The Collich -- Smith Family
by William R. Meara
(I am not sure about the info in red.)
Natalie George Colich was born in 1851 or 1854 in the
Kingdom of Dalmatia, which was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Today his birthplace is in Croatia – it is
the beautiful area just across the Adriatic from Italy. Around the time he departed, the region was
in economic decline and many people were emigrating.
But I found out that there are many families in the region
that spell the last name Colich. I think that it was spelled Colich when
members of the family left the region in the second half of the 19th
century.
Wikipedia indicates that a group of Croats arrived in Peru
during the second half of the 19th century. We know that Natalie George Colich emigrated
to the United States in 1872. Wikipedia
says that most of the Peruvian Croats came from the area around Dubrovnik. And
we think Natalie George Colich had a family connection to these Croats in Peru.
I thought Natalie George Colich had at least one relative – perhaps a brother or a cousin – who emigrated to Peru. My cousin’s son Preston Colich sent me a letter and a wedding photograph (from Lima) that had been floating around in family mementos for many years. The letter was written in 1907 in Ancona, Peru by one Santiago Colich (one L). It is written in the Croatian language. This letter and what we learned from it about the life of Santiago Colich shed light on the background of Natalie George Colich.
Preston Collich confirmed that the letter and the photo had been with the family in New York for many years. For me, that confirmed a family connection between Natalie George Colich and the Peruvian Colich family. It must have been very difficult to send the letter and photo from Peru to New York – that is something that would likely only be done for a family member. And holding onto the letter for so long also indicated a family connection.
Using the name Santiago Colich (from the letterhead) I was able to get in touch with two people in Peru who know about him. Lothar owns the house he built in Lima (it isnow an art center. with the Colich name on it). Through Lothar I met (on-line) Carmela – she is a surviving relative – her grandmother was the sister of Santiago’s wife.
Santiago Colich got married in Cerro de Pasco (the mining town inhabited by many Croats) on June 4, 1892 to Ausonia Sponza Pomares. Ausonia died two years later in 1894 at the age of 18 while giving birth to their only child Juan Colich Sponza. Santiago never remarried. Here is a picture of the Santiago Colich and his son Juan (picture provided by Lothar Busse of the Centro Colich in Lima in February 2018):
Santiago Colich was a miner who discovered important silver
mines in the area of Cerro de Pasco. In
1906 he bought land in the Barranco neighborhood of Lima to build a large
“summer house.” Santiago Colich died on
December 24, 1916 (this was the same year that Natalie George Colich
died). His son Juan was not interested
in the mines, and abandoned them. He was
a “bohemian musician and poet” who never married, never had children, and died
at the age of 57.
It was pretty tough to read, I must admit. It begins with the sender writing “My dear relative Ivo (?)…” and it definitely has a tone that relatives would use when writing to each other. The drafter wants to let the recipient know that he and his family are in good health. It would also seem that the recipient is married to the sender’s relative. The sender tells the recipient that he couldn’t make it to Lima earlier because he was too busy, but is planning on staying in touch via letters, since they can’t see each other in person. He says he is planning on going to Lima “this month.” The letter seems to be written in the Southern, Dalmatian dialect. Is this helpful? Best, Ivna
Another reader (this one not a native speaker) pulled this information from the letter:
Further perusing and head scratching suggests that the letter speaks of the family—Aunt Ana and Grandfather Bozo and their family—are well, thank God. It then seems to talk of quickly responding to further letters, and there is a reference to Lima. It says Bozo because my keyboard doesn't have the Croatian letter that has a diacritic mark over the z. It is actually pronounced Bozho.
A third reader (a Serb, who has a friend from Dubrovnik) gave us this interpretation of the letter:
Here is the translation. I think this letter comes from Dubrovnik, because they have this different dialect or from some other parts of Dalmatia, this is not typical Croatian land language. I have a friend here from Dubrovnik and he thinks as well that some of the words are typically from this region. Don't forget that the biggest percentage of emigrants who went to America is from Dalmatia, which is Croatian see border.
