Aunt Elizabeth

Elizabeth Jane [Anderson] Regan died at the age of 97 in 1995.  She was my great-aunt, sister of my grandmother Gwendolyn [Anderson] Danielsen.  And she was quite a lady.

Aunt Elizabeth was more a grandmother to me than Gwen, who visited infrequently and died when I was about 15.  I don't recall what instigated our correspondence and close relationship, but Aunt Elizabeth and I wrote back and forth for years.  I also drove from Long Island to Connecticut to visit her several times after I got my first car, and before I moved across the country.  She was such a loving, resilient woman. 

Long before I really got to know her, Aunt Elizabeth's husband left her due to, as I understand it, discouragement over one too many business failures.  He left Aunt Elizabeth to raise 4 boys on her own [and they in turn became successful husbands and fathers].  He then returned to his wife when he grew older and learned he was dying.  Aunt Elizabeth was a better woman than I would have been; she took him in, nursed him, and eventually buried him.  We never spoke of this.  Aunt Elizabeth referred to him only twice in our letters, once mentioning having to travel to take him for medical treatment; once years later, after my own divorce, as an example of the difficulties encountered in marriage.

Always upbeat and willing to listen, Aunt Elizabeth definitely had her own point of view but was always tolerant of others' opinions.  For visitors she would put out her best china, set the antique table crowded into her tiny apartment, cook a roast and serve a hot lunch or dinner.  In all her letters over the years, she never failed to say she loved me; encouraged me to move back east, preferably to her little town; and passed on news of her sons and their families, most of whom I never met.

I did meet the wife and children of one Regan son who unfortunately died young; his family lived nearby to Aunt Elizabeth and enjoyed a very close relationship with her.  I have been unsuccessful in tracking this family down, although I think I have located one married daughter online...should I try to re-establish contact?  It's been about 40 years since we met!

Due to Aunt Elizabeth's ideas of what was proper and right, her descriptions of family life and genealogical data was somewhat limited and sometimes skewed...her father was a "loving but strict" father who believed children should be "seen but not heard" at the dinner table.  Her parents were "happily married".  Her sister, my grandmother married my grandfather the "proper" amount of time before their first child was born, etc.  Turns out her parents had many disagreements over religion [she was Irish Catholic, he Protestant or Presbyterian; the children were raised Catholic]; my grandparents married 5 months before my father was born; and if photos are anything to go by, my great-grandfather possessed a rather dour personality.  As I recall hearing, both of William Anderson's sons were estranged from him until shortly before he died.

Toward the end of her life when she became ill, one of Aunt Elizabeth's sons moved her down south to live nearby to his family; that is where she died.  She passed away just before receiving my letter telling her I'd just realized my dream of owning horse property.  Her daughter-in-law was kind enough to reply and let me know of Aunt Elizabeth's passing.  I still miss her.

And I wonder - what became of the portrait Aunt Elizabeth had of her mother as a young woman?  I have only one photo of my great-grandmother, as she died young, at the age of 50.  I would love to have even a photo of that portrait.

Aunt Elizabeth & nephew Edward Danielsen, circa 1980

Aunt Elizabeth [center]  with sisters
Lillian [left] and Gwen [right] ca. 1920

Regans, Danielsens, Marie Anderson, William Anderson
circa 1935

FOLLOWUP TO 9/16/09 POST

I have found the 3 single Anderson siblings in the 1900 census:  Mary, Leticia [Lillian] and John lived at 717 Eutaw Street, presumably the family residence.  Their mother, Elizabeth Jane [Spence] Anderson had died several months earlier [March 1900].  It appears they were renting, if I read the census correctly.  If so, the Andersons rented their house for years - the 1890 Baltimore City Directory shows the same address as their residence.

In 1910 John lived with a married sister [Teresa McCormick]; Lillie died in 1905; Mary has not yet been found in the censuses.  However, if that is she buried in 1939 in the family plot, she had quite a few  years in which to have married a Frank Barker - though she would have been 44 years or older when she married.  Then of course she would have had to divorce him [or perhaps be widowed] before being interred as an Anderson...

A Mullin Photo

This photo was taken in New York; evidently the Mullens came to visit their Anderson cousins.

