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The Thumb's Christmas

  Our daughter, Anne, was a prolific artist when she was young. Our refrigerator door was full of her drawings, paintings, and school artwork. She liked to create little books, too, as she was also a natural storyteller. One Christmas when she was about eight years old, Anne wrote and illustrated a Christmas story for her little brother, James. If memory serves, she drew her inspiration from a book she had recently gotten from the library by illustrator Ed Emberley. He wrote and illustrated The Great Thumbprint Drawing Book . In it, Emberley showed how to make a variety of animals and people using a thumbprint as a starting point. The creations are simple and charming. It's amazing what you can do with a blog of ink and a few black lines. It's art that's accessible to anyone. Anne's story is called "The Thumb's Christmas," and is based on our family. There is a thumb with glasses (Anne), a thumb with little hair (toddler James), a thumb with a mustache (Ji...
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PATRICK MCANDREW

Could this be Patrick McAndrew? Family members had identified it as such. Some clues, such as the beard support the photo's creation around or after the Civil War. The man sports a "chin curtain," made popular by none other than Abraham Lincoln.1

31 Days of Writing Family History Challenge

January 18, 2022:   Paternal Great, Great Grandfather #2  - Patrick McAndrew (About 1838 - 1892)


by Nancy Gilbride Casey

Today's subject, Patrick McAndrew, is another Irish immigrant great, great grandfather whose origins are shrouded in mystery at this time. 

We pick up the thread of Patrick's life beginning in 1870s, when he is living in North Scranton and working as a mine laborer. He is then about 31 years old, putting his approximate year of birth as 1838-39. Patrick is married to Ann Kelly, and the father of two children, Ellen and Dominic.2

By 1880, his family grew to include our great grandmother Margaret McAndrew, then 9, as well as brother Dominic and Joseph, and sisters Ellen, Mary Ann, Catherine and Barbara, all born in Pennsylvania. One more daughter, Bridget, was born to the couple in November 1880—after the 1880 census was taken.3

Patrick's date of emigration is yet unknown, but was likely sometime between 1863 and 1869. He had married to Ann by 1864 or so. A marriage record has been identified from the parish in Addergoole, County Mayo, Ireland which records the marriage of a Patrick McAndrew and an Ann Kelly on 18 February 1863, which could be this couple, as it fits the timeline of their children Ellen and Dominic being born by the 1870 census. Further confirmation of this record is needed, but it looks promising.4

A marriage record for Patrick McAndrew & Ann Kelly has been identified from Addergoole, County Mayo, shown here to the south of Crossmolina on the west side of Lough Conn.5

Patrick did not live a very long life; he died on 23 September 1892 at the age of about 50-52. An obituary from the local paper indicated that he had blood poisoning. In the time before antibiotics to treat such a condition, this necessitated amputation of his hand, which apparently still did not ease his suffering.6

Interestingly, at the time of his death, both this obituary and his will indicated he had seven children, though he had eight total; of them, only Barbara is not named in his will, indicating she must have died prior to 1892.7

Patrick McAndrew's obituary which ran in the local Scranton paper. Hyde Park Catholic Cemetery is now known as Cathedral Cemetery.

BONUS: Did Patrick serve in the Civil War?

The question of whether Patrick McAndrew served in the Civil War is based on information passed down in our family. Attempting to determine if it was true proved to be more complex than I had ever imagined. 

The reason? There were no fewer than 6 men named Patrick McAndrew who lived in the Scranton area at the time of the Civil War.

After researching, my conclusion is that it is unlikely that our Patrick McAndrew served in the Civil War (though I am willing to be unpersuaded if new information emerges!).8

  • I identified two men named Patrick McAndrew who were from the Providence/Scranton area and who had Civil War service records. Their pension records indicate they died well after our Patrick McAndrew did, so, unfortunately, neither can be the correct man.