My Dear cousin Ivo,
A couple of days ago, I received a letter from you written
on the 23rd of July, in which I read that my aunt Ana and uncle Bozo and
their entire family is healthy and well. Thank God, here everything is also
going well.
I also received your wedding photo with my cousin on which
both of you look great. Anyone who sees the photo says you look fantastic. When
we cannot see each other in person, we can always see each other through a
photo. I will also sending you this very soon as I wasn't able
to make it to Lima due to my heavy work load last month.
Another translation with commentary on the
accent:
The letter
The letter is indeed written in Croatian language and as you have guessed correctly it is in Dalmatian slang. Moreover there is a word “DUNDO” which means “uncle”. Dundo is used only in very southern part of Dalmatia, island of Korcula and Dubrovnik. We could assume then that this person who has signed this letter is coming from either Korcula or Dubrovnik.
On the top left corner it says Concentradora - Minas de Anticona - Santiago Colich.
Concentradora - Concentrator -is a machinery,
centrifuge for extracting metal (gold, copper, zinc, lead….) from the
rock. It could mean that Juan Sima was working with one of those machines or
was designing them. He was most probably not a miner himself.
Anticone Mines were situated on the Anticona, mountain pass of the Cordillera Central of the Peruvian Andes, about 60 mi (100 km) northeast of Lima, The highest part (La Cima), at an elevation of 15,807 ft (4,818 m), passes the main line of the highest standard-gauge railway in the world. The railroad was built to service the lead and zinc mines.
Santiago Colich ( Jakov Colic) is definitely from either Croatia or Bosnia - I googled his name and did some research - slavic immigration from at that time Austro-Hungarian Empire, upon arrival would change their names into Spanish writing keeping the pronunciation as authentic as possible and they stayed together, working, playing music in ethnic groups and marrying in between.
It is very interesting, have a peek:
So, now finally a letter:
Dear cousin Ivo,
I have received your letters, in one from 23, July, you write that you, my cousine, aunt Ane and uncle Bozo like all his family are healthy and well. It is same with us, thanks God.
I have
received as well a picture from your wedding with my cousin in which you both
look so handsome. everyone who looks at this picture says so. When we cannot
see each other close in real we will see us on the pictures, I will send mine
soon. I couldn’t go to Lima yet, because I had a lot of work but I will go this
month.
I noticed that someone had written in cursive on the back page of the letter and this had “bled through” to the front of the page and was visible in the scan we have. I took out the bled through portion and, using Microsoft Paint, flipped it 180 degrees in the horizontal to make it legible. I was amazed by what I found:
English! “My
amiable cousin….. How are
you………………….with you”
Here is one possible explanation: The letter is sent by Santiago Colich to Ivo Ucovich in Lima. Ivo is his cousin. Ivo then send the letter – along with a wedding picture to another cousin (who speaks English) in New York. That other cousin was possibly Natalie George Colich. That would make Natalie George Colich and Santiago Colich brothers. (They could not be cousins and BOTH have a cousin with a different patronymic.)
My Uncle George wrote on the letter from Santiago that his father “might have had a brother who landed in South America who had children.”
In March 2018 I came across another indicator pointing to the Dubrovnik area as the place of origin. Natalie George Colich’s oldest child, Anna or Anneta, got married in New York to a Croatian immigrant named John G. Misich. His birthplace was Cibaca, Croatia (near Dubrovnik). His brother Christopher was born in Zupa, Croatia (also near Dubrovnik). It seems likely that John Misich came into contact with the Colich family in New York through family connections from the Dubrovnik area of Croatia.
Finally, the Acta Croata web site displays a map showing areas of Croatia in which persons with the Colich name (and variants) are from. The red circle in the lower right is the Dubrovnik area. Acta Croata mentions Mlini in this area as having people with the Colic name.
Preston also passed me the wedding picture from Lima
(mentioned above). Uncle George had
these in the days before the internet, so it looks like someone took the
trouble to send it from Peru to Collich family members in the U.S. The picture appears to have been taken in
Lima by a photographer named Carlos Meyer.
