Wordless Wednesday . . . or as wordless as I can be.

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"Chicago detectives William Murphy, left, and Owen D. Kennelly practiced springing from a moving squad car with riot and machine guns in July 1939. They were preparing for the Police and Fire Thrill Show at Soldiers' Field. Tribune archive photo published July 10, 1939.. Vintage Chicago Police"

Several of my ancestors were Chicago Policemen, in fact, both of my grandfather's brothers were detectives, but Owen was definitely the more flamboyant of the two.  I found this photo while  doing a random Google search, but what a great photo AND my uncle got the better pose!  I will bet this is not the only police photo of him.  If you know of a resource for police photos, please share it since I know there must be more. 

Note:  Owen is the uncle I wrote about here and here,

Oh, Those Beautiful Eyes!

Subtitle:  Can Physical Traits Lead Us to Photo Identification?
Well, now that you have seen my uncle Owen Kennelly in this week's Tombstone Tuesday post, it is obvious that he has very distinctive eyes.  On more than one occasion, I have been sitting with family members sorting through unidentified photos and the comment is made, "Oh, that's Owen just look at the eyes."  It was his eyes that I thought of when my late wonderful double cousin, Mary Margaret and I were going through an album of CDV and tintype/ambrotype photos.  The photos had been pulled out long before she received it but were still stuck between the pages.  Some of the photos have names on the back, some just have clues as to the identity on the back, and others are maddeningly blank.  We assumed they must be from either the family of Owen McDonnell or Bridget O'Callahan McDonnell because the identified photos pointed to an origination with that generation.  But are they from both Owen and Bridget or just one of them?

I need to do more research on clothing and hairstyles - something I would find fascinating anyway - to see if I can at least afix the photos in a time period.  Last winter I investigated submitting a few to Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective but the cost was going to be prohibitive and could not choose just one.  Indecision is a fatal flaw of mine. 

So today, I will share one with you.  It is the lady with Owen's eyes.   It is a definite physical trait and this would be an indication that he inherited it through his mother, Mary McDonnell Kennelly, the child of Owen  and Bridget O'Callahan McDonnell.

The best part though is that this photo is definitely connected to Ireland!! As you can see the photographer is listed as Hunter in the lower left and the location as Cork in the right.  Both Owen and Bridget were from County Cork with Owen from Grenagh and Bridget from Cobh also known as Queenstown. Having a rock for a prop seems like an unusual choice, but it might have some significance that I am unaware of.  I have also tried to look up clothing styles for the 1880's (which is the time period my intuition tells me this is) and it looks similar.  I cannot tell if there is a bustle on the back but all that gathered material sort of points to that.  Now both Owen and and Bridget immigrated in the 1850's so this has to be someone they left at home and continued to correspond with if I have the correct decade.  According to the information on Photo Tree, dark card backgrounds became popular in the late 1880's to 1890's.  But was that the same in Ireland?

Click to enlarge.

Let's turn the photo over.

This gives us a bit more information about the photographer.

H. Hunter

28 Patrick Street,

Cork.

Copies can be had

Enlargements any size on paper or canvas artistically finished in oil, water colors, or crayon, can at any time be produced without another sitting.

And since I am a fly by the seat of your pants, impatient, family historian who tries many options, I Googled the photographer's name as well as posting a query on the Ireland message board of Ancestry.com.  While the internet is great, the kindness and generosity of other family historians is the fuel that keeps us moving. As expected, I received a reply that linked to interesting information.  Using the Ask About Ireland website can be exceedingly confusing so I appreciated a link to the section that would be most helpful.  Combining this with my Google information, I have discovered that,  according to Aldwell's City of Cork Directory, in 1844-45 there was a Henry J. Hunter working as a post office secretary at 27 Patrick Street in Cork but by the 1867 Henry and Coughlan's City Directory there is a listing for an H. Hunter, photographer at 102 Patrick Street.  Then there is a photo on Flickr that lists the date of a photo at about 1890 and the back of the photo is identical to the one above except it is lighter in color.  Am I boring you yet?  I am trying to set down my research findings and methods.  However, the term methods may be a bit too organized sounding for my research. 

Now, have you noticed anything else on the back of the photo?  I encouraged you to click on the photo to enlarge it.  In VERY faint script at the top it has the words "(too faint to read then . . .)Great Grandma and possibly Mc".  This would mean it could not be a sister left in Ireland, but the woman is too young in this photo to be the mother of Owen McDonnell, born 1833 or 1837.    I have strained my eyes on this writing innumerable times trying to make out the full notation and used my photo editing software to try and enlarge and enhance it to no avail.  

