52 ANCESTORS 52 WEEKS -

GONE TOO SOON

When someone is gone too soon, many people are affected.

My mother, Ruth Isabel Moore Mathews, died at the age of 37 in 1956.  She had breast cancer at a time when there was little known about the disease and little to be done for it.

Ruth’s brother, John N. Moore, lost his only sibling.  He joined the Merchant Marines right out of school during WW11.  When he left the service he ended up living in Chicago while the rest of his family was in Brooklyn, New York.  So he wasn’t around for his sister’s wedding and births of her 4 children.  He did come to visit Ruth after her 4th child was born.  He told me he was sorry he missed being with his sister as they turn into adults.

Ruth’s mother, Isabel Tierney Moore, lost her only daughter.  As a young child Isabel lost her own mother, Margaret Delaney Tierney at the age of 41 and knew the heartache Ruth’s children would go through.

Ruth’s father, John N. Moore Sr., lost his only daughter.  She was always going places with her father, they loved to go for rides in his car from Brooklyn out to Long Island, mainly to Ronkonkoma Lake.

They also went to Mitchell Field when Charles Lindbergh flew to France.

Ruth’s husband, James R. Mathews lost his young wife.  James met Ruth on Wall Street where they both worked.  He as a “runner” taking messages from one brokerage house to another and she as a telephone operator.  They set up the family first in Jamaica, Queens, then Bellerose , Levittown and Hicksville.  Having two daughters first then 7 years later 2 sons, they needed more and more room.

They were very happy together with many friends and family around all the time.

Ruth had several friends from the old neighborhood in Brooklyn who lived out on Long Island.  They were more than friends they became family. So even though she had few cousins and only one brother she ended up with a large “family”.  They were all devastated when she died so young.

My sister and brothers and I had a very hard time adjusting to not having Mom around anymore.  The boys were only 2 and 4 years old.  They needed constant care, so they were sent to live with relatives for awhile.  Soon they came home and went to nursery school and elementary school with us sisters caring for them after school.  Dad did a wonderful job and kept us all together. We felt loved all the time, but Mom was gone to soon.

 52 Ancestors 52 Weeks. - I Can Identify

When you are researching Irish relatives, you must know the town and county they lived in to find the exact family and to find more ancestors.

Our Murphy family all originated in Ireland.  This is according to the census records I have found for the different families.

Most of the census just say they came from Ireland.  The few marriage and death records only state Ireland as their place of birth.

I was working on my husband’s grandmother, Florence McDonald Murphy.  I found her Marriage record and her Death record.  In both certificates she stated her father was Owen McDonald and her mother was Mary Ann Callahan.  I couldn’t find her Birth certificate but she always indicated she was born in New York.

I searched further looking at her siblings.  They all indicated the same parents and that they were born in New York.   I checked the death certificate for Mary Ann Callahan McDonald and it indicated her parents Callahan O’Callahan and Julia O’Brien both born in Ireland.  Of course it didn’t give the town just Ireland.

I looked at all the census records for Florence and her siblings.  In one I noticed an Ellen Callahan living with Florence’s sister,Ellen McDonald Fitzgerald.  They lived together for many years, until Ellen Callahan died in 1921.  I believed she was the sister of Mary Callahan McDonald, mother of Ellen McDonald Fitzgerald.  I searched for Ellen Callahan’s death certificate and obituary. The death certificate confirmed that they were sisters, listing the same parents as was mentioned in Mary Callahan McDonald’s death certificate.

The obituary was an exciting surprise,  I can identify, finally, a place in Ireland for part of the Murphy family.

The obituary indicates the place of birth for Ellen Callahan as Castletown Roach, County Cork, Ireland.  It also lists her parents and nieces including Florence McDonald Murphy.

Brooklyn Eagle Newspaper

22 April 1921 page 22

(Web site Bklyn.newspapers.com)

  52 Ancestors 52 Weeks

Social Media

Newspapers used be the social media before the internet.  The newspapers reported the news, world wide, national, statewide and local.  The local news was like our social media today.  You found news of weddings with photos of the bride.  Announcements of the birth of a child.  There would also be stories of the people who were going out of town or were having guests visiting.  You would read about the ships coming into port and who was on the ship.

There were also columns that you could put in a personal note. You could say you were looking for an apartment to rent, or you would not be paying bills for your wife anymore.  One of the columns that was very common was looking for a date. These are some examples.

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My Aunt Florrie worked in a travel office.  She would help people make plans to take a trip on a passenger ship.  This was in the 1920’s.  One of the things they did when it was slow during the day was to check out the personal columns in the newspaper.

They loved reading about the men and women who were asking for a date and giving there description.  One day they dared Aunt Florrie to put in a ad as she was single in her late 20’s and not dating.  She did and a very nice gentlemen answered. They arrange to meet in a public park to check each other out.  There must have been a spark between them because they married in Marich of 1929 and stayed married until their deaths.