The Mystery of "Melahannon" Murphy – 52 Ancestors, #56

A while ago, I got a high-confidence fourth cousin AncestryDNA match (33 cM, 2 segments; call him Match A) with Murphys in his tree – specifically, his great-grandfather was one Hammond Malachy Murphy. The name wasn't one I recognized, but shared matches confirmed that the connection was definitely through my Murphy line, so I started researching the fellow.

Unlike my previously known Murphy relations, who congregated in Newburyport, Mass., and Berlin, N.H., after emigrating from Prince Edward Island, the first concrete sign I found of Hammond Murphy was in the 1905 New York state census,¹ where he was working as a bartender in New York City. He had married Irish-born Margaret McGaw about 1903,² and they had four children between 1905 and 1911:

• Anna M. Murphy (1905-?),³ m. Charles Fitzpatrick⁴
• John Daniel Murphy (1908-?)⁵
• Malachis Murphy (1909-1909)⁶
• Elizabeth C. Murphy (1911-1979),⁷ m. William McDowell

Between census records,⁸ WWI draft registration,⁹ and the Social Security Applications and Claims Index (SSACI),¹⁰ I could pretty reliably peg his birth date as 3 June 1875. While earlier census records¹¹ and his children's birth records¹² indicated he was born in the US (the 1910 census, in particular, stated Massachusetts), the 1920¹³ and 1930¹⁴ censuses gave his birth place as "Canada English" and "Canada Eng Prince Edward Isle", respectively, with an 1878 immigration year and naturalization in 1913. He died 24 March 1939, probably in New York City.¹⁵

Unfortunately, none of his records gave any clues to his parents. I wasn't able to find a baptismal or marriage record, and his SSACI entry didn't list parents.

Then I took another look at the name variations I had recorded for him. The family tree of my DNA match referred to him as Hammond Malachy Murphy. In those early censuses, and two of his children's birth records, his name was given simply as Hammond Murphy.¹⁶ But starting with his naturalization in 1913, virtually every record named him as Malachy Hammond Murphy (or just Malachy Murphy).¹⁷ And "Malachy Hammond" suddenly rang a bell for me.

Over a year ago, I wrote a three-post series recounting my search for the origins of a Daniel Murphy from P.E.I. living in Newburyport, Mass., in the early 1900s, who I suspected was a collateral relative in my Murphy line. In Chasing Daniel Murphy, Part 3: Back to the Island, I concluded that he was probably my second great-granduncle, and was probably the widowed Daniel Murphy living in Lot 30, Prince Edward Island, in 1881, with six children, including (in my words) "a 6-year-old boy with a very odd name that appears to be 'Melahannon.'" I noted in a footnote that I was almost certain that "Melahannon" must be a census enumerator-garbled rendering of something else entirely. And now, I realized that "something else" just might be "Mal Hammond".

1881 Canada census, Prince Edward Island, Queens County, Lot 30, dwelling 204, family 204, Daniel Murphy household

Yes, there are some discrepancies. Since "Melahannon" was enumerated in P.E.I. in 1881, clearly he didn't emigrate in 1878. But a child that young wouldn't be likely to know just when when his family emigrated. Likewise, the early statements that he was born in the US/Massachusetts could have been due to the informant (his wife, perhaps?) thinking he was born there – if Daniel brought him to Newburyport as a child, and Margaret knew only that he had "come from Massachusetts" to New York, she could have been unaware of his P.E.I. origins. I can't find anything close to a Malachy or Hammond Murphy in the 1900 US census, either in New York City or in Newburyport, and he's not listed in either city's directories around the turn of the century.

Finally, I started looking for his naturalization papers, and found them in a FamilySearch collection that is apparently only partially indexed.¹⁸ While his petition didn't identify his parents, it did give me a few more details to bolster his identification:

• In addition to confirming the 3 June 1875 birth date, it gives a specific birth place of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. This is consistent with the fact that four of Daniel Murphy's five oldest children were baptized at St. Dunstan's in Charlottetown.
• His emigration date is given as "on or about" 1 June 1880 (still earlier than that 1881 census, but much more plausible as an "about" date). More important is the detail that he arrived at Newburyport, Mass., by rail. This is consistent with Daniel and two of his children living in the Newburyport area in the late 19th and early 20th century, along with a number of his apparent siblings, nieces, and nephews.
• The naturalization petition also confirms his wife's maiden name (Margaret "Magaw") and pinpoints her Irish origins in County Fermanagh. The whole family is tied together with the names and exact birth dates of their three surviving children (matching the dates in their birth and/or death records), and their address is the same one noted in the 1910 census.

