Bridget Monaghan, from Dunamore, Tyrone to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.
Bridget Mulvihille, formely McMahon, born Bridget Monaghan, 1847 – 1935.
Bridget Monaghan, my great, great aunt married Michael McMahon, an Irish coke worker, in August 1878 at St Joseph’s church, Tow Law. Michael, his father – John McMahon and his best man – Edward Donaghy were coke workers. Michael Monaghan, the bride’s father, was a coal miner.
St Joseph’s Tow Law pictured in Edwardian times, with gas lamp. The church was built in 1867.
The Catholic school and convent at Tow Law, built in 1851 and 1870 respectively.
Tow Law’s famous Beehive Coke Ovens can be seen in the hamlet ofInkerman, named after the battle in the Crimea. Many of the cannonballs used in the war were made at Tow Law.
Michael and Bridget appear at ‘The Forge’ Tow Law on the 1881 census. The address on the census before the Forge was Dans castle, and the ones immediately afterwards were the Inkerman Inn on Cornsay Rd and North St Inkerman. So it is possible that the coke ovens in the photograph on the previous were ones where Michael McMahon worked.
Bridget and Michael McMahon had two girls, Mary (sponsor John Monaghan), and Hannah. The sponsors at Hannah’s baptism were Arthur and Elizabeth Loy. There was a James Loy lodging with the Monaghans at Berry Edge in 1851.
A small runner at work, charging the ovens from the tub. (Picture from Jubilee Colliery, Oldham)
Michael’s occupation in 1881 was ‘Colliery labourer – small runner’. A small runner was someone who charged the beehive coke ovens from a smallrunner’s tub, a handcart that ran on rails above the beehive ovens. Each beehive required a charge of 4 tons.
A report of 1854 on the health of cokeworkers quoted a Thomas Elliot who said ‘The effect of the gasses from the ovens is seen upon the vegetation from ½ a mile to a mile off’. Dr Nichols testified that ‘fine men come from the country (to work on the coke ovens) and their health declines every month, indeed I might say every day caruretted hydrogen gas is constantly evolved, together with carbonic (sic) acid gas, and I trace directly the effects of the gasses on the health of the workmen – asthma and consumption’. In addition to the gasses, dropping loads of coal into the top of a hot chamber must have produced an atmosphere charged with fine dust particles. Not surprisingly, Michael McMahon died at the early age of 37 in March 1882 the cause of death was rheumatic mysticis and ascending paralysis.
Michael junior, their third child, was born 5 months after the death of his father; all three children were born in Tow Law.
Just as Bridget’s baptism showed I had found the right Monaghan family in Dunamore, Co. Tyrone, in the 1840’s, so her marriage established the point when we can be certain that the Monaghans were back in England. The presence of her children in the Monaghan households of both 1881 and 1891 showed that the enumerator had made a mistake (or had been misled) when he recorded the head of the household in 1891 as John rather than Michael. In fact Bridget turns out to be test of Monaghanism!Michael junior, their third child, was born 5 months after the death of his father; all three children were born in Tow Law.
So Bridget, the mother of three children, was widowed less than 4 years after her marriage to Michael. Bridget had disappeared from England by 1891 the time of the census. The Ellis Island site shows a Bridget (50) and a Mary (18) McMahon sailing for America in 1899 (re-check the information from the US 1910 census). The Ellis Island Archives show that Bridget and her daughter Mary sailed from Queenstown (now Cobh), Co Cork on the Cunard liner Campania and arrived in New York on 30 September 1899. Bridget and Mary had only $10 each and were both described as servants. Interestingly both Bridget, born in Ireland, and Mary, born in Tow Law, were described as Irish. As required on the manifest, the women declared that neither had been in prison, or in a workhouse. The ship’s doctor declared that both were in good health and neither were cripples! The supplement to the manifest describes both as white, their mother tongue English and both were Catholics. The ship’s manifest is written in a very poor hand, and the most interesting pieces of information are the most difficult to read. Bridget was going to join her sister Mary (?) and Mary McMahon was going to join her cousin Ellen Monaghan? Both had addresses in New York. Bridget and Mary’s last place of residence is recorded as Ennis. I assume this means Ennis County Clare which is a long way from Queenstown, and even further from Dunnamore, but there is little doubt that the women who sailed on the Campania were my gt gt aunt and her daughter and there is no doubt that they emmigrated to Pennslyvania, as shown by the 1910 US federal census.
Bridget in Pennsylvania
Above, several vessels on the river; the steel towns of both Homestead and Pittsburgh brought in coal and ore and exported steel by river.
