Religious Tradition (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge)

I'm American, but of 100% Irish ancestry. Three of my grandparents were born in Ireland (Mayo, Cavan, Tyrone) and emigrated to the US (NYC) in their 20s in the 1920s. My remaining grandparent, my maternal grandmother, Margaret Charles "Pearl" (nee McCann) Kilgariff (1885-1977) was born in the US, but her parents had emigrated here from Belfast in the early 1880s.

So, being of all Irish ethnicity, would you venture to guess that my family was all Catholic? Well, the answer is yes...mostly.

We all know about the sectarianism in northern Ireland. So I was surprised to see that although *most* of my family was Catholic, yes, there were also cross marriages in my relatives from the Belfast area! 

My maternal great great grandfather, Patrick Sherlock (1838-1941) and family were Catholic. I don't know if he was born and raised in the Catholic church though, because his brother James (1846-1923) was married in the Presbyterian church, to Rebecca Gibson (c.1854-1936) and raised his family Presbyterian.

On my mother's other side, also in Belfast, her dad's sister, Bridget Kilgariff (1886-?) married Charles Thomas Boyce (1880-1951) in the Church of England in 1911.

Their sister Mary "Minnie" emigrated to NYC in 1897 and married Theodore Bonville (1882-1952) in the historic "Little Church Around the Corner," the Church of the Transfiguration, on E. 29th Street in Manhattan, which is an Episcopalian Church.

Their brother Francis "Frank" Kilgariff (1975-1908) who also emigrated to NYC (in 1895), married a German immigrant, Sophie Albrecht (1874-1943). They were married by a parson ("minister of the gospel") of the German Evangelical Congregation. 

Nowadays, of the family members I'm in touch with, some still practice Catholicism, some are other variations of Christianity. Some are practicing Judaism, or other faiths, or no faith at all. But I'm going to write here of the Catholic faith of most of my ancestors and into the present.

Catholics have seven sacraments they believe were instituted by Jesus. 

BAPTISM - This is the first of the three sacraments of initiation. In the Catholic church babies are baptized into the family's faith. 

Baptismal certificate of my Great Uncle Charles McCann, 11 Dec 1892, NYC.

Uncle Charlie's sister, my great Aunt Mary "Mamie" McCann, 8 August 1882, in Ireland.

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION - Usually the second rite of initiation. Catholics believe communion, or the eucharist, is the body and blood of Jesus. It's a rite of passage for Catholic children, and is referred to as First Holy Communion. Here are some family photos.

My mom, Margaret Peggy" (nee Kilgariff) McLaughlin (1928-2004), about 1936?

My mom's first cousin, Joseph McCann (1927-2022), about 1935. 

Their first cousin, Neil McCann (1916-1986), 1923. 

I must say, I've never seen a boy dressed all in a white outfit like this for their First Holy Communion. 

I have seen boys in white suits. 

CONFIRMATION - The third rite of initiation for Catholics. Typically also made when one is young, anywhere from about 11 to 17. 

My sister Joan, dressed for her Confirmation, about 1968. NYC.

MARRIAGE

My parents, Peggy and John McLaughlin (1928-2003) getting married at St. Augustine Church, 11 April, 1953, Brooklyn, NY.

My dad's maternal uncle, Michael Harrington (1909-1985) marrying Margaret McCarrick in in Ireland, c. 1950s.

The wedding photo of my mom's first cousin, Geraldine "Gerry" Holzmann (1920-2023)

to Vincent Cassidy (1915-1983) in 1946. 

Her brother Neil (1923-2018) is on the left, her brother George, Jr. (1916-1924), 

is next to the bridesmaid. 

This document, below is interesting. My mother's uncle, Dominick Kilgariff (1882-1961) married Mary Kydd (1882-1960) on 10 November 1916 in the Established Church of Scotland. But note, on the left hand side of the document, the couple remarried in a Catholic ceremony in 1925 at St. Alphonsus Catholic church in 1925.

My own Celtic-themed wedding to my husband!

HOLY ORDERS - I have found a few priests in the family, but these are the ones I have photos of.
My mother's first cousin Neil, from the First Holy Communion photo above, was ordained a priest in 1953. He was with the Order of St. Benedict as a missionary, later a parish priest in California.

My father had a second cousin who was a bishop, Thomas O'Brien, of Phoenix. 

There are two other sacraments that won't have family photos: Penance, and Anointing of the Sick.

Here are some photos which speak more of the family's religious traditions.
Headstones, all with crosses.

The black headstone is in County Mayo, Ireland, my father's maternal grandmother, Hanoria (nee McGuinn) Harrington.
The white headstone is also in Ireland, County Cavan. It's for my father's paternal uncles Cormick and Tierny, and their cousin, James. 

Below: Sherlock relative (actually three are buried there) + my mother's parents, Holy Cross Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY.

