Bridget-cum-Elizabeth Kelly O’Connor gave out her birth year
for Chicago
census enumerators with wide abandon. Depending on the decade, her birth was
documented in the Joseph O’Connor household as 1880 (for 1910), 1878 (in 1920
and 1930) or 1875 (for 1940). Sure didn’t help when it came time to figure out
exactly which Kelly daughter she was.
Ancestors: when you leave a trail of
governmentally-documented birth dates behind you covering a span of five years
variance, you make it difficult for your descendants to properly trace you.
Really. Get your story straight!
But I think I’ve got her number. It was Ancestry.com that
helped me figure it out this time, with an index of Cook County marriages that provided the date of her marriage to Joseph P. O’Connor: February
10, 1900. Added bonus? The bride’s name was entered as Bridget E. Kelly. But
wait! Her age, given as a demure twenty one to his twenty seven at time of
marriage puts her birth in 1879. Go figure.
Elizabeth
didn’t make things any easier when it came time to determine her eldest
daughter’s date of birth. Catherine—or Katherine, as it was alternately spelled
in one census record—had dates of birth varying from 1898 to 1901. It made
me wonder when I found this marriage record for one Catherine O’Connor marrying
someone by the name of Harry Edwards: was this our Catherine O’Connor? Or just a coincidence with a similar
birthday? Perhaps these reporting errors are genetic.
A birth record showed a Catherine born November 15, 1898:
would this be our Catherine? It seems to match the 1910 declaration by her
parents that they were married, by then, for twelve years. Of course, that’s as
long as you don’t pay attention to Catherine's age as listed in the 1920 census—that one seemed to indicate she was born
in 1901.
We hit the jackpot on Joseph O’Connor’s death record. Apparently, the 1932 certificate included not only the names of Joseph O’Connor’s parents Thomas and Catherine, but it also revealed the very place in Ireland where Joseph was born: Kilkenna.
I find the Bridget/Elizabeth dilemma quite interesting. My husbands great grandmother was know as Olive Bowser Stephens. I have her death certificate, obit, and application for her second marriage that lists her parents. Only the second marriage certificate lists her mothers actual name.
ReplyDeleteIn the 1880 census Olive is listed as Maud; after searching for years I finally decided the reason she was Maud is that there was another Bowser cousin named Olive born the same year and it was to tell them apart. I have yet to find if Maud was her middle name or something her parents liked.
Claudia, you have that right! Sometimes it takes searching for years to find stuff like that. The assignment of first names, middle names and nicknames sometimes seems to have no bearing on reality whatsoever.
DeleteBut isn't that part of what makes the chase so irresistible?
Seems you have conquered part of this puzzle:)
ReplyDeleteAmazing how many branches of the family tree are now opened up for further pursuit...why genealogy research is never truly finished...
DeleteI've seen some census records where it wasn't even a family member supplying the information -- it was a neighbor, so noted by the enumerator. I get it: "Oh, I guess he was born oh about ...." It makes me wonder why the family wasn't more cooperative -- were they just away on vacation? Suspicious of strangers at the door? Suspicious of any government interaction? Rebels?
ReplyDeleteKilkenna .. what a mystery. It was a place - but like some of the previous Irish places, hard to find!!
ReplyDeleteI think where you are looking for might be Kilkeana Co. Kerry Ireland
Delete