The mystery of her identity remains.

Tombstone Tuesday - Owen Kennelly

Owen Kennelly 

July 19, 1902- October 1970 

Queen of Heaven Mausoleum - Chicago, Illinois

My mother's favorite Uncle

Obituary in the Chicago Tribune, October 29, 1970

Owen D. Kennelly, retired CPD, beloved husband of the late Hazel and Ellen (Nell); fond father of Joseph F, (Tina and Gerald E.(Phyllis); grandfather of six; gr. grandfather of two; brother of Margaret Coughlin, John and the late Anna Farley, Mary Murray and Edward.  Funeral Saturday, 10:30 a.m. from William C. Smith and Sons Inc., 2500 N. Cicero to St. Bartholomew Church.  Entombment Queen of Heaven Mausoleum.  Member of B.P.A. and Fraternal Order of Police. Visitation after 3 p.m. Thursday.

What makes this Tombstone Tuesday unique is the full picture below of the vault above in the mausoleum.

You will notice his first wife, Hazel, mentioned in his obituary, is in the vault above he and his second wife, Nell.   But . . . Hazel was not originally buried in this vault.  In an earlier Tombstone Tuesday, I posted about Auntie, the maiden aunt who shared the home at 2338 W. Washington Blvd with her sister, my gr. grandmother, her entire life. I mentioned in that post that I couldn't understand why she was buried alone with no family next to her. After all, she was a legend in the family.   

This is why.  Hazel,Owen and Auntie originally purchased plots together, Hazel was originally buried there as planned, then Owen became reacquainted Nell and married her not long after. Rumor is Nell, who had long had a crush on Owen, came to Hazel's funeral offering comfort to Owen and the rest is history.  No one has a bad word to say about Nell.  She loved Owen and was generous with her considerable money.  So rather than separate Owen from his first wife, she had Hazel moved to the vault above theirs.  It is notable that Owen, who died last, could have spent eternity with either wife, but he chose Nell.

Marriage Monday

 

The beautiful bride - Anna Marie Kennelly - date approx. 1922-1924

This is the wedding of my grand aunt Anna Marie Kennelly, my grandfather's sister. 

Front left to right: Mary Kennelly (sister), Margaret aka Peg Kennelly (sister), Anna Marie (bride), Berenice Moldt Kennelly (my grandmother and sister-in-law), unknown girl

Back left to right: Jimmy Fox (cousin), Dr.Leon Farley (groom), Owen Kennelly (brother), Edward P. Kennelly, Jr. (my grandfather)

A few photos sit on your heart and won't leave.  For me, this is one of those photos.  My grandparents must have been newly married, and my great grandmother in all likelihood made the dresses since before her marriage, she had been a personal seamstress for Mrs. Potter Palmer.  She knew her way around a needle! Since I usually examine the clothing in old photographs before I look at the faces this was a feast. My grandmother looks so beautiful and my grandfather so young. . . was this photo before or after their daughter Margel died in 1922?  And Anna Marie did not know that she would have a short marriage, her husband would die, then she and her infant daughter would move back with her mother and Auntie  permanently - at 2338 W. Washington Blvd. - a house filled with family.

Now, Meet the Rest of the Family. . . .

My original goal was to set the stage for the name of my blog by introducing you to my ancestors who lived at this address. You have met my great grandparents and now it is time to introduce their children. . . . Family photos are some of my greatest treasures, and I absolutely love these! Thank you to my relatives who shared them with me.

Here are the boys from the left: John,b. 1904, Owen, b. 1902, and finally my grandfather Edward Phillip Jr., b. 1899. My grandfather certainly never looked like his brothers.

Next the girsl from the left (I think): Mary,b.1910, Anna Marie,b. 1901, and Margaret known as Peg,b. 1906

I never really knew my grandfather's family very well. I remember meeting a few of them and I visited my great grandmother a few times, but now I want to find out as much as I can. I think my passion for genealogy is also my passion to find a family, my family. I want to know them. I always thought genealogy was just dates and names, but now I know it is really so much more. I want to find newspaper articles (I love these), see where they lived and worked, reconstuct relationship and find the lost or forgotten. I never realized how emotional this journey would be. That emotion is definitely part of the genealogy addiction!