Patrick Geraghty

NO IRISH Landlord after landlord turned away the newly arrived Geraghty family as they searched for an acceptable home in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1884 or so the family story goes. A large burly bearded man, Patrick looked the epitome of the rowdy Irish immigrant that the landlords were hoping to discourage, but in fact he was the the opposite,  a tee-totaling, hard working, god-fearing, man.  They missed out on a great tenant.

465 Topping Street

Not finding suitable lodgings the family instead purchased land on Topping Street in 1885 and built a house.  That is a story itself, starting with the \seller of the lots not registering the sales until three years after the houses were built, to remodeling the house a year after it was built to create the second story ..... you'll find it all in 465 Topping Street: A House History.  The house remained in the family until 1936 when Patrick's daughter Bridget Geraghty sold it.

But back to Patrick.  He was born in Ireland 31 Jan 1839 probably in Islandeady Parish.  No record has been found, registers for the parish start later that year.

Patrick married Mary Killeen on 21 Feb 1863 in Islandeady RC Parish, Mayo, Ireland  

Auntie Dode wrote that ...  "The newly married Geraghty's moved to Carnaclay (Carrownaclea), near Westport in County Mayo.  They had six children.  Patrick was an Irish laborer who traveled to England to work. While he was away from home the children would work on their small farm, raising their own food. They were very poor.  The children remember spreading manure by hand and washing clothes in the bay with sticks and stones.  They lived on boiled potatoes (peeled by hand after cooking as they had no knives). They were poor, honest, and very pious people, with great faith in the Lord. The older children remember, too, the bread vans of Carnaclay, having tea in Westport, working long and hard and having little food."

Patrick and family arrived in Boston on the Scandinavian in May 1884 with the intention of traveling on to St. Paul.  They came unencumbered with goods, having only two pieces of baggage among them.  It is unknown whether they had any funds, but seems unlikely, especially considering the memories of the children.  Those memories also make it more likely they were part of an immigration scheme.  See Geraghty Immigration.

The entire family chipped in and lived in the house.  The 1888 Directory shows Patrick as a laborer, John as a plasterer, Patrick a printer, and Edward a canvassar.  After her marriage in 1892 Winifred and her husband James Tracy also lived in the household.

Patrick, never afraid of hard work, was an employee of St. Paul Water Works for many years. After his retirement he found it difficult to be idle and he took up the position of custodian at the Court House of St. Paul.  At the time of his death in 1923 of pneumonia at the age of 84 is was working as a "Watchman" for the city.

The Ancestry of Jean Ann English

Two Sisters Alone

Pictures of the Mind
2009 Jean Ann English Madden

“Imagine” Mother said one morning as we sat on her shady patio in Green Valley Arizona. And she told this story.

She told of how she, just five, was left alone to care for her little sister. Her father dead, her mother, out of necessity, working to support the three of them. It is true that her mother’s sister lived downstairs in the duplex that was their home, and so not really all alone.  Aunt Maggie was there to keep an eye on them. Mother told how some days she was given a nickel or a dime and instructed to go down the block to the grocery store on the corner and buy something for their lunch. She told how she would hold her little sister’s hand, walk to the store and buy a little cake.

 “Can you imagine being left alone like that," she asked so softly, so sadly.

I can't imagine such a thing, can you?  

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Jewel (JuJu) and Mary Agnes (May) Geraghty

Mary Agnes Geraghty was born 26 Jul 1892 in Saint Paul, Minnesota to John Geraghty and Mary Agnes Walsh.  Her Sister Jewel was born 10 May 1894.  They had two younger sisters Winnifred (Oct 1895 - May 1896) and Angella (Jul 1897 - Mar 1898).

John Geraghty passed away in Nov 1897 at the age of 33 of consumption, leaving his widow with three small daughters. After the death of Angella, Mary returned to work...not to the Ryan Hotel where she had been the head of housekeeping before her marriage, but instead taking up nursing of the ill and elderly, a job that often took her away from her children. They could be found with grandparents and other relatives when she was away.

Aunt Maggie was the sister of Mary Walsh Geraghty.  She had married William Hagerty on 7 May 1895 in St. Paul and by 1897 had a son and another child on the way.  In 1900 the Hagerty's  were renting  539 Partridge St., the second flat  had been let to another family.  That year May and JuJu are listed in the census with their Geraghty grandparents.  Whether they were living at that address in 1897 when May was five is unknown.

Pictures of the Mind: My Mother - 2009 Jean Ann English Madden - A compilation of stories about Mary Agnes Geraghty English.

Geraghty Tombstone
Calvary Cemetery
St. Paul, Minnesota