Biographies of Our Forefathers
Isabella
Mary "Pat" McColgan
“Pat” was the third child and second
daughter of Mary Jane Tinneny and John Patrick McColgan. She
was born in Pennsauken, New Jersey on May 20, 1911. When Pat
was just under four years old her mother died.
John found it
very difficult to work and to care for his four young children.
To help him, he brought his sister Isabella McColgan over from
Scotland to live with them in Pennsauken. It didn’t work out
and the arrangement came to a smoky end. One day while caring
for the children, Isabella put a roast in the oven, put the
children to bed for a nap and left the house to socialize. The
roast burned, filling the house with smoke and rescuers had to
put young Johnny, Ed, Isabella and Kitty out of the house
through the windows.
The Ever Present Smile.
After
that incident John made his brother-in-law, Mary Jane’s oldest
brother John Tinneny, executor for his estate, which included
the house in Pennsauken. He then put the children into
orphanages in Merchantville, New Jersey and was never seen or
heard from again by the family. His granddaughter Joyce Roff
said she had heard that her grandfather had been traced to
Canada where he attempted to reenter the military service in an
effort to get back to Scotland.
Isabella and
Kitty were put in one orphanage and their brothers were put into
another. From the orphanage the children were going to be
“farmed out” which meant they would literally be sent out to
farms each day to work as laborers. Their Uncle Johnny Tinneny
took them out of the orphanages. He and his wife Alice took Isabella to live
with them. Young Johnny McColgan was taken in by his Aunt
Maggie Tinneny and her husband Edward McKenna, and Ed was taken
in by his Uncle James Tinneny and his wife Gertrude. Mary
Jane’s maternal uncle, Barney Malloy and his wife Mary took in
the youngest child, Kitty.
One day, for
some unknown reason, Mary Jane’s youngest brother Patrick
gathered up the children and took them back to the orphanages.
When Mary Jane’s brother Jim found out he and his brother-in-law
Ed McKenna went to the orphanages and took the children out.
James then confronted his younger brother Patrick , they got into a
heated argument over the matter and Jim struck Patrick
and “knocked
him on his behind.” The children were then put back into the
homes of their aunts and uncles.
The home that John McColgan built for his family at 273
Highland Avenue in Pensauken, New Jersey. On the porch are
John with his wife Mary Jane and their 4 children including
Isabella.
Pat lived with her
Uncle John and Aunt Alice on Silverwood Street
in Manayunk not far from the home of her grandmother Tinneny who
lived on nearby Baldwin Street. She remembered her grandmother, Margaret Tinneny, was short, about
5 feet 2 or 3 inches tall, and heavy in stature. She also
recalled she was very kind during visits
with Pat and her siblings while they were recovering from
illnesses they had acquired in the orphanages. Pat said
that her grandmother brought the children cookies during these
visits.
Pat recounted many years later that she felt her Aunt Alice
resented her moving into their home. However, her Uncle Johnny
who she affectionately called “Pop” received her very well. She
recalled that one day her Aunt Alice had put a hairpin into her
hair so hard that it stuck in her scalp and she went to school
that way and the blood streamed down her face.
Things got so
uncomfortable for her that when she was 17 years old she wanted
to leave the house on Silverwood Street and to move in with
her
mother’s Uncle Bernard “Barney” Malloy and his wife Mary at 4519
Richie Street in Manayunk.
Her Aunt Alice told her she wasn’t going to let her but her
Uncle Johnny said, in no uncertain terms, that if that was what
she wanted she would be allowed to go – and she did.
Pat
attended Holy Family School in Manayunk. At the time the school
went through high school (10th grade). She
graduated from Holy Family in 1927 with a certificate in
bookkeeping. One day when she was in the 7th grade
the nun, for a reason that is unknown called Pat to the front of the room
and made her stand there while she slapped her repeatedly on each cheek. Finally Pat’s first
cousin Jim Tinneny stood up and
said to the nun in an intimidating tone of voice, “Don’t hit her
again.” And the nun stopped slapping her. Jim was a favorite of
that nun and for whatever reason she stopped and didn’t say
another word to Pat.
Throughout her time at Holy Family School, Pat had used the name Tinneny instead of McColgan.
When it was time for her to graduate from the school,
Father Grace called her Uncle Johnny to the rectory.
The
priest told him, since Pat was not adopted formally, she should
not use the Tinneny name any longer and that she should use her
legal last name, McColgan. It was at that time that she made
the transition from Tinneny to McColgan. All of her school and
other records from the time she left the orphanage had her last
name as Tinneny.
Pat after making her First Holy Communion taken outside Holy
Family Catholic Church.
Courtesy of Sally Kemp.
