The Tinneny Family History Site
 

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.

Pat with son Joe and daughters Peggy and Sally. Courtesy of Sally Kemp King.

Pat and her children. Courtesy of Sally Kemp King.

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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Updated January 7, 2024
 
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