Decades are Helpful, but They Do Contain Years

Census records gave me information that was fairly accurate, but there is a ten year gap between each one. City Directories were a precursor to telephone books, and were issued each year. Alphabetical listings included names, professions and addresses. Listings were by heads of household, or those that were employed, as well as widows. Actual directories do exist, but both the Maryland Historical Society (http://www.mdhs.org/) and the Maryland Room of the Pratt Library (http://www.prattlibrary.org/locations/maryland/index.aspx?mark=Maryland+Room) have microfilm copies of these that are fairly easy to view and print out. After looking at printouts of successive years, I could see when a family moved, when professions changed, find a soft confirmation of dates of death, see how close by relatives lived, and other factors that led me to conclusions that might be confirmed by more primary sources.

My Development of the Irish Matriarch

The creation of this blog was based on items that I had on hand, and the exploration of various themes that they suggested to me. I began with a collection of photographs I had inherited from my mother, some of which had a little information scribbled on the back, while others did not. The information may have included a name, address or the nature of that person's relationship to someone in the family. This was the basis of my exploration, and the story developed through different discoveries I made along the way.

The first and most valuable information was found in the U. S. Census records, available for free through local libraries. These censuses were taken every ten years, and each has information that is particular to that decade, as different questions are asked, and answered. By going to http://www.prattlibrary.org/, I could click on the "find answers" tab and follow the prompts that would allow me to visit http://www.heritagequestonline.com/hqoweb/library/do/index. With the basic information I had from my pictures, I could type in the names of the people I was researching. This was not always easy, as typographical errors by me, the census taker or the transcriptionist could result in a " no one found" response by the site. Sometimes I had to look at similarly spelled last names or the names of other family members in order to find the person I was searching for. An example of this would be the 1870 Census. The Burgans that I was looking for were listed by the census taker as "Bergen". I knew this was true because the ages and names of the family members matched up to other records I had come across in other censuses. There were also times when the address or neighbors that I knew of would lead me to a record that would have otherwise been undecipherable. An important part of analyzing the different censuses was seeing what information they provided that other ones did not, such as addresses, how many years married, and other questions. The site was very helpful, and is available to anyone who has a Pratt Library card and internet access.

A second excellent site to visit was http://www.ancestry.com/. This is also available at libraries in Baltimore City and County, but you must go into the library itself to use it. There are many different databases linked to this site, and information is easily available there. Slight spelling variations are allowed , and the results are listed by how close they are to the spelling you have input. On Ancestry you can look up anyone, while the Heritage Quest site tends to list more by the heads of family. Some information can be very easily found on one web site, and very difficult on the other. For example, the 1850 census is available through Ancestry. A small detail like this can open up a whole new field of research possibilities. For example, this was the first census to include children's names, and a new generation of ancestors was discovered as a result.

Resting in Her Shade

It is said that one generation plants a tree, and the next one rests in its shade. Agnes Bettie Kenney Burgan, the Irish Matriarch, bought and maintained a home for many years. Four generations would find rest there, but the street that was referred to as a country road by at least one resident became crowded, and a bit seedy. What was once a respite from city life became part of it, and Vi Burgan Sullivan left for a quieter part of town with her husband, aged Aunt Annie, and her two children in 1952. The old "homestead in Homestead" is gone now, replaced by a community garden owned by the city. Just west of that neighborhood, a few houses similar to the duplex they lived in can still be seen. The Patterson Family Cemetery is just around the corner from there, albeit neglected, and the library and firehouse are closed. The family church building is being used by another denomination, and Clifton Park is still a pretty busy place.

I wish that I could have sat on that porch with my Mom, Margaret Mary Sullivan, and Granddad that day. But then, that wouldn't work, would it?

Vi Gets Hitched

After a few years of persistence, Vi Burgan and William C. Sullivan were finally married on December 31, 1936. The ceremony was performed by Bishop Toolen at St. Edward's Catholic Church in West Baltimore.

Brunch was held at the family home, and the young couple left by train to honeymoon in Atlantic City and New York. Vi had her man, handsome and well dressed; he must have reminded her of the father she admired so, and had lost nine years earlier. After their honeymoon, they returned to Homestead to begin a family of their own. Some years earlier, Madison Street had become Montpelier Street, as the annexation of Homestead into Baltimore City had caused the dilemma of two streets with the same name. In proper historical fashion, James Madison's home, Montpelier, made the most sense if a change had to be made, and a renumbering changed the home address to 1443 Montpelier Street.

A Distant Admiration

The Irish Matriarch's youngest, William Edward, continued his marble cutting career wherever it took him. I am trying to figure out who he talked into photographing him while on the job in a cemetery, but here he is. When this blog began, all I knew was that he had worked for the Baltimore firm Hilgartner & Sons (http://www.hilgartner.com/), but I have learned that he traveled to jobs more than I knew. Despite his terrible loss in New Orleans, William supported his family through hard work in other places as well. The Draft Registration of 1918 shows him as working at the Naval Academy in Annapolis. I cannot quite read the name of the firm that employed him there, but it wasn't Hilgartner (thanks to Melanie, my classmate, for sending this to me via http://www.ancestry.com/. His interests seemed to include photography and dapper clothing throughout his lifetime.

