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Old Days
Some glimpses of the generations gone before us. . .
This page features part of the story of the Irish
branch of our
roots
E-mail me if you would like to compare notes on any of these lines.
map courtesy of http://www.graphicmaps.com/webimage/countrys/europe/
"Harry P." Mullin -- West Rutland, Vermont, and Baltimore, Maryland
Fran's
maternal great-grandfather is believed to have been baptized Patrick,
but was generally known as Harry P. Mullin. He was born May 13, 1866
in West Rutland,Vermont, to Michael and Margaret [McCue] Mullin , who had
come from Ireland in 1856.
Harry was a marble polisher and monument dealer by trade. On February 3, 1891, he married Anna Frances Kerrigan at St. Bridget's Church, West Rutland. Anna Frances had been born in Ireland on November 7, 1870. Family tree research suggests Harry and Anna may have been unrelated to each other, but were each opposite-sides-of-the family first cousins to a certain Rutland-area Kerrigan family. Harry and Anna's daughter Anna Margaret, who would become Fran's grandmother, was born in 1892, and a son,Thomas, who died in infancy, was born in 1894.
Family lore has it that Harry had a part in the construction of some of the majestic memorial buildings in Washington, D.C., and that he helped build West Rutland Town Hall, located not far from his shop.
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The family lived in Baltimore for all or part of the years 1893-1899, and there the couple had a son, Harry R., (shown below in young adulthood) in 1897. It is believed they had one more child who was stillborn. The family came back to West Rutland, and Harry died there on October 7, 1913. Ironically, for reasons unknown to Fran (maybe limited finances?), the monument carver has no tombstone himself.
He is shown below, third from the left, with some of his employees outside his shop in West Rutland -- Union Marble and Granite Works, located at 48 Marble Street. The year should be between 1900 and 1913. Note the men's stonecutters' aprons, their tools, and the stone monuments on which they have been working, seen through the window at the right and through the doorway.
Daniel James Mullin -- New Britain,
Connecticut
Daniel J. Mullin was Fran's great-great-uncle, the younger brother of Harry P. Mullin. On April 6, 1880, Daniel was born in West Rutland, Vermont, the home town of many of our Mullins of that generation. Their ancestors were from County Roscommon, Ireland. Fran's third cousin once removed, Robert Arthur, was instrumental in developing her interest in and skills at researching the family tree. He has extensively documented our Mullin lineage.
As an adult, Daniel settled in Connecticut and ran his own luncheonette, the Biltmore Lunch at 55 Church Street, New Britain. In time, he offered lodging as well, as proprietor of the Regal Hotel at 88 Church Street.
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Daniel married the former Mary Agnes Donlan in 1902, and they had five children: Anna M., Daniel James, Marion, Harry, and Vincent. After the death of Margaret Mullin, mother of Harry and Daniel, their father Michael came to live in New Britain and help in the luncheonette.
The photos below are from about 1910. Daniel, left, and his counter man have gotten things in order after the lunch crowd has left. Note the prices on the menu board in the enlarged section below!
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Harry Mullin Jr., son of Anna, above, and the late Harry P., settled near his uncle Daniel Mullin in New Britain when he returned from service on the U.S. Cincinnati with the U.S. Navy in World War I. He went to work at Stanley Rule and Level, forerunner of the present day Stanley Tool line one can find in any hardware store across the U.S.
John and Ellen [Cullinan] Morrissey, star-crossed lovers. . . and the family of their son John J. -- Arlington, Vermont, and Rutland, Vermont
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John, above, traveled as a railroad brakeman. While his home base was in Vermont, this portrait of him bears the mark of a studio in New Orleans, Louisiana. In fountain pen, it has been inscribed, "for John, Love, Aunt Mg't" on the back. Perhaps it was taken in John J.'s youngest years, and the aunt who raised him in early childhood saved it for him until he was old enough to appreciate a photo of his father. Its date would be about the mid to late 1880s. Note his cap and uniform.
Click here to visit a site dedicated to the Rutland Railroad
John Morrissey was born in Sunderland, Bennington County, Vermont, on March 17, 1860. His father, Michael, had come from County Waterford, Ireland in 1850; John's mother, Susan [née Kearse], had immigrated from County Clare with her parents, Martin and Margaret [Glynn] Kearse, also settling in southwest Vermont Their surname was also sometimes spelled Kierce.
John became a railroad conductor and brakeman. He married Ellen Cullinan, daughter of Thomas and Bridget [Nash] Cullinan, a neighbor in their childhood village of Arlington, Vermont, but both spouses were destined for tragedy.
