John A. McCue

For this post I consider the curious case of John Aloysius McCue.
Or perhaps the correct adjective would be erratic, as John McCue is a difficult man to pin down in the historical records outside of his marriage.  So let us start with what is known.

John A. McCue and Eleanor M. Holahan

As a man, he was described as being 5'9.5" (169.5 cm), of medium build (~138 lbs in 1942), with blue eyes, brown hair and of white ethnicity.  From the few remaining photographs, it would appear that John's hair was a dark brown with a bit of a wave, and his appearance was always well dressed in public.  John McCue's occupation was generally an electrician with employment as a telephone inspector.  The influences leading John McCue to the field of electrical engineering are as veiled as his life before marriage.

From his World War I and II draft registration records, it is fairly certain that John Aloysius McCue was born on 08 November 1884 in New York City.  If we can believe his marriage certificate, John's parents were Bernard McCue and Mary McEvoy; the difficulty in accepting these names has been this researcher's inability to find this family unit in the current (2013) searchable online records.  (Money always being tight, it is not possible to track down every possible record or to travel to those locations were records are not available online, at this time.)  Searching online for a John McCue with the afore mentioned birth date lead to a different family.  The 1900 US Federal Census (USFC) listed a John as being the son of John McCue and Ellen Sheridan with one brother and three sisters.  There is a possibility that John Aloysius McCue was sent to live with a relative and whomever provided the information did not know or say that John A. McCue was anything other than a direct relation to John and Ellen.  Given the near complete destruction of the 1890 USFC, it has not possible to trace the questionable family unit further with John A. McCue present in it.

Thus the first conclusive evidence of John Aloysius McCue appearing in official records is his marriage certificate.  Having just turned the tender age of 29, John A. McCue married a 21 year old Eleanor M. Holahan in the Irish Catholic Church St. Columba on 09 November 1913.  Their first child, William Robert McCue was born 6 months later, probably at Eleanor Holahan family's residence at 111 Morningside Ave, Manhattan!  Since William's birth certificate has not been located, it is unknown whether he was born premature or more likely the end result of a necessary marriage.  Two years later a second child, Helen E., would be born to the couple; again, somewhere in NYC.

John and Eleanor McCue on roof at
111 Morningside Ave

The burgeoning family could be found yet another two years later in September 1918 now residing in Leonia, Bergen, New Jersey.  From John's WWI draft registration card, it would appear that the move was for financial reasons as his place of work is in NYC with the Western Electrical Company as a telephone inspector.  Within two years after that, the McCue family was back living in Manhattan at 403 W 123rd St, an area very familiar to the Holahan family.  The McCues remained on this block for another five years, until 1925.  The last we see of this family together in the historical records is in 1930, where they have moved to 979 Summit Ave, Bronx, NY.

The last known record for John Aloysius McCue is his WWII draft registration card for 1942.  At this time John was residing at 49 West 39th St whilst working on Madison Ave.  What is most interesting about this record is the point of contact listed is not his wife Eleanor but Mrs. Joseph P. Hayes, whom I believe to be his sister.  The current theory for this separation is that Eleanor was away helping to raise their grandchildren in upstate New York, as she can be found living two doors down from their son William in the Batavia city directory.  The 1940 USFC has a John A. McCue rooming on Greenwich St and working as a maintenance man but it is not certain this is the correct person.

The years leading up to his presumed death in 1949 are obscure as John A. McCue's life before his marriage.  The exact date of his death, as well as his burial location, is unknown at the time of this writing.  It is not believed John A. McCue served in either World War I or II.

Sources:
United States Federal Census 1920 - 1940
New York State Census 1925
US World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942
US World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918
Trow's General Directory of New York City

Edmund P. Holahan

Perhaps the most interesting individual in the McCue family tree to date is Edmund Patrick Holahan.  Whilst no family history about this Holahan has been passed down, published sources indicate that his adult life and career would place him in positions of influence in the burgeoning gang rule in New York City in the first three decades of the 20th century.

The second child of John Holahan and Mary O'Donnell born in September 1859, in an area then known as Manhattanville, would be known for the first two decades of his life as Patrick.  As the son of an Irish Catholic immigrant laborer, Edmund Patrick probably received an education no better than 8th grade, which was more than his parents ever received.  Little else is known about his early life, indeed, even Edmund's obituary reveals nothing new.