In June 2018 Carmela in Lima sent me another copy of this picture, this
one from her family archives. She is
sure it is the wedding picture of Santiago Colich and Ausonia Sponza. That makes sense – Natalie kept the picture
for many years – that makes sense if it was of his brother. And Carmela’s family is unlikely to have kept
it if it wasn’t Santiago and Ausonia. Carmela said she grew up with this picture
of Santiago and Ausonia on display in her house.
Carmela in Lima provided this explanation of the letter:
On March 15, 2018 I was able to confirm that Natalie George Colich was the BROTHER of Santiago Colich, Here is how we found this out:
Through Ancestry.com we found Santiago's Peruvian death certificate. It showed the names of his mother and father: Juan Colich and Maria Valerin of Austria. To nail down the Santiago-Natalie relationship we needed the names of Natalie's parents. This would be tough. It was obvious that even his close family in the US was very poorly informed regarding his origins. (His son listed his nationality as "German.")
Someone who knew the family in Peru suggested that the key was finding the Natalie's mother's name. This would be an automatic part of the name in Spanish, but never in English. So I was stuck. Until I remembered that New York City maintained good death records, and that these records include the names of the parents.
I had to write to the New York City Department of Records. They sent me the certificate. Natalie's parents are listed as John Collich and Anna Balarine. That's it. That confirmed it. Juan = John. And "Balerine" is obviously a phonetic spelling of Valerin. The first names on the mother are different, but I think we'd probably find that her name was actually Ana Maria or Maria Ana. Or that the person in New York (probably Natalie's American wife Elizabeth) got the first name wrong at the time of Natalie's death. The father's name and the mother's last name lets us know that Natalie and Santiago were, in fact, brothers.
Continents apart, they died in the same year -- 1916 -- both of kidney disease. Genetics is a powerful force.
In June 2018 Carmela dug around in the family archives in Lima and found a picture of Santiago, taken in Ragusa (Dubrovnik), apparently in 1889. This helps confirm the Dubrovnik origin of the family. From his death certificate we get an estimated birth year of 1856. If the picture below were taken in 1889 he would have been 33 years old (which looks about right). He got married in Lima in 1892. It is not clear when he moved to Peru.
Here are translations of the e-mails sent (originally in Spanish) from Peru by Carmela Marrou
2018-02-14 22:49 GMT-05:00 Carmela Marrou <carmela.marrou@yahoo.com>:
Natalie George Colich Goes to Sea
My Uncle George had some old “ledgers” that his father had kept and that had belonged to Natalie George Colich. These documents appear to be receipts or pay documents. They are related to several short sea voyages, perhaps has a merchant seaman, that Natalie George Colich made in 1870 and 1871. He was still in his teens when he went to sea. It is interesting that these documents are in Italian and that he was paid in the Venetian money (Fiorini). The major seaport in that part of the world was Trieste – at the time Trieste was in the Austro-Hungarian empire, but it is now an Italian city. Natalie George Colich may have sailed from Trieste, or it could have been Venice or from a smaller port in Croatia called Fiume (river). There was also an important port just southeast of Dubrovnik in present-day Montenegro.
My Italian friend Renata Gobbo and some of her friends in Northern Italy examined these documents. From them we learn that Natalie George Colich was going to sea with an Italian company as a “Helmsman.” During the spring and summer of 1870 he sailed on the Austo-Hungarian ship the Ariosto apparently on a voyage to Constantinople. In October-November-December 1871 he appears to have again sailed to Constantinople, this time on a Russian ship called the Clarissa, owned by a Russian named Marco Covacevich from Mariampol Russia. The Clarissa was launched in 1869.
He arrived in New York on June 8, 1872 at the age of 18 or
21 as a crew member on a ship called the Wright. It may have been the “KK Wright,” with the KK
indicating that it was a ship of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. Natalie Colich appears to have maintained
some connection to the Austro-Hungarian Navy: My Uncle George had letters
written in the 1890s referencing “George Colich” written on the letterhead of
the Austro-Hungarian warships SMS Aurora and the SMS Frundsberg. The letters appear to recommend Natalie
Collich as a good source of provisions for the ships during their port calls in
New York.