From left to right: Frank Anderson [brother of my grandmother Gwen]; their uncle, Patrick Mullin, husband of Anna "Annie"  McKenney; their brother-in-law Marty Regan [husband of Frank and Gwen's sister Elizabeth Anderson]; and cousin Leo Mullin, son of Patrick and Annie.  Whatever became of Leo Mullin?  For that matter, what became of all his siblings?  I only know of 6 by name; according to the federal census 11 children were born but only 6 lived.  [Aunt Elizabeth's version of the family history just states the Mullins had 6 children.]   The eldest Mullin daughter ["Marie?] is said to have married and moved to Canada.  Unfortunately I never knew her husband's name...

MULLINS - a bit of info...

[Regarding Mary [McKenney] Anderson's sister Anna "Annie" who married Patrick Mullin]

...recently found thanks to the various online genealogy services like Footnote [City Directories], Heritage Quest [census], and familysearch.org [vital records]!

Patrick Mullen first appeared in Baltimore City Directories about 1882 [which approximates the immigration dates shown in his later census entries].  He resided Glover Street in Baltimore from the late 1890s [matches street address per Aunt Elizabeth].  I finally found his wife Anna [McKenney] as a widow in the 1930 census, living with her married daughter Ellen Bender, so Patrick died sometime between the 1920 and 1930 censuses. [Note:  do census research on this daughter...]

I also found some military records [WW I and WW II enlistment cards] for 2 Mullen sons, John Bernard Mullen [named after the Bernard Mullin who boarded with Patrick per the earlier City Directories?] and Edward Andrew Mullen [named after Anna's brother Andrew McKenney?].   So far no sign of any other Mullin sons.  Still no idea who the oldest Mullen daughter married and moved to Canada with... but we're at least taking some baby steps forward on this family!

More later...

GREEN MOUNT CEMETERY - BALTIMORE, MD

I recently received copies of the Lot cards from Green Mount Cemetery. As is usually the case, the new information is mostly helpful but also presents new questions!

ANDERSONS
[my great-great grandparents]

Lot No. 4. Area: Rosemary

[interment date/Name ]

[typed on the card]
Oct. 11, 1858 Wm. Anderson child. S.B. [stillborn?]
May 20, 1861 E. J. Anderson 16 mo.*
Jan. 19, 1891 William Anderson [Sr.] 64*
Jan. 11, 1899 Thersa Maria McCormick 1 month**
Mar. 8, 1900 Elizabeth J. Anderson 67*
Aug. 23, 1905 Letitia S. Anderson 43*

[the last 2 lines handwritten on the card]
46946 Jan 26 - 1918 John Backus Anderson (Plan 10.00) 48-*
54691 May 8 - 1939 Minnie Anderson (Plan 20.00) [order?] 81*

• * these ages were handwritten at the end of each line. According to Green Mount, some researchers in the past wrote in pencil on the Lot cards, which resulted in the cemetery forbidding any further on-site research. [Instead, the cemetery will perform searches for a fee.]
  

• ** the age of "Thersa" Maria McCormick was provided via email from Green Mount

Review:

1. stillborn child - name unknown. This child fits within the time frame of William and Elizabeth Anderson's children; this would have been their 3rd child
2. E. J. Anderson was listed as Elizabeth in the 1860 census; evidently she died the following year at the age of 16 mos. She was probably named for her mother, Elizabeth Jane.
3. William Anderson, husband of Elizabeth Jane Spence, died in 1891. From every census he appeared in, his date of birth computed to 1824-1825. Thus his age at date of death should have been 66 or 67.
   
