Pullen DNA

     Our ancestor Martha Pullen was married to John Brown Morehead between 1857 and 1860 when she appears in the 1860 Federal Census in Winona, Minnesota. I couldn't find a marriage record for them in Winona.
    Her death records and the obituaries for her in St. Paul and Winona do not give any genealogical information.

    A Martha Pullen appears in the 1850 Federal Census in Illinois but there was no other clear evidence that this was "my" Martha.  One fact that did connect was that this Martha was born in Indiana and other census records have our Martha born there as well.
    There is now some DNA evidence that Martha belongs to the Dennis Pullen & Nancy Kingen family in that someone on Ancestry DNA shares DNA with me and her ancestor is the daughter of David Pullen & Elizabeth Duncan--Minnie Pullen Reynolds.
     That is probably as close as I'll get!
     David Pullen lived in Rock Island County, Illinois.  His first wife was Nancy Kingen. They were married in Boteourt, Virginia. They lived in Indiana for a while.  Martha was born there according to census records. Nancy died in 1844 in Illinois.  He later married Mrs. Jane Coulter.  He is buried in Eliza Creek Cemetery, in Mercer County, Illinois.
     Martha Pullen Morehead died in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1884 and was buried in Winona. She was the mother of Wilbert O. Morehead, father of Catherine Morehead, mother of Marguerite Luella Hogan.
   

RIP Patrick Thomas Burns 1930-2012

     Uncle Pat would appreciate this:

     Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, let perpetual light shine upon him.  May he and all the faithfully departed rest in peace.  Amen. 

He told me recently that he sends out the births and deaths of people to an email list, especially deaths, so people will be reminded of them and say an Ave.  
     So, say an Ave for Uncle Pat.

Marguerite Luella Hogan Burns, RIP

Yesterday was the 22nd anniversary of Mom's death.  Her wake was on Mother's Day.  Extremely fitting!

May she rest in peace.

5th cousin to my Grandmother's Cat

Well, the DNA is back on Colette's spit test!  We sent our DNA into 23andMe to see what we could find out about our relationship.  We do have a bit of DNA in common.  We were categorized as 3rd to distant cousins.

If we follow the information we have, I am about 7 generations from the common ancestor and Colette is 5 generations, so I guess that would be distant! We might be 3rd cousins twice removed.  Colette and my grandfather were 3rd cousins. There are still a few lose ends to clear up.  Anyway, it's the Herlihy name that is the connection.

Handwriting Analysis...

The above is a sample of the handwriting of Sarah Jane Lewis Thompson Spencer.   Phil Cowen, a Thompson descendant, sent me the scan.  I have previously written about Don Burgett's kindness in contacting me about the letters and he provided me with transcriptions of this letter and 2 others by the family.  Thanks to both Phil & Don for this wonderful piece of our family history.

James Sheehan Obit

     This is the James Sheehan married to Mary M. Doyle.  I have written about this family previously.  The story is that they emigrated from Ireland with help from Bridget and Michael Hogan.
     The obituary appeared in the St. Paul Dispatch on March 9, 1922.

Sheehan--James, in St. Paul, March 8, 1922 in his seventy-first year.  Family residence 486 Rice. Survived by his loving wife, Mary, Patrick C., John J., James W., Joseph M., Alphonse N. and Mrs. Alphonse Arcand of White Bear and Mrs. Chamberlain of Kuna, Idaho.  Funeral from Kessler & McGuire's parlors, 115 West Tenth street.  Friday, 9:30 A.M.  Services at Cathedral at 10 A. M. Interment, Calvary.  Chicago, New York, St. Louis and Kuna, Idaho papers please copy. 

Now perhaps I will be able to find his wife's death date if she is buried in the same plot.

Why do people do what they do?

     Thanks to the Mormons and FamilySearch, I found the date of the marriage of Eliza Frances Burns.  She was the daughter of the immigrant generation--Timothy Burns and Eliza Barry.
     On her marriage license, it says that she was from Ramsey County.  She was married in Ramsey County and not at St. Thomas.
     On the record it also says she was married by an Episcopal priest.  Now that is surprising! Perhaps that is why the marriage was performed in St. Paul.  Did some relatives attend?  I couldn't find an account of it in the newspapers.
     After her marriage she lived in Chicago. She died there in 1904.

DNA Update--Shea genes

     Last summer I mentioned DNA results linking our family to Patricia Lindquist.  After some research I found out that she is deceased.
     A while later, I received an email from Patricia's sister, Mary Hayden Carlson with the following information:

I have been working on the family history for years, where you write or call relatives to get their information...I am related to Monsignor Ambrose Hayden.  My father's sister Marie Hayden McGinnis, daughter of Michael T. Hayden and Mary Ann Voegele, told me Hanorah's mother was Mary O'Shea Reardon.  She said some believe that her name was Mary Sullivan Reardon--then said to me "Do not believe it!"

 She further supplied info from her Aunt Marie:

     My grandmother Hannorah O'Reardon (Riordan) Hayden, had 6 cousins from County Cork--2 girls and 4 boys by the name of Shea (Shay).  They came to Minnesota and lived around Le Sueur, St. Thomas, and Le Center.  Apparently they lived in the same area as the O'Reardons in Millstreet and it is said they were all so close and more like brothers and sisters than cousins to the O'Reardons. 
      One of the girls, Mary married Moses Murphy.  They were grandparents of Sister Mary Kilduff and Hazel Green who went to St. Joseph's Academy when I did.  Hazel Green's (married name Trumper) mother, Lizzie Murphy was Sister Mary Kilduff's aunt.
    Timonty Reardon (Riordan) married Mary Shay (born 1811, died 18 May 1871, Le Sueur MN.  She is buried in the Mike Feeney lot in Calvary Cemetery. They had at least eight children:1. Mary2. Johanna3. Hannorah4. Ellen5. Katherine6. John7. Jeremiah8. Denis

So, I was one of those that surmised Mary Riordan's maiden name may have been Sullivan.  It is great to get some info much closer to the source!!