As his older brother did to a degree, he left the daily care for his daughter Vi to his mother Agnes and his sister Annie Jane. Nonetheless, his daughter thought of him very fondly, and just might have looked for a similar guy that she could call her own.

William would die in 1927, just three years after his mother. His older brother would survive him by ten years, and Annie Jane, eight years his senior, would live for 29 years more.

A Special Life

Vi Burgan is pictured here in her early teens. Her father loved amateur photography, and the family continued to have professional portraits, such as this one, taken as well. Vi was beautiful , sociable and smart, did well in school, and was active in her church and denomination throughout her life. Her Mom passed away when she was five, and her Dad was absent quite often, going to where the work was. Agnes and Aunt Annie raised her, for the most part, but she always displayed an independent spirit. After going to local grammar schools, she attended Eastern High School, which was located at the time at North Avenue and Broadway. She graduated in 1918, during the time of the Great War. Her training there prepared her for office work, including working in the Catholic Office for the Propagation of the Faith. Among the staff there was Father Toolen, a priest that had taught her catechism

as a young girl. He would later become the Bishop of Mobile, Alabama, and offer the sacraments to Vi and her daughter in unique circumstances.

The Irish Matriarch must have taken special pride in Vi. The three granddaughters that she helped to raise ended up in variant circumstances. Maria would die in 1917, and Carrie seems to have married and moved away. Vi would care for Grandmom and Aunt Annie until their death. She delayed her own marriage until 1936, which she explained away with The Depression. I wonder if her husband to be was still a wild rover, and it took her that long to settle him down, at least a little.

Faithful, and a Little Different

Annie Jane was the oldest surviving child of The Irish Matriarch, born in 1867. She lived with her Mom, or right next door, for her whole life. She became a widow after 26 years of marriage, and stayed with her Mom, and then her niece Vi for the rest of her life. This faithfulness to her family must have been a strength to others through the years.

There was another side to her, some parts which are known by me, while others are inferred or assumed. My earliest picture of her, as a child in her mothers' arms, show her as pretty, but a little distant. When time came to marry, she chose a neighbor that was twenty years her senior. Never having children of her own, she helped raise three nieces. In the 1930 census, she might be marked as "insane" by the census taker; it appears that it could be an errant mark on the page. At the end of her life, she joined her niece Vi's family when they sold the "Homestead" and moved to the Woodbourne development in 1952. At that point, she was a recluse, staying in her room constantly. She lived there until her death in 1956, at the age of 89.

A New Beginning

Is this the greatest picture ever taken, or what?



After the tragedy of 1907, Vi Burgan was ready to begin again. She lived with her grandmother Agnes and Aunt Annie, and Dad stayed there when he could. After a few years in another neighborhood school, she began at School # 50, on Gorsuch Avenue in Homestead. There was no parish school at the time, so Vi joined the other local public school kids in this fourth grade photograph. It would appear that it was taken on a cold day, and children's clothing tells an interesting part of the story. Some are dressed stylishly, while others look like the children who just got off the boat in Locust Point. Vi is dressed like the little lace curtain Irish girl that she was, complete with long hair that had grown back after her bout with typhoid fever a few years earlier. Have you spotted her, front left?
Vi's mini autobiography tells of how The Irish Matriarch and Aunt Annie had lunch ready for her each day, and then would go take their nap afterwards. This was a great time for her to sneak to the public library for a new book. She was allowed to borrow one book at a time, and Vi read voraciously. On Saturdays, she would pretend to be one of the kids that were too young to get a library card, and listen to the local librarian read to a gathering of younger kids; at least until she got caught!

Love and Death

The Irish Matriarch had to deal with death constantly. In modern days we say that no parent should have to bury their children, but I wonder if we are the first generation that has the audacity to assert this. How did she deal with it all?

• Of the five children she gave birth to, three lived to adulthood.
• She buried her husband 18 days before her youngest son's wedding.
• Two daughters-in-law died, leaving her to raise three granddaughters.
• Of the fourteen grandchildren that I know of, eight lived to adulthood. Four died as infants or young children, while two died in their teen years.

Each of these losses must have brought her pain, but she persevered through it all. Agnes Burgan lived with her children and grandchildren until death came in 1924.

Tragedy

Just a few months after arriving in New Orleans, following a Fourth of July celebration that Vi wouldn't forget, she became ill, and the local doctor told her parents that the Charity Hospital would be the best place for her. A few weeks later, her mother came down with the same disease, and it would be her that was taken, rather than Vi. After accompanying her body to Baltimore, Dad would return to visit his daughter in the hospital before continuing to Shreveport, where more work waited for him. Vi spent lonely days in the hospital, but the Sisters of Charity that worked there were kind to her. Once she had recovered, one of the nuns made the long trip with Vi to Baltimore, around Christmastime. She was met at the train station by Aunt Annie, who brought an especially delicious milk drink for Vi, to welcome her home. It was called eggnog.

