Biographies of Our Forefathers

James Joseph “Jim” Tinneny Sr.^H33

James Joseph Tinneny was the seventh child and second son of Patrick “Yankee Pat” Tinneny and Margaret Malloy.  He was born on September 26, 1888 at the family’s home on East Shaw Street in Greenock, Scotland.

Photo: Jim as a boy in Scotland 1901.

As did the rest of the family, James attended Saint Mary’s Church and Primary School.  He and his sister Rose were especially close to their brother Francis who died as a young boy while the family lived at Shaw Street. .

On December 27,1900, when he was 12 years old, Jim sailed to America aboard the Sardinian. He accompanied his mother, his sisters Alice, Margaret, Elizabeth and Rose and young Patrick on the voyage.  They sailed from the port of Glasgow in Scotland and arrived in New York on January 12, 1901. 

Photo:SS Sardinian – the ship that Jim came to America aboard

As was the case with the young boys in Greenock, Jim surly played football (soccer) while growing up in Greenock.  Later, as an adult in America, he was well known in his neighborhood for his skill in this sport.  At the time, soccer was not a well known or a commonly played sport in the United States, except among the European immigrants who learned the game in their home countries.

Photo: Jim about the time he came to America.        

Jim probably completed his primary schooling, which he began at Saint Mary’s in Greenock, at Holy Family Primary School located on Hermitage Street in the Manayunk section of Philadelphia.  According to his son Donald, after primary school Jim went on to attend Saint John’s High School in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia.  The high school was a part of Saint John the Baptist Parish in Manayunk.  He left Saint John’s after completing only 1 or 2 years of the school’s 4-year program.  He went to work with the Bell Telephone Company.  After working for the phone company he worked for Budds Company, Auto Car Division, in Philadelphia as a carpenter and pattern maker.

By April 1910 Jim had moved from the house of his parents on Baldwin Street and was living with his sister Alice and her family.  In the Census taken April 19, 1910 Jim is enumerated in the household of his brother-in-law Cornelius Hart.  At the time Alice and her husband had one child Isabella.

Both Jim’s mother and Manny Wier, who raised Gertrude Spence, were against Jim and Gert marrying.  On the one hand Jim’s mother was against the union because of the strong history of tuberculosis in Gert’s family.  On the other hand, Gert’s guardian, Manny was against the couple marrying because of the history of health problems in the Tinneny family.  Friction over the relationship of Jim and his girlfriend Gert may well explain why Jim was living in the home of his sister at the time of the 1910 Census instead of in the home of his parents.

On June 4, 1910 James married Gertrude Ann “Gert” Spence.  They were married in Philadelphia.  The marriage was recorded with the Clerk of the Orphans Court, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania by Joseph J. Hannigan on July 19, 1910.  The entry is numbered 251792.

Gertrude was born September 26, 1890.  She was the daughter of Matthew Spence and Annie O’Neill.  She was baptized October 19, 1890.   Her paternal grandfather was John Spence who was born in County Cork, Ireland.  His true name was John Spillane as recorded on a Total Abstinence Society Pledge Certificate which was signed by the founder of this Society.  The Very Reverend Theobald Matthew Founded the society April 10, 1838.  John took the pledge August 27, 1853, and was recorded as the 5,700,062 member.  John’s great-grandson, Gertrude’s son James J. Tinneny, said that he believed the reason his great-grandfather John changed his name from Spillane to Spence was to better fit in when he went to England from Ireland to apprentice as a papermaker.   

He must have learned his trade well since the first job that he had after landing in America was in the employ of the Wilcox family who James believed had a paper mill in Glen Riddle Pennsylvania.  The Wilcox family were socially and financially important in the Diocese of Philadelphia and were extremely good to the Irish. 

     Photo: Gert Spence Tinneny’s grandparents, Honora Wilson and husband John Spence.

John moved with his family to Chestnut Hill, just outside Philadelphia.  They lived in a twin gray stone house near the Mother House of the Sisters of Saint Joseph.  John’s son Matthew and his daughter Manny both were day students at Mount Saint Joseph’s Academy and were taught by the Sisters of Saint Joseph.   

