The Dean/Beaver Blog: August 2015

Thursday, August 27, 2015

The Case for Christina Kissling Miller

My great-great grandmother, Jennie Brattain, was married to David Philip Dean, the first systematic genealogist of the family. He gathered information on her family, too, so I knew going into my genealogical research that the Brattains (pronounced Brat-ton, not Bruh-tayn) were a Scottish family who arrived in the United States around 1750. They were Presbyterian when they arrived, but the scion of the family married a Quaker. Like many other Scotch-Irish families, they settled in North Carolina before moving west.

Jennie Brattain Dean's grandfather was Soloman Brattain, born in North Carolina in 1809, and dying in Henry County, Indiana, in 1892. (The Brattains were shockingly long-lived. Quite a number of them lived into their 90s). From the earlier research on the family, I knew Solomon's wife -- Jennie's grandmother -- was Catherine Miller. But what were her roots? Other than the 1850 census listing her birth place as Virginia and her birth year as 1812, we had no information.

I easily found the marriage license for "Solomon Bratton" and "Catharine Miller". They were married in Wayne County, Indiana, on August 23, 1832 by Hugh Cull(1). Hugh Cull was a well-known Methodist preacher in Wayne County(2). That tells us that the Miller family was living in Indiana in the 1830s.

Unfortunately the 1830 census did not record the names of individuals in each household. Only the names of the head of household were recorded, plus a count of the number of people in each household. There were 19 Miller households in Wayne County, Indiana, in the 1830 census. That doesn't narrow down the options very much, especially since Catherine Miller could have lived in a nearby county and not in Wayne at all. The number of Miller households in Indiana as a whole was in the hundreds.

I did have one more clue: Solomon Brattain's sister, Mary Ann, married a man named William Miller. In the Midwest at this time, "sibling-swap" marriages were relatively common. In other words, siblings from one family (often a brother and sister) would marry siblings from another family. I've mentioned this phenomenon before in my post about John Stewart Dean and Hannah Baird.

Luckily, William Miller lived long enough to be caught up in the mania for local history that swept the nation in the late 1800s. At that time, a rash of books were published by counties and towns chronicling the early European conquest of the area and featuring biographies of elderly residents (especially White Anglo-Saxon Protestant residents, but that's another story.) William Miller was featured in a book on the history of Wayne County, Indiana, published in 1884(3). This source gave his parents as John and Christina (Kissling) Miller, who had come to Indiana from Virginia in 1812. William was their youngest child, born in 1814, after they moved to Indiana. The same source gave the names of all nine of John and Christina's children, and the second-youngest was a girl named Catherine. Two years is a pretty standard birth spacing, so this Catherine could very well have been born in 1812 in Virginia, just like "our" Catherine Miller. The book also said that the Millers were Methodists (remember, Soloman and Catherine were married by the Methodist preacher) and that John Miller had died in 1822, but Christina Kissling Miller had lived until 1860. Soloman and Catherine Brattain named two of their children John and Christina. Yes, those are common names, but it is one more indication that John and Christina Miller could have been relatives of Catherine Miller Brattain.

Returning to the 1830 census, there was a Christina Miller who was the head of a household in Wayne Township, Indiana. On the same census page (meaning they must have lived close by) were John and Joseph Brattain, the father and uncle of Soloman Brattain.(4).

Unfortunately, the household of Christina Miller did not include a female of the correct age to be Catherine. However, the census may be in error, or Catherine may have been living with a sibling or working in someone's home. This would be all the more likely since William was the only son of the Millers, so Catherine's mother, a widow with only a 16 year old son, may have needed all the help she could get.

All in all, I believe the circumstantial evidence is strong suggesting that Catherine Miller Brattain was the sister of William Miller, and the daughter of John and Christina Kissling Miller.

There are on-line genealogies of both the Miller and Kissling families. Both are German and had been in the United States since the early to mid 1700s. At least two of Christina's fore-bearers fought in the Revolution. John's family is harder to trace (John Miller is a criminally common name), but it appears he was related somehow to the family of Martin Luther Miller of Wythe County, Virginia, where John and Christina were married. Martin's sons, Isaac and Daniel, also lived in Wayne County, Indiana, and Solomon and Christina named one of their sons Isaac. I'll post more on the deeper history as I get more information.