The Big Move

Mary Viola, or "Vi", would enjoy a close relationship with her Grandmother, the Irish Matriarch. She would move in with her in 1905, after her parents' experiment with city living had taken its course. Dad was a successful marble cutter and setter for Hilgartner and Sons, making 25.00 a week at the time, and life was good. An opportunity came for even greater income, and William E. decided to move his wife, Mary Catherine, and daughter Vi to New Orleans to take advantage of a special opportunity. His company paid all travel expenses, and he received a raise to 30.00 for relocating, which seemed like a lot of money to a little girl.

Vi left a bit of an autobiography for us. It shares her impressions of a gracious train trip down south, viewing the cotton and peach fields along the way. They found a home quickly when they arrived, and spent time getting to know the city, including the parks and local Catholic Church. Vi also met a Creole friend at the Fourth of July Celebration, and Dad took a photo of them together. Doesn't she look thrilled?

Ease and Comfort at Home

When it came to establishing suburban communities, it is easy to forget that there were folks coming to them from both directions. For many, the suburbs was a place to escape from the crime and congestion of a dirty city. For others, it was a way to maintain some semblance of country life, even when owning a family farm was no longer possible. Homestead was an example of a neighborhood that country folk, like the Burgans, could continue a rural lifestyle, albeit closer in and on a smaller scale.

When the Kenney family arrived from Ireland in the 1850's, they joined a farming population that made up 64 percent of America's labor force. By the turn of the century, farmers and their families only accounted for 30 percent

(see http://www.nytimes.com/1988/07/20/us/farm-population-lowest-since-1850-s.html) . Many began a new life in the city that never quite felt like home, and suburbs were a way to return to country living to some measure.

The Burgans and Bambergers shared an A-frame wood-built duplex with grass, flowers, bushes and a nice fence, all around. During the early years of their life in Homestead, The Irish Matriarch had her mom over for a visit on the front porch, and snuggled with granddaughter Vi in the back yard. These pictures show how a bit of gracious living was possible in suburbia in those early days.

Lamplighter and Lover Boy

"Nice work, if you can get it", one man said to me. "Regular work, a city job, everybody needs you ", said another. John J. Jr. always seemed to have the simpler jobs ......can maker, clerk, driver; then came the ultimate "do-a-little, feel important" job, that of a lamplighter. Yes, you light the gas lamps in the evening, and put them out in the morning; but what an enterprising young man couldn't get done in the wee hours of the night. John J. Jr., Agnes'

middle child, dinked around with his Dad a good bit, took up some little jobs, but left the career track to his ambitious younger brother. After all, there was love to be made,

and John was especially good at it. He married Annie A. Donnelly in 1894, and produced two daughters with her, Marie and Carrie, in two years. A third child was born that only lasted a few hours, and Annie herself passed away a short time later. Not to be discouraged, John Jr. left the raising of Marie and Carrie to the women-folk, namely The Irish Matriarch and his barren sister, Annie Jane. Wedding bells rang again for him in 1901 and, doing what he did best, he and the former Catherine Pauline Krause produced eight more children in fourteen years, good Catholics that they were.

A few years back, I met one their grandchildren who had been to their very modest Mathews Street home, and he remembered them as "one of the poorest families I ever met". Of John Jr.'s eleven children, two infants would die, and two teens lost their lives unexpectedly, but seven led full lives. I'm thinking that the lamplighter and the Mrs. had their fun along the way.......just look at their contentment in the picture from the end of his life. He died in 1937, a rich man in the ways that count, and is buried in Parkwood Cemetery.

She Married Him, and the Haircut

William Edward Burgan married his beloved, Mary Catherine O'Brien, on April 24, 1900. I hear that his haircut is called a pompadour, and he must have been considered quite stylish on his wedding day. An earlier blog shows him in the straw hat of a later era, so I am thinking that he believed in the adage, "every girl's crazy

'bout a sharp dressed man".

William was the whole package: young, handsome, had a little money, and a lot of ambition. The Irish Matriarch must have been thrilled to know that her youngest was marrying a nice Irish Catholic girl. The ceremony was held at St. Bernard's, just as it should have been. They moved into a small house just a few blocks away, and established their own home; and so began the struggles that young families could face a century ago.

New Neighbors, New Parish Home

Agnes Bettie Kenney brought her Catholic faith with her when she arrived in the 1850's , and raised her children in the tradition as well. Early records show that The Irish Matriarch was a parishioner at St. John the Evangelist, at Valley and Eager Streets, in 1870. The family move to Homestead would be at a time when a new parish was being established, just a few blocks from their home. According to diocesan records, St. Bernard's Catholic Church began in 1891 ( see http://www.archbalt.org/parishes/closed-parishes.cfm ), and local families would attend there, regardless of their heritage. Agnes' children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren would receive the sacraments there. Her grandaughter would attend the early mass and attend Sunday School there, and had the privilege of being the May Queen in 1905.