The one incongruity in the declaration of intention (dated 14 Mar 1911) and petition (10 Apr 1913) is his occupation, listed both times as "silversmith"! This is exceedingly odd, given that three censuses,¹⁹ three city directories,²⁰ and a draft registration,²¹ spanning the years 1905-1920, identify him as a bartender, and nowhere else have I found any indication that he might have been a silversmith. However, the rest of the information leaves no doubt that the bartender and the silversmith are one and the same man.

So, is Malachy Hammond Murphy really the "oddly-named" six-year-old in Daniel Murphy's 1881 family? The evidence so far is still circumstantial, but if it's so, it would make Match A my fourth cousin, with a shared 33 cM that's pretty much spot-on for the average for fourth cousins according to Blaine Bettinger's Shared cM Project.²¹ Until I come up with another possibility for this match, or find some additional evidence one way or the other, I'm assigning Malachy tentative status as Daniel's son in my tree, making him my first cousin three times removed.

Are you related to this family? If you have more information on this puzzle – say, a marriage record or death certificate with parents listed, or anecdotal confirmation of the relationships – please contact me through the email link on my profile page.

Late-Breaking News!
I had planned to post this on Saturday, but I didn't get the sources done, and now I'm glad I waited. Going through DNA matches this morning, I discovered a 4th cousin match to my brother (but not to me) for someone (call him Match B) whose tree shows him to be descended from Daniel Murphy's son Pius. My brother shares Match B with Match A. If I have correctly identified Malachy Hammond, then Match A and Match B would be 3rd cousins.

 (This post was inspired by Amy Johnson Crow's 2018 "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" challenge, but not by the "Invite to Dinner" prompt of the week. Just in case you were wondering what this all had to do with a dinner invitation.)

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SOURCES

1. 1905 state census, New York, population schedule, New York County, Manhattan, p. 41, dwelling 242 East 87th Street, Hammond Murphy household; digital images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 17 Jun 2017).
2. 1910 U.S. census, population schedule, New York, New York City, Bronx Borough, enumeration district (ED) 1547, sheet 25A, p. 44 (stamped), dwelling 132, family 543, Hammond Murphy household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 Jun 2017).
3. "New York, New York City Births, 1846-1909," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 17 Jun 2017); entry for Annie Murphy birth, 20 Aug 1905, Manhattan; citing "cn 39035". 
4. "New York, New York, Marriage Certificate Index 1866-1937," database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 Jun 2017); entry for Charles Fitzpatrick-Anna M Murphy marriage, cert. no. 32834, 7 Nov 1927, Manhattan; also image of certificate, downloaded 17 Jun 2017 from unrecorded source (probably an Ancestry collection but no longer extant on 8 Dec 2017); citing "Index to New York City Marriages, 1866-1937 ... prepared by the Italian Genealogical Group and the German Genealogy Group, and used with permission of the New York City Department of Records/Municipal Archives."
5. "New York, New York City Births, 1846-1909," database, entry for John Daniel Murphy birth, 30 Mar 1908, Manhattan; citing "cn 18227",
6. "New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 7 Dec 2017); entry for Malachis Murphy death, 11 Aug 1909, Manhattan.
7. "Connecticut Death Index, 1949-2012," database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 8 Dec 2017); entry for Eliza C McDowell, 6 Nov 1979, Enfield; citing state file no. 21960. Also, "U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007," database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 Jun 2017); entry for Elizabeth McDowell, SSN 131147714.
8. 1905 state census, New York (note 1). 1910 U.S. census (note 2). 1920 U.S. census (note 13). 1930 U.S. census (note 14).
9. "U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," database with images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 Jun 2017); card for Malachy Hammond Murphy, serial No. 2877, order no. A2690, division 137, New York City.
10. "U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007," database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 Jun 2017); entry for Malachy Hammond Murphy death claim, SSN 112-12-6262, 24 Mar 1939.
11. 1905 state census, New York (note 1). 1910 U.S. census (note 2).
12. Annie Murphy birth (note 3). John Daniel Murphy birth (note 5).
13. 1920 U.S. census, population schedule, New York, New York, New York City, Manhattan Borough, enumeration district (ED) 1038, sheet 3B-4A, dwelling 11, family 70, Malica Murphy household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 Jun 2017). 
14. 1930 U.S. census, population schedule, New York, New York, New York City, Manhattan Borough, enumeration district (ED) 31-973, sheet 10B, dwelling 44, family 199, Malachy Murphy household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 Jun 2017). 
15. "U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007," entry for Malachy Hammond Murphy (note 10).
16. 1905 state census, New York (note 1). 1910 U.S. census (note 2). Annie Murphy birth (note 3). John Daniel Murphy birth (note 5).
17. "New York, County Naturalization Records, 1791-1980," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 17 Jun 2017); entry for Malachy Hamond [sic] Murphy, 1913, New York, New York; volume "Declaration of intention index 1911-1924 More, John-Newman, Henry". Also: WWI draft registration card for Malachy Hammond Murphy (note 9).  1920 U.S. census (note 13). 1930 U.S. census (note 14). "U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007," entry for Malachy Hammond Murphy (note 10). 
18. "New York, County Naturalization Records, 1791-1980," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 27 Jan 2018), New York > Petitions for naturalization and petition evidence 1913 vol 118, no 28851-29100 > image 169 of 581, p. 65, declaration of intention no. 27631 and petition for naturalization no. 28915 for Malachy Hamond [sic] Murphy.
19. 1905 state census, New York (note 1). 1910 U.S. census (note 2). 1920 U.S. census (note 13). 
20. Trow's General Directory of the Boroughs of Manhattan and Bronx, City of New York, 1910, p. 1050, entry for Hammond Murphy; database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 27 Jan 2018). Also, R.L. Polk and Co.'s Trow General Directory of New York City ... Boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx, 1915-1916,  p. 1346 (1915), p. 1222 (1916), entries for Hammond Murphy; database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 27 Jan 2018).
21. WWI draft registration card for Malachy Hammond Murphy (note 9).
22. Blaine Bettinger, "The Shared cM Project," The Genetic Genealogist (https://thegeneticgenealogist.com : accessed 28 Jan 2018).