References:
(1) "Indiana Marriages, 1811-2007," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:27VG-3TJ : accessed 27 August 2015), Solomon Bratton and Catharine Miller, 23 Aug 1832; citing , Wayne, Indiana, county clerk offices, Indiana; FHL microfilm 1,838,642..

(2) pioneerhttps://waynecountyhistory.wordpress.com/2010/12/07/rev-hugh-cull-of-wayne-county-indiana/.

(3) History of Wayne County, Indiana, 1884, p. 292. Available on-line:https://books.google.com/books?id=V8oUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA205&lpg=PA205&dq=isaac+miller+wayne+county+indiana&source=bl&ots=YoL6e1ljC5&sig=yx7S2AmreSKfu7D5xf_HS2ckbko&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CC0Q6AEwA2oVChMIzvDwypLIxwIVQhaSCh3tmg-g#v=onepage&q=brattain&f=false.

(4) "United States Census, 1830", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHPB-M26 : accessed 27 August 2015),

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Robert Steven Cunningham

Robert Steven Cunningham, my great-great grandfather

Robert was the youngest son of Maurice and Elizabeth Cunningham. He was born November 22, 1850, in Pelham, Ulster, New York, the last of 9 children, including 7 boys.

Before the 1860 census, Robert moved with his family to Columbus, Wisconsin. His father died when he was about 17. At the time of the 1870 census, he was living with his widowed mother and siblings on their farm in Columbus(1).

Robert continued to live in Columbus, but by 1880 he was in a boarding house or hotel in Columbus city proper. The census lists his occupation as "wagonmaker"(2). Perhaps he wanted to live in town, rather than out on the farm, because he worked for a business in town?

Robert married Elizabeth Theresa Rooney, the daughter of John Joseph and Elizabeth Kelly Rooney, in St. Jerome's church on November 24, 1880(3). He was 30 and she was 24. Both bride and groom were born in New York, children of Irish immigrants. The Rooneys had come to the United States on one of the famine ships in 1848.

The young family lived in Columbus until at least 1888. Three of their children were born there: Robert Francis "Frank" Cunningham in 1881; their daughter Maurie in 1886; and Sylvester in 1888(4).

Sometime between 1888 and 1892, the family moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota. As mentioned in a previous post, two of Robert's brothers had moved to Minnesota (to Winona) in the 1860s. Robert and Elizabeth's move, however, was probably prompted more by the movement of the Rooney family into Minneapolis at around the same time.

"Robert S. Cunningham, wagonmaker", appears in the Minneapolis City Directory of 1892-1893. His address was 318 13th Ave. N.E., and he was working for (or with?) M. Lydon(5). This same announcement appears in later directories, but in 1897 his employer changed to James Iverson and son, 825 2nd NE(6).

Robert and Elizabeth's youngest child, Aloysius, was born in 1896, in Minnesota. He did not have long to know his father. Robert died August 8, 1905, at the age of 54. He is buried in St. Anthony cemetery in Minneapolis, with Elizabeth and Aloysius(7).

Robert and Elizabeth's oldest son, Frank, had two children: my grandfather, Robert Francis Cunningham, and Helen Cunningham Bidwell. Although both have passed away, their children are still living.

In 1913, Robert and Elizabeth's daughter, Maurie, married a man by the unlikely name of Prosper E. Boos. Perhaps unable to stomach the first name of "Maurie" while saddled with a last name like "Boos", she shows up as "Marie" in every subsequent census. She had two sons, Robert Aloysius Boos and Edward Prosper Boos. The family seems to have moved between Minnesota and North Dakota several times. She died in California in 1961.

Robert and Elizabeth's second son, Sylvester Everistus, married Mary Koester, but I could find very little else about his life. He died in 1925 in Red Wing, Minnesota, at the age of 37(8). I do not know if he had children.

Robert and Elizabeth's youngest son, Aloysius Ambrose, died at he age of 18 and is buried with his parents(9).