Above, a view of the Carnegie Steel Company's Homestead Works
Above, a view of the Carnegie Steel Company's Homestead Works
This wonderfully detailed, panoramic view of the works can be seen in detail at http://www.shorpy.com/node/12312?size=_original#caption
Bridget, remarried, and widowed for the second time, appears on the US census in 1910 as Bridget Mulvihill, a boarding housekeeper at 449 Fifth Avenue, Homestead, Allegheny Co. Pennsylvania, her lodgers were Irish steel workers. Fifth Ave is the road on the map, parallel with, and just above the 'rail road', in the shadow of the steel works.
Bridget, remarried, and widowed for the second time, appears on the US census in 1910 as Bridget Mulvihill, a boarding housekeeper at 449 Fifth Avenue, Homestead, Allegheny Co. Pennsylvania, her lodgers were Irish steel workers. Fifth Ave is the road on the map, parallel with, and just above the 'rail road', in the shadow of the steel works.
Above The men's lunchbuckets or bait tins as they were called in Consett, can be seem on the girder between the men
. Below Homestead street market.
. Below Homestead street market.
Homestead had been transformed by the opening of a steelworks in 1881.
By 1910 the town’s population had risen to 25,000. The town had a history; in 1892 a bitter strike had resulted in a gun battle between the strikers and agents from the Pinkerton Detective Agency who were attempting to break the strike. Over ten people were killed and martial law was declared. The Carnegie Steel Company eventually defeated the strikers. There was a substantial, though not huge Irish population in Homestead. In 1907, 259 of 6772 workers at the Steel works were Irish.
There was a recession in Homestead in 1908
Recreation for adults and children in Homestead
Captions read’Washday in a Homestead Court’ and ‘Going home from work’. As with all photos on this section, the pictured come from the social survey ‘Homestead, the households of a Mill Town’ MF Byington New York 1910
Pittsburgh is near the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahella the start of the Ohio River. Homestead is on the south bank of the Monongahella (bottom centre of the map).
Pittsburgh
In 1901 Michael and Hannah McMahon, 18 and 20 respectively, were living with their aunt Ann Monaghan at 17 Nelson Street, Willington. Michael was a miner and Hannah was a dress maker. The three appar at 42 Commercial st Willingon, the three adults shared two rooms! Importantly Ann Monaghan gives Tyrone ireland as her birth place. Ann Monaghan died in 1911. Hannah and Michael then sailed from Liverpool to Ellis Island, New York, the point of entry for immigrants to the USA, on the Cedric.
Built in Belfast by Harland and Wolff in 1902, she carried 365 first class,
160 second class,and 2350 third class pasengers. The Cedric was used
as a troopship during World War I. She was scrapped in 1932.
Michael and Hannah sailed from Liverpool on 9 October 1913, they arrived at Ellis Island on 17 October 1913. Michael’s occupation was coal miner,and Hannah’s house maid. Their last permanent residence was Wellington (a mistranscription of Willington, they travelled with $10 each. Their next of kin was John Monaghan (uncle) of 250 Nelson St Leadgate. Their tickets had been bought by their stepbrother, a Mulvihill? They were on their way to join their mother Bridget McMahon at the Farmers’ Bank Building Pittsburg. Pittsburgh is about 7 miles from Homestead. Michael was 5’4”, with a dark complection and hair, he had gray eyes. His sister was 5’ tall with a fair complection, light coloured hair and gray eyes. The 1920 US Census shows Bridget Mulvihille, and her daughter Mary McMahon at 5433 Second Ave, Pittsburgh, Pa. Bridget, 72, had no occupation, Mary, 38, was working as a waitress in a restaurant. Also in the 15th Ward Pittsburgh at 4523 Second Ave were Michael and Hannah McMahon (mistakenly recorded as man and wife). Michael was a labourer and Hannah had no occupation.
The family appear on the 1930 US census at 319 South Craig St, Bridget was 80 and had no occupation, she was a naturalised American citizen. Mary (50) was a maid in a private house, as was Hannah (48). Michael, single like his sisters, was 46 and had no occupation. Mary, like her mother was a naturalised American, Hannah and Michael were ‘aliens’. The family had eight lodgers.
Bridget died in Pittsburgh on the 2 September 1935.
Hannah and Mary McMahon.
The Kennedy family in Ampleforth received Christmas cards from the McMahons up to the late 1940’s, or perhaps the 50’s. Margaret (Monaghan) Butler remembered, Hannah writing (in the context of post war rationing in Britain) ‘You poor things in England, why don’t you come over to America’? Margaret told her teacher who retorted ‘Don’t be silly, your family can’t possibly afford the fare to America!’ Mary McMahon died in March 1971 in Pittsburgh. It is likely that her brother and sister died before 1962, as unlike Mary they do not appear on the American Social Security death index.