When she was 15 or 16 years old she was working in downtown
Philadelphia for the Whitman candy company. One day when she
was returning home from work a man grabbed her and tried to pull
her into an alley and attack her. She successfully escaped and
was not injured.
June
29, 1935 Isabella married Joseph Charles Kemp in Philadelphia.
Joe was the son of Joseph Charles Kemp and Margaret McGlynn.
After a tour in the United States Navy he worked as a taxi cab
driver for the Yellow Cab Company in Philadelphia for many
years.
He was an avid horseracing fan and was a regular visitor
to the racetrack in New Jersey. Isabella and Joe had three children Joseph Charles Jr., Sally
Ann and Margaret Mary “Peggy”. The couple raised their children
in the family home at 3679 Eveline Street in the East Falls
section of Philadelphia. They were in Saint Bridget parish. Another family that attended Saint Bridget’s with them was John
B. Kelly’s who lived on nearby Henry Avenue. His daughter Grace
Kelly attended the parish school and church and became a movie
star and eventually married the Prince of Monaco and became
Princess Grace.
Joe and Pat. Courtesy of Sally Kemp King.
In 1944 the United States was well into World War II. Like so
many other Americans, Pat’s husband Joe was serving his country
and was away in the U.S. Navy. When their daughter Peggy was 6
weeks old the two older children Joe and Sally came down with a
bad case of the respiratory condition known as the croup. This
caused the house to be quarantined for medical purposes to
preclude spreading the disease in the neighborhood.
Pat was completely worn out trying to take care for newborn
Peggy, and the two other children who were very ill. One night
she passed out and fell and banged her head. The next day a
neighbor came to the door to deliver something to the house and
noted the mark on Pat’s head where she had fallen. The neighbor
said that quarantine or not she was going to come into the house
and help care for Pat and the children until something could be
done for them.
After assessing the situation, the neighbor immediately called
the United States Navy and told them that they had better send
Pat’s husband home because all in the house were very sick and
he was needed. The Navy representative she spoke with at first
refused but she persevered and Joe was allowed to come home on
leave.
Pat and Joe with son Joseph and daughters Peggy and Sally and the family dog.Courtesy of
Sally Kemp King.
Pat with Peggy and Sally at the home of Pat’s first cousin John
P Tinneny of Fowler Street in Philadelphia. Courtesy of Rich
Tinneny.
When
her children were old enough, Pat went to work as a secretary
for a doctor at the state psychiatric hospital in Philadelphia
where she worked for several years. She then was employed at A.
B. Dick Company as a secretary until her retirement in the
1970s.
As mentioned earlier, Pat was taken in and raised by her
mother’s brother John and his wife Alice after her mother past
away. Years later when John’s daughter Elizabeth Tinneny
Casabone past away her obituary listed among her surviving
relatives two sisters. One of whom was “Isabelle Kemp.” Although
Pat was her first cousin, being listed as Elizabeth’s sister in
the obituary showed the closeness with which Pat was held in the
family.
Pat and her siblings. L-R Edward “Ed”, Isabella “Pat”, Catharine
“Kitty” John “Johnny”. Courtesy of Joyce Roff.
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Pat with son Joe and daughters Peggy and Sally. Courtesy of
Sally Kemp King.
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Pat and her children. Courtesy of Sally Kemp King.
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Pat’s husband Joe died of pneumonia at the Northeast Hospital in
Philadelphia in1963. Following a Mass of Christian
Burial at Saint Bridget Church he was buried at Holy Sepulcher
Cemetery. Pat remained in the family home on Eveline Street
with her son Joe who past away in 1997. Following young Joe’s
death she closed the house and
for a short time moved in with her daughter Peggy
then moved in with her daughter Sally
in New Jersey.
After a long illness, Pat passed away at 3:00am on January 11,
2005 in New Jersey.
The viewing was
held from 8:30-9:30 a.m. at Mcilvaine's Funeral Home, Midvale
and Frederick St., East Falls followed by Mass at 10:00 a.m. in
Saint Bridget's Church. She was buried at Holy
Sepulcher Cemetery, 4001 West Cheltenham Ave. Montgomery County,
Pennsylvania just outside Philadelphia.
Isabella was the
Daughter of
Mary Jane Tinneny and John McColgan
of Greenock, Scotland
and the granddaughter of
Patrick “Yankee Pat “ Tinneny
of Goladuff, Newtownbutler, County Fermanagh Ireland, Greenock,
Scotland and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
In 2004 Rich
Tinneny and a long time friend and fellow genealogist
followed up on a lead provided by Deborah Chenoweth,
granddaughter of Mary Jane and John. After several days of
searching they resolved the 88-year mystery of what happened
to John McColgan.
For an account and related photos
of the search for John McColgan See
John’s Post Family Life – A Mystery
Solved.
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