References:

(1) "United States Census, 1870," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MN97-D14 : accessed 21 January 2015), Eliza Cunningham, Wisconsin, United States; citing p. 17, family 118, NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 553,205.

(2) "United States Census, 1880," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MN4H-89N : accessed 21 January 2015), Robt Cunningham in household of Julius Foe, Columbus, Columbia, Wisconsin, United States; citing enumeration district 18, sheet 33A, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 1420; FHL microfilm 1,255,420.

(3) "Wisconsin, Marriages, 1836-1930," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XRLQ-MMH : accessed 21 January 2015), Elizabeth Cunningham in entry for Robert Cunningham and Elizabeth T. Rooney, 24 Nov 1880; citing reference 01352; FHL microfilm 1,275,883.

(4) United States Census, 1900

(5)http://box2.nmtvault.com/Hennepin2/jsp/RcWebImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=Minneapolis+City+Directories%2fmnmhcl00%2f20130429%2f00000001&collection_filter=false&query1=Cunningham&query1_field=0&query2_modifier=0&query2=&query2_field=0&query3_modifier=0&query3=&query3_field=0

(6) http://box2.nmtvault.com/Hennepin2/jsp/RcWebImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=Minneapolis+City+Directories%2fmnmhcl00%2f20130429%2f00000002&collection_filter=false&query1=Cunningham&query1_field=0&query2_modifier=0&query2=&query2_field=0&query3_modifier=0&query3=&query3_field=0

(7) "Find A Grave Index," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/QVLJ-NJDH : accessed 21 January 2015), Robert S Cunningham, 1905; Burial, Minneapolis, Hennepin, Minnesota, United States of America, Saint Anthony Cemetery; citing record ID 96746871, Find a Grave,http://www.findagrave.com.

(8) "Minnesota, Deaths and Burials, 1835-1990," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FDQW-QKS : accessed 1 April 2015), Sylvester Everistus Cunningham, 20 Sep 1925; citing Red Wing, Goodhue, Minnesota, reference rn4787; FHL microfilm 2,218,702.

(9) "Minnesota, Deaths and Burials, 1835-1990," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FDS4-K27 : accessed 18 January 2015), Robert Cunningham in entry for Aloysuis A. Cunningham, 05 Aug 1914; citing Minneapolis, Hennepin, Minnesota, reference 19488; FHL microfilm 2,138,915.

Where is Wallenstown? An Irish History Mystery

Cunninghams of Columbus, Part 4

This is one of a series of posts about Maurice and Elizabeth Cunningham, their children and grandchildren, and their lives in Columbus, Wisconsin in the late 1800s. You can find the other posts here: Part 1 (overview), Part 2 (the cemetery), Part 3 (the church and farm), and two related posts on Robert Steven Cunningham, the Rooney farm and Wallenstown, Ireland.

Cunninghams of Columbus: Our Current State of Knowledge

Armed with the new information and inspiration of our trip to Columbus, I've been doing more document searches, and I've found more about the lives of Maurice and Elizabeth's children and grandchildren. I covered the lives of Maurice and Elizabeth in Part 1 of this series. Here, I'll discuss their children.

Richard: The eldest Cunningham son was born in 1830 or 1831 in New York. With his parents, he moved to Columbus, and he is living with them in 1860, at the age of 29(1). In 1870, however, he is no longer a member of the household in Columbus. It appears he married around 1862 to Mary McConnell. In the 1870 U.S. Census, there is a Richard Cunningham, age 39, carpenter, born in New York with both parents foreign born. He has a wife, Mary, 30, born in Ireland, and a son, Maurice, 8 born in Wisconsin. They are living in Winona, Minnesota(2). There is no guarantee that this is the correct Richard Cunningham, but all the circumstantial evidence suggests that he is. He's the right age, born in the right place, with his father's profession and a son bearing his father's name. Furthermore, there is a Mary McConnell living in Columbus, Wisconsin, in 1850, born in Ireland around 1840(4)

Unfortunately, there is no record of Richard in the 1880 census, and the 1890 census was destroyed in a fire. The family is also absent from the 1900 census. The next evidence we have comes from 1910, by which time Richard appears to have died. His son is still living in Winona, Minnesota, with his mother, now named Mary Montgomery(3). We do not have a record of any other children born to Richard and Mary. I have not found a record of Richard in any cemeteries in Winona.