As family members moved to points further north, St. Bernard's was not the busy parish it had once been. The building is still being used, by another denomination.

Wonder & Treasure

The Irish Matriarch would spend most of her life caring for others, and a special joy for her was the arrival of her third grandaughter, Mary Viola, in 1902. She played a part in naming her, as a girl born in Galway, Ireland had a little trouble pronouncing "Delores", a middle name that Mary's mom preferred. So Mary Viola, or "Vi", it would be. Grandmom and Grandaughter formed a special bond which would be strengthened when they became next door neighbors. Family members shared both sides of a duplex, and three generations enjoyed each other's company on a daily basis. The family shared their spiritual lives as well.

The Love of His Life

Mary Catherine O'Brien was born in Baltimore on December 15, 1878. Her father was a bridgebuilder for the B & O Railroad, and she was a boarder at Institute of Notre Dame, located at 901 Aisquith Street. She and William were married on April 24, 1900. They established a home a few blocks from the Irish Matriarch, on Gorsuch Avenue. One of her three babies would survive to adulthood. Mary Viola was born on March 7, 1902, at their home. After a few years, their family moved into the city, on Montford Avenue, but they missed "country" living, and returned to Homestead to live with the Irish Matriarch. Her husband had passed away by then, and her other children lived elsewhere, so William, Mary Catherine and Mary Viola moved into 426 Madison Street. This was especially good for Viola, as her grandmom was raising two cousins of hers, Maria and Carrie.

Time to Hear About the Boys

Agnes Bettie Kenney Burgan had a total of five children, but only three survived to become adults. This is known because it was a question on Census Records. A scribbled note tells me one of them was named Harry, who died as a young boy. He is buried in an unmarked grave at Baltimore Cemetery, with some other relatives. The Irish Matriarch raised Annie Jane, John Jr. and William E. to adulthood, and each was particularly good at something.

William was born on June 4, 1875. The only record I have of his early life is a gracious Christmas card he gave to his parents, at the age of ten. It sounds as if he was properly religious, which undoubtedly pleased his Mom. Baltimore's City Directory of 1895 includes him , living at home, and earning his living as a stonecutter.
A few years earlier, another stonecutter was listed as living with the Burgans at 426 Madison Street. He was a William Bamberger, most likely a brother to Annie Jane's husband, Charles. Perhaps this is where William E. got the idea for entering the marble cutting trade.

William E.'s older brother, John Jr., followed his Dad into the grocery business. John Sr. ran a store in Homestead, and his oldest son is listed as his clerk by 1885. After that, John Jr. had a series of jobs, including expressman (see http://rmhh.co.uk/occup/e.html), canmaker, driver, and lamplighter. However, what he did best was yet to come.

Love and Marriage

It would appear that Annie Jane grew up a bit, and one of those Bamberger Brothers could not resist her feminine charms. Despite being twenty years her senior, Charles walked up the center aisle with his beloved in 1887. They moved in next door to the Irish Matriarch, at 424 Madison Street, which I am sure thrilled him beyond all measure. They never did have children, but their marriage lasted until his death in 1913. Annie would be reunited with him at Holy Redeemer Cemetery some 43 years later.

Raising Teens in the Victorian Age

Baltimore's City Directory lists the John J. Burgan family as living in Homestead in 1885. The address is vague, but would continue to be a bit more specific until they are firmly listed as living at 426 Madison Avenue in 1890. Dad was listed as a grocer and hostler in various years.

In 1885, The Irish Matriarch had three children in her home, ages 10, 15 and 18. They had moved to a village that had its own churches, schools, grocers, doctors, space for a future library and firehouse, and open space which became Clifton Park just a few years later (http://www.friendsofcliftonpark.org/History%20of%20the%20Park.htm). The family preoccupation with being photographed did continue, and Annie Jane is pictured here, being her pious self. I suspect that this studio pose was taken around the time of the family move.

Their new neighborhood had a family that affected the Burgans in notable ways. These were the Bambergers, who had been in Baltimore for 75 years, and were listed as Homestead residents by 1870. Several of them worked at the Bamberger Brothers firm on nearby York road. Their occupations at the time are listed as wheelwrights, coach builders and painters, and blacksmiths. This rugged bunch lived in homes right around the Burgan place, and all this intimacy led to the inevitable.

Where City and County Met

How in the world could someone have thought of Homestead as a place for country living? If one drives through the neighborhood today, it is hard to imagine that it was considered a respite from city life at any time. Of course, that depends on whether you are coming or going.

