Note: This is a copy of the report that I sent to the descendants of
Mary Jane and John P. McColgan with whom I was in touch in 2004. It
provided an account of the final search to learn of his life
following the death of his wife and departure from the family 88
years previously. R. J. T.
It was a long
journey but we have finally located John P. McColgan. As most of you
are aware, theirs was a tragic love story with John having
left his home in Scotland to follow Mary Jane to the Manayunk section of Philadelphia. They married
at Holy Family Catholic Church in Manayunk and lived on
nearby Baldwin Street for a while before moving to a
house that John Built in New Jersey. It was in that house that
Mary Jane died on February 10, 1915. Her young son John was
with her in the kitchen while she was baking when she began
hemorrhaging. Although a neighbor and a doctor came to the
house they could not save her. Mary Jane was just 29 years
old.
John
tried very hard but unsuccessfully to keep the family together.
He went as far as bringing his sister Isabella from Scotland to care for
the children. When that didn't work out he placed the
children in orphanages in Merchantville, New Jersey about 1916 and
left the area. Over the years his children and
descendants developed numerous theories as to what happened
to him and his whereabouts. His
brother in law John Tinneny went as far as going to Scotland
in an unsuccessful attempted to locate him.
John Patrick
McColgan Courtesy of the McColgan Family.
Several years
ago I provided Debbie Chennowith with a couple of leads to
check out from the social security administration, which she
did. One of them turned out to be John who was identified
as having died in February 1964 with his last residence
being 25 Lockman Avenue, Staten Island, New York. No further
information was developed.
On
Saturday, January 10, 2004, I traveled to New York City for
a meeting at the firm for which I consult. I went up from
sunny South Carolina a day early to see what additional
information I could ferret out in the 88 year old mystery of
John McColgan and his whereabouts. By the way, New York
City set a record for cold last week and even had 6 inches
of snow – much to my discomfort and dismay.
I arrived at LaGuardia Airport at 9:00 a.m. and grabbed a
taxi to the Lucerne hotel where I tossed my bags in the room
and took the 79-block subway ride to the foot of Manhattan
and took the ferry to Staten Island. Once on Staten Island I met a very good friend,
Sheila-Anne, a genealogy colleague and resident of Staten
Island.
We had worked together via the Internet for years and
developed a friendship but hadn’t previously met in person.
Sheila drove us
to 25 Lockman Street where we saw the house mentioned in
the social security records as being John’s residence
when he made his social security application. I knocked on the
door and no one answered – didn’t blame them it was 7 degrees outside. We walked the street a
bit until someone came out of one of the houses and asked
him if he knew of any neighbors that lived there in the 60s
and earlier. He said no. We
went to the Baptist church 3 houses down from 25 Lockman and
were greeted by several black ladies
who said they knew nothing of the neighborhood in the 60s.
So I asked them where the nearest Catholic Church was. They
said the next street over and several blocks up – so we
headed off to Saint Michael’s and met the very nice
housekeeper who let us
in to review the original records of births and
marriages. After an hour we had drawn a blank so we asked
her to let us into the church – which was beautiful. We got
a church bulletin, said a brief prayer for
John and the family then I asked Sheila-Anne if there was
a neighborhood newspaper – not the big NYC papers. She said
there was the Staten Island Advance. We went to
the big library on Staten Island in the hope that they would
have back copies – and they did have them on microfilm. We
located the Feb 1964 film and reviewed each week's edition day by day and bingo the
last day of the month we found 2 obituaries on John one the
small standard version and the other a bit longer with more
details.
In the
obituaries we learned several important points:
- That he had viewings on each
of 2 days and a Requiem Mass. (This told us
that there was someone in the area who helped with
his affairs and that he had friends).
- The name of the cemetery
where he was buried: Saint Peter’s Cemetery, Staten
Island.
- The name of the parish that
he was in: Saint Michael’s 211 Harbor Road, Staten
Island. (Which is the church we had visited earlier
in the day).
- No immediate family was
mentioned. (Which helped us answer the question –
Did he ever marry after leaving New Jersey?)
- We learned that he was a boat builder
and carpenter as he had been as a
young man in New Jersey and that he last worked at
the Saint George Coast Guard Base in the New York
Harbor.
- Finally, the obit indicated
that he had been in the area probably since he left
New Jersey.
By this time it
was about 3:30 Saturday afternoon. Next we drove across the island to Saint Peters Cemetery.
When we got there we found the place was very well kept with
literally thousands of headstones – but the office was
closed. So I asked her to call them Monday while I was
in meetings and see what they had regarding John.
Specifically: Who paid for the lot and made his
arrangements? The section, lot and gravesite number?
Was there a headstone? Who else was in the grave with
him? And any other available info.
Sheila did
good -- from the cemetery records we learned:
- That the lot was purchased by
Mary Kielty.
- That the grave is located in
the NTW Section #53, Plot 17, Grave 6.
- That John is the only person
in the plot and that there are 3 vacant graves.
- That there is a headstone.