Richard's son, Maurice, died in Winona in 1939. He was single and presumably had no children(5).

William: I have been unable to find any additional information about William. He lived with his mother until her presumed death between 1880 and 1885. In 1885, he was head of the household in Columbus, probably still living with his siblings(6). He would have been around 55 at that time. He then disappears from the records (keep in mind the 1890 census was destroyed). I do not know where he is buried.

John: We knew from our visit to the cemetery that John had died in 1873, at the age of 39, and is buried in the Cunningham plot. I now know that he was married and had two children before his death. In the 1870 census, in Columbus, Wisconsin, he was living with his wife, Elsea T. (Richards) Cunningham, age 27, from New York, and his two children, William R. and Corrinna, aged 8 and 3(7). He was listed in the 1860 census as living with his parents. He must have married before 1865.

Elsea remarried a man named Elisha Lyons, but does not appear to have had more children. After she was widowed the second time, she lived with her sister-in-law, Ellen Cunningham(8). This, incidentally, is how I found John's children. Ellen and Elsea were listed as sisters-in-law in the census of 1900, and I started digging into Elsea's past. After Ellen's death in 1902, Elsea lived with her daughter, who had married Houdley Long in 1887(9).

John and Elsea's son, William, died in 1899 in Watertown, Wisconsin, at the age of 37. His death certificate lists his wife's name (Bertha), and his profession (barber), but I do not know if they had children(10).

John and Elsea's daughter, Corrinna, had one son, Frank Long. Corrinna lived until at least 1940, when the census records her in Columbus, Wisconsin, living alone(11). Frank married a woman named Alice and they had two sons, Roger and Walter, born around 1918 and 1920, respectively(12). The family stilled lived in Columbus as of the 1930 census. Frank, Alice, Roger, and Walter are buried in Hillside Cemetery, the protestant side of the Columbus city cemetery. Frank died in 1968, Alice in 1952, and Roger and Walter both died in 1994.(13). Elsea Lyons is also buried there, next to her second husband, with a death date of 1923.

Maurice Jr.: Maurice is a bit of a puzzle. He is living with his parents in 1860, at the age of 21. In the census of 1870, there is a Maurice F. Cunningham, born in New York, living in Winona Minnesota with his wife, Hannah, aged 25, born in Ireland(14). Since it appears that his brother Richard was living in Winona at this time, it seems likely that this Maurice is the son of Elizabeth and Maurice Sr. After the 1870 census, however, Maurice Jr. disappears from the record. I do not know what happened to Hannah, or if they had any children.

Ellen: Ellen lived with her parents and then her brothers until 1885. At some point after that, she moved in with her brother John's widow, Elsea Lyons, with whom she lived until her death in 1902, when she was 66. She is buried in the Cunningham plot in St. Jerome's cemetery. She did not marry or have children.

Elizabeth: In 1870, when she was 22, Eliza was living with her widowed mother and her siblings in Columbus. By 1880 she has left home and does not appear in subsequent censuses. We know from the research done by my Uncle Mike that she joined the Sisters of Charity and took the religious name Sr. Ann Matilda. I have not found any additional information about her.

Michael: Finding a 19th century Michael Cunningham born in New York is the genealogical equivalent of finding a needle in a haystack. He was living with his family in Columbus in 1860, but is not there in 1870. He returns by 1880, and was probably still there during the 1885 state census. I do not know when or where he died, or where he is buried. He was not married as of 1885, and he is no longer in Columbus, a least, by 1900.

Edward: Edward lived with his widowed mother and several older siblings on the family farm in Columbus until at least 1885, when he would have been 39. He has a headstone in the Cunningham plot at St. Jerome's cemetery with no dates, only the inscription "Father". Next to him is a headstone for "Anna", again with no dates, only the inscription "Mother." Two headstones in the same style identify their daughters, Nellie and Ida Mae. The birth certificate for Ida Mae identifies her mother's maiden name as Anna Kinney(15).