The Burgan family had their own 500 acres or so in Baltimore County for around 150 years, but lands that were farmed by one generation were sold by another. The Irish Matriarch and her family had moved into Baltimore City by 1870, but returned to a form of country living when Homestead was ready for them. Houses close to Harford Road were more traditional brick row houses, but a few blocks further northwest were wood frame homes with a little grass around them. The picture above shows the Irish Matriarch and her daughter Annie Jane on the front porch of 426 Madison Street. The back of the picture has 1892 and 1900 written on it. I wonder who the photographer was?

New construction of houses in Baltimore City was not allowed to be wood-framed, but above North Avenue was a different story. The Burgan duplex was thought of as a step up from the nearby rowhouses, and a good place for the lace curtain Irish side of my family to be proud of. The Irish Matriarch paid a mere $400.00 for the place, and it had running water but no indoor plumbing or central heat, but rather three wooden stoves and an oil heater. Four generations of Burgans would live here before the flight further north in 1952. Their next door neighbors were the Bambergers, a family whose men were employed as wheelwrights, coach painters and a marble cutter, of all things.

Homestead, in Homestead?

Have you ever noticed how developments are plopped right in the middle of perfectly good lands that have served seemingly grander purposes up until recently? This map tells us that this is not a new phenomenon. Northeast Baltimore was still in the county, and was a place of estates for quite a while. Montebello, the elegant mansion of John W. Garrett, was just northeast of Homestead, and and other neighbors included the Gilman, Abbott, Kelso and Patterson families, a virtual "who's who" of Baltimore. Another major landowner was the Gorsuch family, and they got the bright idea of getting into the real estate development business. Robert Gorsuch Jr. inherited land in 1828, and decided to form a syndicate in order to develop Baltimore's first planned suburb. Homestead was begun in 1851 in the area bordering Harford Road, adjacent to land owned by Johns Hopkins, originally planned to be the location of JHU. What did these fine gentlemen think of all this? I am confident it was, "there goes the neighborhood".

Perhaps we should think of Mr. Gorsuch as a visionary of sorts. He laid out the streets quite early, but no one wanted to build there, as the transportation system wasn't ready. Nonetheless, Homestead was modeled as a grand place to enjoy noble country living, albeit a bit more snugly than in the countryside. Homestead boasted about its fine neighbors, and named most of the streets after presidents, including one named Madison Street, home of the Bamberger family......oh, and another named Gorsuch Avenue. Imagine that!

This is so exciting!

• Well, despite my natural fears, I actually ordered a scanner on Amazon, received it, installed it, and scanned something....and it worked, only upside down. After pushing a few buttons, this scan of an old tin type picture was in my files, and here it is. The Irish Matriarch must have been a lady that was proud of her children, liked to dress them up, show them off and pay a photographer real money to record the moment. I just love how she is showing affection to the children for all the world to see. It appears to be taken in front of a decorative screen of some sort. There is no date on the picture, but I am thinking that it must be from circa 1890. Here she is with her three children:

• Annie Jane, born in 1867


• John J. Jr., born in 1870


• William Edward, born in 1875

I am not sure where John Sr. was, but these four look pretty dapper. Tintypes were easily made, quick to develop, and pretty durable. This one fell out of a scrap book I inherited a few years back.

I was interested in learning something about the hats that the boys wore. They are bowlers, and according to one web site (http://www.ehow.com/about_5037692_bowler-hat-history.html) they were common among men of various classes.

Reading the Final Chapter of the Book, Just to See How it Ends

Has a cemetery marker ever told so much of the story? I reflected on this while visiting the Irish Matriarch's final resting place. I was there to remember my Mom, the most recent to join Agnes Bettie Kenney Burgan on the old sod, and took a few pictures to help tell the story.

Holy Redeemer is a cemetery that is owned by the Redemptorists, an organization that ministers to ethnic Catholics through its Priests and Brothers. Some web sites list the cemetery as beginning in 1880. The land was marked as being owned by Thomas Burgan, Agnes' father in law, on the Hopkins Map of 1877. How it moved to the Church's hands is a mystery to me. However, the Burgans would not be off the land for very long. John J. Burgan, the Irish Matriarch's husband, died on August 6, 1900. The very next day, Agnes signed a document to purchase lot # 17B, Section G, and paid $78.00 for the 10' by 18' plot. The certificate that I have a copy of notes that those buried there had to be in good standing with the Catholic Church.

Our family's oral history asserts that Agnes' youngest child, William Edward Burgan, carved the marker himself. An important part of the marker is the Celtic Cross found on top. Agnes had come to America almost 50 years earlier, and had married into a well established Episcopal landowning family. This did not keep her from raising her children in the Catholic faith, and her Irish roots were reflected in the monument. During her lifetime, other family members would be buried in the Burgan plot, including her son-in-law, daughter-in-law and grandaughter. After her death in 1924, 2 of her 3 children would be buried there, as well as another grandaughter (and husband) and great grandaughter. Each were Catholic, and most of them were proudly Irish.