Longevity: Guy Blodgett and Sadie McIsaac - 52 Ancestors, #55

My direct-line ancestors aren't particularly exceptional in their longevity. Some time ago, for a couple of Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun posts, I looked up ages at death for five generations, and found that my oldest known male ancestor was only 91 – 3rd great-grandfather Jacob Hodsdon (1787-1879), whom I already profiled; among the ladies, two 3rd great-grandmothers were allegedly over 90: Hannah R. (Gould) Green (ca 1787-aft 1879), at about 92, and Sarah (Chamberlain) Brister (ca 1790 - 1881), at about 91, but as you can see, I don't have exact years of birth for either of them, so I can't be sure.

Given this uncertainty and the relatively unimpressive ages involved, for this week's 52 Ancestors prompt of "Longevity" I decided to look for other (non-direct-line) relations for whom I had convincing documentation of demise at over 100.

The oldest male in my database turned out to be a second cousin twice removed named Guy Cleveland Blodgett, who died at the ripe old age of 109. Guy was born 17 January 1885, probably in Dummer, Coos County, New Hampshire, to Nathan Freelan Blodgett and Lillian Rush, the daughter of my 2nd great-grandaunt Hannah Washburn. Although I can't find a New Hampshire birth record for Guy, the birth date – as listed in the SSDI¹ and on his gravestone² – is corroborated by his WWI draft registration³ and is consistent with all census enumerations, including the 1900 census giving his birth as Jan 1885.⁴ His older brother Merlin, is listed in that census with a Jun 1883 birth, which matches his New Hampshire birth record, so it seems highly likely that Guy's Jan 1885 birth is accurate.

WWI draft registration card, Guy Cleveland Blodgett

Guy married Anna "Annie" Elizabeth Jones on 28 February 1911, in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.⁵ They had three children: Freelan, James, and Catherine. Annie died in 1970 at the age of 85, and Guy outlived her by 24 years, dying 28 June 1994 in West Boylston, Worcester Co., Massachusetts.⁶ He and Annie are buried in Riverside Cemetery, Milford, N.H.⁷

Guy C. and Annie E. Blodgett gravemarker, Riverside Cemetery, Milford, Hillsborough Co., New Hampshire

My relationship to Guy Cleveland Blodgett

Sterling Elias Chatterton-Sadie Rosella McIsaac
marriage, 29 Nov 1929, Loch Lomond, N.B.

Discounting my half  7th great-grandaunt Lucy Hodsdon, who supposedly lived to 115 (her birth date is recorded as "about 1660" in The Descendants of Nicholas Hodsdon-Hodgdon;⁸ I am frankly skeptical), the oldest well-documented female in my database lived to 104. Born 17 April 1904 in Johnville, New Brunswick, Canada, to Gabriel McIsaac and Mary Sutton,⁹ Sarah "Sadie" Rosella McIsaac was my second cousin once removed; Gabriel was the son of my great-grandaunt Hannah McIntyre. Once again I don't actually have a birth record.¹⁰ What I do have is an obituary transcript giving a birth date of 17 May 1904. While clearly not a primary source, it's bolstered by the 1911 census (May 1905, age 6)¹¹ and 1921 census (age 17, implied birth year 1904).¹²

Sadie graduated from the Provincial Normal School and was a schoolteacher.¹³ She married lumberman Sterling Elias Chatterton on 29 November 1929 in Loch Lomond, New Brunswick.¹⁴ (Her given age of 25 on her marriage record again implies a 1904 birth.) They had two children, Fred and Patricia.¹⁵

Sadie died 7 February 2009 and was buried in St. Joseph's Cemetery (probably in Loch Lomond).¹⁶

My relationship to Sarah Rosella McIsaac

(This post was inspired by Amy Johnson Crow's 2018 "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" challenge.)

