Anna Elizabeth O'Connell Faulkner: From Lincoln To Kennedy (52 Ancestors #13)

Anna Elizabeth O'Connell Faulkner was my great grandmother. And my namesake. She lived to be 100 1/2. She was born when Lincoln was president and she died a year before Kennedy was shot. Thinking about this just really boggled my mind. Her life straddled two centuries. When I think of all the technology, the inventions, the comforts of life that occurred in her lifetime I'm sort of blown away.

Let me paint a picture, if I may.

Anna was born Sept 4, 1861 in Dutchess County New York. Anna was the youngest of  twelve children born to James and Mary Dempsey O'Connell. James and Mary immigrated to New York from Ireland, with their first three children, about 1842. Their fourth child was born in Kings County New York in 1844.

By the time Anna was born the family was settled in Dutchess County New York.  Abraham Lincoln had just become the 16th President of the United States. Daily life was still pretty primitive. The family was living in an uninsulated wood frame house with an outhouse for life's necessities. The home was most likely heated by a fireplace or wood stove. Candlelight or oil lamps illuminated the evening hours. I imagine baths were taken in the kitchen, once a week, with cool water after the third or fourth bather took their turn.

One of my favorite films, "Streets Of New York", opens with a portrayal of life in New York in 1862.

What was life really like at the start of the civil war? To us it seems such a quaint, far away time, but it was a thoroughly modern world in 1861. Was Anna aware of the times? Was her life any more difficult because of the war? Three of her brothers enlisted, but I imagine she was too small to know what was going on.

Poughkeepsie Female School

Although Anna had 11 brothers and sisters, she was still able to attend school and graduated from the Poughkeepsie Female School. I have not been able to find out much about this school, except that in it's time it was a very impressive institute. I believe they instructed girls through the eighth grade.

After her graduation Anna went on to teach school. I do not know at what grade level she taught.

Anna went "West" to St. Paul, Minnesota in 1881. I do not know why. Her father had died several years prior. Her mother, along with two brothers and two sisters also took the long journey west.

Upon arrival in St. Paul Anna became a bookkeeper for the large wholesale dry goods outfit Lindeke, Schurmeier and Warner.

St Paul MN c. 1893

In 1891 Anna married Dr. Lloyd Anson Faulkner and the couple moved to Duluth MN, where Dr. Faulkner started a Natural Science Establishment called Dr. L. A. Faulkner & Co. Purveyors of gems, iron and copper mined from Lake Superior.

In 1892 the couple had the first of their five children, the artist Raymond Lloyd Faulkner. Dr. Faulkner, naturally, attended to the birth.

By 1900 the young family of five had returned to St. Paul, residing at 165 Forbes Av.

Let's look at life in 1900 America. William McKinley was just elected the 25th President of the United States. Women were not yet allowed to vote. People were enjoying music in their own homes thanks to wind-up phonographs. Indoor plumbing was still just a curiosity. Electricity was beginning to appear and replace the dangerous gas light in many homes. Houses were now being heated centrally with coal and hot water.

Anna must have been amazed at all the technological advances being made at the time!

washing machine ad c.1910

1917. The world was at war. This was Anna's second war. This time she is old enough to remember.  The Faulkner's now had five children. Three boys and two girls. Anna's first born was drafted. Anna's second son lied about his age to enlist. Automobiles were replacing horses, people were listening to the radio in their own homes. Plumbing moved indoors, at least for cold water! Iceboxes helped keep food fresher longer. The washing machine became a wash day savior.

The world had become a rapidly changing place, I wonder what Anna thought of it all?

1920's publicity still

The 1920's arrived and the world, as Anna knew it, was shrinking rapidly. Both of her sons arrived home safely from the Great War. The 18th and the 19th amendments had been ratified in rapid succession. Anna now had the right to vote, to be an equal to her husband in the deciding of the country's direction and rule. Plumbing moved completely indoors. Electricity arrived in the home and new time saving appliances were introduced. Among the explosion of new inventions were the electric refrigerator, stove and vacuum cleaner! The telephone became a new way to communicate with friends and neighbors. Airplanes made it easier than ever before to travel across country. Moving pictures became all the rage.