A Different Perspective, 20 Years Later

The Hopkins Map of 1877 shows some changes. Thomas Burgan had land further north by then, at the modern day corner of Belair Road and Moravia Road. His previous land was now clearly marked as Laurel Cemetery. I do not know if the Irish Matriarch ever lived on this land with her husband, John J. , and his parents, but by 1870 they are marked on U.S. Census records as living in Baltimore's 7th Ward with two of their 3 existing children. This ward was in the Northeast section of the city, near St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church. Their youngest son's very fuzzy birth certificate says that his dad was originally from Belair Road, which helps to firm up the link between the Burgan generations.

Gotta Love the Old Maps

I have really enjoyed the searching of old maps. There is something exciting about seeing "your" name on a map from 150 years ago. It's one of those, " Oh, that's how I got here" moments. There is a good collection of maps on the Library of Congress Web site, http://memory.loc.gov/ . Included in their online collection is the J.C. Sidney Map of the City and County of Baltimore, Maryland, published in 1857. The Irish Matriarch was a teen at the time, but her future father in law, Thomas Burgan, owned a plot of land just northeast of the city limits. The 1860 census shows that her family lived in the same district of Baltimore County. I wonder how they met. Both the Burgan and Kenney family were farmers, so perhaps the neighbor's cute little Irish girl struck someone's fancy at a church dance, or at the local general store.

This land was eventually sold by Thomas to a group of investors that formed Baltimore's first private Black burial ground, known as Laurel Cemetery.

The Irish Catholic Parish, 10th Ward

As we learned about in class this week, Baltimore offered a spiritual home to many that were not able to worship freely in their native land. People of various faiths and denominations found fellowship here, and worshipped at churches that were cultural and social centers as well. An early example is St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church, at Valley and Eager Streets in East Baltimore.

According to the web site for the Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore (http://www.archbalt.org/), St. John's was established in 1853, which is right around the time that the Irish Matriarch arrived. It was located close to Harford Road, and was accessible to those Irish that settled both in the city and surrounding farmlands. From what I understand at the present, it would appear that the church was about 3 miles from the Burgan home. The building still stands today, but is no longer used. The parish itself closed in 1966, but its records are still available at St. Mary's Seminary, on Roland Avenue.

An organization exists to the present that remembers the Irish parish, and the people it served. It is called St. John's Old Tenth Ward, Inc. Their literature explains that the parish, in its infancy, was too poor to pay someone to build a church for them, so they built it themselves. From humble beginnings, the parish developed into a congregation with over 10,000 members.

I visited the Seminary's research library a while back, and spent some time going through the sacramental records that they maintain on microfilm. I was amazed to find that Agnes and her husband, John J., baptized at least one of their children there. John J. Jr. was born on January 25, 1870, and appears in their baptismal records with his parents and godparents.

It Seems That She Married Well

Among my inherited pictures is this one, of John J. Burgan. He was one of the Gardenville Burgans that grew up on the 500 acres of land owned by his ancestor, Thomas Burgan. Various searches I have done show that the land was in Burgan hands since 1740 or so. John J. was born on Christmas Eve, 1837, and appeared in the 1850 U.S. Census with his father, mother and several siblings. Records show that the Burgans were members of the Episcopal Church.

John J. Burgan was listed in the Baltimore Sun as marrying twice; once to Mary Alice Berenger, on 10/8/1860 (posted 10/18/60), and then to Agnes Kenney, the Irish Matriarch, on 6/04/1863 (posted 6/12/63). I hope that additional research will confirm that these John J.'s are one and the same. This raises a few questions:

• Did Mary Alice die, and was it in childbirth?
• Why did he marry a Catholic.....what would both Moms and Dads say about that?

My Irish Catholic background tells me that their children would have been raised Catholic, as per the church rules. I will be looking into that. I am also curious about their marrying in the middle of the Civil War. Did he have an exemption? One web site gave me some insights into this:

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1994/winter/civil-war-draft-records.html

According to the site, he could have had an exemption for several reasons. Could it be that he was a widower, with dependent children? Or, perhaps he married while serving in the war. There are rabbit trails everywhere.

Enoch Pratt Free Library's Maryland Room has a few books that are called, "Index to Marriages in the Baltimore Sun", with various dates. These are where I found my marriage information.

A Good Day for the Bigger Picture

I had a fruitful visit to the Irish Shrine and Railroad Workers Museum today. It is located at 918-920 Lemmon Street, a short walk from the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum. I was there due to a notice that I had seen on their web site: http://www.irishshrine.org/ . They had a grand re-opening to display several updates to their restored rowhouses, one of which was lived in by the Feely family. On previous tours, I had learned about the home they lived in, the church that the Irish workers built in their spare time, and the West Baltimore Cemetery where they were buried. Today was a good day for meeting new people, especially those that belong to an organization that remembers East Baltimore's 10th ward, home of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church. This church was the spiritual home for both sides of my family, including the Irish Matriarch. I am hoping to follow up on some contacts I made, and see what I can learn about the Irish on the East side of Baltimore.

