Patrick Sherlock

Great Great Grandpa Patrick Sherlock

My maternal grandmother's grandfather was Patrick Sherlock. He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in approximately 1838.  On the marriage record of Patrick's brother, James, their father's name is given as Patrick and his  occupation is brass moulder.

Patrick (as well as brother James), got into the print trade. Patrick is listed as a printer in Belfast Street Directories (accessed via http://www.lennonwylie.co.uk/) through the late 1800s and early 1900s in various locations. I do not know if he had his own business or worked elsewhere. I also found addresses given in children's birth announcements in newspapers, and in censuses. Various addresses where he and/or the family lived were:

1862 - Hill Street

1869 - 9 White Street, Short Strand

1872 - 17 Thompson Street

1877 - 19 Thompson Street

1880 - 36 Thompson Street

1901 - 31 Creadlin Street

1911 - 98 Albertbridge Road

1925 - 47 Thompson Street

1941 - 6 Strathmore Park. (He died at this location.

(Map of Thompson Street, Belfast. It's two blocks north of Albertbridge Road. It no longer exists.

Thank you cousin Gareth MacAllister for the map.)

When my mother (Maria Margaret "Peggy" Kilgariff McLaughlin), his great granddaughter, visited Ireland in 1935 as a child, Patrick told her he had lived in American for a time, but that he had to return to Ireland because he'd been a 'bad boy' there. 

He married Mary Canning on January 30, 1860 in St. Malachy's Catholic Church on Alfred Street in Belfast. Their witnesses were Patrick Millar and Ann Hanna. 

(Close up snip of marriage register of Patrick and Mary Canning)

(Mary Canning Sherlock)

They had 12 children, from 1861 through 1883. It looks like the oldest girl and boy were named after Patrick's wife's parents, John and Catherine (McGley) Canning.

1) Catherine "Kate", 12 May 1861--9 April 1944 (Brooklyn, NY)

(Catherine "Kate" Sherlock McCann)

2) Margaret Ann, 19 September 1862--d. before 1871)

3) John Philip, 25 December 1863--?

(This is quite a big gap between babies.)

4) James, 10 January 1869--21 January 1869

5) James "Jimmy" Arthur, 8 April 1870--7 August 1870 (Nassau County, NY)

6)  Margaret, born c. 1871-1921

7) Mary Elizabeth, 6 February 1872--1 September 1874

8) Christina "Teenie", 25 December 1873--13 April 1957 (Belfast)

(Christina "Teenie" Sherlock Browne. Photo taken at Coney Island, Brooklyn, NY in the early 1900s)

9) Mary "Minnie" Elizabeth, 25 February 1876--2 May 1961 (Belfast)

(Mary "Minnie" Elizabeth Sherlock McCann, Patrick Sherlock, Christina "Teenie" Sherlock Browne,  & ??

This picture was taken in 1935 when Kate & Joseph McCann and Pearl McCann Kilgariff & Peggy Kilgariff visited Belfast, Ireland)

10) William "Willie" John Canning, 28 July 1877--1907

11) Robert "Magill", 8 July 1881--7 November 1882

12) Robert "Bob" Magill, 9 March 1883--died in New York. 

(Robert "Bob" Magill Sherlock, taken 1953, Brooklyn, NY)

Patrick and his wife were in the 1901 Irish Census. They lived at 31 Creadlin Avenue. He listed his occupation as letterpress printer. Still living with them at home were Margaret (38), Christina (25), William (23), and Robert (18).  

In the 1911 Census only Margaret (40) and Robert (29) are listed as still living at home. Interestingly, Robert is married, yet still living at home. 

In 1935 my great grandparents, Catherine (Sherlock) & Joseph McCann, their daughter, my grandmother, Margaret "Pearl" (McCann) Kilgariff, and her daughter, my mom,  Peggy Kilgariff visited Ireland to see Patrick and other family members. (See a picture, above) It was, ostensibly, for his 100th birthday. However, birth years from then are to be taken lightly. Pearl took a bit of home movie footage of that visit. Unfortunately, by the time it was converted to DVD, it had greatly deteriorated. But at minute 00:18 of the movie, you can see Patrick Sherlock with the big mustache. 

When he died in 1941, his age was supposedly 103. I have found in different newspaper archives an AP newspaper notice from late February/early March 1941 that he had been the oldest living printer in the world

(Snip that my grandmother saved from a newspaper. I have since found out the notice was in various newspapers across the U.S. the last few days of February/early March of 1941. According to the cemetery monument he died February 15th, 1941.) 

Thanks to DNA cousin Gareth MacAllister of Belfast, here's a picture of a common monument at Milltown Cemetery, where many of the Sherlocks are buried. 

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Unusual Name

Unusual Name

My grandmother, who lived with us from the time I was about 10, had a bit of an unusual time with her name. Her parents named her Margaret McCann. Yet her birth certificate says 'Maggie.' The family story is that the doctor who delivered her (at home) told her mother that everyone would be calling her Maggie if they named her Margaret, so he would just put Maggie on the birth certificate. And sure enough, he did. However, she was nicknamed "Pearl," which is what Margaret means.

