MICHAEL DELANEY #48 52 ANCESTORS 52 WEEKS

 

MICHAEL DELANEY was my 2^nd Great Grandfather in my maternal line.  According to several documents he was born about 1838 in Ireland.  I have not found anything on records indicating where in Ireland he was born. His death certificate indicates that his father was Patrick and his mother was Catherine.

 

I have found MICHAEL DELANEY and his wife, MARY (MALLOY) DELANEY living in Newburgh, New York in the 1860 census.  They also have a daughter, MARGARET (my Great Grandmother) aged 7 months old.  It says he is a soap maker.  There are several men within a couple of pages of MICHAEL DELANEY, in the 1860 census who are also soap makers.

 

 The only manufacturer of soap in Newburgh in 1860 was the Belknap & McCann Soap Co.  This soap company was in existence from 1783 to 1912.  There is a museum, The Museum Village in Monroe, New York that has small shops depicting the area in the 1800’s.  One of the shops is the Belknap & McCann Soap and Candle Store to memorialize the regions soap manufacturing history.

 

In the 1870 census, MICHAEL DELANEY and his family which now includes his wife Mary, daughter Margaret, Kate, Alice and Michael, are living in Brooklyn, New York.  He is still listed as a soap maker.  Looking further on the pages of the census I also see one of his old neighbors living around the block from the Delaney family. 

 

The 1875, 1880, and 1900 census all have the family living in Brooklyn but by this time MICHAEL DELANEY now indicates he is a Stationery Engineer.  In the instructions for the census takers in 1900 indicated that a Stationery Engineer will mean an engineer on a locomotive.

 

In 1900 MICHAEL DELANEY’S daughter MARGARET died in child birth and left a family of 5 daughters.  MICHAEL and his wife with their other daughter Kate and son Michael took guardianship of the girls.

 

MICHAEL DELANEY died on February 5, 1901 and is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York