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.