I was struck today by how the Irish lived during the time of the Railroad Strike of 1877. As I looked at the modest home they lived in, I thought of how horrified that generation of immigrant Irish would have been to lose it. That cut in pay that they simply could not tolerate represented more than a loss of conveniences to them. Undoubtedly, the Irish that lived in the area of the B & O remembered the horrors of The Great Hunger all too vividly, and viewed their home as life itself.

I was also reminded of another Baltimore reality. I first visited the Irish Shrine a few years ago with my Dad and Aunt. It was surprising to us that this neighborhood, and its important church, even existed. After all, we were from East Baltimore.

Small Treasures Found in a Big Package

It was a lovely day for a visit to the Main Branch of the Enoch Pratt today. I visited the Maryland Room, which was quite crowded. My goals were to find when the Irish Matriarch arrived from Ireland, using the clues I have gathered, and see if I could figure out when she moved to Homestead with her family. I spent two hours or so glued to the microfilm viewer, beginning with the Soundex film that contains passenger lists for those arriving in Baltimore. My particular film covered 1820-1897, with everyone whose Soundex number was 500. This is the number given to those with last names beginning with a K, and having an N somewhere in the middle. There were some Kenneys, but none that matched up by first name or arrival date to those who I know something about.

There is a small room there that contains lots of rolls of microfilm, and among them are City Directories, beginning in the 1820's. The Burgan family I am researching lived in the surrounding farmlands at least through 1877, but I would like to know when they moved further in. The earliest listing I found was in 1884, where Agnes' husband is listed as living at 19 Getz Avenue. A little research showed this as a small street near the intersection of East Eager and St. Paul Streets. He was a "hostler", or stable man. 1885's listing includes John J. Burgan as a grocer, living in Homestead; no street address was given. I assumed that there was no street address because the neighborhood was actually in Baltimore County at the time, and this was their way of noting that. However, the 1887 listing states that they were living on Madison Street, in Homestead. John J. Jr. was 15 years old by then, and is listed as a canmaker.

There were four Burgan families in the small neighborhood, so I suspect that this was a popular destination for the Burgans to move to once their farm land was sold to developers.

Caring, and Being Cared For

The Irish Matriarch began a lifetime of nurturing others in 1867, when she gave birth to Annie Jane. This is their picture together. She raised 3 children of her own, and 3 granddaughters who lost their mothers at an early age. She would have these young ones in her home for the next 57 years, until her death in 1924.

Annie Jane lived with her mom for many years, and helped to care for her three nieces in their youth, and her mother in her old age. She also provided the information for her Death Certificate. The clues that will help me in my search include:

• The Irish Matriarch died on June 8, 1924 of old age, at her home.
• Her name was recorded as Bettie Agnes Burgan.
• She lived in Baltimore for 68 years, making 1856 her arrival date.
• No birthdate was given, but she was "about" 78 years old; if correct, she was born in 1846.
• Her parents and deceased husband were listed.
• Her doctor, cemetery and undertaker were listed.

My grandmother, Mary Viola Burgan Sullivan, told a story about the family doctor. He lived in the neighborhood, just four houses from where she was born, on Gorsuch Avenue. Imagine a doctor living on such a modest street today. Perhaps you remember the local firehouse from the movie, "Ladder 49", which is on Gorsuch Avenue, just west of Harford Road.

She Came From Good Irish Stock

The Irish Matriarch arrived in the 1850's as a young teen. These pictures are part of my collection, and are dated 1870. Her mother, nee Anna Leahey, and her dad, Daniel T. Kenney, were listed in the 1860 U.S. Census, with her siblings. She is not listed with them, and I wonder why. She was between 15-20 years old at the time, depending on what census record is right. Was she married by then, or living elsewhere? I look forward to more research on this. Census records state that she arrived in 1852 or 1853. I will visit the Enoch Pratt's Maryland Room, and the MD Historical Society on Saturday to learn more about her arrival. I attended a lecture a few years ago given by Tom Neill , who is part of the Locust Point Historical Project. He said that the early Irish arrived in Fell's Point, rather than Locust Point. That might be a clue.

Wondering : When, Why and How ?

The Irish Matriarch came to Baltimore after the Irish Famine was over. I am hoping that my research will be able to nail down the year she came, as there are contradictions. Her dad was listed as a farmer in the 1860 census, and lived in the Gardenville area of Northeast Baltimore. Perhaps the strain of the Great Hunger convinced them to go to America before the same happened again. Their mode of travel was by ship, of course, but what sort? I have always read about the "coffin ships", those boats that carried the half-starved and miserable to the New World, with many not surviving the voyage. My internet surfing led me to a site that told another part of that story. I read about the Jeanie Johnston, a Canadian made ship that never had a death at sea while transporting immigrants to Baltimore. It made 16 voyages from the West Ireland town of Tralee to the New World, and came to Baltimore several times. The journey took 1 1/2 months, and could cost as much as 6 month's wages. I am wondering whether my ancestors traveled from Tralee, which is not very far from County Galway. Feel free to visit the web site, http://www.mdoe.org/irish_immig.html . A replica of the ship was made, and visited Baltimore in 2003. Where was I? Probably up to no good.