When my maternal grandfather was in WWI with the Irish Rifles in the British Army, his regiment participated in a Catholic feast day in the British mandate of Palestine. Part of the programme below.

My mom and siblings, older brother Neil and younger sister Joan (in the front). We are in Florida at my Mom's mother's house, Grandma Margaret Charles (nee McCann) Kilgariff. 

I believe this may have been for Easter in about 1961?

My second cousin (on my mother's maternal side) Susan McCann dressed like a sister for a school pageant! She said after wearing this on a hot May day she decided she could never be a sister.

Blessings to all my ancestors and relatives!

COUSINS (52 Ancestors 52 Weeks Challenge)

My mom, Margaret "Peggy" Kilgariff McLaughlin, was an only child. Her parents, Margaret "Pearl" McCann and John Kilgariff, were older. She grew up in a 4-floor three-family home in Brooklyn, NY. She and her parents lived on one floor, her mother's parents, Joseph McCann and Catherine "Kate" Sherlock, lived on another floor, and her mother's sister, Mary "Mamie" McCann Holzmann, her husband, George, and five children lived on the two other floors. 

Her mother's younger brother, Charles McCann and family lived a block away. So, even though my mom was an only child, she had playmates: her cousins. 

The grandparents who lived in the same building as my mom, also had a summer house out in Lindenhurst, on Long Island. My mom's parents both worked when my mom was little, so she would stay with them a lot at that summer house. A lot of the photos of my mom and her cousins are at that summer house. 

My mom is in the front, her first cousin Geraldine "Gerry" Holzmann Cassidy is behind her. Gerry is the daughter of my mom's Aunt Mamie who with her husband and family lived in the same building as my mom, is behind her. I don't know who the other girl is. It may be one of Geraldine's sisters. This photo was taken out on Long Island at one of the beaches near the summer house.

My mom with cousin Gerry again. Gerry was her babysitter. She was eight years older than my mom. Photo taken in the back yard of the summer house.

My mom is on the very right, holding on to the back of the 'rumble' seat. I don't know whose car this is. It might have been her Uncle Charlie's, the father of most of these kids. It might have been her Grandfather Joseph's. The rest of the girls and one of the boys are her first cousins, the McCann kids, children of Uncle Charlie. One of the boys is unknown. These same kids are in the photo below where I have ID-ed them. Photo taken at the summer house.

Standing: my mom, McCann cousins: Catherine, Mary, Charles, Jr., Josephine. Seated: unknown boy, Helen. Photo taken in the front of the summer house.

My mom and her first cousin Josephine McCann. Photo taken at the summer house. 

This picture was taken in Brooklyn. I assume in the backyard of the house my mom lived in. I believe this may be one of her Holzmann cousins, who lived in the same building, but I could be wrong.

Taken in Montreal, Canada. My Grandma Pearl, my mom's friend, my mom, and her cousin (1st cousin, once removed) Kathleen O'Rourke Weiner.

My mom with her cousin. I'm not sure if it's a McCann or a Holzmann...or an O'Rourke!

This is my mom with her doggy and one of her male cousins--a Holzmann, or McCann? O'Rourke? This may be the same cousin in uniform, above. I wish I knew...It was taken in front of her house on Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn.

My mom is the dark-haired woman in the blue, her first cousin Virginia McCann Allaire is next to her. Their husbands are 'switched'--Virginia's husband Doug is on the left next to my mom, my dad John McLaughlin is on the right next to Virginia.

My mom's first cousins: Josephine McCann, my mom, Eileen Allaire (Sister Mary Isaac Jogues), Geraldine Holzmann Cassidy, Mary McCann Katan, Helen McCann. These ladies were all in the photos above as children, except for cousin Eileen.
This was probably the last time my mom saw Eileen and Mary. When I would visit my mom we would visit Helen and Josephine in Brooklyn, and Geraldine on Long Island. 

MY MOTHER'S TRAVELS (52 Ancestors 52 Weeks Challenge)

This story challenge is about Travel, and I'm going to write about my mother's childhood travels. She got to travel to Europe, across the US, to Mexico, and Cuba. All on regular working people's salary. How was this possible during the Great Depression? It's going to take a little explaining... 

My mom, "Peggy" [Maria Margaret Kilgariff McLaughlin], was born in 1928. She was an only child and her parents were older. Her mom, my Grandma (Margaret Charles McCann Kilgariff), worked from about age 14. Grandma had married at age 36 and kept working. She had my mom at age 42. I don't know for sure, but I assume she stopped working while pregnant. After my mom was born, Grandma stayed home till Mom was born...kind of.

I need to digress to explain about their living situation before I can explain the "kind of." They lived in a 4-story, multi-family house: Grandma's parents who were immigrants from Ireland (Joseph McCann and Catherine "Kate" Sherlock McCann) owned the house. I think they bought it brand new. They lived on one of the floors, I think the bottom one that you entered under the stairs. Grandma's sister, husband (Mary Catherine "Mamie" McCann Holzmann and George Holzmann), and five kids they lived on two floors. I think the second and third floors.