In 1928 penicillin was discovered, effectively eradicating so many common diseases that previously resulted in certain death.

America was riding high and Anna was right there in the middle of it.

Hooverville of the 30's

Then the world came crashing down.

October 29, 1929. Black Tuesday.

Anna, 68 years old, had raised her children and sent them out into the world. At a point in her life when she should have been preparing to settle in for a quiet retirement with her husband, her life was thrown upside down. Her husband continued to practice medicine, taking payments for services any way he could. I don't know how the Great Depression affected her or her life for certain. I can wonder and imagine as to the struggle it may have been after the decade of living large and easy.

In 1933 Anna's husband died of cancer. Anna, at 72 years old, moved in with her daughter and son in law.

This seems like a good place to end our story, but there was so much more to come!

no caption needed

1942, the world was at war ... again. This was Anna's third war. It was now time for her third son to serve his country. Franklin D. Roosevelt was in office. The 32nd President of the United States. Women were wearing pants in public. There were pay phones on every corner. The atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

MLK

The 1950's arrived with a joie de vive not seen since the early 1920's. Television arrived and became a commonplace fixture in the modern home. TV dinners were replacing home cooked meals on weeknights. The civil rights movement was gaining momentum. Air raid and civil defense sirens were now a part of the fabric of life. The pastoral farmland of the nation was rapidly being eaten up by new housing. Air traffic was commonplace.

Jan 20, 1961. John F Kennedy was sworn into office as the 35th President of the United States.

Anna was 99 years old.

In September 1961 she celebrated her 100th birthday.

Anna O'Connell Faulkner on her 100th birthday

Anna Elizabeth O'Connell Faulkner died on April 18, 1962. She lived through 3 wars, 19 Presidents, and an unprecedented technology explosion, the likes of which we may not see again.

Oh, and she had a glass eye ......

Four generations Anne Faulkner holding Anne Faulkner

Synchronicity? Happenstance? A Little Help From My Ghosts .....

 Yesterday morning, for no particular reason, I was thinking about my great-grandmother, the one I am named after. I got to wondering what she looked like as a young woman. I have one or two photos of her as an elderly woman, but that's all. I was wishing there was some way to make a photo "young", the way technology can make a person "age".

Silly.

Random thoughts on a random day.

The thought left my head almost as quickly as it had appeared.

Later, I sat down to scan some photos for my new series Photo Friday. I had recently {re}discovered an old album my parents had put together. There are some real gems in it that I wanted to share.

In the back of the album was an envelope. An envelope I had not seen before. (Or perhaps simply overlooked?) In the envelope was THIS photo.

Holy ....... moly!

Why had I never, ever seen this before??

The photo is ragged, waterstained, faded - but quite possibly will claim a place in my Top Ten best finds.

Not only was this a photo of my great-grandmother, Anna, at about age 30, but (score!) a never before seen image of my 2nd great grandmother, Mary Dempsey! And, and, and siblings!! AND the back was labeled!

I can place this photo sometime around 1890, taken in Minnesota shortly after the family moved from New York. The whereabouts of Katie post-1880 had been a mystery, but here she is! The men? Why they are not labeled is odd, but I suspect they are Hugh O'Connell in the upper left, and little brother Thomas, they had both moved to Minnesota with 'Mother O'Connell' and the rest of the clan.

The synchronicity of it all did not dawn on me until this morning. I had planned to use this photo on Friday as my inaugural Photo Friday post when I was reminded of yesterday's thought. How odd, really, that scant hours after I was wondering about Anna I should find this photo? I'm sure I've thought of her before and wondered.

Maybe it has something to do with my decision to return to my "Why". Maybe it was the full moon? Maybe it was merely a coincidence, or maybe ........




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Mary Dempsey O'Connell: Irish Rebellion Immigrant (52 Ancestors #3)

I have not done a great deal of in depth research on Mary. She had proved to be a bit of a brick wall, as many women ancestors can be. I have chosen her as one of my 52 Ancestors because I have had difficulty finding more than census and city directory records for her. I hope that in writing what I know I may start to discover new bits to add to her life.

