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
Catherine and Lillian with Walter Precht
Family Chart (click to zoom it)