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SOURCES

1.  Social Security Administration, "U.S. Social Security Death Index," database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 Jul 2017), entry for Guy C. Blodgett, 15 Jun 1994, SS no. 017-36-8426.
2.  Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi  : accessed 19 Jul 2017), memorial 156452200 for Guy Cleveland Blodgett, with digital photo of Guy C. and Annie E. Blodgett gravestone; both by Shan Clark (28 Dec 2015); citing Riverside Cemetery, Milford, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire. 
3. "U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," database with images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 Jan 2018); card for Guy Cleveland Blodgett, serial No. 3418, order no. A846, Medford, Massachusetts.
4. 1900 U.S. census, population schedule, New Hampshire, Hillsboro County, Milford, enumeration district (ED) 116, sheet 6A, p. 188 (stamped), dwelling 131, family 135, Nathan F. Blodgett household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 Jul 2017).
5. "Ontario, Canada, Marriages, 1785-1934," database with images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 Jul 2017); Guy Cleveland Blodgett-Anna Elizabeth Jones marriage, no. 004305, 28 Feb 1911, Kingston.
6. "U.S. Social Security Death Index," entry for Guy C. Blodgett, 15 Jun 1994, SS no. 017-36-8426.
7.  Find A Grave, memorial 156452200 for Guy Cleveland Blodgett.
8. Andrew Jackson Hodgdon and Almira Larkin White, ed., Genealogy of the Descendants of Nicholas Hodsdon-Hodgdon of Hingham, Mass., and Kittery, Maine, 1635-1904 (1904),  p. 20; digital images, Open Library (http://openlibrary.org).
9. "Obituaries," database, Fitzpatrick's Funeral Home (http://www.fitzpatrickfh.com/obituaries/42627 : accessed 18 Jan 2018); Sarah Rosella (McIsaac) Chatterton obituary, died 7 Feb 2009. 
10. Frustratingly, out of nine McIsaac children, Sarah is one of the two whose birth records seem to be missing from the New Brunswick Provincial Archives. Probably the surname is simply misspelled; the search engine requires an exact surname with no wildcards. It does have a Soundex search that will show you all the "sounds like" surnames in the database, but none of the variants turns up Sarah. 
11. 1911 census of Canada, New Brunswick, district 25, Carleton, sub-district 8, ED 19-1/2 in Kent Parish, p. 19, dwelling 184, family 191, Gabriel McIsaac household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 18 Jan 2018). 
12. 1921 census of Canada, New Brunswick, district 48, sub-district 21, [Kent Parish], p. 5, dwelling 49, family 49, Gabriel McIsaac household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 18 Jan 2018). 
13. Sarah Rosella (McIsaac) Chatterton obituary.
14. "Federated Database Search," database and digital images, Provincial Archives of New Brunswick (http://archives.gnb.ca/Search/FEDS/Default.aspx?culture=en-CA); Sterling Elias Chatterton-Sadie Rosella McIsaac marriage, 29 Nov 1929, Loch Lomond, reg. no. 003475. 
15. Sarah Rosella (McIsaac) Chatterton obituary.
16. Ibid.

52 Ancestors: #54, Theresa (Murphy) Nera

This week's 52 Ancestors prompt is "Favorite Photo." While I have lots of favorite photos, this one has to qualify as my favorite of my mother, Kathleen Murphy, and her sister, Theresa. I mean, who could resist those sombreros? Since I already wrote about my mother as a 2014 Mother's Day post (52 Ancestors #19), this post is about Aunt Theresa.

Theresa (left) and Kathleen Murphy, Edinburgh, Texas, ca 1926

Theresa Murphy, 1924

Theresa Mae Murphy was born 18 May 1923, in Lewiston, Maine, the second daughter of William George Murphy and Glenna Rabideau.¹ She grew up in Lewiston, aside from an apparently brief period the family spent in Texas, where the photo was taken, according to a handwritten caption on the back.² I have no idea why they moved to Texas or just how long they were there, though it couldn't have been long. I have a vague recollection of my mother once mentioning that they spent some time in Texas, and I gathered that her mother had hated it there. I wish I had gotten more details when I had the chance!

I have few details of her childhood. Sometime in 1924 she had her photo taken seated on a pony. This photo was mounted on a card with a small 1925 calendar affixed and a ribbon to hang it by; a handwritten note on the back reads "To Auntie and Uncle – Teresa [sic]."³ Hard to say which "auntie and uncle" this was intended for – Glenna had two married sisters and William had at least six married siblings at the time – or how it ended up back in my mother's family photo trove.