Pastoral Irish Cottages c.1820

Mary Dempsey was born about 1815 in Ireland. Her parents are as yet UNK. Nothing is known of her early life in Ireland. It can be presumed that it was hard, the population at that time was soaring and the work was leaving Ireland for more industrialized England. Workhouses were being erected to house the destitute. Life was becoming extremely difficult for native Irish men and women. Their traditional way of life was being threatened. Families were being split apart as the government tried to gain control of it's vast unemployed population. I don't imagine the prospects were encouraging for a young woman in such a depressed country at this time in history.

 Mary married James O'Connell, who was at least 10, possibly 12, years her senior, about 1838, and their first of twelve children was born in or about 1839. The Irish Rebellion was heating up and I imagine it was a time of much unrest as tradition was being pushed out by modernization and the English were imposing their ideas upon the Irish. Mary gave birth to her second child in or about 1841. By the time their third child was born, about 1842, I imagine things were looking worrisome for the new, rapidly growing family. [The alternate possibility I have considered is that Mary may have married James closer to 1843, that James was a widower and the first three children were not Mary's natural children.]

At some point between 1842 and 1844 Mary and James decide to emigrate to America.

Cutaway of ship

The trip would have taken between 6 and 14 weeks depending on time of year and weather conditions. They most likely would have travelled below decks in steerage, crammed with others who dreamed of a new life in America.. Mary quite possibly was pregnant during the voyage, and caring for 2 infants and a toddler. Conditions must have been dire at home for a young family with small children to gamble an ocean voyage to an unknown land.

Arriving in America

Upon arriving in their new country, the family lived for a time in Kings Co, New York, where Mary gave birth to four more children. New York in 1850 was most likely not a very hospitable place. The Irish immigrants were less than welcomed when they arrived. I imagine Mary, James and their young children had a tough time of it those first few years.

By 1850 Mary and James had settled in Poughkeepsie, New York. The family had grown to seven children under the age of 10. James is recorded as a cabinetmaker, Mary is recorded as unable to read or write. The neighbors in their new community were a mixture of Irish and English.

In 1860 the family has grown by another four children. James is now listed as a laborer. They do not own any real estate yet, but the value of their personal estate is equal to or greater than the neighbors. Things are going well in their new homeland. Mary is a very busy homemaker with 12 members of the household to care for, ten children and two adults. It appears that the first born son, Patrick, has left the family home.

1861. America is at war. With itself. Three of Mary's sons are old enough to fight. (To date I have found records for only one son, Hugh, who fought and survived. Hugh lived with his mother until the day she died.) If my alternate theory is correct then only Hugh would be Mary's natural son, the other two boys would be step sons. I can find no record of the first two boys after 1860.

Frame House c. 1870

1870 finds the family still in Poughkeepsie, NY. Their twelfth and final child (my paternal great grandmother) appears for the first time. James is a home owner and a U.S. citizen with voting rights. (I have not found the documents to prove this yet, but it is recorded in the census as such) Two more children have moved out of the family home. Their neighbors are Irish, English and New Yorkers. Their home is valued higher than their neighbors.

The 1875 New York census lets us glimpse at what Mary and James had accomplished since setting out from all that was ancestral and familiar, to forge a better life for their children. They are home and land owners, well, James is anyway. Their home is valued at or above the neighboring homes. The neighborhood has changed to include German immigrants and many native New Yorkers.

By 1880 Mary is widowed. She is living still in her beloved home in Poughkeepsie, NY with six of her grown children. But the story does not end there.

Mary has one final adventure ahead of her.

Sometime prior to 1888 Mary, along with two sons and three daughters, decided to leave her family home, her friends and many of her children behind in New York, and move to St Paul, Minnesota. I wish I knew why. I can find no evidence of the reason for such a long distance move so late in her life. All of her children were single. Perhaps something happened at home or perhaps one of the sons secured work.

Minnesota Street Car c.1890

The last records I can find for Mary are both in 1895. The 1895 City Directory listing and the 1895 Minnesota Territorial Census. She does not appear anywhere after this date. I have found no record of her death. no burial listing. Mary left the world as she came into it, mysteriously, quietly, unknown.

But she lived a most adventurous life. 

Mary was a strong resilient Irishwoman who left a land of poverty for the promise of a better life.

And succeeded.