She was given the middle name "Charles" at her baptism, which was a bit unusual for a woman (certificate below). Her godfather was her Uncle Charles McCann (photo below), older brother to her father, Joseph McCann. The family story is that he was afraid he may never have any heirs to pass on his name. I can only assume that meant he didn't have children at that time? And may not have been married at that time either. Margaret was baptized in St. Michael's Catholic Church, 424 W. 34th St., Manhattan, NY.

This photo is the youngest-age photo I have of my                                    Grandmother Margaret "Pearl" Charles McCann Kilgariff. 

FIRST!

FIRST

     My maternal grandmother lived with us from the time I was ten. Her parents had emigrated from Ireland to the US in the early 1880s. My grandma's husband, who died before I was born, as well as my father's parents, also emigrated to the US from Ireland, but in the 1920s. The FIRST to come was Joseph McCann, my grandma's father. He was born in the civil parish of Duneane in the Union of Balleymena in an area near Toomebridge, in Antrim, Northern Ireland. He was baptized in Sacred Heart Church in Cargin, near Belfast, on 2 January 1859. His parents were Neal McCann and Susan McIlvenna (sometimes recorded as McKenna).
     He emigrated to the U.S. (New York) sometime in 1881 according to his Oath of Citizenship. He ended up back in Ireland later in that year because he was married in Belfast on 15 September 1881 to Catherine "Kate" Sherlock at St. Matthew's Catholic Church, Holywood (pronounced the same as Hollywood in Los Angeles), in the Belfast area. Their witnesses were Rose Anne Neeson and John Sherlock. Kate had a brother John, so I assume it was he who acted as witness.
     He and Kate had four children: Mary Catherine, who was born in Ireland in August 1882 and called May, although I always knew her as Aunt Mamie. The other three children were all born in New York City: a son, Neil, born in April 1884; a daughter Margaret (grandma), called Pearl, in December 1885; and another son Charles, born in December 1892.
     When Joseph FIRST brought his family to New York, they started their life in New York in Hell's Kitchen. They lived in at least two apartments in that area, and later lived in Harlem. By 1900 the family was living in a home he had bought in Park Slope, Brooklyn, at 91 4th Avenue. It was a four story building which still stands today. The building came with a built-in tenant, an immigrant woman from Ireland (no relation). Later on, the bottom floor was rented out to someone who operated a store there and Joseph's married daughters each lived with their families on a floor of their own. Of course, Joseph and Kate lived on one floor. Their son Neil and family lived around the corner early on in their marriage. After their younger son Charles' marriage, he and his family lived across the street and over one block. (Two of his children, now in their 90s, are still living in that house today.)
     On both his marriage record and Oath of Citizenship Joseph gives his occupation as carpenter and that is the occupation he had in New York. He worked mostly for Western Union as a joiner, and was known as 'Mack' at work; a nickname many Irishmen received. A joiner is someone who makes cabinetry that primarily is fixed and not movable. Joseph was a member of the carpenter's union and told his granddaughter Peggy (my mother Maria Margaret Kilgariff McLaughlin) that he took part in the FIRST Labor Day parade in New York City, which was on Tuesday, September 5, 1882. He was brought out of retirement to help build cabinetry for the Western Union offices in the Empire State Building when it was being built. A number of his children and grandchildren worked for Western Union, too, into the 1960s.
     Joseph's success in America led him to be able to buy a summer property in Lindenhurst, Long Island. It came with a screened wooden cottage on stilts, but with the help of his sons and friends, Joseph built a two story house with a cellar and detached garage. It had a grape arbor with a swing underneath. He harvested the grapes to make his own wine. The property was located near a canal that led out to the South Oyster Bay. The house is still there, though totally made over to be a year-round home and is unrecognizable as the small house he built in the 19teens. Joseph sold his property in the late 1940s when he became too old for the upkeep of the place.
     I have found records that indicate that at least twice he and Kate returned to visit family members in the Belfast area. Upon his second visit in 1935 he had erected a monument to his parents and deceased siblings. It stands in the churchyard of Sacred Heart; the same church where he was baptized.
     Joseph passed away on 1 March 1950 in Brooklyn at the age of 91. He is buried in St. John's Catholic Cemetery, Middle Village, Queens, NY, Section 24, Range G, Grave 108. Funeral arrangements were handled by the John E. Duffy Funeral Home, Coney Island. His wife preceded him in death. His funeral mass, and hers, were celebrated at St. Augustine Church on Sixth Avenue in Park Slope.
     Rest in Peace my FIRST immigrant grandparent, Joseph McCann.

Joseph's baptismal register, Sacred Church, Cargin, Antrim, No. Ireland.

Joseph's marriage certificate, St. Matthew's Catholic Church, Belfast, Northern Ireland.

I assume this to be taken around the time of his wedding in 1881.

The monument he had erected to his family in the Sacred Heart Churchyard in Cargin, Antrim, Northern Ireland. This photo is from 1935.

Funeral card for Joseph McCann. The "A" was for Arthur. I have never found evidence for this middle name anywhere, just family lore, but perhaps he liked it and just added it to his name.