John Spence, Gertrude’s grandfather, went to work at the W. C. Hamilton’s Paper Mill, which is located in Miquon, Pennsylvania where it joins Philadelphia at River Road.  The superintendent of the mill at the time was Philip Gaul who sponsored John for his United States citizenship.  His citizenship was awarded September 30, 1868. 

Photo: Honora Wilson Spence. 

John Spence’s wife, Gertrude’s grandmother, was Honora Wilson.  Her father was Thomas Wilson who was born in Edinburgh, Scotland.  He was a Presbyterian who converted to the Catholic faith.  John and Honora’s great-grandson, James J. Tinneny Jr. didn’t know for sure if the couple had married in Ireland, England or in America. 

John and Honora’s son, Gertrude’s father, Matthew was a blacksmith.  For a time he catered to the carriage trade on Philadelphia’s Main Line.  Unfortunately, according to Gertrude’s son James, his clients were poor at paying their bills and left him in financial difficulties. 

Matthew married Ann O’Neill of Philadelphia.  Ann’s father was Richard O’Neill.  He was probably born in Tipperary, Ireland and came to America between 1840 and 1845.  Richard had at least three children two of whom, John and James served in the Spanish American War.  Richard entertained, along with Bill Ambrose, a local plumber, at various functions at Holy Family Church as well as at the parish’s annual July 4^th picnic.   

Both of Gertrude’s parents, Matthew and Ann, died when Gertrude was only 7 years old.  They died in Manayunk.  Her mother was buried in the Cemetery of Saint John the Baptist Church in Manayunk.  When the city put through Tower Street and Hill Road near the church, it went through the cemetery and all of the bodies in that section were reburied.  Her present resting place is unknown. 

After the death of her parents Gertrude was raised by her father’s sister Margaret “Manny” and her husband John Weir on Hermitage Street in Manayunk.  John was a railroad detective.  As a young girl Gert was apprenticed as a dress maker to McKernan’s Dress Makers on Hermitage Street in Philadelphia.  After her marriage to James she made many of the clothes for her young family.  Years later Gert advised her daughter Trudy, who liked to sew, not to learn to sew because everyone will want you to do their sewing.

Photo: James at about age 22.

On March 1, 1915, when he was 26 years old, James initiated a Declaration of Intent (#24816) to the United States Department of Labor, Naturalization Service.  This was the first step required to become a citizen of the United States of America.  In the petition he is described as a pattern maker, white with a fair complexion and with brown hair.  He was 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed 132 pounds.  He had a small scar under each eye.

The Declaration shows that he emigrated to the United States from Greenock, Scotland aboard the vessel Sardinia and arrived in New York on January 12, 1901.  In the document James declared his “bona fide intention to renounce forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign potentate, state or sovereignty, and particularly to George V, King of Great Britain and Ireland of whom I am now a subject.”  The Declaration of Intention was filed in the District Court of the United States, Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 

 

Photo: Jim second from left with son John far right fishing on the New Jersey coast early 1940s.

By the time of the Second World War, Jim and his family were living at 4129 Pechin Street, Philadelphia.  According to the text of a script for the war years radio broadcast, Valor Knows No Creed, on which his son William “Bruce” was featured, Jim attempted to enlist in the service to support the war effort.  The story has it that on two occasions he tried unsuccessfully to enlist.  The first time he was denied because of his age, he was in his early 50s.  The script goes on to say that he was denied the second time because of his vision.  Such actions wouldn’t have been out of character for Jim, since he was known for his extreme patriotism.  These stories, of his attempts to enlist, are uncorroborated and may have been the result of literary license taken by the script writers who developed the broadcast.

 

 

Photographs:  Jim’s wife Gertrude Ann Spence. Rare Photographs since she didn’t like to have her picture taken. 

Although Jim did not make World War II, three of his sons did.  Thomas, William  “Bruce” and Joseph served, saw combat and were decorated.  His son John served in the United States Marine Corps in China and the Philippines before the United States entered World War II.

Photo: L to R Jim’s brother in law Ed McKenna husband of his sister Margaret, Jim’s older brother John and Jim.

As earlier mentioned, Jim was an ardent soccer player.  He also enjoyed fishing, playing baseball and reading books.  He was active in local Republican party politics at the ward level.  He strongly supported the Hamiltons in Philadelphia’s 21^st Ward.  They, along with Hugh Scott, who later went on to become a Senior United States Senator, were frequent visitors to the Tinneny house.  Jim debated politics frequently in his home.  He frequently said that, “politics could be clean.”  In addition to his work, sports and politics he was very active in Saint John the Baptist Church.  For many years he was the Head Usher at Saint John’s. 