Edmund's earliest recorded occupation of bookkeeper (age 20) would be the path that lead him through a number of New York City offices, beginning with City Marshal in 1892.  The duties of a NYC Marshal mostly involve enforcing civil court decisions and evictions.  Though they are not employed by the city, a marshal is appointed by the Mayor.  Rise to this position for Edmund may have been assisted by his election as president of the Massasoit Club (West 126th St) from 1890 - 1896, a known Tammany Club in Harlem.  By the late 1800s, some of the Tammany Club members have been well established as corrupt officials within the highest court positions to the lowliest rungs of postmaster, most of the corruption having to do with money laundering and political influence.  Mr. Holahan was no exception.  He is noted as aiding in the launch of political careers of William Copeland Dodge and George W. Simpson, known corrupt court officials ousted in the Seabury Inquiry.

Perhaps the most striking part about Edmund P. Holahan was the differing reports about his usefulness.  In his obituary, "Controller Charles W. Berry said of Mr. Holahan: 'He was one of the city's most capable and loyal employees.  His loss will be keenly felt in the department.'"  A more truthful account can be seen in this description:

"Henri W. Shields, a Negro lawyer who was a member both of the Board of Aldermen and the State Assembly and who acted as the lieutenant of Edmund P. Holahan, Democratic leader of the 21st A.D. in Upper Harlem, wrote of the latter job, 'I did most of Mr. Holahan's work.  If a constituent would get in trouble, Mr. Holahan would send me to see the Police Commissioner, the Commissioner of Docks, judges, etc., to plead for leniency.  He sent me to court to fight hundreds of rent cases, for which I was never paid a cent, and I was even sent to Syracuse to represent Mr. Holahan at a Democratic State Committee meeting.'" (Lewis: 64)

These actions are not surprising given Holahan's connections, though that does not make them forgivable.  Edmund's other civil services included deputy controller in charge of pensions for three years starting in 1923, followed by actuary auditor of the division of pensions of the finance department for NYC for four years beginning in 1926.  One can only imagine whether or not he actually did any of the work in these positions!

Edmund P. Holahan passed away at the age of 70 in 1930, leaving behind a wife, Carrie Hewlett, and 3 step children.  There is no evidence of any biological descendants for Edmund.

Sources:
Holahan EP. Obituary. New York Evening Post. 02 May 1930. pp. 7

Lewis ER. 1974. Black Politics in New York City. Twayne Publishers, Inc, New York. pp.64

Murtin F and M Viarengo. 2009. American Education in the Age of Mass Migration 1870-1930. IZA Discussion Paper No. 3964, Bonn, Germany. pp. 11-12

Thompson C and A Raymond. 1940. Gang Rule in New York: The Story of a Lawless Era. The Dial Press, New York. pp. 183-199

US Federal Census 1860 - 1880, 1910 - 1920 All Manhattan

Why this will take FOREVER!!!

I have the "players" of the family tree only going back to the great-grandparents as this accounts for 30 direct ancestors and a slew of children, siblings and distant cousins.  Some of the branches will go back further than this and will be discussed at some point but for the mean time the better records are with the individuals born after the 18th century.

The number of individuals in a generation can be expressed by the formula:  2^n = x  where n is the generation number and x is the number of individuals in that generation.  The 2 is raised to the n power.  For example, the eighth generation has 128 individual which is 2^8 = 128.  For those that don't wish to hunt and dust off their calculator, here is a list of the size of generations 1-14:

Generation 1    :  2 Individuals
Generation 2    :  4 Individuals
Generation 3    :  8 Individuals
Generation 4    :  16 Individuals
Generation 5    :  32 Individuals
Generation 6    :  64 Individuals
Generation 7    :  128 Individuals
Generation 8    :  256 Individuals
Generation 9    :  512 Individuals
Generation 10  :  1024 Individuals
Generation 11  :  2048 Individuals
Generation 12  :  4096 Individuals
Generation 13  :  8152 Individuals
Generation 14  :  16384 Individuals

These generations obviously do not start with the self as the first generation.  The 15 generation pedigree charts do start with the self and can be come quite confusing if not properly labeled.  These folded paper charts can be obtained online or from a Latter Day Saints (aka LDS Mormon) store for about a dollar.  Fair warning though, the creases/folds will wear down over constant use but the charts are designed to fit into a three-ring binder.

16,000 people will indeed be too many to look after, let alone write a post about each one!  Thankfully, I won't have to.  For one, families in isolated and frontier areas tend to marry one other, creating duplicates in the genealogical record.  This is indeed what you are thinking: first and second cousins marrying one another, and this family tree is no exception.  Also on my side is the lack of historical records for poor farmers and immigrant labors, as well as common names making it difficult to pin down the correct individual in question.  The latter will become particularly true for the Irish ancestors on both sides of the trees though it does make for stunted branches.

