Tag: family

On the Birth of Mary Josephine D’Arcy

Mary D’Arcy’s daughters (standing), May and Grace.
Identities of the seated women are unknown.

My paternal great-grandmother, Mary Josephine D’Arcy, was born in Oughterard, Ireland on March 5, 1871. I do not have a photograph of Mary herself, so I am sharing a photograph of her two eldest daughters, Mary (“May”) and Grace. They look so loving and joyful.

Nana said that her mother was born in Ireland to French parents. This isn’t exactly true. The D’Arcys are believed to be descended from a French family that arrived in Ireland in the 14th century. One of the 14 Tribes of Galway, the D’Arcys were a merchant family who wielded great power. I am sure that story was told down the generations with great pride.

In this branch of my family tree, my father’s mother’s family, I am confronting multiple spellings of the family name. Mary’s last name was D’Arcy, but I have seen Darcy and Dorsey as variations in vital records and censuses.

According to the Irish Civil Marriage Record, Martin Darcy and Bridget Davin were wed on April 15, 1868. He was 24 and she was 22. They were both laborers in Porridgetown, and their fathers Rodger Darcy and Peter Davin are listed as farmers. Porridgetown is a township of Oughterard.

In the 1871 Civil Birth Registry in County Galway, Ireland, Martin Darcy and Bridget Davin registered their infant daughter Mary (my great-grandmother) as born in Porridgetown. Kate Davin was present at the birth. I am assuming that Kate was a female relative of Bridget’s. Seven years later, Bridget D’Arcy‘s death was recorded in Porridgetown. The cause? Uterine inflammation.

Mary D’Arcy arrived in the United States when she was seventeen, possibly with her older brother Rodger. I do not know where she worked, but I do know that she met Peter Burkhardt in Boston, and they married in Chelsea on September 21, 1893. In the Massachusetts Marriage Registry, Mary’s parents are listed as Martin Dorsey and Bridget Davin.

Mary had nine children in 18 years. Her second born, Peter, died in infancy during a cholera outbreak in 1896. Nana used to recite the names of her siblings: Herbie, Marty, Gracie, May, Carrie, Dorie, (she was the youngest daughter, Lillian) and Alfie.

Mary died on March 16, 1927, at the age of 56, in Revere, Massachusetts. I do not know where she is buried.

To my father’s mother’s mother–because you endured, I am here. I did not know your voice, your dreams, or your fears, yet I know that you lived.

On the Birth of Bertha Margaret Rau

Bertha’s children: George, Francis (my grandfather), John, and Mary.
Not pictured: James (infant death), and Frederick (not yet born).

My paternal great-grandmother, Bertha Margaret Rau, was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan on February 11, 1885. I do not have a photograph of Bertha herself, so I am sharing a photograph of her children.

When Bertha was born, East 2nd Street was part of a dense immigrant neighborhood known as Kleindeutschland—“Little Germany.” It was one of the largest German‑speaking communities in the world outside Europe, as I learned from this article from the Lower East Side Preservation Initiative.

Bertha’s parents, George and Fanny Rau, were married in 1876 in Karlsruhe, Germany. They had at least one child, Elise, before emigrating to the United States. I am still digging to learn more about my German ancestors, but chances are they moved from hardship in Germany into a different kind of hardship in New York.

“When they walked off their ships, hundreds of thousands of men, women and children stayed in New York and had to live in apartments that were cramped, dark, and impossibly small—in buildings that were decaying firetraps, with substandard or broken plumbing and conditions not fit for a human being. Much that they found on the Lower East Side and northward is documented in records, government agency reports and graphic photos in the City’s Municipal Archives and Library. These include Jacob Riis’ ground-breaking book, How the Other Half Lives.” ~ The Early Tenements of New York–Dark, Dank, and Dangerous

In 1885, most babies in German immigrant neighborhoods were delivered by midwives, or Hebammen in German. For German Catholic families, such as my ancestors, a priest might be called to perform an emergency baptism if a newborn seemed weak or unlikely to survive.

By the late 19th century, male physicians were beginning to provide obstetrical care. The neighboring German Dispensary offered free medical treatment to German immigrants. Philanthropists Oswald and Anna Ottendorfer—German immigrants themselves— financed the clinic and the German-English library located alongside.

Bertha Margaret Rau left New York with her father and some of her siblings after the death of her mother. She worked in a carpet maker in Boston, Massachusetts. There she met and married Michael Gilfeather. Bertha had six children in 12 years. In 1908, her baby James died of pneumonia when he was 6 months old.

Bertha died on August 9, 1956, at the age of 71, and is buried in Roslindale, Massachusetts.

To my father’s father’s mother–because you endured, I am here. I did not know your voice, your dreams, or your fears, yet I know that you lived.