Thursday, August 15, 2013

Cleveland House After Con Moriarty


We saw that Con Moriarty died in 1916 at his home in Newport, Rhode Island. Elizabeth V. Moriarty is listed through 1920 in the Newport directories as his widow and the proprietor of the Cleveland House. Below is 1916 - Elizabeth is listed two lines below Con.


The 1920 U.S. Census for Newport’s Ward 3 was taken January 10. Elizabeth is still running the boarding house. She is 70 years old! The boarders are mostly machinists working for the Torpedo Station, but there are civil engineers as well as an actress and a teacher. Niece Helen Murray is a 22 year old stenographer for the Navy Yard. 15 year old Joseph Murray is still in school. Interesting that they are listed as Murray in this census and were Moriarty in the 1910 census when Con was alive.


1923 finds Elizabeth V. Moriarty still listed as Con’s widow and proprietor of Cleveland House. The Newport directory  shows Helen Moriarty, a stenographer in East Greenwich boarding at 27 Clarke Street. Joseph C. Moriarty, U.S.N., is also boarding there.



In the 1925 directory Elizabeth continues as proprietor of the Cleveland House, while Helen Moriarty is still working in East Greenwich. Joseph C. Moriarty is boarding there but no occupation is listed.

The 1925 Rhode Island Census shows 75 year old Elizabeth Moriarty with 18 lodgers. She is a naturalized citizen. The census was taken 20 April, but there is no Helen or Joseph listed even though they are listed in the Newport Directories for the same year. Is Elizabeth managing the boarding house herself? At 75?!? What happened to Helen and Joseph in the census?


The Newport directories 1926 through 1929 list Elizabeth V. Moriarty continuing as proprietor of the Cleveland House. Helen Murray is boarding at 27 Clarke Street - no occupation listed - so she must be helping Elizabeth with the boarding house. Helen's brother Joseph C. Murray is also there - he is a machinist. Why are they Moriarty in some years and are now back to Murray? And why weren’t they in the 1925 census?


The 1930 U.S. Census for Ward 3 in Newport was taken on April 4 and shows Elizabeth Moriarty living at 27 Clarke Street – the house is worth $2000. She only has two boarders – one is a 76 year old retired English widower – the other is a 51 year old hairdresser. Elizabeth is 76.  


I don't understand why Helen and Joseph Murray are again not listed in the 1930 census, but yet they are listed in the 1930 directory - Helen at 27 Clark St. - no occupation; Joseph C., machinist, boards 27 Clark St.


Helen must have been helping Elizabeth, but what happened in or around 1930 that there are only two boarders? 1931 has Helen r 27 Clarke St; Jos C, machinist, r 27 Clarke St. Why are they suddenly listed as living in the rear of the house?



And look at this!! 1932 has no Helen Murray/Moriarty, and her brother "Murray, Jos C rem to Washington DC" - "rem" means removed - Joseph moved to DC.





Elizabeth V. Moriarty continues on as proprietor of  the Cleveland House through the 1936 directory. 


Sometime between 1930 and 1934 Elizabeth Goodine, a nurse, came to Newport to 27 Clarke Street. She had been working as a nursing supervisor and a nursing instructor at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York. In 1934 Elizabeth Goodine is listed at the rear of 27 Clarke Street.



This Elizabeth Goodine was born in "Canada East" - the same as Elizabeth Moriarty. She emigrated to New York to attend nursing school. Her older sister may have been ahead of her in the same nursing school.

In the 1920 U.S. Census for New York, 25 year old Elizabeth C. Goodine worked as a nursing supervisor - had immigrated in 1914 - and had taken out papers for citizenship. In 1925, the 35 year old nursing instructor was a United States citizen.

We saw in 1930 that Elizabeth Moriarty only had two boarders, while at the same time Catherine Goodine was living at the Mt. Sinai Nurses House in Manhattan, New York.  The next listing that I could find for Elizabeth Goodine was in 1934 at the rear of 27 Clark Street. A guess would be that she was related to Elizabeth Moriarty who asked the 40 "something" nurse to help her at the boarding house. We saw that Joseph moved to Washington, D.C. by 1932. Perhaps Helen married at that time  because she was no longer listed - we know from Father Jim Moriarty that Helen did marry. How could a 72 year old take care of a boarding house by herself altho she was listed as proprietor until 1936.

The 1935 Rhode Island Census below lists Elizabeth Goodine as proprietor of a boarding house at 27 Clarke Street! She was born in Canada on November 6, 1895 - she is 40 years old. She is a naturalized citizen. She is single.