My colleague Ed Keeton from the State Department took a look at the German letters. Here is what he found:
Both the documents are recommendations for George Colich as a supplier of marine goods. He must have worked his way up in that trade after his arrival in 1872. Perhaps he already had those skills when he arrived in New York, since Austria-Hungary had maritime ports along the Adriatic coast, including Croatia. Coming from Croatia he almost certainly had adequate German, since that was the principal common language of the Austro-Hungarian empire. That suggests a business focused on German or Austrian ships.
The 1892 recommendation is straightforward and written in standard German cursive. He supplied His Majesty's Ship Aurora with necessary items at very good prices. The English translation is a bit off, since he was not arriving with the ship, but rather the ship was in port at that time.
The 1893 recommendation is written in a handwriting version of "Fraktur," the old fashioned German script with all the fancy touches we see in "traditional" printing of the nineteenth century. Since I only read handwritten documents for my dissertation starting in 1925, I never developed that skill. So I got in touch with an old grad school friend whose topic was in that earlier period. He could not read everything, but it is clearly a similar recommendation for HMS Fruendsberg.
Natalie became a U.S. citizen on October 28, 1892, signing his name Natalie George Colich. (On the citizenship application forms he listed his arrival date in the US as January 1872 – this may have been a misreading of the “Jun 1872” we see on his arrival docs). He was required to renounce any loyalty to the Emperor of Austria-Hungary. In this 1892 citizenship document he listed his occupation as Merchant and listed his address as 541 W. 44th Street in New York City. Signing for him as a witness was a John Smith of 417 W 32nd St. In New York. John Smith was likely his father-in-law or his brother-in-law.
A Civil War Veteran?
Elisabeth Smith was born in Ireland around 1860 or 1862. A family tree from my Uncle George Collich shows her to be the daughter of John Smith (1835-1896) and Ann Smith (1840-1913). (The handwritten family tree has both parents born in New York, but this appears to be an error – they were probably born in Ireland.) She arrived in the US in 1869 - 1871 at the age of 7 to 11. Her brother John T. Smith was born in New York around 1870.
My Uncle George Collich left a rather cryptic note about his “Grand pa” John Smith having served in the Union Army. That would have to have been his Great Grandfather. But we have no real confirmation this John Smith served in the Union Army. To have fought in the Civil War he would have had to have fathered Elizabeth in Ireland and then would have had to travel to the US, joining the Army soon after arrival, leaving Elizabeth and her mother behind in Ireland. But Elizabeth’s New York State Death Certificate estimates her year of birth as 1859, so there might have been more time for John Smith to father Elizabeth, move to America, and get into the Civil War. The death certificate lists her parents as John Smith and Ann Mallon, both born in Ireland.
There are of course, many John Smiths. But we did find one who might be the Civil War veteran that Uncle George described:
The birthdate is about right, and he
was born in Ireland. He enlisted in a
New York unit. And he was in the Army late in the war. That could have been him.
http://www.civilwararchive.com/Unreghst/unnyin10.htm#15
Organized at Brooklyn, N.Y., and mustered in November 10, 1862,
at Norfolk, Va. Left State for Norfolk, Va., September 18, 1862. Attached to
Viele's Brigade, Norfolk, Va., Dept. of Virginia, to December, 1862. Spinola's
Brigade, Division at Suffolk, 7th Army Corps, Dept. of Virginia, to January,
1863. 2nd Brigade, 5th Division, 18th Army Corps, Dept. of North Carolina, to
April, 1863. Jourdan's Independent Brigade, Dept. of North Carolina, to July,
1863. Defenses of New Berne, N. C., Dept. of Virginia and North Carolina, to
December, 1863. Sub-District of Beaufort, N. C., Dept. of Virginia and North
Carolina, to August, 1864. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 18th Army Corps, Army of
the James, to December, 1864. 4th Brigade, 1st Division, 24th Army Corps, to
May, 1865. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 24th Army Corps, to June, 1865.
SERVICE.--Duty at Norfolk and Suffolk, Va., until January, 1863.