In 1937, Theresa was one of 14 local girls to win a prize in a national Shirley Temple doll contest, making the local newspaper.⁴

      

Early school photo⁵

"City Locals" item, Lewiston Evening Journal, 24 Apr 1937

Theresa attended Lewiston schools with her sister, including Jordan Grammar School (aka "Jordan Platoon School"), and graduated from Lewiston High School in 1940 as a member of the National Honor Society.⁶ The statement in her yearbook profile that "She plans to do secretarial work" was prophetic: after graduation she worked as a stenographer for the NYA (probably the National Youth Administration) and the Maine Shoe Company⁷ before joining the Women's Army Corps, after which she spent the rest of her career in Civil Service, as a secretary and court stenographer.⁸

Theresa Mae Murphy in The Folio 1940, Lewiston High School yearbook, Lewiston, Maine

In April 1944, Theresa enlisted in the Women's Army Corps⁹ and was initially stationed in Boston.¹⁰ In August she was transferred to the U.S. Army Recruiting Office in Manchester, N.H., and by the following February she had been promoted to corporal.¹¹ I have not yet found a record of her discharge, but it was probably in 1946.

    

PFC Theresa Murphy, Lewiston Daily Sun, 19 Jul 1944

Theresa Murphy, August 1944

Theresa was unlucky in love. She was engaged to Joseph Wilfrid Potvin, a soldier serving overseas who was killed in action in France in 1944.¹² On 12 Feb 1945, in Manchester, N.H., she married William Duane Olson,¹³ a member of the Army Air Force stationed at Dow Field in Bangor, Maine.¹⁴ A week later he was transferred to Mather Field in Sacramento, California,¹⁵ and served overseas from 30 Mar 1945 to 29 Jan 1946.¹⁶ Theresa remained in New England, and it's possible they never lived together; the marriage ended in an annullment by October 1946.¹⁷ In 1947, she married Filipino musician Cayetano Lopez "Kaye" Nera in Boston.¹⁸ Not long after, they moved to Washington, D.C., where Theresa went to work as a secretary at Bolling Air Force Base.¹⁹ They had no children, and eventually divorced, sometime between July 1953 and November 1955.²⁰

  

  

Theresa Murphy and fiancé
Joseph Wilfrid Potvin

William D. and
Theresa (Murphy) Olson

Kaye and Theresa
(Murphy) Nera

Although Theresa continued to live in the D.C. area for the rest of her life, she frequently came "home" to Maine to vacation. My memories of Aunt Theresa are of her semi-annual visits to her sister, my mother. Throughout my childhood, Theresa arrived like clockwork, mid-summer and Christmas, at the Lewiston-Auburn Airport on a Northeast Airlines flight, dressed to the nines complete with high heels, gloves, and a hat. That was the way women dressed for air travel in those days – and she couldn't wait to get to our home where she could change into comfortable slacks!²¹

Whenever she visited Maine, Theresa always wanted to get two specific foods not available in the D.C. area: Italian sandwiches (a peculiarly "Maine" type of sub), and chocolate donuts – the cake-type version dipped in granulated sugar that seems to be unknown south of greater Boston.²²

  

The well-dressed 1960s air traveller

Aunt Theresa waves before boarding her flight

After visiting her sister, half-brother, and old friends in the Lewiston area, and satisfying her Italian sandwich and chocolate donut cravings, she would put on her travelling outfit and we'd drive her to the airport for her return flight. It was years before the advent of security screenings, and we could all go to the boarding gate with her and wave goodbye as she crossed the tarmac (no boarding tunnels!) to the plane.

In 1966 Theresa became a court stenographer for the Washington, D.C., police department, retiring in 1979.²³ She died on 15 July 2002 in Alexandria, Fairfax County, Virginia, after suffering a heart attack,²⁴ and was buried next to her father in Mount Hope Cemetery, Lewiston, Maine.²⁵

Theresa M. Nera grave marker, Mount Hope Cemetery, Lewiston, Maine

(This post was inspired by Amy Johnson Crow's 2018 "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" challenge. My numbering for this year began at 53 – I wrote #1-52 in 2014 while participating in her original 52 Ancestors challenge.)