Bridget Monaghan, from Dunamore, Tyrone to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.
Bridget Mulvihille, formely McMahon, born Bridget
Monaghan, 1847 – 1935.
In the 19th century Tow Law was famous for iron manufacturing, brick making and producing coke from beehive ovens. In 1851 at the Great Exhibition held at the Crystal Palace, beehive coke from the Black Prince Colliery at Tow Law won 1st prize. Ovens also existed at East Hedley Hope, Old Hedley Hope, Old Thornley, Blackfields, West Thornley, Elm Park and Inkerman (where the ovens can still be seen).
Bridget Monaghan, my great, great aunt married Michael McMahon, an Irish coke worker, in August 1878 at St Joseph’s church, Tow Law. Michael, his father – John McMahon and his best man – Edward Donaghy were coke workers. Michael Monaghan, the bride’s father, was a coal miner.
St Joseph’s Tow Law pictured in Edwardian times, with gas lamp. The church was built in 1867.
The Catholic school and convent at Tow Law, built in 1851 and 1870 respectively.
Michael’s occupation in 1881 was ‘Colliery labourer – small runner’. A small runner was someone who charged the beehive coke ovens from a conical smallrunner’s tub, a handcart that ran on rails above the beehive ovens. Each beehive required a charge of 4 tons. In this picture the rails across the tops of the behives can be seen.
Tow Law’s famous Beehive Coke Ovens can be seen in the hamlet of
Inkerman, named after the battle in the Crimea. Many of the cannon
balls used in the war were made at Tow Law.
Michael and Bridget appear at ‘The Forge’ Tow Law on the 1881 census. The address on the census before the Forge was Dans castle, and the ones immediately afterwards were the Inkerman Inn on Cornsay Rd and North St Inkerman. So it is possible that the coke ovens in the photograph on the previous were ones where Michael McMahon worked.
Just as Bridget’s baptism showed I had found the right Monaghan family in Dunamore, Co. Tyrone, in the 1840’s, so her marriage established the point when we can be certain that the Monaghans were back in England. The presence of her children in the Monaghan households of both 1881 and 1891 showed that the enumerator had made a mistake (or had been misled) when he recorded the head of the household in 1891 as John rather than Michael. In fact Bridget turns out to be test of Monaghanism!
Bridget and Michael McMahon had two girls, Mary (sponsor John Monaghan), and Hannah. The sponsors at Hannah’s baptism were Arthur and Elizabeth Loy. There was a James Loy lodging with the Monaghans at Berry Edge in 1851.
Michael junior, their third child, was born 5 months after the death of his father; all three children were born in Tow Law. A report of 1854 on the health of cokeworkers quoted a Thomas Elliot who said ‘The effect of the gasses from the ovens is seen upon the vegetation from ½ a mile to a mile off’. Dr Nichols testified that ‘fine men come from the country (to work on the coke ovens) and their health declines every month, indeed I might say every day caruretted hydrogen gas is constantly evolved, together with carbonic (sic) acid gas, and I trace directly the effects of the gasses on the health of the workmen – asthma and consumption’. In addition to the gasses, dropping loads of coal into the top of a hot chamber must have produced an atmosphere charged with fine dust particles. Not suprisingly Michael McMahon died at the early age of 37 in March 1882 the cause of death was rheumatic mysticis and ascending paralysis.
So Bridget, the mother of three children, was widowed less than 4 years after her marriage to Michael. Bridget had disappeared from England by 1891 the time of the census. The Ellis Island site shows a Bridget (50) and a Mary (18) McMahon sailing for America in 1899 (re-check the information from the US 1910 census). The Ellis Island Archives show that Bridget and her daughter Mary sailed from Queenstown (now Cobh) Co Cork on the Cunard liner Campania and arrived in New York on 30 September 1899. Bridget and Mary had only $10 each and were both described as servants. Interestingly both Bridget, born in Ireland, and Mary, born in Tow Law, were described as Irish. As required on the manifest, the women declared that neither had been in prison, or in a workhouse. The ship’s doctor declared that both were in good health and neither were cripples! The supplement to the manifest describes both as white, their mother tongue English and both were catholics. The ship’s manifest is written in a very poor hand, and the most interesting pieces of information are the most difficult to read. Bridget was going to join her sister Mary (?) and Mary McMahon was going to join her cousin Ellen Monaghan? Both had addresses in New York. Bridget and Mary’s last place of residence is recorded as Ennis. I assume this means Ennis County Clare which is a long way from Queenstown, and even further from Dunnamore, but there is little doubt that the women who sailed on the Campania were my gt gt aunt and her daughter and there is no doubt that they emmigrated to Pennslyvania, as shown by the 1910 US federal census.
