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Hello Marsha:
I certainly have some of that information for some of my forebears, but I cannot go back too far. Let me see what I can do.
My grandfather, Daniel McGee, was a good Catholic and went happily to Mass on every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation.
My grandmother, Bridget (O'Donnell) McGee was a less good Catholic. I cannot remember her going to Mass. And, she would say salty things, like the time she thanked my father for some small service and gave him permission to 'have himself a red-head.'
Dan and Bridget were married at Hazleton, Pennsylvania on October 16, 1916 at the ages of 23 and 21, respectively. Both attested to their births in Pennsylvania; named their parents Thomas McGee, Margaret Boyle, Jas. (James) O'Donnell and Margaret Gallagher and indicated that their parents had been born in Ireland. James O'Donnell and Margaret Boyle are listed as 'deceased' at the time of the marriage.
I can attach a copy of the marriage record.
I can be fairly precise about Thomas McGee's death on January 28, 1930 at Hazleton. My grandfather's elder half-brother, Patrick (PJ) McGee registered it and indicated that his father, a widower, age 69 years had been born in Ireland to Patrick McGee. So, Thomas McGee would have been born about 1861 to a father named Patrick McGee. We do not have his mother's name. I have a copy:
: My Mother made an informal record of the deaths of her parents in the family bible. She could be meticulous. So you can be reasonably certain Daniel McGee died on September 27, 1970 at Hazleton, PA at about the age of 77. And that Bridget (O'Donnell) McGee died on November 17, 1975 at about the age of 80. Copy:
Thomas McGee was living in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania at the time of the United States Federal Census so we can piece together one or two additional pieces of his family story. Thomas and his wife, Maggie (Margaret Boyle) both claimed to have immigrated from Ireland in 1883 and had been living in the States for 17 years at the time of the Census. They had been married 9 years. So, were married here. Their family is listed on lines 45 - 50 of the Census Page upon which they appear, including Uncle PJ - Maggie's stepson, and their boarder, Lawrence Hearn, 80 years of age. We can put Maggie's birth in October 1862. The month of Thomas' birth in 1861, I find illegible - consistently illegible throughout the document. Copy:
I will look for some useful information about my O'Donnells and Gallaghers, but maybe this will be of some help.
Warm regards -
Bob
Bob DiSilverio
Friday 15th Mar 2024, 04:05PM -
James O'Donnell is a remarkably common name even in the United States, but I do believe I've found my great-grandfather in the US Federal Census for 1900. (Line 46 continued on following page.) This man is the right County, Luzerne, and the right borough, West Hazleton. His wife is named Maggie, but she was almost surely Margaret, formally. I know almost nothing about daughters Maggie or May, except my mother once mentioned picking up Aunt Maggie McBride to take her to a parent's funeral. I didn't know I had an Aunt Maggie McBride, but that looks like my grandmother's older sister who married some fellow named McBride. (Another mystery solved.)
So, James was born in Ireland in January 1862. He had been in the USA twenty years in 1900, since 1880. There was family lore that our great-grandfather was a saloon-keeper and this census record is consistent.
Maggie, James' wife, was born in Ireland in August 1868. She came to the USA in 1889 and had been here 11 years at the time of the census. (I have some reason to think she might have been Margaret Catherine.)
My grandmother, Bridget, would appear to have a birthdate in September 1894. Her younger sister, Annie, is Ann Nenstiel whom my mother has 'buried in Calvary cemetery' in the family bible.
DNA matched me to a 2nd cousin - Anny O'Donnell who descends from baby brother, James. And, our family once had a Polish/German domestic servant? Who knew?
Bob
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Bob DiSilverio
Friday 15th Mar 2024, 06:39PM