Nellie was born in 1890 in Milwaukee, so Edward must have married sometime between 1885 and 1890. Unfortunately, the 1900 census lists Nellie (aged 10) and Ida Mae (aged 7) as residents of St. Rose's orphanage in Milwaukee(16). I assumed this meant that Edward and Anna had died young, however, orphanages also took in children whose parents were unable to care for them. In 1905, Nellie and Ida Mae are living with their mother, who is working as a housekeeper for two elderly men from England named Barrow(17). In 1910, this household was joined by Mary Kinney, aged 75, from Ireland, who is presumably Anna's mother(18). From the census data, it appears that Ida, at least, continued to live with her mother in Columbus until her mother's death. She was single and never had children. Nellie died in 1931, according to her tombstone, but I was unable to find any information on her after the 1910 census.

Robert: Robert was the youngest child, and also my direct ancestor. Since this post is already long, I'll write a separate one about Robert.

References:
(1) United States Census, 1860
(2) "United States Census, 1870," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MD4R-TDP : accessed 16 August 2015), Richard Cunningham, Minnesota, United States; citing p. 2, family 10, NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 552,218.
(3) "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M2P1-3VC : accessed 16 August 2015), Morris J Cunningham in household of Mary Montgomery, Winona Ward 1, Winona, Minnesota, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 193, sheet 10A, family 216, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,374,742.
(4) "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4D6-TMY : accessed 18 August 2015), Mary J Mcconnell in household of James Mcconnell, Columbus, Columbia, Wisconsin, United States; citing family 109, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
(5) "Minnesota Deaths and Burials, 1835-1990," , FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FD4J-R7V : accessed 16 August 2015), Richard Cunningham in entry for Maurice Cunningham, 29 Jun 1939; citing Minnesota, reference 17432; FHL microfilm 2,243,123.
(6) "Wisconsin, State Census, 1885," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MM9R-LBC : accessed 21 January 2015), William Cunningham, Columbus Town, Columbia, Wisconsin; citing reference 14, State Historical Society, Madison; FHL microfilm 1,032,696.
(7) "United States Census, 1870," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MN9Q-CKY : accessed 17 August 2015), Corinna Cunningham in household of John Cunningham, Wisconsin, United States; citing p. 31, family 256, NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 553,205.
(8) "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MMK7-H6F : accessed 17 August 2015), Ellen Cunningham in household of Elsea T Syons, Columbus city Ward 1-3, Columbia, Wisconsin, United States; citing sheet 10B, family 258, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,241,781.
(9) "Wisconsin, Marriages, 1836-1930," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XRLQ-ZP1 : accessed 17 August 2015), Hoadley Alling Long and Corinna Cunningham, 12 Dec 1887; citing reference 00027; FHL microfilm 1,275,884.
(10) "Wisconsin, Death Records, 1867-1907," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XLFL-RWB : accessed 17 August 2015), Elsa Lyons in entry for William A. Cuningham, 1899; citing Death, Watertown, Jefferson, Wisconsin, Wisconsin State Historical Society, Madison; FHL microfilm 1,310,188.
(11) "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K7JW-C6C : accessed 17 August 2015), Corrinna E Long, Columbus, Columbus City, Columbia, Wisconsin, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 11-4A, sheet 6A, family 148, NARA digital publication T627 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012), roll 4466.
(12) "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MF2Y-MVQ : accessed 18 August 2015), Frank Long, Columbus, Columbia, Wisconsin, United States; citing sheet 2B, family 66, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,821,980.
(13) http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&GSiman=1&GScid=1970130&GSfn=&GSln=Long
(14) "United States Census, 1870," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MD4R-P4Z : accessed 16 August 2015), Maurice Cunningham, Minnesota, United States; citing p. 4, family 20, NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 552,218.
(15) "Wisconsin, Births and Christenings, 1826-1926," database, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XR8Q-VX7 : accessed 18 August 2015), Ida Mae A. Cunningham, 23 Jul 1893; citing Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, reference item 3 p 371; FHL microfilm 1,305,114.
(16) "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MMKL-2M2 : accessed 18 August 2015), Nellie Cunningham in household of Mary A Melody, Milwaukee city Ward 18, Precinct 5, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States; citing sheet 17B, family 341, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,241,805.
(17) "Wisconsin, State Census, 1905," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MMSK-FGF : accessed 18 August 2015), Ida Cunningham in household of James Barrow, Columbus town, Columbia, Wisconsin; citing p. 160, line 67, State Historical Society, Madison; FHL microfilm 1,020,443.
(18) "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MPK6-FJM : accessed 18 August 2015), Ida Cunningham in household of Thomas Barrows, Columbus Ward 2, Columbia, Wisconsin, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 12, sheet 3A, family 56, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,375,718.

