Elizabeth Delany nee OBrien (1868-1948)

Catherine Obrien is my great-great grandmother.  Aka she is the mother of Theresa Schmidt nee Delany, who was the mother of Mary, James, and Albert Schmidt.  

If you are a Cummins, Ironside, Rubeo, Spencer, Walsh, Bryant, DeLucia, Dreeke, Durivou, Healy, Hovastadt, Richter, Saake, Schmidt, Trowse, Precht, Rappold, Raucher, or Schmitt this might be one of your ancestors.

Catherine was the fifth of nine children born to Michael OBrien and Ellen Kelly at 33 Cork Street in Dublin.  33 Cork street was a public housing tenement, aka poor folks public housing.  Tenements were often one room, with shared public facilities.  You can see 33 Cork references in the 1862 Dublin directory at  https://www.libraryireland.com/Dublin-Street-Directory-1862/357.php as 'tenements'.

Catherine married Andrew Delany in March 1886.  Catherine was Andrew's 2nd wife, after his first wife, Mary Cowley, died of Tuberculosis in 1895. Catherine had three children who survived childhood, Ellen Bridge (1897), Teresa Mary (1898), and Elizabeth Lillian (1904).  She also had three children who did not survive childhood, Andrew (1899), Kathleen(1903) and Mary Monica(1903).

Tragedy struck Catherine when her husband, Andrew, died of Tuberculosis in 1904.  Catherine was eight months pregnant with Elizabeth Lillian, with no way to fend for herself.  Realizing she could not support her children, she left Sarah (11), Teresa (8) and Ellen (8) at a street corner in Ellis Quay Dublin on the banks of the river Liffey.  Catherine told them to look for a policeman and ask for help.  The children found a policeman who entered them into the Dublin workhouse / orphan system, from which they did not emerge until they were 16 years old.  Noting that one the record it shows "sent to Industrial School", meaning the St Johns Industrial School for girls.  More on that with supporting records at another time when I fully tell the workhouse tales.

Catherine emigrated to the USA in 1921 with her daughter Elizabeth Lillian in the Megantic inbound to her sister, listed as a Noonan (I haven't been able to locate who this is yet)..  Outbound contact was her sister Elizabeth Sullivan nee OBrien, living in Iveagh Towers  .

Once in the USA she lives with her daughter Lillian Precht from about 1926 to her death in 1948.

Documented Residences:

• 1868 - 33 Cork Street, Dublin - birth to Michael Obrien and Ellen Kelly
• 1896 - 30 Coombe, Dublin
• 1896 - Marriage at St Catherine's Church,  Meath St Church, Dublin
• 1897 - 18 Chamber Street, birth of Ellen Bridget
• 1898 - 6 Geraldine Square, Dublin - birth of Teresa.  Gone but near 'Brown Street'.
• 1899 - 6 Fitzgerald Cottages, Dublin - need to map
• 1901 - 38 Chamber Street, Merchants Quay, Dublin - death of step-son Francis of Tuberculosis. Also address for 1901 Irish Census with Sarah (step-daughter) ellen, Teresa, Andrew.  Gone - see 18 Chamber in 1897.
• 1904 - 38 Chamber Street, Death of husband Andrew of Tuberculosis, birth of son Andrew. Gone, see 18 Chamber in 1897.
• 1911 - missing from 1911 census
• 1916 - 15 Tram Terrace, from Ellen and Teresa's ship record.  Gone, see Tramway Cottages, Highfield Road — boards.ie - Now Ye're Talkin'
• 1921 - Arrival on Megantic - 208 East 88th St, New York City - inbound ship addresss
• 1925 - missing in 1925 nyc census, not living with Lillian
• 1930 - 372 192 West 92nd Street with (Elizabeth) Lillian Precht nee Delany and family
• 1936 - naturalization, record not found yet
• 1940 - 65 Gun Hill Road, Bronx, living with the Lillian Precht
• 1948 - 4343 91st Place, Elmhurst NY - living with Lillian Precht

Pics

The three sisters and their mother.  Catherine is 2nd from left.  Teresa is 3rd from left.

