Found the Mulcahys, right around the corner

In the far left column of this page, we find the Mulcahys, in the same district of the 12th Ward as Mary's parents. Michael is 32, Irish-born, and his occupation is "Liquors." Mary is 22. Their two children (thus far) are listed as Maggie (Margaret Mulcahy Hennessy) and James. Maggie is 3, and James is 1.

One thing this does show is that the Mulcahys weren't living at 85 Luqueer St. while Matthew Madigan was alive. Given that, I really continue to wonder how they ended up living there, while his wife and minor daughter end up in an apartment around the corner. I may - emphasize may - have come across notice of proceedings on the estate of Matthew Madigan. Following up on that is something I intend to do, though it will (I think) require a trip to a Brooklyn courthouse, which itself will require taking a day off work. But I'm getting there. And we'll figure it out eventually.

But that's really all the information we find here. Why does it excite me so?

Mulcahy Hennessy Family

I was recently contacted by Barbara Hennessy, who's married to Hugh Hennessy, grandson of Papa's oldest sister Margaret Mulcahy Hennessy. (These are the perks of putting your name and e-mail address all over the internet!) She's just started researching the Mulcahy side of the family, and so we've shared some information.

After I pointed her to the blog, she offered a correction to this post, saying, "Also on the blog I noticed the comment about Karbo Bronze Foundry being involved in the NASA program – this is a mixup. Karbo manufactured ship parts first then did a lot of work for Haywood Pool Filters. My husband Hugh Hennessy worked for Grumman Aerospace on the LEM etc. that’s the real tie in!"

1920 Census - Hennessys at 85 Luqueer St.

I had long assumed that there was no information on Margaret Mulcahy, Papa's oldest sister, in the 1920 Census, as she isn't listed with the family. As she would have been about 30, I assumed she was married, living elsewhere in the city, and we present-day Mulcahys would never hear from her again. I wasn't paying attention. John Griffin had already told me that Margaret had married Hugh Hennessy, and that they'd lived at 85 Luqueer St. for several years before moving away. I wasn't looking for that; I was looking to see whether any of Michael Mulcahy's siblings, whom we've heard had lived with him at 85 Luqueer at various points, were ever listed on the census there. Instead, in 1920, I found Margaret and Hugh Hennessy and their sons Hugh and Joseph. Hugh Sr. is 30 and Margaret is 29. Their boys are 2 1/2 (Hugh Jr.) and 10 months old (Joseph). According to John, they later had 3 more sons, John, Eugene, and Philip. Hugh Sr. is working as a mail clerk for a railway.

When I showed this census to John, he told me, "Hugh Hennessy, Sr. goes to work as an accountant at a bronze foundry and during the Depression bought KARBO Bronze Foundry in Red Hook, Brooklyn, fairly close to the Madigan-Mulcahy Home at 85 Luqueer. The foundry actually made a part of the missals of the US Space Program & I believe a part of "Landrover," that was used on the Moon."

Let this be a lesson to you on the importance of looking at not just your own family on a census record!

Update: See this post for an update on the KARBO Bronze Foundry and NASA.