Teaghlagh Holahan Part II Photos

Early 1920s; (left to right) Helen McCue, Marguerite Holahan, William McCue

(Left to right) John McCue with children William McCue and Helen McCue,
and their aunt Marguerite Holahan in 1918

(Left to right) John Aloysius McCue, William Robert McCue,
Helen McCue and Marguerite Holahan in 1918

Teaghlach Holahan Part II

Thomas Austin Holahan
Unlike his elder brothers Edmund and John, Thomas Austin Holahan did not take an office job, rather working as a laborer until he settled on the lifelong profession of plumber. His prospects were not all bad as he was married at age 25 to Ida Margaret Osterndorff (~22 years old) in 1890 and had had 4 living children by 1900, though this US Federal Census would have us believe that there had been six children born to the family. Within the first five years of their marriage, Thomas Holahan had well established himself as a plumber, enough so to set up shop as “Holahan and Clark”. By 1898, however, there is no more reference to this shop in Trowe’s (NY) City Directory.

Much like his father John Holahan, Thomas Holahan and family do not venture far from their dwellings about W 123rd to W 127th Street from 1890 to 1910. The seemingly constant labor as plumber pays off for Thomas as he was able to move the family to 111 Morningside Ave, Manhattan, NY by 1915 and remain there for the subsequent decade.  The paper trail for Thomas Holahan becomes scarce after 1930 and as with all stories, his ends in 1944 at the age of 79; no cause of death was given. His wife Ida would only survive another five years before her death in 1949. Both Thomas and Ida passed away in Jackson Heights, Queens, NY and were buried in St. Charles Cemetery. St. Charles is a Catholic cemetery and would suggest that the Holahans kept close to the Irish Catholic roots.

Stereotypical Irish Catholic in NYC
There were probably 12 children born to this Catholic family, two being missed between censuses, with the 10 known children being: Eleanor Margaret, John William, Ida, Thomas, Marie, William James, Edmund Thomas, Theresa Marie, Estelle May and Marguerite (as described by Estelle’s genealogy notes). Little Thomas did not survive beyond two years (d. 1901), whilst Marie died at the age of 8 in 1908. The causes for their deaths are not specifically known, though the Census Bureau notes that tuberculosis was the leading cause of death for the first decade of 1900, followed by cancer, diphtheria/croup, other forms of TB, Scarlet fever and typhoid. Whilst in 1908, the Center for Disease Control gives the ten leading causes of death as: typhoid fever, measles, scarlet fever, whooping cough, diphtheria and croup, tuberculosis, cancer, heart disease, pneumonia, and diarrhea and enteritis.

All of the eight surviving children received an 8th grade education with most pursuing a career working from the bottom up and doing so successfully. John William Holahan started as a messenger for a drug store after completing school, eventually becoming a licensed druggist and owning his own pharmacy, albeit working long hours (84 hours during the week of 21-24 March 1940). He married Margaret Creed and had 4 children: Mary Jane, John, Edwin and Carole. William James Holahan married a woman named Elizabeth Bailey, had at least three sons (Richard, Charles and William) and worked as an electrician in Chicago. Unfortunately William Holahan and family disappear from the written record after 1940, though it is believed that they emigrated to Australia.

Edmund Thomas is known to have a variety of occupations over the course of his life but seems to have settled as a bank clerk. He married Catherine Loughlin and had a daughter Mary later into their marriage. Theresa Marie Holahan’s occupation before her marriage to Frederick Barrett is unknown but it would appear that she became a housewife after the birth of Jean M. The second youngest child to Thomas and Ida Holahan, Estelle May, remained the great communicator to all the extended Holahan clan perhaps because she never married. Her occupation is unknown. Lastly, the youngest child, Marguerite, worked as a mail clerk for a magazine before her marriage to a man named Stanley Snyder.  They are known to have one child, a son named Robert.

Eleanor Margaret Holahan
The age difference between the eldest and youngest recorded children of Thomas and Ida Holahan, Eleanor and Marguerite, is 18 years. If Thomas was indeed married in 1890 and the census record is to be believed, then there was probably a child before Eleanor, making for 20 years of child birth and rearing by Ida Holahan! …Eleanor Margaret Holahan was a stenographer before she married John McCue in 1913 and had her first child, William Robert McCue in the following year and daughter Helen E McCue in 1916. By this timeline, aunt Marguerite was only 3 years older than nephew William and 5 years older than niece Helen. In the surviving McCue snapshots, Marguerite, William and Helen were often photographed together in their early years; images to appear in subsequent posts.