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SOURCES

1. "U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007," database, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 2 Apr 2016), entry for Theresa Mae Murphy, died 15 Jul 2002.
2. Photos of Theresa and Kathleen Murphy, Edinburgh, Texas, ca 1926, and Theresa Murphy on pony, 1924, Kirk-Murphy Family Collection; privately held by the author, Virginia Beach, Virginia. These photos were in Kathleen's collection, which passed to her daughter (the author) at her death in 1993.
3. Ibid. 
4. "City Locals," Lewiston Evening Journal, 24 Apr 1937, p. 12, col. 1.  
5. School photo of Theresa Murphy, ca 1928, Kirk-Murphy Family Collection; privately held by the author, Virginia Beach, Virginia. 
6. The Folio 1940 (Lewiston, Maine: Lewiston High School, 1940), yearbook photo and profile for Theresa Mae Murphy; imaged in "U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2013," database and images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 7 Jan 2018), > Maine > Lewiston > Lewiston High School > 1940 > image 59 of 162.
7. Manning's Lewiston, Auburn ... (Maine) Directory for the Year Beginning [Month, Year] (Boston: H.A. Manning Co., 1942-1944), p. 181 (May, 1942) and p. 184 (January, 1944), entries for Theresa M Murphy; database and digital images, "U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995," Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 11 May 2014). 
8. "Theresa M. Nera," obituary, Washington Post, 3 Aug 2002 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2002/08/03/obituaries/ac4e6b6e-64c8-4acf-ba25-ce110299af34/ : accessed 15 Apr 2016). 
9. "Corp. Theresa Murphy's Marriage Is Announced," Lewiston Daily Sun, 14 Mar 1945, p. 3, col. 2-3.
10. "Service Records," Lewiston Daily Sun, 19 Jul 1944, p. 6, col. 8, PFC Theresa Murphy.
11. "Corp. Theresa Murphy's Marriage Is Announced," Lewiston Daily Sun.
12. "PFC Joseph Potvin, Lewiston, Killed in Action in France," Lewiston Daily Sun, 20 Jul 1944, p. 12, cols. 7-8. 
13. “New Hampshire, Marriage Records, 1637-1947,” database and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 20 Feb 2012), William Duane Olson- Theresa Mae Murphy marriage, 12 Feb 1945, Manchester.
14. "Pfc. Wm. Olson of Ayrshire Weds Cpl. T. Murphy," Emmetsburg (Iowa) Reporter, 15 Mar 1945, p. 2, col. 1.
15. Ibid. 
16. "Iowa, World War II Bonus Case Files, 1947-1954," database and images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 Jan 2018), claim number 44517 for William Duane Olson, 1949.
17. Theresa's sister Kathleen (the author's mother) confirmed that the marriage was annulled. Also, "William G. Murphy," obituary, Lewiston Daily Sun, 17 Oct 1946, p. 20, col. 3. Her father's obituary refers to her as "Miss Theresa Murphy of Boston."
18. "Massachusetts, Marriage Index, 1901-1955 and 1966-1970," database, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 Dec 2013), entries for Theresa M Murphy and Cayetano L Nera, 1947, Boston; citing vol. 12, p. 319, index vol. 149, reference no. F63.M36 v.149.
19. "Theresa M. Nera," obituary, Washington Post. 
20. Photo of Kaye Nera, ca July 1953, Kirk-Murphy Family Collection; privately held by the author, Virginia Beach, Virginia. In this snapshot, taken in the kitchen of the Neras' Washington, D.C., apartment (probably by Theresa), a 1953 calendar displaying the July page is clearly visible on the wall behind Kaye. Also, "Dorothy Jean Nera," obituary, Journal Courier (Jacksonville, Ill.), 20 Oct 2010, states that Dorothy married Cayetano Lopez Nera in November 1955. 
21. Personal knowledge of the author.
22. Theresa said when she described the Maine chocolate donut she was looking for to D.C. area bakeries, she was met with blank stares and outright disbelief. I always thought she must be exaggerating about the unavailability of this donut where she lived, until I moved to Tidewater Virginia 16 years ago and found that it was quite true: you can't get a good chocolate donut here.
23. "Theresa M. Nera," obituary, Washington Post.
24. Ibid. Also, "Virginia, Death Records, 1912-2014," database, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 31 May 2015), entry for Theresa M Nera, 15 Jul 2002, Fairfax; citing certificate no. 2002030119, "Virginia, Deaths, 1912–2014," Virginia Department of Health, Richmond, Virginia.
25. Mount Hope Cemetery (Lewiston, Androscoggin County, Maine), Theresa M Nera grave marker, read and photographed by the author, 13 Aug 2012.
26. All photos not otherwise identified are from the Kirk-Murphy Family Collection; privately held by the author, Virginia Beach, Virginia.

52 Ancestors: #53, Dominic Murphy

A note on the post numbering: Back in 2014, just as I began this blog, Amy Johnson Crow issued a New Year's challenge on her No Story Too Small blog to write about "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks," which I successfully completed. Although Amy extended the challenge through 2015, with the addition of weekly prompts, I chose not to continue at that time, and have since posted only sporadically. Now, Amy has brought back the 52 Ancestors challenge for 2018, on her eponymous blog, and I've resolved to revive my blogging by once again accepting the challenge (though I may not always take my theme from the prompt). Since I already have posts numbered 1-52, I'm going to start the 2018 numbering with #53.