Catherine and Lillian with Walter Precht

Catherin's emigration photo.

Family Chart (click to zoom it)

Delaney Kids - 1928

Two of the three sister that made it over from Ireland have their kids in this photo.  Mary is my grandmother!  Annotated and non-annotated below.   Thanks 3rd cousin Tracy (or 2nd cousin 1x removed, whatever) !!!  Enjoy...

From left to right - back

• Martha "Tag" Fox nee Schmidt (1924-2008).  Daughter of Albert Schmidt and Theresa Delany.  No descendants.
• Mary Melva Healy nee Schmidt ( 1922-2006 ). Daughter of Albert Schmidt and Theresa Delany.  Matriarch to Dreeke, Delucia, Hall, and Healy lines of cousins.
• James Albert "Jim" Schmidt ( 1919-1998 ). Daughter of Albert Schmidt and Theresa Delany. Mother of Albert, Theresa and Stephen.  Cousins include (but may not be limited to) Richter, Saake, Durie, Pocaro, Hovastadt.
• Esther Cummins ( abt 1921 ). Daughter of Michael Cummins and Ellen Bridget Delany.  not sure about who she married, maybe a murphy.
• Kate Cummins ( 1923-2008 ).  Daughter of Michael Cummins and Ellen Bridget Delany.  not sure who she married.

(front row - baby) 

• Eileen Spencer nee Cummins ( 1928-2016). Daughter of Michael Cummins and Ellen Bridget Delany. Mother of Tracey and Christine.  Cousins include Walsh.

Delaney and the 1916 Easter Uprising

The Irish rarely talk about the bad things.  I've notice there's alot of supression and bury of ugly things in the past.  Of course, naturally, my Irish kin loved to celebrate all the good, and sometimes loved to celebrate just for the joy of celebrating.

Watching the trailers for the upcoming film, A Terrible Beauty, about the 1916 Easter Rising in April 1916 in Dublin made me curious about what the Delaney's roles were during the 1916 event.  

Theresa Delaney emigrated to the USA with her Sister Ellen Delaney ( who married Michael Cummins eventually ) on Sept 19, 1916, a relatively short period after the rising.  I'd always wondered about the timing of the move, as they were from Dublin.

In one of those wonderful 'family researcher moments', my 1st Cousin 1x removed, S. Schmidt (grandson of Theresa Delaney) had sent me a note about our the Delaney's at the same time.  [thanks so much S.]  Note  a similar story had been shared to me by Katie R., who was the grand-neice of Theresa.  As her story was relayed by Lillian Delaney, her grandmother, this was a great point of convergence.

"I had one on my friends over to see Grandma. Everything went really well with their families being from the same areas. That is until she found out he was protestant (orange). At that point I saw a side of her I didn't think she possessed. She was fighting  mad and literally threw him out of the house, the only comment was he wasn't ever to come there when she was present. No further explanation. When my father found out he said that her father [uncle or grandfather] and brother were dragged out in the middle of the night by what I believed he called brown shirts.  They were hung for being part of the Irish Army (not IRA)[jeh: prob Irish Volunteers] that had staged an unplanned uprising that was squashed by the British and Protestants.  Apparently it was a bloody couple of days with the Irish making themselves felt. They weren't present as most of the loosely formed units, soldiers back from WWI, weren't."

More info on the impact of the uprising on non-combatants can be found here - http://www.easter1916.net/civilians.htm .

This is one of my genealogy "brick walls".  

I don't even know their names.  This will be a tough one to dig out.  This particular issue may unfortunately (koff koff) require me to spend some time in Dublin researching. 

Any ideas?

[Theresa Delaney was the daughter of Andrew Delany and Catherine O'Brien of Dublin.  She had sisters Ellen Bridget (1897) and Elizabeth Lillian (1904).  She had a half sister Sarah (1893) by Andrew Delany and Mary Anne Cowley (1866-1895). Catherine's OBrien's parents were Michael O'Brien/Ellen Kelly]