Here ends the rough overview of the Holahan family from Ireland to New York City, where four generations of Holahans would reside for over a hundred years, beginning in 1850, as it is currently known in 2013.

Teaghlach Holahan Part I

Background
Currently, the extent of the Holahan family can be traced back to the small village of Radestown, county Kilkenny, Leinster province, Ireland, from whence John Holahan left in 1840. Born approximately in 1830, John Holahan was raised in the era leading to the Great Potato Famine in 1854, a time when many subsequent seasons yielded small harvests of potatoes not already destroyed by a rampant fungus. Potatoes being a stable crop of Ireland, the poor were left to beg for food or starve, as the majority of the crops being produced in Ireland at this time, including wheat, were exported by the landlords in order to generate income for these lords. As of this writing, it is not known why John Holahan left Ireland or how many of his family traveled with him but he is believed to have arrived in New York City by 1840.

Being Irish in New York City during the mid-1800s was not something to be advertised outside of the Irish community, not unlike the stigmatization surrounding Chicano and Latin Americans at the end of the late-1900s. Both ethnicities have been stereotyped at one point in time as being of low class and low intellect, who plagued the country taking all the jobs. With unskilled Irish laborers increasing in numbers every day, and many more so after 1860, it made finding regular work - or any work - difficult. At this time, it was not uncommon for young men to travel around for work outside the family unit and perhaps this is what happened to John Holahan. A 20 year old Irish immigrant with a common name of John Holahan in New York City is difficult to distinguish in the 1850 US Federal Census from others with the same basic information, since it is not known if he was on his own or what his family in America looked like in the mid-1800s.

Setting Down Roots
John Holahan and family truly do not start making a documented appearance until the 1860 US Federal Census, at which time John is now 30 and has a family of his own: wife Mary O’Donnell and children Katherine (Kate/Katie), 3, and Patrick, 10 months. His profession has now been set in stone, literally; for the next 20+ years, John Holahan makes a living as a mason. The family would grow to a total of 7 children, one nearly every two years from 1857 to 1869, all born in New York City: K/Catherine A, Edmund Patrick, Mary, John J, Thomas Austin, Theresa/Teresa A and Martha. The girls were employed as seamstresses by late adolescences, whilst the boys had more ‘white-collar’ jobs, one working as a clerk in a law office (John J), the other a bookkeeper (Edmund) in June of 1880. These professions suggest that the American Holahan children had at least an elementary education but where and what type remains a mystery. The 1940 US Federal Census for Thomas Holahan notes the highest education level attained of eight grade; this could not be confirmed for the remaining children.

Although the 1890 US Federal Census was destroyed in a fire, it can be reasonable surmised from the remaining censuses that the Holahan family moved very little from 1870-1900, usually residing on or within a couple of blocks of West 129th St, New York City, with one or more small families of similar status.

Next Generation
The life of John Holahan ends in November 1890 as a result of unknown causes and without a known resting place, but it is known that he lived long enough to see his son Thomas marry that year before he died. Whether John was in attendance or even sober for the wedding is not known, as there are hints that John suffered from alcoholism (ref. Theresa’s passport application). Sadly, two of his children would also not live to see the year 1900: they have been narrowed down to Mary and John J. It is not known if illness, pestilence, brawl, childbirth or other unmentioned factors resulted in the death of two adult children nor where their final resting place may be.

The known surviving daughters (Catherine, Theresa and Martha) remained with their mother after their father’s death, supporting their mother as dressmakers. Theresa did well enough to become a purchaser for a department store by June of 1900 and would support her eldest and youngest sisters, Katherine/Catherine and Martha respectively, for the remainder of her life. All three sisters had moved to Youngstown City, Ohio by 1920 for Theresa’s job and remained there for another 10 years until their death.

Perhaps the most intriguing individual is Edmund Patrick, who deserves his own post. In sum, Edmund makes his mark in the world as a City Marshal of New York for nearly 25 years and may have been involved with gangsters in the earliest decades of the 20th century. What is known is that Edmund housed his mother Mary O’Donnell Holahan from 1895 – 1899; unfortunately Mary Holahan disappears from the digitized, free records after 1900.

To be continued...

Welcome!

I have started a new blog to let my family into my research over the past six years and to share the family history with the youngest members of the growing family who cannot wait 40 years for me to get my act together to publish something in book form!

Genealogy blogging is new for me, so please be kind but if you see any errors feel free to alert me.