Sheila is
buying a disposable camera and will take photos of the
headstone and the 92 Lockman residence and maybe the church
and send them to me and I will forward them to Debbie or
Joe.
The
address of the cemetery is: |
St.
Peter's Cemetery |
52 Tyler Ave. |
Staten Island 10310-3127
|
Midweek I
called the funeral home and a real nice lady named Elizabeth
volunteered to help find the files in the attic after she
finished work. The next day she faxed me the record.
From the
Funeral home we learned that:
-
John lived at 92 Lockman Avenue Staten
Island at the time of his death – not 25, which we formerly
thought was the case. Although he had lived at the 25
Lockwood Avenue previously.
-
That he had lived in New York for
approximately 50 years (All of which appears to have been on
Staten Island and most of the time in or close to a Kielty
household).
-
He was listed as a widower and his wife’s
name was unknown.
-
His parents names were listed which
verified he was our John since we had already known of them.
-
His father is listed as being from
Scotland and his mother from Ireland (Her native country may
not have been previously known).
-
It was indicated that he was not a
military veteran.
-
Cause of Death ASHD (Heart Disease).
-
The source of information on John’s death
was provided by Mary Kielty of 92 Lockman Avenue.
-
James Castellano of 240 Arlington
Avenue, SI, NY 10303 was listed as his executor (We
checked and found numerous Castellano’s but
none at that address). That he had an estate indicated
that he most likely died with some property and
resources.)
-
He had an estate attorney: Norman
C. Morse of 25 Hyatt St., SI, NY 10301. We
subsequently learned that the attorney is still
alive and recently turned the practice over to his
daughter.
-
That the attorney had paid
$1,039.80 to the cemetery for the burial by check on
7/21/64.
Last
Thursday I tracked down the grand-nephew of Mary Kielty
and learned:
- She was widowed years before
John’s death.
- Her husband’s name was James.
- She was a very devout
Catholic and attended daily Mass at Saint Michael’s.
- She would have been the kind
of person who would provide assistance to her
neighbors “She was always helping someone.” per her
nephew.
- When asked if he had ever
heard of John - the nephew said no that he was in
high school when Mary died and he was only in his
late 40s now.
- I asked if her residence at
92 Lockman Ave was a boarding house and if John
could have been a boarder? The nephew said no that
it was and remains a public housing project and in
the 60s it would have been for low and middle class
people.
- I asked the nephew if he knew
of any of his other relatives who may have more and
older information about Mary and he said he probably
had as much as any of them.
- I asked if she had any
children and he said that she didn’t.
(Note: I am not 100%
convinced that the 92 Lockman Ave. residence was always
public housing and this could be further checked out.)
Sheila Anne
did some additional checking on the Kielty connection
and found:
The 1930 Census
shows the Kielty family living at 92 Lockman Ave.
Here is the census info:
- Kielty, Thomas J - Head of
Household - Age 37.
- Katherine - Wife - Age 37.
- Edward – Son - Age 12.
- Alice – Daughter - Age 7.
- Margaret – Daughter - Age 1 ½
.
- Thomas J Kielty was the owner
of 92 Lockman Avenue. (Need to check out – if public
housing he didn’t own but was just head of
household).
-
Thomas was a steam fitter - United
Electric Co.
-
His birthplace was listed as New
Jersey Note: Interesting – I wonder if
he knew John in NJ – They were about the same age,
both had lived in New Jersey and were in related
trades.
- Race: White.
Suggestions for Further Research
- Contact the funeral
home and see what records they have – see web site
for contact information.
- Attempt to contact the
executor or his family for estate information.
- Contact the law firm –
they are local and have been there for several
generations and should have records.
- Verify that 92 Lockman was
public housing in the 1930s and 1960s.
Comments:
Had an idea
at Mass this morning – Some of you may wish to have a
Mass said for John at Saint Michael’s. If so, the
following info may be helpful:
-
Mass
stipends in New York are $15.00 for an announced Mass
and $5.00 for an unannounced Mass.
-
Saint
Michael’s Catholic Church, 207 Harbor Road, Staten
Island, New York 10303, Phone: 718-442-1688
-
I am
available
should you have any questions about this information.
- Without
the assistance of Sheila-Anne throughout a very cold
Saturday and the week - we would have none of this information. You may wish to send her a brief thank
you.
-
Finding John and this information
about him after all these years has been a challenging
and rewarding task.
-
I hope you will continue gathering
and sharing information on him and other members of the
family.
Love to each of you my cousins – and
thanks for letting me help.
Richard J. Tinneny, 2 Baker House
Court Columbia, SC 29223
rtinneny@aol.com
Related Images
25 Lockman Ave., Staten Island, NY.
92 Lockman Ave., Staten Island, NY .

Saint Michael’s Roman
Catholic Church, Staten Island, NY. The church that
John attended and from which he was buried.
Lockman Avenue, Staten Island,
New York. The street on which John lived out the last 48 years of
his life.

Rich Tinneny at John P.
McColgan’s grave in Saint Peter’s Cemetery, Staten
Island, NY. Taken the day the remains of John were
located and the 88 year quest for his whereabouts was
solved.