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Rooneys of Columbus

The Rooney farm, as seen today

This isn't (just) a corn field. This was once the homestead of John Joseph and Elizabeth Kelly Rooney, my great-great-great-grandparents.

They were born and married in County Moneghan, Ireland, and arrived in the United States on one of the famine ships in 1848. Their eldest son, Patrick, was born on the voyage. They originally settled in New York, but by 1860, they, like the Cunninghams, had moved to Columbus, Wisconsin. Their farm was northeast of town (unlike the Cunninghams, who lived southwest of town), so they were in a different county, Dodge.

Map from 1873 showing the Rooney homestead in Dodge County, Wisconsin.

They had ten children. Their eldest daughter, Elizabeth Theresa Rooney, married the Cunningham's youngest son, Robert, and they became my great-great-grandparents.

While the Cunninghams farmed a full section of land, the Rooneys had only a quarter section. This must have made it difficult for them to get by, and eventually the whole family moved west to Minnesota. Most of the family, like my great-great-grandparents, moved to Minneapolis. however, the youngest Rooney son, Aloysius, staked a land claim in western Minnesota, near the town of Osakis, and his parents went with him. They died there in 1906 and are buried less than an hour from where I currently live.

The Rooney resting place in Osakis, Minnesota

Cunninghams of Columbus, Part 3

The original St. Jerome's church in Columbus, Wisconsin. Note that the bell-tower is bricked up

Columbus during the time of the Cunninghams

The cemetery where the Cunninghams are buried is just a block from the original St. Jerome's church. The modern church is on the edge of town; they expanded and built a school, so they needed more room. The original church still stands, although it's been taken over by a protestant group. It's a lovely old church with beautiful stain-glassed windows. The church was built after the death of Maurice Cunningham, but would have been the church that the other family members attended.

Window of the original St. Jerome's church

The original bell from the church was removed from the old bell tower and is now on display in front of the new church and school on the edge of town.

Original bell from the church of St. Jerome. Cast in 1888.

Columbus itself is a charming, well-preserved town, with a beautiful 19th century downtown and many old houses. Driving through, it was easy to imagine our ancestors living there.

After visiting the cemetery and church, we went to see the Cunningham farm. The land itself is just a corn field, but there is a farm house in the same area as the original Cunningham farm. My mother spoke with the owner. He believes the current house dates to around 1900. There's no record of the Cunningham family living on the farm after 1885, therefore, the house that is there now is probably not part of the Cunningham family history.

The house currently sitting on the Cunningham homestead. Probably post-dates the Cunningham family.

A view of out-buildings and the fields beyond.

Saturday, August 15, 2015

Cunninghams of Columbus, Part 2

The Cunningham Plot in St. Jerome's cemetery, Columbus, Wisconsin

Maurice's tombstone reads "In Memory of Maurice Cunningham, Died March 18, 1867, Aged 58 Years. Native of Wallenstown, Ireland." Beneath there is a prayer or text, but I cannot read it.

Maurice Cunningham's Tombstone

Two things are significant about this tombstone: 1) his home town is new information. Other than knowing that he sailed from Cork, we had no idea where he came from; and 2) his age at death suggests he was born in 1809 or 1808. His census records and other documents put his birth year anywhere from 1807 to 1811, so this helpfully narrows it down.

A quick Google search will show that there's no such place as Wallenstown, Ireland. The mystery of his home town will be its own post, but here's a quick spoiler: my best guess is that he was from Wallingstown, an eastern suburb of Cork. The Irish government recently published many of their parish records on-line, but so far I have not been able to find Maurice or Elizabeth in any records from that parish. I will keep looking.