There is little information for Elizabeth Moriarty in 1935.



So Elizabeth Goodine takes over as proprietor, and Elizabeth Moriarty lives with her. 



The 1940 U.S. Census is the most recent one that we have. Elizabeth Goodine is owner of the Cleveland House which is worth $8000. She is 46 and still single. She attended 4 years of college which must have been the nursing school. Elizabeth was born in "Canada-English" which is different than "Canada-French." She is a naturalized U.S. citizen. She is living in the same place that she did on 1 April 1935. She worked 65 hours the week of March 24-30, 1940 as the landlady of a rooming house. She worked 52 weeks in 1939 and received no wages. 



Her 84 year old aunt Elizabeth Moriarty - there we have it!!! We were correct - Elizabeth Moriarty probably asked her niece to come and take care of her in exchange for the boarding house. As we know, she was also born in 'Canada-English' - she went to school through the 8th grade before emigrating. She is also a naturalized citizen. She did not work in 1939. They both received other income over $50 in 1939.



There are 15 lodgers as well as Ruth Leary who is renting the rear of 27 Clarke Street for $20 monthly. She is 47 years old and works at the naval station. She lived in the same place in 1935.





According to the Newport Directories, Elizabeth Moriarty remained at the rear of 27 Clarke Street until she died on 16 January 1945.


Patrick Murphy from the Newport Irish History Museum also looked up Elizabeth’s obituary for me at the Newport Public Library.
“Mrs. E. V. Moriarty Dies At Her Home Here. Proprietor of Cleveland House was in her 87th Year; Funeral Will Be Thursday. – Mrs. Elizabeth E. V. Moriarty, wife of the late Cornelius Moriarty, died Monday evening, after a short illness at the Cleveland House on Clarke Street, which she operated for many years. Mrs. Moriarty was in her 87th year. She was a native of Canada and had lived in this city for a long time. In addition to a sister, Sister Mary Curry of the Mercy Order in Chatham, N.B., she leaves two nieces, Mrs. A.J. Nichols of Washington, D. C., and Miss Elizabeth Goodine of this city, and a nephew, Joseph Murray. 
Funeral services will be held Thursday with a mass of requiem at St. Joseph’s Church and interment in St. Columba’s cemetery where her husband was buried in 1918.” 

“January 18, 1945 Mrs. C. Moriarty Rites – Funeral services were held this morning for Mrs. Elizabeth E. V. Moriarty, wife of the late Cornelius Moriarty from the O’Neill Funeral Home to St. Joseph’s Church, where a solemn high Mass was celebrated by the Rev. J. Joseph Cooney, assisted by the Rev. Edward V. Hughes as deacon, and the Rev. Edward Connolly as sub-deacon. Father Hughes read the  committal service at the vault in the Island cemetery. The bearers were Joseph Russell, Charles Smith, Edgar Gay, George Peckham, John J. Monahan and Harry Armstrong.”

Pallbearers Charles Smith and George Peckham were boarders at the Cleveland House in 1940. They both are Rhode Island natives and lived in Newport in 1935. Charles Smith is a bartender in a saloon, and George Peckham is a carpenter.

Elizabeth Goodine is still running the Cleveland House in 1951 but was not listed after this.

I don't know if Elizabeth Goodine sold the Cleveland House, but at some point it was sold to a man named Moniz. He ran it as a boarding house. And interestingly, his son is now the handyman for the chain of B&Bs that includes the Cleveland House. The link to the website is: 

http://www.innsofnewport.com/inncleveland.html





Johnny Murphy and I drove to Newport one fall day and found the Cleveland House. That is the Newport Armory to the left of it.





We were looking at the house when a woman came out from the Clarkeston Inn across the street at 28 Clarke Street. (I didn't know it at the time, but Con's sister Margaret (Moriarty) Dwyer and her husband lived across the street from her brother at 28 Clarke Street for a short time.) I started talking to her, and she told me that she worked for the Inns and that guests registered at the Cleveland House. She invited us in for a look.


That is me in the small dining room. Guests register in the front on the left. There is a room on the right as you walk in and then the stairway to the upper floors. There are stairs to the basement on the right below the staircase. 



The dining room is small considering that there are quite a few rooms. The door behind Johnny Murphy leads to an updated bedroom with a jacuzzi. What would Con ever think!!

Some day I will stay there and see if there are any familiar spirits roaming through the house!



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