Making Sense of the U.S. Census

One of the most valuable sources of information on the Irish Matriarch has been census records. These are readily available to anyone that has a library card with the Enoch Pratt Free Library. Visit their web site: http://www.prattlibrary.org/ . The databases include a category listed as "Biography and Genealogy", which offers free access to Heritage Quest. Among other things, you can look through U.S. Census records from 1790-1930. There are other companies on the Web that offer this for a fee, such as http://www.ancestry.com/. Heritage Quest can be a bit difficult at times, as they tend to list heads of household, while Ancestry lists everyone. If you have the time, Baltimore County Public Library has free access to Ancestry on their in-house computers.

The image included in this blog is the 1920 census record that includes the Irish Matriarch. It appears that she was a native Gaelic speaker who arrived in the U.S. in 1853. I compared this to other records, and concluded that census records can be a bit erratic. They were compiled by visitors to individual homes, and I would suspect that the person writing down the information trusted whatever they were told, by whoever told them. As I reviewed other census records pertaining to Agnes Bettie Kenney Burgan, I found contradictions in her age and date of immigration. I am looking forward to reviewing ship passenger lists for the period, and her Death Certificate. Hopefully, they will be more accurate than a census record might be.

Courthouse

I am hoping to make it to the 6th floor of the Clarence Mitchell Courthouse this week. The man on the phone said that they are open to 6 p.m. on some weekdays, so I am planning to look up some things in the Land Records Office. The Irish Matriarch was living in Homestead by 1885, but I would like to know when they moved off the family farmland in Gardenville, and began their new home in Homestead. It would seem that Annie Jane Burgan, her oldest surviving daughter, married her next door neighbor there, but I am not sure.

Look her up; she's in the book!

Those pesky initials on the doorstop were another issue altogether. I could not figure out who they belonged to, so I looked at microfilm copies of the old Baltimore City Directories. They were a precursor to our modern day phone books, and folks were sorted by name. Their address was included, as well as their profession, when applicable. I figured that it was a safe bet that the last initial stood for Burgan, and looked at the pages where they could be found. My search was at the Maryland Historical Society. Their library has a lot of microfilm copies of old documents. The directory for 1906 contained a "Burgan, Bettie A.", who lived at the same address as the Irish Matriarch. It just had to be her! Her husband had died a few years earlier, and widows were typically listed as the heads of households. She must have gone by her middle name at times. It was her doorstop, after all!

The Mystery of the Doorstop

My curiousity led me in two directions. The first, and most familiar, was a remembrance of stories and photos of my great-grand dad, William Edward Burgan. He was the youngest surviving child of the Irish Matriarch, and made a living as a stone cutter. I have a few pictures of him, including the one above. He is pictured here, carting a grave marker to its final resting place. My grandmom told me that he was employed by Hilgartner and Sons, a long established marble cutting firm. My trip to the Enoch Pratt Free Library, Maryland Room was a fruitful one. I found information on Hilgartner in their vertical file collection. They specialized in grave monuments, and used doorstops, complete with the potential customer's initials, as a sort of "calling card", or promotional tool. Rather than giving out calendars, or some other reminder of their services, Hilgartner promoted their business by giving away customized marble doorstops.

She's a Brick.........House?

Every picture tells a story. For years, I thought of this family heirloom as a fancy brick, and nothing else. My mom told me a story or two, but I was not sure where fact met fable. A trip to the Barre Monument Co. , on East Baltimore Street, confirmed that it was a marble door stop. I suspected that it was made by my great-granddad, William Edward Burgan, who was a stone cutter by trade. He worked for Hilgartner & Sons, a local firm that has been around a long time. I figured that he made it for a relative and it had been passed down, but I couldn't match up the initials to anyone. I was hoping that a trip to Enoch Pratt Free Library's Maryland Room would shed some light on this .I went there last Saturday, and found some information on the Irish Matriarch and Hilgartner that solves the mystery.

My Great-Great Grandmom from Galway

Welcome to my first blog. After inheriting some old pictures, I wanted to learn about the lives of those who came before me, and became fascinated by Agnes Bettie Kenney Burgan, from my mother's side of the family. She was born in Ireland, and moved to America with her parents between 1855-1860. Agnes married into a landowning family, and raised her 3 children in the farmlands bordering Northeast Baltimore. Eventually they moved to Homestead, Baltimore's first planned suburb, and established a home that lasted another 70 years.

I plan on using this blog to share how she touched the lives of her family, and those that would follow her. In doing so, I will analyze both items that I have inherited, and information available to me in various locations in the Baltimore area.