Ellen, Maurice's daughter, has a small stone marking her actual grave, and also her name and dates carved into the back of Maurice's tombstone. It reads "Ellen Cunningham, October 4, 1836, June 29, 1902" (I need my mother to confirm these. She has the notes were took on the inscriptions while we were in the cemetery.)

Ellen Cunningham's dates, on the back of Maurice's monument

John Cunningham, Maurice Cunningham's son, had a small stone inscribed "John Cunningham, 1834-1873". John had disappeared from the family records earlier (he is not with the family in the 1870 census), but we now know he died relatively young.

John Cunningham's tombstone, partially affected by the uprooted tree

Also in the Cunningham plot are tombstones for "Edward, Father", "Anna, Mother", "Ida, 23 July 1893 - 23 March 1973" and "Nellie, 7 Sept 1890 - 5 March 1931". Maurice and Elizabeth Cunningham had a son named Edward. He appears to have lived on the farm with his brothers and sister until at least 1885, when he would have been in his early 40s. If he then married and had children, the dates of birth for Ida and Nellie would fit. This, too, is new information, since I had no record of children for any of the Cunningham siblings except my own great-great-grandfather, Robert. So far, I have not found any information about this family, but the graves give me some place to look. [Update: I found Nellie Cunningham and Ida Mae Cummings (sp), ages 10 and 7, living in an orphanage in Milwaukee in 1900. How sad.]

Tombstone for Edward (presumably Edward Cunningham, son of Maurice)

What really struck me about the cemetery, however, are the graves that were not there. Where is Maurice's wife Elizabeth? Where are their other children, Michael and William, who lived on the farm until Elizabeth's death? Did they move away later in life and were buried elsewhere? Or were they buried in the same plot but with graves unmarked? Unfortunately, document searches are not very effective in solving this mystery. The name Cunningham is extremely common, and with such common Christian names, as well, it because very difficult to track the fate of one William Cunningham or Elizabeth Cunningham out of the thousands who died around the country during this period.

Cunninghams of Columbus, Wisconsin, Part 1

I haven't posted about the genealogy of my mother's family, but during a recent family trip to the Wisconsin Dells, we stopped in the town of Columbus, where Maurice Cunningham and Elizabeth Cunningham, my 3xgreat-grandparents, settled with their family in the 1850s. We got a lot from the trip, so I'm going to write several blog posts. Here's the first one, an overview of what we knew about the Cunninghams before the trip to Columbus, based on the documentary evidence. You can find the other posts here: Part 2 (the cemetery), Part 3 (the church and farm), Part 4 (our current state of knowledge) and related posts on Robert Steven Cunningham, the Rooney farm and Wallenstown, Ireland.)

An Overview of the Cunninghams of Columbus

Maurice and Elizabeth Cunningham arrived in the United States in 1828. My uncle Mike found them on the manifest of the British ship Trio, sailing from Cork, and arriving in New York on October 2. On the manifest they are listed as Maurice and Betsy Cunningham, aged 21 and 18, with Maurice's profession listed as "carpenter"(1).

Maurice and Elizabeth and numbers 11 and 12 on this manifest.
Click for larger size.

I could not find the family in the 1830 or 1840 censuses. There are multiple Cunninghams living in New York, and it's not at all clear which one is the correct one, if any. At the time, the census only listed the name of the head of household and the number of free or enslaved people living in the household. If Maurice and Elizabeth were boarders or living with an employer, they would not be counted by name in the census. We do know, however, that during this time Maurice served as head gardener for Robert Livingston Pell, of Pelham estate in Ulster County, New York. This was a prestigious position, as the Pells owned a very extensive estate and were known for their agricultural innovations. Today, the estate is home to a seminary and retreat center owned by the Redemptionist Fathers. This YouTube video shows the landscape, although the buildings all post-date Maurice and Robert Pell. In 1843, Pell (with specific mention of Maurice) won a premium at the Fair of the American Institute, and was considered a source of "superior specimens" of winter apples and culinary vegetables(2).