Moved to New Berne, N. C., and duty there until December, 1863. Expedition from
New Berne to Trenton, Pollocksville, Young's Cross Roads and Swansborough March
6-10, 1863. Action at Deep Gully March 30. Expedition for relief of Little
Washington April 7-10. Expedition toward Kinston April 16-21. Expedition to
Trenton July 3-7. Quaker Bridge July 6. Expedition to Swift Creek July 17-20.
Big Swift Creek July 18. Expedition to Winton July 25-31. Bear Inlet December
25. Destruction of Salt Works. Duty at Newport Barracks and in the District of
Beaufort, N. C. until August, 1864. Expedition from Newport Barracks to Young's
Cross Roads, Swansborough and Jackson December 27-29. Operations about New
Berne against Whiting January 18-February 10, 1864. Reconnaissance toward
Swansboro February 9. Expedition to Bogue and Bear Inlet March 25-26.
Batchelor's Creek March 26. Expedition from Newport Barracks to Swansborough
April 29-30. Expedition against Wilmington and Weldon Railroad June 20-25.
Ordered to Petersburg, Va., August, 1864. Siege operations against Petersburg
and Richmond, Va., August, 1864, to April, 1865. In trenches before Petersburg
and on the Bermuda Hundred front until September 27. Battle of Chaffin's Farm,
New Market Heights, September 28-30. Duty in trenches before Richmond until March, 1865. Appomattox
Campaign March 28-April 9. Fall of Petersburg April 2. Pursuit of Lee April
3-9. Rice's Station April 6. Appomattox Court House April 9. Surrender of Lee
and his army. Duty in the Department of Virginia until June. Mustered out at
Richmond, Va., June 30, 1865. Veterans and Recruits transferred to 100th New York Infantry.
Regiment lost during service 2 Officers and 45 Enlisted men killed and mortally
wounded and 83 Enlisted men by disease. Total 130.
Natalie George Colich and Elisabeth Smith were married in 1879. He was 25, she was approximately 18. It seems that at during the 1890s, Colich had one or more stores in New York City. My Uncle George Collich described these stores as selling “Toys, Jewelry and Tobacco.” Uncle George provided a picture of one of these stores (below). But it seems that Natalie Colich may have lost the stores and fallen on hard times, probably as a result of the Depression of 1893.(http://povertyhistory.org/era/progressive#depression-of-1893) The 1900 census lists him as a “laborer.” New York State Census record from 1905 show him working as a day laborer (street sweeper). The 1915 New York State Census has the family living on W 44th street in New York. It lists his occupation as “Foreman Dept. Street.” He was 63 years old. He had apparently dropped his first name – he was listed as George Colich. Also in the house according to the 1915 NYS census was a “boarder” listed as Raymond Haina, age 4.
Natalie George Colich, Elizabeth Smith and two kids in front of their store. The girl with Elizabeth may be Eirely-May. The boy may be George. That would date the picture to around 1895. Note the name on the awning. My cousin Preston Collich had this picture colorized. That added a lot of information. Note Croatian flag.
The New York death index shows “Natal Collich” died 1 Feb
1916 in New York City. His own family
seemed only dimly aware of his origins – in a 1920 or 1930 census his son
William listed his father’s birthplace as “Germany.” I had heard rumors that one of our relatives
might have been “Austrian.” But until I started doing this research in late
2017, I had never known that my great-grandfather was from Dalmatia, in
present–day Croatia. At the State Department I had covered the Balkans region
from 2012-2017, not knowing that I had a family connection to the area. My grandfather never knew that he had a
first cousin living in Lima, Peru. It
was a shame that his own family knew so little about him. He was an interesting person from an
interesting place who had had some real adventures early in his life.
PTSD from the Spanish American War?
My Aunt Cathy reports that John T. Smith, brother of Elizabeth Smith, came back from “the war” with a severe case of “shell-shock.” The 1920 census lists John T. Smith as age 50, single, born in New York around 1870 to parents who had both been born in Ireland. He seems to have been too old for WWI and I don’t see him in the databases of WWI veterans. He could have served in the Spanish American War -- we did find in the family picture collections a picture of what appears to be the 1899 Dewey Land Parade in New York City. It is possible that this picture was kept because John T. Smith was a veteran of that war.