This week's prompt is "Start," and I've chosen to focus on the ancestor who, along with his family, was the first I ever researched – if you can call my bumbling around in Prince Edward Island "research" – my maternal grandfather's father, Dominic Murphy.

It all began back in the mid-1980s, when my then-husband and I went over to Prince Edward Island while vacationing in Nova Scotia. I was only vaguely aware (if at all) that a quarter of my heritage was from PEI; we simply had enjoyed vacationing in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and decided we should check out the smallest Maritime province too. When we got there I phoned my mother to tell her where we were staying. She informed me that her father came from PEI, and maybe I could find out something about the family while I was there? She told me her grandparents were named Dominic and Rose, and that her father had ten brothers and sisters, only nine of whose names she could recall. That was all she could tell me: no place names (she was under the impression that the whole island was only about 10 miles long, and so probably figured it couldn't be that hard to find the old homestead). I copied down the names and said I'd see if I could learn anything, but it wasn't much to go on.

In the event, I actually managed, against all odds, to find a surprising amount: some census records; Dominic and Rose's marriage record and Dominic's death certificate; a vertical file of Murphy obituary clippings, some identifiable as "my" Murphys by matching names to that list of my mother's aunts and uncles; and the microfilmed parish register from the church where the children were baptized. Then, since the parish records after 1900 were closed at the Archives, we hunted down the parish priest, who obligingly let us look through the later register to find and copy out the last few baptisms and Dominic's death. Even more important, he told us where we could find an elderly gentleman who was Rose's nephew – my first cousin twice removed, Ray McIntyre. When we looked him up, Ray was happy to regale us with stories about Dominic and his family, and told us exactly where they had lived (the "old homestead" was long gone, replaced by a small bungalow, but my mother was thrilled to have photos of the location and its view of the Northumberland Strait across the road).

Dominic Murphy was born probably 23 Dec 1854 in or near Georgetown, King's County, Prince Edward Island,¹ the oldest child of William Murphy and Flora Ann McDonald. Dominic's early life is a mystery. Because the 1861 census of PEI was only partly nominal (head-of-household only), and the 1871 Canada census didn't include PEI, he first appears in a census in 1881, age 26, a labourer on Angus Steele's farm in Township 8, Prince County.² According to cousin Ray, Dominic and Angus had walked the length of the island from Georgetown to Township 8, settling on a farm near Neil McIntyre,³ who was enumerated just before the Steele household.

1881 Canada census, Township 8, Prince County, PEI, Neil McIntyre and Angus Steele households.

Angus Steele and Neil McIntyre farms, 1880.

The youngest McIntyre daughter, Rose Anne ("Rosina" in the census), became Dominic's bride on 15 Oct 1883 at St. Anthony's Church in Bloomfield, PEI.⁴ In 1891, they were living next door to Dominic's parents in Township 51, where he was making a living as a sawmill hand and trapper; Rose Ann, like her mother-in-law, was a weaver.⁵ They couldn't have been there long, however, as the first three children, born 1884-1888, were all baptized at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Brae,⁶ located in Lot 9 next door to their 1881 residences.

1891 Canada census, Lot 51, Kings County, PEI, William Murphy and "Domnic" Murphy households

Likewise, all the children after Joseph (born 1890), beginning with Neil in 1892, were baptized at St. Mary's,⁷ so evidently, shortly after the 1891 census he had brought his family back once again to settle permanently in Lot 8, where they were enumerated in 1901.⁸ While six of his brothers and sisters emigrated to Massachusetts (mostly to Newburyport) over the last two decades of the 19th century, Dominic stayed in PEI.

1901 Canada census, Lot 8, Prince County, PEI, "Domine"[?] Murphy household

Around 1904, Dominic's parents followed their migrating children to Newburyport, and a 1910 border crossing manifest reveals that Dominic made at least a couple of trips to the States: in 1910, he was visiting his mother in Newburyport (his father had died the previous year), and previously had been in Bath (Maine, presumably) from October 1907 to January 1908.⁹

Canada to U.S. border crossings, manifest, Vanceboro, Maine, Sep 1910, sheet 6, line 11, Dominick Murphy

Dominic appeared in the census a final time in 1911, with Rose Anne and their full complement of eleven children.¹⁰

1911 Canada census, Township 8, Prince, PEI, "Dominick" Murphy household, listing all 11 children of Dominic and Rose

A few months later, Dominic's older children began following their aunts and uncles to the U.S. After William and John J. established themselves in Berlin, N.H., Dominic visited them in October 1912 and again in September 1913, the second time accompanied by son Joseph (who probably remained with his older brothers), and David Murphy (William's cousin and possibly Dominic's nephew).¹¹

