Friday, December 10, 2010

Search Terms - "85 luquer"

I was just glancing over the search terms that led people to this blog over the past month, and a curious string of them caught my eye:

tragic "85 luquer" street brooklyn ny
death "85 luquer" street brooklyn ny
ghost "85 luquer" street
obituary "85 luquer" street brooklyn ny

Clearly all entered by the same searcher, but Google doesn't tell me any more than that. I know of several 85 Luquer Street deaths - either deaths that happened there, or residents thereof who died elsewhere - but I don't know of any particular tragedies. 85 Luquer Street was the ancestral home of my Madigan and Mulcahy lines, rumored to have been built by my great-great-great-grandfather Matthew Madigan.

A list of death:
-Margaret (Sullivan) Madigan, 1880-1888  - died while a resident, location unknown
-Matthew Madigan, 1892 - died while a resident, location unknown
-Matthew Madigan, Jr., 1892-3 - died while a resident, location unknown
-Josephine Madigan, 1892-3 - died while a resident, location unknown
-unknown Madigan - possibly died a resident, location unknown
(That's probably the most tragic string of deaths I know of at 85 Luquer. Margaret died between 1880 and 1888, and Matthew remarried and had 3-4 more children. In the 1892 NYS Census (enumerated 16 Feb. 1892), he's listed with the children from his first marriage, his second wife, and 3 young children from his second marriage. In September, he died. By the time his estate was administered in April 1893, 2 of those young children, Matthew Jr. and Josephine, weren't listed among his heirs. 1892 was certainly a tragic year for Matthew's wife, Johanna Roche Madigan. But I never suspected anything more tragic than low life expectancy and high infant mortality.)
-Stillborn Baby Mulcahy, c.  - I've been told that one of the Mulcahy children had a twin who was stillborn and/or died at birth
-Michael Mulcahy, 1917 - died at French Hospital while a resident of 85 Luquer St.
-Mary Madigan Mulcahy, 1927 - died at Holy Family Hospital while a resident of 85 Luquer St.

Of course, 85 Luquer St. had several other apartments, as well, and there could have been tragedies happening around the Madigan and Mulcahy families that I am not yet aware of. I'd love to know what led the searcher to know or suspect that there were tragedies or ghosts at 85 Luquer!

I don't believe in ghosts, but I admit I did get very excited by the possibility that one of my ancestors is still hanging around the old Brooklyn homestead!

3 comments:

Barbara Poole said...

That is interesting, I wonder what the researcher was after, especially since you've had a number of posts with that address. Maybe the person will contact you, the next time they put in that address to get your blog. Or, maybe it is the ghost. (Can't wait to hear about that.)

Heather Wilkinson Rojo said...

You must have a cousin out there somewhere, don't you think? Perhaps this is "cousin bait?"

Kerry Scott said...

Oh wow. That is fascinating! I hope you find out more.