The shot is of Madison Square in New York. The NYPD wore the kind of helmets seen in
this picture from 1880 to 1912.
John Smith lived with his sister Elizabeth Smith (by then Elizabeth Malley), but, according to my Aunt Cathy, he was so disturbed by the war that when his sister died the family had to have him committed to an asylum of some sort in New York or New Jersey. My mother recalls the family having to put Uncle Johnny into a “veteran’s hospital – the kind you never are released from.”
Aunt Cathy remembers visiting the asylum: “My parents took me there as a child to visit him. I had to stay in the car and wait for them to come out. Scary place with bars on the windows and patients hanging out asking us to take them home. My father brought him up to our apt. one Sunday to visit. Small {like Grandma Malley} quiet man. Very sweet. I remember when he died. I think it was around 1951.”
William Collich served overseas in the U.S. Army from May 27, 1918 to May 30, 1919. His son George indicated that he had a good record in the Army and had served with a “horse unit.” He married my grandmother Catherine Lacey on May 13, 1923 in Manhattan.
Patrick Lacey and
Catherine Shea
My grandmother Catherine Lacey (“Nanny” to us) was the daughter of Patrick Lacey and Catherine Shea. My mother remembers her grandfather only very dimly -- she has a memory of him in a wheelchair. We had very little information about this couple and finding out about them was difficult. DNA tests provided useful leads.
In January 2018, Ancestry.com’s DNA tests indicated that I am a third cousin of Joan Burton of Lehigh Lakes Florida. Ancestry DNA also indicated that Joan had a DNA match to my cousin’s son Preston Collich -- this shows that we share a common ancestor on my mother’s side. Joan’s tree indicates that her great grandmother Margaret was the sister of one Catherine Shea. The DNA connection led me to believe that this Catherine Shea could have been my great grandmother. I asked Joan where she learned that her great grandmother Margaret had a sister named Catherine. Cousin Joan said she based this claim of sisterhood between Margaret and Catherine on records obtained 30 years ago by a relative during an examination of the Thurles, Ireland Parish records.
Our grandmother (Nanny Collich-Catherine Margaret Lacey Collich) told me that her family came from Tipperary. When we were doing these searches, my mother gave me some old pictures and 2 letters written several years apart by a priest in Cashel Ireland in the 1920's or 30's. He was giving the dates of the baptisms for Patrick Lacey and Catherine Shea It is a tiny village in County Tipperary. Our daughter Helena was studying abroad in Dublin while we were doing our first search and just happened to be going through Cashel on the way to another location. We thought it was quite a coincidence. She said it was a pretty little town.
For Patrick Lacey we see a letter in neat handwriting, from the Parish Priest at Boherlahan, Cashel, Tipperary dated February 11, 1929. The priest writes that a son Patrick of Edmond Lacy and Mary Fogarty of (grange Grange). He was baptized on March 4th 1868. The Mormon Church’s FamilySearch confirmed this information. They have a Patrick Leacy (another spelling variation) born 7 March 1868 in Cashel, Tipperary. The birthdate roughly matches that given by our Patrick Lacey in the 1900 US Census, and that indicated by the Boherlahan priest. FamilySearch show his parents as Edmond Leacy (1827-1883) and Mary Fogarty (approx. 1825-1885)
Ancestry.com user emilyremick has gathered more information on Edmond (or Edmund) Lacy (or Leacy) of Cashel Tipperary. Her records indicate that he went by the nickname “Ned” and died in 1901. She lists his mother as Mary Sullivan. Emilyremick has Ned’s wife as Mary Fogarty (1831-1906), and their children as:
·
Dennis (-)
·
Catherine C (1861-1933)
·
Mary (1862-1940)
·
Honora (1865-)
·
James J (1865-1939)
·
Bridget J (1868-1942)
·
Patrick (1868-1938)
·
Johanna (1870-1953)
·
Annie Mary (1873-1911)
Emilyremick also has on her tree the names of Mary Fogarty’s parents: Dennis Fogarty and Catherine Devine.
