Share and share alike

The purpose of this blog is to share the discoveries I've made in researching family history with other members of the family. As I was writing that sentence, it struck me that I need to emphasize that many - most - of these "discoveries" are only new to me. It turns out that many of these stories and facts were already known by one person or another. So in the interest of humility, I will stipulate that I am more of the vehicle through which this information is shared rather than the actual source of anything new. And it struck me recently that through the generosity of family members, I've been privileged to be able to accumulate a bit of a store of images from the past. These aren't my images, so while pondering my next blog post, I thought that sharing those pictures of past generations would be appropriate. So this entry is more of a picture gallery than one based on a story. I hope you find the images as interesting as I have!

I'm breaking this post into four separate parts, corresponding to my four grandparents' families, Harrigan, Burns, White (these three being the Irish side of the family) and Johnson (the Swedish quarter). And don't forget: you should be able to click on each picture in order to get an enlarged view.

Harrigan.

Dennis Horgan (1819-1891)

This is my great great grandfather, Dennis. Choose the spelling of his name that you prefer! This one is what I found on his gravestone in old St. Mary's Cemetery in Little Falls, NY. His year of birth is a little sketchy: the gravestone says that he was 74 years old when he died, but his death certificate says 72. So that would make it either 1817 or 1819 (plus or minus). Dennis's children were the Harrigan family's emigrants to the U.S. As you can see the photographer of this portrait was W. H. Abbott of Little Falls. The picture was taken only shortly before Dennis's death since he was in the U.S. only one year. There is no record of his wife, Julia O'Connell, either in the newspaper account of his death or in the death certificate. Presumably, she had passed away prior to his trip across the Atlantic. I can't say whether this was just a visit to his children and their families or he was planning on staying permanently. The image comes from the ancestry.com website of Mike Sciortino.

To go with that formal portrait, here is a picture of two of the nine children of Dennis Horgan and Julia O'Connell:

This picture comes from John Burrell, a 3rd cousin that I got in contact with through a DNA test. On the left is John Harrigan (1853-1927) and on the right his brother, Denis Horgan (1866-1933). When the Horgans came to the U.S. they seemed to gravitate first to the Little Falls region. Afterwards, several of them continued west to Missouri. John lived in Monett, in the southwestern part of Missouri, and he passed away in St. Louis. Denis stayed in the central New York area, living in Utica and working for the New York Central Railroad.

Burns.

This is another great great grandfather, Patrick Connel Burns (1839-1893). The framed portrait seems clearly to be derived from the other picture. I presume that the woman in the picture is Patrick's second wife, Mary Elisabeth Gallagher (1852-1910). They lived in the area of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and both are buried in St. Mary's Cemetery in Marne, MI. The pictures come from Jack Kelley, another third cousin who lives in Utah. He tells me that the framed picture is hanging in the house of his sister, Colleen.

White.

From right to left: Luke White (1873-1928), Mary Elizabeth Farnham (= Grandma White, 1887-1956), Lillian White (1902-1952). Oh, and Spunk on the far right.

Since my earlier post, The fading trail of the Whites last year, I think things might just be opening up a bit. The break came from Kay Pfister. I wrote to her, via Facebook, asking if she had any family information and she came through big-time. Not only did she have pictures like the one above and the one below, but she also sent me copies of correspondence from the 1980's to her mother, Mary Kirby, and to Mary's sister Kaddie. The letter came from a gentleman in the Washington, DC area - let's call him Mr. D (I'm reluctant to put his name "out there" on the Internet), and he was searching for the family of Luke White who lived in Ilion, New York. It turns out that Mr. D's grandmother was Luke White's sister! I've since begun a snail mail correspondence with Mr. D and have made contact with a 3rd cousin 1x removed who lives in New York City. More to come on this soon!

Kate Fitzpatrick (1854-1935)

Although a bit worse for wear, this is a precious image of my great great grandmother, Kate (McGuire) Fitzpatrick, holding her great grandson, Alfred Johnson!

Johnson.

This one is from yet another 3rd cousin, Hans Malmkvist from Sweden. This quaint little house is likely the birthplace of my great grandfather, Gustaf Alfred Westerlund *1855-1923) and his brother Gottfrid Theodor (1863-1919). Unfortunately, there was no one at the house at the time to ask about its history.

I hope that everyone finds a little something of interest here. I want to stress that all of this comes from the generosity of family, and I sincerely thank all for sharing these treasures.