h36_patrick.htm

Biographies of Our Forefathers

Patrick Tinneny ^H36

Patrick Tinneny was the youngest child of Patrick "Yankee Pat" Tinneny and Margaret Malloy. He was born January 2, 1897 at Greenock, Scotland, at the Tinneny home at 17 E. Shaw Street. He was baptized in Saint Mary's Catholic Church in Greenock.

Patrick’s Birth Registration

On December 27, 1900 Patrick’s mother Margaret his sisters, Margaret, Alice, Elizabeth and Rose, Patrick and his older brother James sailed from Glasgow, Scotland aboard the S.S. Sardinian. They were going to America to join Pat’s father, brother John, his sisters Mary Jane and Catherine in Philadelphia. Passage for each of the children cost $100.00. After experiencing a rough winter crossing they arrived at the port of New York on Saturday, January 12, 1901.

The S. S. Sardinian

The day of their arrival was dreary. That morning, the low temperature was 34 degrees and the high for the day was 42 degrees at noon. However, the weather was beginning to clear following snow and rain. Pat, his mother and siblings were met in New York by his oldest brother John and his sister Kate’s husband Michael Sickinger. They all traveled to Philadelphia by train and to their rented home at 306 Carson Street in the Manayunk section of the city.

During the rough and austere ocean voyage to America the passengers in their class were feed a lot of cheese and bread. Later in life Pat was known for frequently saying "Cheese I'll eat no more" in his Scottish brogue referring to the monotony of the diet aboard the ship during the crossing to America.

Photo: Believed to be Patrick in 1911. Courtesy of Debbie McColgan Chenoweth.

Patrick registered for the draft for World War I. The registration can be found in Draft Board 14 Roll No. 1907635 and his birthday is listed as Jan 2, 1897 in Scotland. Although he was registered he was never called into the service.

As an adult, Pat was a regular participant in fund raiser plays and other entertainment put on in the Holy Family Church parish hall on Hermitage Street in Manayunk. He danced, sang, played the fiddle and even played the roll of an Indian in one of these amateur productions.

Like his father, young Patrick played the fiddle. Later he built quite a reputation as an entertainer on the Key Circuit. That was a local entertainment circuit in the Philadelphia area. He did outstanding imitations of the famous Scottish comedian Harry Lauder. He teamed up on the entertainment circuit with a fellow named Carboy who played the piano.

Photo: Patrick’s violin and case on display in the home of his grandson Daniel Klebes II in 2008. Courtesy of Danny Klebes II.

Patrick worked at Mauning’s musical instrument repair shop in center city Philadelphia. It was there that he aquired the violin in the photo. The instrument had been abandoned and it had been determined that it couldn’t be repaired. Pat asked the shop owner if he could try to fix it and was told he could. He reconditioned it during his lunch breaks and when he was finished the shop owned gave it to him.

Photo: Patrick Tinneny.

Courtesy of Daniel Klebes II.

Patrick’s first cousin, Helen McKenna Gillard, recalled an incident when Pat had a spell of some sort. While entertaining in one of the Holy Family Parish fundraisers, Pat began acting funny. After the show he went to Frank Brennan's Barber Shop to get a hair cut. He seemed to go out of his mind. He took a razor and was wielding it at Frank and the other customers. The police were called in and took Pat off to the hospital.

Pat lived with his mother at her home until she passed away in 1919. His mother is said to have left him the money from the sale of the house after her death. She also left a certain amount from her estate to her "orphan" grandchildren, the children of her daughter Mary Jane who had married John P. McColgan.

The bequeath to Pat was the source of a real rough time for Pat one night on Main Street in Manayunk. Mike Sickinger, accompanied by his son Frank, they were the husband and son of Pat's sister Kate, attacked Pat with a gun one night as he was leaving the Empress Theater following one of his performances. Mike demanded to have a portion of the money from the sale of Pat's mother's house. Others in the family have it that Mike wanted the money because he had loaned "Yankee Pat" and Margaret a portion of the money that paid for Margaret and some of her children's passage to America and that the debt had never been repaid. Whatever the cause of the confrontation, Mike was arrested by the police for the assault. Several days later he and possibly Frank had to appear before the local magistrate at the police precinct near Main Street and Green Lane in Manayunk. The magistrate placed a peace bond on Mike not to bother his brother-in-law Pat.

Pat died suddenly the end of May 1925 of what was reported by his first cousin, Helen McKenna Gillard, as a brain hemorrhage when he was 28 years old. Pat, Anna and their son Wally were living at 218 Ripka Street in Manayunk. At the time, Anna was pregnant with their son Daniel. Pat was buried on May 28, 1925 in Section D Range 10, lot 13 W at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Montgomery County, PA. Buried in the same plot are Henry L Hoover, Eleanor K. Hoover and Josephine K. Hoover.

Near the end of his life when Pat was very ill and bedridden he asked Anna to bring him the violin. She did and he played the Ave Maria and several other pieces on it and gave it back to her and said, “Anna, I will never play the violin again.” He passed away a short time later. This story had been relayed to Pat’s grandson Dan II by his grandmother Anna.

Record Side 1 – Grave Lot purchased by Anna Tinneny 5/28/1925 upon the death of her husband Patrick Tinneny. Patrick was the first of several relatives buried in the lot.

Courtesy of Holy Sepulchre Cemetery staff.

Sometime following Patrick’s death, Anna married Leo Klebes. Leo adopted Anna’s 2 sons John “Wally” and Daniel Tinneny and raised them as his own. A consequence of the adoption was that the boys names were changed to Klebes and thereafter, they and their descendants carried the Klebes name and were no longer known as Tinnenys.

Photo: Anna taken Jul 11, 1964. Courtesy of Richard Tinneny.

Anna died in late June 1971 and was buried in the same plot as Patrick at the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery to be joined there in October 1982 by her second husband Leo.

Burial plot record showing Patrick (age 28 Internment date 5/28/25) in grave 2 (and his wife Anna in grave 4 with her second husband Leo Klebes. Courtesy of Holy Sepulchre Cemetery

Patrick’s descendants include his sons John and Daniel (Tinneny) Klebes of Philadelphia and Daniel’s descendants including Klebes, Manning, D’Ascenzo, Rydzewski and Mazzariello.