Ancestry.com user maryjr64 lives today in the Cashel Tipperary area and is related to us through BOTH the Shea and Lacey familes. She provides some amazing details on their lives in Cashel:
“The Shea homestead where Michael Shea and his wife Judy (Johanna) Allen lived was across the road from my home here in Peake, Boherlahan. The house is no longer in existence, a recently built house now stands on the site.
Also the house where the Lacey’s lived in Grange
no longer exists but my Dad often pointed out the site to me. Dad told me that
his grandmother Mary Fogarty Lacey ran a ‘Sheebeen’ (unlicensed ale house) in
her home in Grange. “
Another discrepancy in the records regards Catherine Lacey’s year of birth – not the day of birth, but the year. The church records all have her baptized on December 7, 1868. But in later census documents we see her listing her birth date as December 7, 1874. Now, if both the day and the year were wrong we might suspect that we are dealing with an identification error. But the fact that we see a very consistent use of the December 7 date leads me to conclude that instead we are dealing with someone who just wanted to shave six years off their age when speaking to the census taker.
Ancestry DNA analysis provided another lead on the Allen family. Carolyn Crone was listed as my 4th to 6th cousin. She had on her tree the obituary of a Catherine Allen.:
Birth: Nov. 29, 1838,
Ireland. Death: Nov. 1, 1906 Baltimore City Maryland, USA;
“The funeral of Mrs Catherine Carroll who died Thursday, took
place from her home, 1301 West North Avenue, Saturday morning at St Gregory’s
Catholic Church. Her obituary in the Sun: On the afternoon of Nov 1, 1906,
Catherine, aged 63, widow of Patrick J Carroll. May she rest in peace. Daughter of John Allen & Margaret Eagen “ Family links:
Spouse: Patrick J Carroll (1828 - 1899) Burial: Saint John the
Evangelist Cemetery Baltimore County Maryland, USA& Created by: Susan
Bealefeld Rozar Record added: Jan 14, 2013 Find A Grave Memorial# 103585888
So, to recap: We have a DNA connection to Joan Burton. From her we have a church doc from saying that Catherine Shea and siblings were the children of a Michael Shea and Judith (Johanna) Allen. DNA also shows a link to Carolyn Crone. Ms. Crone has on her tree a Catherine Allen b 1838 in Ireland – her obit shows her to be the daughter of a John Allen and a Margaret Eagan. So Catherine is likely a relative, perhaps a sister of Judith (Johanna) Allen.
Jan 13,
2020
I have found a Pat Eagan
born Ireland married 17/2/1801 to Margaret Fogarty. Traced 2 of their children,
Margaret born 1810 Thurles, Tipperary and James born 1811 Thurles.
I believe Margaret is an ancestor of yours?
If I have the correct James Eagan b 1811 he could be John’s 3rd great grandpa
and therefore
the father of James Eagan born 1835 (2nd great grandpa) born Ballyragget,
Kilkenny.
Kilkenny and Tipperary not that far apart??
We have yet a third DNA match to confirm these connections: John Egan shows up as a 4th-6th cousin match to me on Ancestry DNA. His family tree shows a Thomas Egan married to a Mary Dawson with a son, Phillip Egan (1852-1912). Phillip Egan was born in Knockavilla, Tipperary, and died in New Britain, Hartford, Connecticut. Knockavilla is 6 miles from Cashel. The family connection to someone who moved to Connecticut might explain why Patrick Lacey and Catherine Shea lived in Connecticut before moving to New York.
Regarding Michael Shea. There is a birth/baptism record showing a Michael Shea born/baptised 5 June 1841 in Boherlahan 5 June 1841 to Michl Shea and Ellen Floyd. But he would have been only 16 on their wedding day. There was another Michael Shea born in the area, this one in April 1838 to Michael Shea and Ellen Lahy. He would have been 19 on the wedding day. The problem is that there are many, many Michael Sheas born in this area at this time. It is hard to tell which one is ours. And there is at least one other Michael Shea-Judith Allen couple. You have to be careful on this.
