Solved . . . or at Least Partially Solved

Many thanks to another double cousin for a partial solution to the lady in my last post, "Oh, Those Beautiful Eyes".  Cousin June has temporary custody of the original photo, and so I asked her to look at it for me to see if she could read anything more than I could from my digital copy.  Yippee!  My reasoning was correct . . .  it says, the sister of great Grandma Mac.  Of course it doesn't give her name, but this means that the entire family must not have emigrated from Ireland.   June also saw a very faint date which looked like 1781, but would more likely have been 1881 or 1891 from my research into the photographer.

Many years ago my mother wrote to her cousin on behalf of my brother (the original family historian) and asked about family information.  A couple of years ago we reconnected, and when we went to visit her she generously allowed us to scan every photo and document,  as well as scribbled notes she had saved concerning the family.  One of those notes listed the names of great Grandma Mac's  (Bridget O'Callahan) sisters.  Sadly, she passed away before we could ask who gave her that information, but it had to be from the McDonnell side of the family, and the most likely person claims it wasn't her.  So we have this completely unsourced lead . . .  but leads are always welcome.  I have not yet found another family member who knew this information so that makes it especially precious to me.

Click to enlarge and read more details than those listed below.

 

Edited transcription:

Great Grandma Bridget O'Callahan McDonnell had 3 sisters and 3 brothers

1.) Abigail - Pat Kennedy

Mary  m.William Green

Bridget

Simon

Patrick

Joseph

Abigail

Margaret 

James

Catherine m. Oscar Smedly

2.) Catherine O'Callahan - Pat Curtin

Catherine

Patrick

Nell

Albie

John m. Mary Gary

Simon

3.) Mary O'Callahan - Michael Reagan

Mollie m. Thomas McCarty

Albie m. Thomas Ayan

Bridget m. John Donovan

4.) John O'Callahan - Winnie Maloney

Winnie m. Frank McDonnell

Mary m.

Simon

5.) Dennis O'Callahan ?

6.)  John Daniel O'Callahan ?

The only issue is that it looks like all of these individuals lived in the U.S. based upon the listing of subsequent generations - except for the two possible brothers at the end.  That, of course, makes me wonder if the sister in the photo passed away since she was still in Ireland in the late 1800's. She obviously kept in touch with Bridget for a long time given the date of the photo and the fact that Bridget immigrated to the U.S around 1854.

From the 1925 Iowa census (a genealogist's dream census), I find that great Grandma Mac (Bridget O'Callahan McDonnell) lists her parents names as Simon O'Callaghan and Mary Galvan.  Now I need to find an Irish record with these names in combination.  The information I have says that Bridget lived in Cobh/Queenstown. So far, I have not found any records of her family or her immigration to the U.S.

Genealogy is an endless series of mysteries and oh, how I love the chase!

Well, if that photo is Bridget McDonnell's sister, could this unidentified tintype/ambrotype (I don't know the difference) photo, found in the same album, be her father, Simon O'Callahan?  His clothing with the wide labels, vest, and turned down collar along with his lack of facial hair and the photograph medium seem to tell me this is mid 19th century.  However, this is completely am impression on my part so if anyone who reads this has some expertise in this matter, please share.

But also . . . he has those eyes!

Saturday Morning before Putting Up Corn

Today, is corn day.  During our recent family research to Clinton, Iowa we saw people sitting in lawnchairs with plastic bags of corn selling  for $3/dozen.   My daughter had already mentioned that we "really should put up corn again"  since it tasted so good. I admitted that it had been a long time, since I had done this, and the best part of her comment was that she also offered to help!  I can't turn down an offer like that, and she is right that it does taste fabulous!  If you have only had frozen corn from the store, you are missing out on one of life's great foods.

This morning I went to my local farmer's market and paid $4/dozen, but the corn looks amazing and is so huge that I will get a lot for my money.  I had scoped out this vendor at last week's market, comparing to other places during the week.  Nothing looked as good, so today I had a plan.  I checked last night to make sure that my daughter was free to help. 

Since I am tied up for the rest of the day, I wanted to write a short post. Geneabloggers, designates today as Surname Saturday.  What surname should I choose. . . . .hmmmm.

Owen William McDonnell & Bridget O'Callahan

Wedding certificate of Owen & Bridget

I have finally decided on O'Callahan. Why?  Because I can use more of my Ireland photos.  Bridget O'Callahan married Owen William McDonnell in 1864 in Whiteside, Illinois.  I wondered why several family members married in Illinois, rather than in their own town of Clinton, Iowa.  When I visited last week, I asked at the Historical Museum.  One woman said, depending on where they lived in Clinton, such as Lyons, it would have been closer to cross the bridge and go to Illinois.  At last a common sense answer.  Look at the location of the photographer in their photograph.

A display at the Cobh Heritage Centre

Family stories, tell me that Bridget immigrated from Cobh, Ireland and that she was a bond servant in Cleveland, Ohio (Edit 8/19: Family photos seem to point to Cinncinnati, Ohio as the location instead of Cleveland, Ohio.) before her marriage to Owen William McDonnell.  They had eleven children and only two of them married.  The unique fact here is that I am biologically related to their son Owen Jerome and his wife due to my grandparent's marriage. My grandfather's uncle, Owen Jerome McDonnell married my grandmother's aunt, Elizabeth Bernette Allen. TaDa!

When in Ireland recently, I visited the Cobh Heritage Centre  hoping to find out a little more about her.  The research available was marginal, but they sent me up the hill (It must have been a million steps) to the city museum.  Now this was asking a lot of my non genealogy interested companion, but she is a good sport and went along. 

She looked around the museum and enjoyed the hand made lace while I pulled book after book off the shelf quickly scanned the many pages of names of those who emigrated from Cobh during the appropriate years.  Sadly, I had no luck.  But luckily she is still my friend.

We then took the train back to her daughter's house in Kinsale. 

I guess these aren't the most picturesque photos of Ireland, but they go along with the blog content so . . . . .

On the Slea Head drive traveling around the Dingle peninsula

I will post just one fabulous photo.  How difficult it must have been to leave this beautiful place.  I need to just spend a few days boring you with beautiful photos of Ireland.  You, of course, can choose to ignore the post, but it will be terribly satisfying for me.  I wish I knew how to do a collage on here.