Canada to U.S. border crossings, manifest, Vanceboro, Maine, Sep 1913, sheet 4, lines 3-5,
Joseph, David, and Dominick Murphy

This was probably Dominic's last visit. He died at home on 29 August 1914¹² and was buried in the St. Mary's churchyard. (His marker no longer exists.) A little more than two months later, his widow and the seven younger children joined the three older boys in Berlin.¹³

My descent from Dominic Murphy:

• Dominic Murphy + Rose Ann McIntyre
• William George Murphy and Glenna Marie Rabideau (my maternal grandparents)

(This post was inspired by Amy Johnson Crow's 2018 "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" challenge. My numbering for this year begins at 53 – I wrote #1-52 in 2014 while participating in her original 52 Ancestors challenge.)

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SOURCES

1. Census ages of 26 (1881) and 36 (1891) are consistent with the Dec 1854 birth and age 56 reported in 1911. The 1901 census gives the complete date of 23 Dec, though the year appears to be 1855 and the age 45. See footnotes xxx for the censuses. For the birthplace, see the 1913 border crossing manifest, footnote xx.
2. 1881 Canada Census, Prince County, Prince Edward Island, Township No. 8, pp. 29-30, dwellings 113-114, families 113-114, Neil McIntyre and Angus Steele households; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com : accessed 19 Feb 2012). 
3. "Plan of Lot Eight, Prince Co., P.E.I.," Illustrated Historical Atlas Of The Province Of Prince Edward Island (Philadelphia: J.H. Meacham & Co., 1880), p. 42; digital image, David Rumsey Map Collection (https://www.davidrumsey.com : accessed 10 Dec 2012), item 4475024. The map shown above was cropped from the full lot map.
4. Division of Vital Statistics, Public Archives of Prince Edward Island, Prince Edward Island marriage registers, Marriages 1878-1888, p. 309, "Dominique" Murphy and Rose A. McIntyre (1883); digital images, “Prince Edward Island Marriage Registers, 1832-1888,” FamilySearch, (https://familysearch.org : accessed 12 Feb 2014).
5. 1891 Canada Census, Kings County, Prince Edward Island, Township 51, p. 10, families 34-35, William Murphy and "Domnic" Murphy households ; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com : accessed 19 Feb 2012). 
6. "PARO Collections," database, Public Archives and Records Office of Prince Edward Island (http://www.gov.pe.ca/archives/parosearch/ : accessed 13 Apr 2016), entries for Mary Ann (1884), William (1886), and John J (1888) Murphy baptisms.
7. Ibid., entries for Cornelius [Neil] (1892), Florence Agnes (1895), Elizabeth (1898), Marion (1900), Daniel (1902), and Catherine Belle (1904) Murphy baptisms. There is no entry for Bernard (1907). The entry for Joseph (1890) lists him as baptized at St. Teresa; it also gives his mother as Ellen McQuaide, so I don't know what to make of it. The birth date and father Dominic definitely identify this as the correct Joseph, however.
8. 1901 Canada Census, Prince County, Prince Edward Island, Township 8, p. 16, dwelling 146, family 146, "Domine"[?] Murphy household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com : accessed 7 Mar 2012). 
9. “Border Crossings: From Canada to U.S., 1895-1956,” database and digital images, Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com : accessed 26 Apr 2012), manifest, Vanceboro, Maine, Sep 1910, sheet 6, line 11, Dominick Murphy; citing NARA, Manifests of Passengers Arriving at St. Albans, VT, District through Canadian Pacific and Atlantic Ports, 1895-1954, Publication M1464, Roll 274, RG 85. The Patrick Murphy listed above Dominic is, as far as I can tell, not related. As yet I don't know who he might have been visiting in Bath. An avenue for further research! 
10. 1911 Canada Census, Prince County, Prince Edward Island, Township 8, p. 14, dwelling 126, family 126, Dominick Murphy household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com : accessed 20 Feb 2012).
11. “Border Crossings: From Canada to U.S., 1895-1956,” manifest, Vanceboro, Maine, Sep 1913 sheet 4, lines 3-5, Joseph, David, and Dominick Murphy. The notation for Dominic under Marks of Identification reads "four fingers of left hand cut off" – a testament to his early occupation as a sawyer and a confirmation of one of the stories told to me by Ray McIntyre.
12. "PARO Collections," database, entry 8519 for Dominic Murphy death, 29 Aug 1914; citing "RG19/s2/ss6: Death registration books, 1913-1919, p. 200."
13. “Border Crossings: From Canada to U.S., 1895-1956,” manifest, Vanceboro, Maine, Nov 1914, sheet 7, lines 23-30, Rose Murphy and seven children.