Patrick Lacey and Catherine Shea both arrived in the United States in 1887 or 1888. Passenger records show a 20 year-old Irish woman named Catherine Shea arriving in New York on May 28, 1887 on the ship Germanic. That could have been her. There was also a 25 year-old Irish woman named Margaret Shea on that ship. That could have been her older sister.
As indicated above, the baptism record from Joan Burton have Catherine Shea’s family as being close to Boherlahan-Dualla, Tipperary. Cashel is quite close to Boherlahan-Dualla. Using the Cashel location as a guide, I searched for Patrick Lacey.
NOTE: There is another Patrick Lacey, this one baptized in April 1868 in Balleyragget. Son of Margaret Maher and William Lacey. This one could imply a family connection on both the Collich/Lacey side and the Meara/Grace side of my family (through Maher in Balleyragget). Even though the name is a better match with the Lacey spelling used in the US by Patrick Lacey, the Cashel birthplace fits better with the family story of both great grandparents coming from Cashel. And the birthdate for the Cashel Leacy or Lacy fits better. Also, the DNA evidence clearly points to Patrick Lacey being the son of Edmond Lacey and Mary Fogarty.
Patrick Lacey and Catherine Shea were married in 1894, possibly in Connecticut.
The 1900 U.S. Federal census shows Patrick Lacey as an
unemployed locksmith living on W. 27th Street in New York with his
wife Kate. Patrick’s birthdate is listed
as March 1868 (Ireland). Kate’s
birthdate is given as November 1871 in Ireland.
With them are Mary L. Lacey (later to be known as May) born April 1895
in Connecticut, and William E. Lacey born August 1898, also in
Connecticut. (Why
were they in Connecticut?)
In the 1925 New York State census the family is shown as living on W. 184th Street. Patrick is 58 years old and he is listed as an Electrical Engineer. He is listed as having been naturalized in New York. For both Patrick and Catherine the census form says they had been in the US 48 years – this would indicated an immigration year of 1877 (but that might be incorrect).
On different census forms Catherine Lacey is listed as Kate or Katie. My mother and my Aunt Cathy remember an aunt May – that had to have been the daughter Mary.
In January 2018 my Aunt Cathy described this family this way:
Ok here is what I know about the
Lacey family. The oldest May married
Uncle Leo , he owned a few stores , where I don't know. There last
name was Fitzharris{Not sure of that spelling} She died of cancer
after having about 3 kids. Twin girls Betty & Helen and I think a
boy. The next was Uncle Bill who worked and retired from Ford Motor
Co. He dated Aunt Mary for about 20 years and finally married her
when she could no longer have children. I loved them ! She retired
from Macy's Dept Store. Then came Edward, very handsome. Worked
selling carpets downtown New York. This was were he met an older very
rich widow and finally married her. Aunt Anna was next. She never
married and took care of the boys and Grandma. She has a good job for
an Insurance co, All moved to Riverdale after living on Wadsworth Ave.
Grandpa died there. I gave all the papers from Ireland to my Jenny
because her Helena visited the town Grandma & Grandpa lived in. I
asked her to send them to you. Hope this helps you. Love to all, Aunt
Cathy
Questions that remain:
What town in Croatia did Natalie George Colich come from?
Did he have other siblings besides Santiago in Peru?
Why did he spell his first name this way?
How or why did he lose the stores that he ran in New York?
What was his connection to the Austro-Hungarian Navy?
Did Elizabeth Smith’s father serve in the Civil War?
Was Elizabeth Smith’s brother John really a veteran? Which war? Did he suffer from a form of PTSD?
Why did Elizabeth Smith so quickly remarry, only to become a widow again Who was Mr. Malley?
Did Patrick Lacey and Catherine Shea know each other in Ireland or did they meet in the U.S.?
What brought the Lacey family to Connecticut?
How and when did the Leacy name change to Lacey?
No comments:
Post a Comment