Here's a photo of the house at 91 Fourth Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. The house right in the middle is theirs. The top floor windows have awnings. I think that's the floor where my mom and her parents lived. 
 

(NYC.gov/records, NYC tax record images from 1940 for 91 Fourth Avenue, Brooklyn, NY)

So now, we can get back to Grandma working till Mom was born. About a year after Mom was born, Grandma, who remember, had worked since she was 14, went back to work! Not back to Manhattan working for Western Union, oh no. She bought a small 'candy store' across the street from where the family lived. The store would have sold newspapers, candy, snacks, cigarettes/cigars, ice cream, soda, and maybe some grocery staples--milk, butter, canned and boxed goods, bread. I don't know much about it, just that she had one and ran it. I don't know if she ran it alone, or had people she employed. She could work because *her* mother and sister were living right across the street, watching my mom. Once my mother was in first grade, Grandma sold the store and went back to work for Western Union in Manhattan. Grandma was a clerk for W.U. Her husband was a fare tender in the subway in Brooklyn.
Below is a photo of a candy store from about the 1940s.

(Photo from Pinterest)

Now think about this. My mom and her family were living in a family-owned house. My mom's parents were both working. They have only one child. It was the depression, but they were set up pretty well. This is how they were able to travel.

 And now, on to the pictures. The first set are from summer 1935 when my mom, her mom, and her parents went to visit Ireland for the 100th(ish) birthday of Patrick Sherlock, my mother's great-grandfather.  [mom-->grandma-->her mom--> her dad Patrick] These were in Northern Ireland.

Top Left: The photo page from my grandmother & mom's passport book. Top Right: Somewhere in Northern Ireland. Bottom right & bottom: In Belfast somewhere. The bottom photo is my mom, her mom, and her mom! Notice my grandmother, in the middle, above, is carrying a movie camera in her right hand. Here is a badly-deteriorated 'video' (it was film) that she took on that Trip to Ireland

Above: Mom and her grandmother in Paris. Below: Mom at a different fountain in Paris

All the photos below, from the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and Mexico, were, I believe, all from the same bus trip. Notice how my grandparents are dressed. 

This trip would have been on a bus with NO air conditioning. Can you imagine taking a trip like that in the summer? 

Above & below: My mother at the Grand Canyon, and with her parents. 

Below: At the Lodge at Yellowstone.

Below: In Tijuana Mexico

Below: A 1940 trip to Natural Bridge, Virginia
 

Below: In Cuba, my mom and her dad. It looks like she is wearing the same dress as in Virginia, so perhaps this was a trip down the east coast? And after Florida they flew to Cuba?

I thought I had a couple of photos of a trip to Montreal, Canada, with her mom and a cousin, but I could not find them. At some future point if I find them, I will add here.

All in all, an amazing series of trips for a girl who grew up in the Great Depression. She was a lucky girl. 

The Family "Homestead"

Ok, the title is a bit misleading. My family does not really have a homestead. But during all my growing up years the house my mother grew up in was somewhat of that for me. Not that I ever got to go into it. No, by the time I was of age to remember, the house my mom grew up in was not in the family. 

However, my mom's widowed maternal uncle lived a block away. Two of his daughters lived with him, also his brother-in-law. We visited them regularly. We could step outside and see my mom's house from the front of their house.

I last saw it in 2023 when I was visiting two of the cousins who still lived there. But today, I found out mom's house is gone. Actually, the whole row of houses is gone, from one corner to the other. Here's what the block looks like!

The house was built in 1899. My mom's maternal grandfather most likely bought the house new! He was an immigrant from Ireland. In the 1900 Census my mom's mother, her three siblings (two girls,
two boys), and parents lived there on two floors. People rented out the other two floors. 

(1900 U.S. Census, Ancestry.com)

When my mom was born, she and her mom and dad lived on one floor, and my grandmother's sister with her husband and five kids lived in the two-story unit. My great grandparents lived on one of the other single-unit floors. My grandmother's two brothers, now married, lived nearby. My mom was an only child, but she had lots of cousins in the neighborhood. Here are the relatives in the house in the 1930 census.

(1930 Census, Ancestry.com)

This photo of the house is from the 1940 NYC tax records:

(New York City Tax Records, nyc.gov/records, 1940 for 91 Fourth Avenue, Brooklyn, NY)

As I said, above, one block away is a three-story brownstone which my grandma's youngest brother bought in the early 1920s and where his last child still lives! She is in her early 90s. Her sister who had lived in the house with her since being born, passed away last year. They lived in that house all their lives. My mom was an only child and they filled kind of a sibling slot for her. I have always had a love of history, especially family history, thus this blog. When I was in this neighborhood, knowing I was where my family had such roots was always a wonderful thing for me...and now the next time I visit Brooklyn, part of that is gone...