Thursday, August 28, 2014

MARGARET MURPHY #34 52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS


MARGARET MURPHY #34   52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS

 

 

MARGARET MURPHY was born in October 1878 to PATRICK AND HONORA (QUINLAN) MURPHY.  She is the sister of my husband’s Grandfather, THOMAS JOSEPH MURPHY who born in 1877.  Her other siblings were Mary born in 1873, Patrick born in 1875, Michael born in 1881.  Margaret was born in Brooklyn and lived her whole life in that borough of New York City.

 

I know it is hard to find information on female ancestors because when they married you loose track of them unless you know the married name.  My husband did not know anything about his grandfather’s family when I started this research.  I thought it would be very hard with the name Murphy being so common but we did know the address where his grandparents lived so I was able to see them in the latest census record at the time, 1930.  We did know his father’s siblings names so could look for the family when the children were small.  I also found out THOMAS JOSEPH MURPHY’S parents names from his marriage certificate.

 

The first census I found the MURPHY family in was the 1880 census and I found that THOMAS had 2 sisters and 2 brothers.  I found MARGARET MURPHY in the 1900 census living with her mother NORA MURPHY, her brother THOMAS, and her husband, JAMES W. COYNE, and son, JOHN COYNE age 1.  That was a nice surprise. I tried finding the other sister and had no luck because she was out of the house of her mother and probably married.

 

I have not gotten MARGARET and JAMES COYNE’S marriage certificate, but on the 1900 census she indicates that they are married 4 years, making the marriage year 1896.  I have gotten all but John and Edward’s birth certificates.  I found MARGARET MURPHY COYNE’S family in the 1910 census.  There was father James, mother Margaret, children John, Edward, James, Thomas and Lauretta.  I did find 2 birth and death records for 2 babies Margaret had who both died before 1910 named Helen and Paul.

 

 I couldn’t find MARGARET after 1910 so I looked for and found her death record of August 7, 1911.


 

 

MARGARET died of Pulmonary Phthisis (Tuberculosis).  The hospital was located in the Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn, on Henry Street between Warren and Congress Streets.

St. Peter's Hospital where MARGARET died, opened in late 1889, had 300 beds, 250 for charity patients.  Most of the admissions were for tuberculosis, followed by rheumatism, alcoholism and bronchitis.

 

When using a death certificate in research you have to remember all the information is not from a reliable source.  The doctor’s information is correct but any personal information on the person who died in questionable.  The person giving the information is very emotional at the time and might give wrong information.  As an example on this death certificate the person giving the information indicates that Margaret’s father’s name is Thomas when it is John.  Also the age is probably unreliable because during this time frame they weren’t concerned with birth dates, they were not needed for any kind of town, county or state documents like they are today.

 

 

I continued to find the family after MARGARET died but it was difficult because the children were given to relatives and friends to take care of them.  I didn’t have much luck with her daughter Loretta/Lauretta until I was contacted through Ancestry.com with the family of Loretta, it was wonderful to connect with that family.  They even had a picture of her posted with their family tree.  When I look at the picture I wonder how much she might have looked like her mother MARGARET MURPHY COYNE.

 

 

 


Loretta Coyne French

Youngest child of Margaret Murphy Coyne

Friday, August 22, 2014

THOMAS A. SHARKEY #33 52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS




 

Thomas A. Sharkey was a cousin of my Grandmother Isabel Tierney Moore.  He was born February 16, 1891 in Brooklyn, New York to Patrick Joseph and Alice (Delaney) Sharkey.  Thomas had a sister Alice who was born in 1889, brother Frank born in 1892 and Joseph born in 1896.

 

1324405 - Thomas Sharkey

 

Thomas A. Sharkey Birth Certificate

 

The following is a excerpt from an 2013 blog on finding and research the Sharkey family.   

 

“During my researching of my family's genealogy, I have always been on the look out for a priest in the Tierney/Delaney branch of the family.  I remember my grandmother, Isabel Tierney Moore mentioning a priest but I never asked his name.  I found this priest, Thomas A. Sharkey in the 1900 through 1940 census records.  I am very surprised we never met him or that he wasn't asked to be at any of our family gatherings.  It was probably because my mother died early. A lot of family gatherings just didn't include her side of the family.


In researching the census records I found that Joseph Sharkey (also known as Patrick) married Alice Delaney, the sister of my great grandmother, Margaret Delaney Tierney.”


 

Thomas Sharkey was ordained a priest on May 29, 1915 when he was 24 years old, in Brooklyn, NY.  He had attended St. John University and graduated in June of 1911. In September 1926 he was appointed by then Bishop Molloy to head up the new seminary in Huntington, Long Island New York.  It was called The Institute of Philosophy at that time and was eventually named the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception.  When the seminary opened they had 25 students.  My husband and I have driven passed this seminary many times and never knew he had been there. After leaving the seminary he was pastor at several Brooklyn parish churches, St. Martin of Tours, St. Theresa’s and St. Saviours’.

 

He was also on the Board of the Little Flower Orphanage in Wading River, LI, New York.

 

 

Thomas Sharkey registered for the draft in the first and second world wars but was never called to service.

 

 

WW 1 Draft Registration for Thomas A. Sharkey

 

 


 

WW 11 Draft Registration for Thomas A. Sharkey

 

 

Monsignor Thomas A. Sharkey died January 26, 1965 the following is his obituary from the New York Times dated January 29, 1965 page 29.

 

Msgr. Thomas Sharkey, pastor of St. Saviour’s Roman Catholic Church, 8th Avenue and 6th Street, Brooklyn died Tuesday at the church rectory.  He was 73 years old.

 

Msgr. Sharkey who was ordained on May 29, 1915 had been at the church as pastor since 1954 having served previously at St. Theresa and St. Martin of Tours churches in Brooklyn.

 

He also served as the first rector of the Immaculate Conception Seminary, Rosemary Park, Huntington, Long Island.  He leaves a brother Frank.