On August 20, 1885, when their infant son John J. was only 24 days old, Ellen died, presumably of post-childbirth complications; she was only 20. In later years, their granddaughter Charlotte [Morrissey] Kessei related that since John traveled quite a bit for his work, Margaret Morrissey, sister of the baby's father, and the little boy's grandparents essentially raised him for the next six years.
John remarried in 1892. His new wife, Mary, was just 20, and no doubt found it difficult to hear about or be compared to "lovely Ellen, lost so tragically young", and to take on the care of her six year old stepson. It is said Mary and young John never really hit it off, yet she expected a great deal of him. His father continued in his railroad position. In their new home town of Rutland, Vermont, the brakeman and his wife faced the death of a newborn son in 1897, as well as welcoming the birth a year later of a son, Bernard, who lived.
In the wee hours of July 26, 1902, Mary Titus Morrissey, her son and stepson slept. They were expecting her husband John home for young John's seventeenth birthday the following day. Instead, Mary was awakened by a knock at the door. She was summoned to the hospital. Her husband had fallen from atop the train, between two cars of a circus train as it was starting to move away from the station several towns away. His legs were crushed as the railroad car ran him over. He did survive, no doubt in agony, long enough to say goodbye to Mary, but the doctors were unable to save the life of the forty-two year old brakeman.
"Young John" (seen at left, at about age 53) left school to join the work force and support his stepmother. His faith and those happy afternoons on the baseball team after work saw him through, and John found the love of a good woman to ease his future as well. He married Anna Margaret Mullin, daughter of the above mentioned Harry P. and Anna F. Mullin, on October 19, 1915.
Life continued to bring trials -- Mrs. Morrissey's ailing mother in need of care, John's stepmother's demands, the Great Depression, two stillbirths -- but John and Anna had God and each other. John was employed at Lincoln Iron Works in Rutland, took a position guarding a munitions plant in Brandon, VT when times were tough, and later became a respected member of the Rutland City Police force. Blessings and joy found a place in the couple's life with the arrival of four daughters. The music Anna and their daughter Charlotte played on the piano and cello are fondly recalled, as are the wonderful cakes Anna would bake. Anna saw to it that the girls made the most of their studies. Having been her high school valedictorian, Anna greatly valued a good education. She demanded a high standard of herself, too, and is remembered as an outstanding secretary and a person with lovely handwriting and a well-developed vocabulary. Raising a family during the Depression was a challenge, but the couple made the necessary sacrifices. . . and, as Easter is such an important holyday, and everyone would be needing a boost in morale after a long Vermont winter, Anna would find a place in the budget for new Easter clothes each spring.
(above : John, Anna, and their daughter Frances, circa 1938. Frances grew up to become a registered nurse, a wife, and the mother of seven children who survived infancy, including yours truly, Frances [Kardos] Mosconi)
The Morrisseys' story is one of fortitude through tough times, which bore fruit in the years that followed, of people rising to the occasion when life brought difficulty. What if his aunt Margaret had not taken in the infant John J. and cared for him well when he was left motherless? Based on the story of her generous availability, I have written a novel, as yet unpublished, The Patchwork Heart.
What if John had felt sorry for himself and never become a responsible adult? What if, losing his father too young as well, he had sought frequent refuge in alcohol, instead of diligently warning his family away from such a response to pain? What if, embittered, he had fled the demands of maturity, and the comforting, strengthening love of people and of God, instead of turning toward them with hope?
John J. and Anna themselves died too young -- he, in 1942, and she in 1944, before their Frances met her future husband, Joseph Kardos, M.D. (he is now deceased), before their marriage and the arrival of their family. But when we think of them, of their legacy of responsibility, of the importance of schooling, of faith, hope and love, we have much to respect, and for which to be grateful. . . we, their four daughters and four sons-in-law, their eleven grandchildren and over fifteen great-grandchildren. We must not forget that much of what is important to us came to us through them.
above: Frances Eleanor [Morrissey] and the late Joseph Anthony
Kardos, M.D., photographed in 1996 -- youngest daughter of John J. and Anna
[Mullin] Morrissey, and her husband -- parents of Fran [Kardos] Mosconi.
Both took seriously the living of the values and beliefs their
parents taught them, and raised their three daughters and four sons and their
families (some, shown below, at Mom and Dad K.'s home in
Connecticut) to do the same.
Thank you, Mom (and Dad). We appreciate your practical and material help, your caring and love -- but your greatest legacy to your children and grandchildren is that true Faith and those values, "which moth cannot corrupt, nor thieves break in and steal."