Another Favorite Photo

This is another neat photo in the family. I love the outfits from this era! This photo was taken in 1910 according to the postmark on the card. Since there are palm trees in the back, this must have been taken in a studio. New York doesn't have palm trees. So I assume the car in the background is also a photo backdrop.

My grandmother, Margaret "Pearl" McCann [Kilgariff] (b. 1885) is on the right. On the left is her maternal aunt, Mary "Minnie" Sherlock (b. 1876), and her husband, Michael James "Jim" McCann (b. 1870) is in the middle. They were visiting from Belfast, Ireland.  Minnie is the sister of Teenie, who was in the photo in the previous post.

Minnie and Jim were married in St. Brigid's R.C. Church, in Belfast in 1898. They had a dispensation to be married, but I do not know why. For those who don't know, a dispensation means they had to get special permission from the bishop of their diocese to marry. There may have been some problem such as Jim wasn't Catholic. Or they were related in some way. In the Catholic church you can't marry a first cousin, for instance, without a dispensation.

Minnie's sister Christine "Teenie" was a witness to the marriage, as was Jim's  brother, Daniel McCann. My grandmother's father was from Belfast, but I don't know if this Daniel McCann and my grandmother were related in any way.

Jim passed away in Belfast in 1933. Minnie passed away in Belfast in 1961. They didn't have any children.

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.