Maurice and Elizabeth were recorded in the 1850 census in Esopus, Ulster, New York, along with eight children, ranging in age from twenty to eight(3). By the 1860 census, they had moved to Columbus, Wisconsin, and they were recorded there with nine children (the additional child being my great-great-grandfather, Robert Steven Cunningham)(4). Although the birth-years, birth-orders, and even country of birth tended to change from census to census, the children of Maurice and Elizabeth were, I believe, all born in New York, and their birth years are, to the best of my knowledge:
Richard - 1830
William - 1831
John - 1834
Maurice W. - 1834
Ellen - 1836
Elizabeth (Eliza) - 1838
Michael - 1840
Edward - 1842
Robert - 1850

Maurice and Elizabeth staked a land claim to the southwest of the town of Columbus, Wisconsin. An 1873 plat map of the county shows the farm marked M. Cunningham, although Maurice himself had died in 1867. Later maps show the land claimed by William Cunningham, the second-oldest son.

The 1873 map showing the Cunningham farm

Maurice died in 1867 and was buried temporarily in the churchyard of St. Jerome's in Columbus. The next year, he became the first person laid to rest in St. Jerome's new cemetery(5).

Elizabeth continued to live in Columbus until at least 1880. In the 1870 census, she is listed as head of household on the farm, living with her children William, Ellen, Edward, Eliza, and Robert(6). I don't know where the other children went. By 1880, she is living on the farm with William, Edward, Ellen, and Michael(7). Robert had married by that time, and Eliza had joined a religious order.

In the Wisconsin state census of 1885(8), William is head of household with 3 males and 1 female, presumably William, Edward, Michael, and Ellen, since all four household members were born in the United States. Probably Elizabeth had died by then (unless she moved to another child's home), but her name is not found in St. Jerome's cemetery.

There's no record of the Cunningham family living on the farm after 1885. Unfortunately, the 1890 census for Wisconsin was destroyed in a fire. By the 1900 census, there are no Cunninghams in Columbia county except for Ellen, who is living with her sister-in-law, Elsea Lyons(9). She died before 1910. There are no Cunninghams in Columbus, Wisconsin, in the 1910 census.

[Update: following up on the Elsea Lyons, with whom Ellen Cunningham was living in 1900, I found more of Maurice's grandchildren. Elsea T. Richards, born April 12, 1843 in Concord, New York, married John Cunningham and had two children, William Cunningham (who died in 1899) and Corinna Cunningham (married to Hoadley Long). After John's death, Elsea married Elisha Lyons. I was able to find the John Cunningham family in the 1870 census, living in Columbus. He was a carpenter with $600 in real estate.]

References:
(1) Ship's manifest of the Port of New York.
(2) 1843 Documents of the Senate of the State of New York, Volume 3, pp. 74, 75, and 47.
(3) "United States Census, 1850," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MZMM-8G8 : accessed 18 January 2015), Maurice Cunningham, Esopus, Ulster, New York, United States; citing family 469, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
(4) "United States Census, 1860," , FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MWMP-MP2 : accessed 15 August 2015), Morris Cunningham, Columbus, Columbia, Wisconsin, United States; from "1860 U.S. Federal Census - Population," database, Fold3.com(http://www.fold3.com : n.d.); citing p. 133, household ID 988, NARA microfilm publication M653 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 805,401.
(5) 1880 The History of Columbia County, Wisconsin, p.692
(6) United States Census, 1870," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MN97-D14 : accessed 21 January 2015), Eliza Cunningham, Wisconsin, United States; citing p. 17, family 118, NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 553,205.
(7) "United States Census, 1880," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MN4H-FFN : accessed 21 January 2015), E Cunningham, Columbus, Columbia, Wisconsin, United States; citing enumeration district 19, sheet 55A, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 1420; FHL microfilm 1,255,420.
(8) "Wisconsin, State Census, 1885," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MM9R-LBC : accessed 21 January 2015), William Cunningham, Columbus Town, Columbia, Wisconsin; citing reference 14, State Historical Society, Madison; FHL microfilm 1,032,696.
(9) "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MMK7-H6F : accessed 15 August 2015), Ellen Cunningham in household of Elsea T Syons, Columbus city Ward 1-3, Columbia, Wisconsin, United States; citing sheet 10B, family 258, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,241,781.