Bridget in Pennsylvania
Above, several vessels on the river; the steel towns of both Homestead and Pittsburgh brought in coal and ore and exported steel by river. Above, another view of Homestead.
Bridget, remarried, and widowed for the second time, appears on the US census in 1910 as Bridget Mulvihill, a boarding housekeeper at 449 Fifth Avenue, Homestead, Allegheny Co. Pennsylvania, her lodgers were Irish steel workers.
Above ‘Buckets’ refers to the steel workers’ lunchbuckets’ or bait tins as they were called in Consett. Below Homestead street market.
Homestead had been transformed by the opening of a steelworks in 1881.
By 1910 the town’s population had risen to 25,000. The town had a history; in 1892 a bitter strike had resulted in a gun battle between the strikers and agents from the Pinkerton Detective Agency who were attempting to break the strike. Over ten people were killed and martial law was declared. The Carnegie Steel Company eventually defeated the strikers. There was a substantial, though not huge Irish population in Homestead. In 1907, 259 of 6772 workers at the Steel works were Irish.
Bridget’s boarding house was on 5th Avenue, close to the steel works
There was a recession in Homestead in 1908
Recreation for adults and children in Homestead
Captions read’Washday in a Homestead Court’ and ‘Going home from work’. As with all photos on this section, the pictured come from the social survey ‘Homestead, the households of a Mill Town’ MF Byington New York 1910
Pittsburgh is near the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahella the start of the Ohio River. Homestead is on the south bank of the Monongahella (bottom centre of the map).
Pittsburgh
In 1901 Michael and Hannah McMahon, 18 and 20 respectively, were living with their aunt Ann Monaghan at 17 Nelson Street, Willington. Michael was a miner and Hannah was a dress maker. The three appar at 42 Commercial st Willingon, the three adults shared two rooms! Importantly Ann Monaghan gives Tyrone ireland as her birth place. Ann Monaghan died in 1911. Hannah and Michael then sailed from Liverpool to Ellis Island, New York, the point of entry for immigrants to the USA, on the Cedric.
Built in Belfast by Harland and Wolff in 1902, she carried 365 first class,
160 second class,and 2350 third class pasengers. The Cedric was used
as a troopship during World War I. She was scrapped in 1932.
Michael and Hannah sailed from Liverpool on 9 October 1913, they arrived at Ellis Island on 17 October 1913. Michael’s occupation was coal miner,and Hannah’s house maid. Their last permanent residence was Wellington (a mistranscription of Willington, they travelled with $10 each. Their next of kin was John Monaghan (uncle) of 250 Nelson St Leadgate. Their tickets had been bought by their stepbrother, a Mulvihill? They were on their way to join their mother Bridget McMahon at the Farmers’ Bank Building Pittsburg. Pittsburgh is about 7 miles from Homestead. Michael was 5’4”, with a dark complection and hair, he had gray eyes. His sister was 5’ tall with a fair complection, light coloured hair and gray eyes. The 1920 US Census shows Bridget Mulvihille, and her daughter Mary McMahon at 5433 Second Ave, Pittsburgh, Pa. Bridget, 72, had no occupation, Mary, 38, was working as a waitress in a restaurant. Also in the 15th Ward Pittsburgh at 4523 Second Ave were Michael and Hannah McMahon (mistakenly recorded as man and wife). Michael was a labourer and Hannah had no occupation.
The family appear on the 1930 US census at 319 South Craig St, Bridget was 80 and had no occupation, she was a naturalised American citizen. Mary (50) was a maid in a private house, as was Hannah (48). Michael, single like his sisters, was 46 and had no occupation. Mary, like her mother was a naturalised American, Hannah and Michael were ‘aliens’. The family had eight lodgers.
Bridget died in Pittsburgh on the 2 September 1935.
Hannah and Mary McMahon.
The Kennedy family in Ampleforth received Christmas cards from the McMahons up to the late 1940’s, or perhaps the 50’s. Margaret (Monaghan) Butler remembered, Hannah writing (in the context of post war rationing in Britain) ‘You poor things in England, why don’t you come over to America’? Margaret told her teacher who retorted ‘Don’t be silly, your family can’t possibly afford the fare to America!’ Mary McMahon died in March 1971 in Pittsburgh. It is likely that her brother and sister died before 1962, as unlike Mary they do not appear on the American Social Security death index.
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