  • Of the six men named Patrick McAndrew who were identified as Civil War draft registrants in Luzerne County, one Patrick McAndrew, aged 30 who lived in Providence most closely matches the particulars of the our family member. If both the Patrick in the Addergoole marriage record and the Patrick in the draft registration are the same man and our ancestor, it would mean he would have had to emigrate from Ireland to the Unites States between February and June 1863 to be in both records. Not impossible....but this is why further corroboration is needed.

  • Several scenarios could account for the family story that Patrick McAndrew served in the Civil War, including that he was a draft registrant but never served, or that he was confused with another man who did serve, easily done when so many men of the same name inhabited the same geographic area.

  • Records indicate that no man named Patrick McAndrew from the Luzerne, Pennsylvania area was either a deserter/substitute deserter or a conscientious objector to the war.

  • It may be that one or more of the other men of the same name may be related to our ancestor—perhaps a cousin or uncle. Future research might reveal such a relationship.


NOTES

1 Photo identified as Patrick McAndrew, unknown date/photographer/location. Private collection of T. Gilbride [address for private use], 2022. Photo provenance: Margaret McAndrew Gilbride > Joseph Gilbride, Sr. > Margaret Gilbride Firestone > T. Gilbride.

2 1870 United States Census," database, 1870 U.S. Census, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, City of Scranton, Third Ward, p. 35, dwelling 249, family 250, Patrick McAndrews household; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7163/images/4278801_00139 : accessed 30 Jan 2019); citing NARA microfilm publication M593, roll 1368.

3 For residence & family: 1880 United States Federal Census, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, supervisor district 5, enumeration district (ED) 55, page 30 (penned), dwelling 223, family 236, Patrick McCandraw household; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6742/images/4244365-00740 : accessed 31 Jan 2019); citing NARA microfilm publication T9, roll 1338, image 30. For Bridget: B.S. Shuta, transcriber, Holy Rosary Church (Scranton, Lackawanna, Pennsylvania), Baptismal Register 1860-1887, p. 259, entry for birth of Bridget McAndrew, b. 17 November 1880; transcribed from digital images, "Teresa M. McAndrew Memorial Catholic Record Collection," Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

4 Addergoole, County Mayo, Ireland, “Ireland, Select Catholic Marriage Registers, 1775-1912,” McAndrew-Kelly (18 Feb 1863); database and digital images, “A Registry of Marriages by the Rev. P. McHale, P.P. of Addergoole 1860” image 24, Ancestry (http://Ancestry.com : accessed 2 Feb 2019); citing Celtic Catholic Registers. Digitized images. Dublin, Ireland: E-Celtic, Limited.

5 For death: Board of Health of the City of Scranton, Return of a Death, Patrick McAndrews, Death Certificates Vol. 30, 1892, Record of deaths, 1878-1905 in the City of Scranton, Pennsylvania, database with images, FamilySearch.com (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9YG-P3TY-C  : accessed 30 Jan 2019), FHL film 7700819, Image 1020. For obit: "Patrick McAndrew," death notice, The Scranton Tribune (Scranton, Pennsylvania), 23 Sept 1892, p. 7, col. 3; photocopy from microfilm, Albright Memorial Library, Scranton, Pennsylvania.

6 Ireland Reaching Out (https://irelandxo.com/ireland-xo/history-and-genealogy/timeline/county-mayo-1830s : accessed 18 January 2022), "Ireland in the 1830s," citing Samuel Lewis, Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, (London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837).

7 For obit: "Patrick McAndrew," The Scranton Tribune, p. 7., 1892. For will: "Register of Wills, Orphan's Court, 1878-1994," Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Entry for Patrick McAndrew, 1893, Estate No. 2880; Lackawanna Public Inquiries (http://www.lpa-homes.org/LPA_Public_Inquiries/Views/CAXRW_Views/RWH460D.aspx : accessed 31 Jan 2019).

8 Nancy Gilbride Casey, "Did Patrick McAndrew Serve in the Civil War?" privately held research report, N. Casey [address for private use], 2021.


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