The Schoolmaster - That's a Wrap!

We saw in 1901 that James and Ellen Moriarty had seven children.

Let's take just  a quick look at the 1911 Irish Census. The Schoolmaster's family are listed in house #5 which they have maintained as a first class building.

James Moriarty is 51 years old and is still teaching. He has been married for 23 years. Interestingly, Ellen has had 12 children and all are living. This is unusual at this time - especially out here in the country. I can't read what her occupation is - 10 years ago she was a shop keeper.

Eleven children are listed in the census.  Michael Moriarty, the oldest, must be in school or working. And our Jim Moriarty must be working as well - he would be about 24 - he was 3 years older than his cousin Michael.

Mary is 19 and is likely helping in the shop.

The scholars are:

Catherine 17

Deborah 16

Eileen 14

Johanna Francis 12

Thomas Cornelius 11

Teresa Mary Christina 9

Norah Margaret 7

John James 5

And there are still:

Nuala Bridget 3

Myles Patrick 1

Don't worry - there are no more baptismal records to review.

Thomas Fitzgerald still owns the house and land. I wonder if he leaves it to his daughter, Ellen, and the schoolmaster when he dies, or if they eventually buy it from him? 

I'm just throwing out this next bit because we learned a little about this Thomas Cornelius "Con" Moriarty from his son, Father Moriarty. The S.S. Kaiserin Auguste Victoria arrived in New York 12 July 1920. It was built in 1905 by the Hamburg American Line and chartered by the Cunard Line in 1920. It was sold to the Canadian Pacific Line in 1921 and renamed Empress of Scotland.

Con Moriarty boarded in Queenstown.

Do you remember that Father Moriarty said that Con left Ireland when he thought he would be arrested? Con is #3 on the passenger list below - he is a 19 year old laborer heading for Chicago. Obviously he is a British citizen - he lived in Ireland - his last address was Annascaul. His father James Moriarty of Ballycullane is his nearest relative.

If you could see this, you would know that he was traveling with Michael Herlihy and Hannie Crean both of Annascaul. Michael is a 20 year old laborer also heading to Chicago. But Hannie is 19, a servant, and heading to Dorchester, Massachusetts. I wonder if Hannie is related to Tom Crean, who explored the Antarctic with Scott and Shackleton? Tom Crean was from Annascaul. I remember about 10 years ago, my sister Patty and I went to a one man play in Boston about Tom Crean. He had a pub, the South Pole Inn, in Annascaul. I think his brother was ex-British Army and a member of the RIC - he was killed by rebel forces in Cork during the Irish War of Idependence.

This next page tells us that Con bought his own ticket and has either $25 or $30. He is headed to his younger sister Nora who is living on Prairie Avenue in Chicago. He told authorities that he is moving permanently to the United states and plans to become a citizen. He is about 5 feet 9 inches. He has a dark complexion, dark hair, gray eyes. He has no identifying marks.

Nora was younger than Con - she would have been about 15!  I wonder if this should have been Dora? We know from Father Moriarty that Dora came to Chicago, and she was older than Con.

Anyway, the next image is the index to Con's naturalization papers. He became a U.S. citizen on 4/7/27. We could take this information to the National Archives to get a copy of the original documents. But we will leave that to his family. It is interesting that the index includes the names of the witnesses.

The last bit of information is the 1930 U.S. Census for Chicago's Ward 16 where Con Moriarty and his family were living.

It looks like they are paying $37 a month rent for an apartment at 6216 South May Street. Con is listed by his full name Thomas C. - by this time he is 30 years old. Bridie is 26, and they have been married for 6 years. They have two young sons - James F. who is 4, and Thomas J. who is 3. We know that James is the future Father Moriarty whom I met briefly in Sneem, and Tom is the family historian for this branch.

The census goes on to tell us that Con immigrated in 1920 and has taken out papers for citizenship. He is supporting his family by working as a milkman for a dairy company.

Just reading the Irish census, the passenger list, the U.S. census is giving me the urge to start researching this branch of our family more deeply - these documents contain a goldmine of information. But Tom Moriarty has probably already done this - so maybe I will try to contact him instead. 

And speaking of a goldmine, we are going to take a quick detour to another branch to meet our family's goldminer!

So this a wrap on this branch of the family!