Photo: Jim at the wedding of his brother John in the 1940s.

In 1948, Jim was diagnosed with terminal cancer.  The cancer had invaded his colon, as it had done with his mother.  He spent the last year of his life in and out of Lankenau Hospital.  His nephew Frank Sickinger, the daughter of his sister Kate, was a frequent visitor of Jim’s during this time.  Frank frequently took Jim to Lankanau for his treatments.  The year before he died he had about six operations for the cancer.  

As a result of a colostomy, he was required to wear a bag on his side that needed to be changed twice a day.  His condition was such that Gert was unable to care for him so he lived for a time with his daughter Moan and her family in their home on Houghton Street.

After four months with Moan and her family, Jim moved to the home of his son Thomas and his wife Marie on Pensdale Street.  He was bed ridden and in terrible pain for a long time.  The disease ravaged his once athletic body down to a weight of 80 pounds.  On December 8, 1949, with a crucifix clutched to his breast, James passed away.

Photo: L-R daughter in law Helen Diamond Tinneny, daughter Clare, Jim, daughter Trudy, daughter in law Marie.  Granddaughter Mary Ann Tinneny and grandson Richard Tinneny (presently of South Carolina).

The wake and viewing were held at Eddie Smith’s Funeral Home at Merrick and Pensdale Streets in Roxborough.  It was a rainy night and people stood in long lines outside the funeral home, to pass before the coffin and to give their condolences to the family.  In the lines were many politicians, friends and neighbors. Following a mass of burial at Saint John the Baptist Church, James was buried at Saint Mary of the Assumption Church Cemetery in Roxborough on December 12, 1949.  He was laid to rest in his wife’s family, (the Spence) plot, number VI 68.

During Jim’s final illness, Gertrude lived in an apartment on Pechin Street with her sons Joseph and Don who were unmarried at the time.  Gert’s condition became such that it was necessary for her to be cared for full time in the Landis Nursing home in Roxborough.  Near the nursing home was the Jefferies Movie Theater which some of her grandchildren including myself frequently attended.  After a Saturday or Sunday afternoon movie at the Jefferies, I (her grandson Richard) would usually go by the nursing home and see Grandmother Tinneny.  During one of these visits she asked if I would get her some chocolate candy.  She said not to tell the nurses because they wouldn’t let her have the chocolate.  After that I regularly smuggled chocolate to her, which she definitely wasn’t suppose to have. On more than one occasion the nurses from the home called my parents about these smuggling activities but I continued to bring the goodies to grandmother Tinneny at the nursing home.  

 Photo: Gert in late 1940s

During February 1953 Gert’s health took a turn for the worse and she was taken to Roxborough Memorial Hospital.  She had been treated for chronic hypertension (high blood pressure) for 10 years.  Dr. Thomas O’Toole of Roxborough was her physician and he cared for her through her final illness. He had been with her on February 4^th, 12^th, 15^th and 21^st.  On February 21^st Gert passed away as a result of suffering a cerebral vascular hemorrhage. While she was in the hospital her children took turns visiting and being with her.  Her son John was with her when she died.  He said that she turned very red, breathed heavily and slipped away.  Realizing that this was the end, he recited the Act of Contrition and a Hail Mary into her ear.  Gert was 62 years old.  Her death certificate #3879 was filed on February 24, 1953.  It was signed by Dr. O’Toole.

February 25, 1953, a burial mass was held at Saint John’s Church and she was taken from the church to Saint Mary’s Cemetery where she was buried with James in the Spence plot. 

Also in the plot are her grandparents, John and Honora Spence, and other members of the Spence and Weir families.  The arm of James and Gertrude’s son in law John Kelly is also buried there. John was married to their daughter Clare Tinneny.  The arm was lost in a mill accident.  

James and Gertrude were the last of the family buried in the unmarked plot. In later years a head stone was placed on the grave with their names and dates on it. 

Years after their deaths, Jim and Gert’s daughter Gertrude “Trudy” wrote the following poems in their memory: