seems to defy explanation. Whether they married 16 or 17 years before the 1910 census, though, it gives an approximate wedding date of 1893-4. Their kids are listed as James, Grace, Mary, Thos., Harold, and Vera. (Vera is presumably Veronica, don't you think?) William is, for some reason, not on this census, though he should be about 8 or 10 years old in 1910. Patrick's occupation is "Foreman" for a "machinist." James is a "clerk" in a "Railroad Office."

John Murphy, 21, and Thos. Murphy, 16, are listed as nephews. John Griffin told me that they were Julia's sister's sons who moved in with the Mulvaneys when their parents died. "There were also two older Murphy sisters. Annie married Jack Dowd, who was a NYC Policemen - we think he was possibly Chief of Detectives; they never had children. Annie's other sister was married to a man named KEENE, and they had a daughter, Margaret Keene, who moved in with Annie & her husband, when her parent's died while she was a young girl. Later she became an Ursuline Nun, teaching for years at Marymount. Later she was moved up to the Bronx. She died after 1990 from cancer and was in a convent in the Bronx." John Murphy is listed as a machinist at a "dry dock" or "day dock"? I'm having trouble reading the field. His brother Thomas is an office boy at a "[unintelligible] office."

Julia has given birth to 8 children, of whom 7 are still living. The 1900 census (soon to be posted) shows a boy named John, b. 1894. (However, that census also lists James as having been b. 1897, whereas later ages given put him closer to an 1894 birthdate.) John appears to have been a son who died young; he lived to at least 6, but appears not to have made it to 16. Betty and John also told me, though, of a son named Raymond who died as a toddler, but I have no information on him. One of those must be the 8th child who was born but no longer living in 1910.

Halloween

Happy Halloween, everybody!

I hope that everyone is having a happier Halloween than the one our relatives had exactly 89 years ago today, when Patrick Mulvaney was admitted to St. Peter's Hospital in Brooklyn due to gangrene of the foot; he died a week later, on November 8. His parents were James Mulvaney and Bridget Rothwell.

I'll transcribe the death certificate, which arrived this afternoon, in its entirety when I have time, but as rent must be paid before the banks close today, I'll have to make that my first priority at the moment.

Mulvaney family pictures

My mom sent me these, which I believe were scanned by either Joseph or John Griffin a few years ago. The one above has Julia in the middle, in a polka-dot dress, surrounded by her grandkids. Nan is the littlest one in front, with the doll, with her cousin Florence to her left. The other girl is Joan, and behind Joan is her brother Donald. The boy with glasses is George Kessell. In the back row on Julia's left is Grace Mulvaney Jones, and in front of Grace is Steve Kessell. On the far right, with the tie, is Tom Mulvaney.
This is Julia Mulvaney, again in the polka-dot dress, surrounded by her kids. I can identify Nana in the back row, and James is the man in the front row, which means I'd assume that Thomas is standing next Nana in the back. Auntie Mae is second from the left, to the right of Julia, and Grace is on the far right. As far as dates go for these pictures, and I assume they were taken the same day, I'm going to guess somewhere in the area of 1935 or just before? Can anyone tell for sure how old Nan is in the first one? I can't think of any other way to date them. Also, does anyone recognize the house in the background? Where were they?

This is Patrick Mulvaney. He looks like a young man, so the best I can say is late 1800s, early 1900s.

(In the top two pictures, Florence, Joan, Donald, and their father James were identified by Donald's daughter Maureen, whom I stumbled upon on ancestry.com when I noticed that her family tree had our (shared) Julia Toner Mulvaney on it! The wonders of technology and genealogy! Betty and John helped with everyone else.)