4. "Thersa" Maria McCormick, died Jan 1899 - this was the name of one of William and Elizabeth Anderson's married daughters [actually spelled Theresa!]. However, she was still living in Baltimore at 1918, when she was named in her brother John's obituary, then moved to California by the 1920 census, so she couldn't have been interred in 1899! Thankfully, the cemetery was willing to answer my email questions and told me this was a child who had died at the age of 1 month. Theresa [Anderson] McCormick had 2 sons, William b. 1877-78 and Charles b. 1883. Since Charles would only have been 16 yrs of age in 1899, I assume this was William's first child who died so very young.
5. Elizabeth J. Anderson was the wife of William Anderson. She died on her birthday, the 5th of March, 1900. Her age was understated throughout most of the federal censuses; her age at date of death should have been 75 rather than 67.
6. Letitia S. Anderson - this was a surprise. Aunt Elizabeth [actually my great-aunt, grandaughter of William Anderson listed above] had told me of her father's sister named either Letitia or Lillie [she used the names interchangeably]. In the censuses, only a sister named Lillie was listed. Letitia's age at date of interment [43] puts her date of birth at approximately 1862, which matches the calculated year of birth for the Lillie Anderson in the censuses. This year of death also matches the year Aunt Elizabeth recalled going with her father to visit his sister, who was ill and died not long afterwards. This sister lived in a large brick building not far from a corner pharmacy and a park [perhaps Druid Hill Park?]. Aunt E. recalls being sent to the pharmacy on the corner [at the approx. age of 5 to 7] to pick up medicine for her aunt.
   
   Evidently Letitia/Lillie never married. So far I cannot locate her in the 1900 federal census. I don't know if the Andersons owned their home on Eutaw Street or not, but they resided on that street for many years [per censuses and City Directories]. I don't know if Letitia/Lillie remained in the home after her mother's death [March 1900], if she perhaps inherited the house, or if she moved.
   
7. John Backus Anderson - this information matches his obituary and death certificate extracts.
8. Minnie Anderson - another surprise, and some supposition here. "Minnie" seems to have been a commonly used nickname for Mary in more than one generation of this family. I assume this is William and Elizabeth Anderson's 2nd child, Marianna/ Mary Anna Anderson, born 1854-1855. [If she was age 81 when she died in 1939, her approximate year of birth would have been 1858--but a 3 yr discrepancy was not uncommon in the stated age of females back then !]. I didn't know she'd never married. However, Aunt Elizabeth seemed to have no recollection of any paternal relatives, which now makes sense considering of the 7 Anderson children, 3 never married, 1 married and moved to California between 1918-1920, 2 died young, and 1 was her father, who moved his family to New York City between 1900-1910.
   

Here is one of my major "brickwalls": According to Aunt Elizabeth, her mother's only sister married a Patrick Mullen [Mullin], and one of her father's sisters married a Frank Barker. Aunt Elizabeth's father William Anderson [Jr.], however, had 5 sisters. Only one sister's marriage is known, Theresa's to Mr. McCormick. Of the two other sisters who lived to adulthood, both are listed on the Anderson Lot Card under their maiden names - which I take to mean they never married. So - WHO married Mr. Barker??

The other major puzzle with the Andersons is Aunt Elizabeth's recollection that both her parents' families consisted of 1 boy and 2 girls. This was true of the McKenneys, but not of the Andersons - unless she was speaking of her grandfather William [Sr.], listed on the above Lot card. And in his case, although I am not 100% positive I have found his family in the early censuses, I believe he had more than 2 siblings, although it is possible that only 3 survived to adulthood.

ST. RAYMONDS CEMETERY - BRONX, NY

Some time ago I contacted St. Raymonds Cemetery in the Bronx, NY, as Aunt Elizabeth [actually my great-aunt Elizabeth] told me her parents were buried there.

The info I rec'd from St. Raymond's was that William Anderson age 86 had been buried 1951, had purchased 2 graves although 1 was empty, and his grave was also occupied by a couple with the surname of Parcelli. Mrs. Parcelli, I speculated, might be William's married sister, as the d.o.b. was very close as was the first name. But - I'd never heard of the Parcelli's before. And where was Mary McKenney Anderson, William's wife, buried?

Last month [August 2009] I again contacted St. Raymonds, this time by email, and the mystery was solved. Turns out there are two Wm. Andersons buried at St. Raymond's with the same approximate ages and burial dates. And, the plot coordinates were almost exactly the same ! My great-grandparents William Anderson, Mary ("Minnie") McKenney Anderson, and their daughters Mary ("Marie") and Lillie are all buried together in the same plot.

I was so happy to get this straightened out, since I wasn't getting anywhere trying to connect the Parcelli's to our family through other avenues of research!

Stay tuned:
...cemetery listing
......family obits found on genealogybank.com
.........and anything else that has come to light recently!