Mom called me to tell me that she was confused about my original posting about our great grandmother, Emma (Reece). There was something in my posting that just didn’t add up, because she remembered a great-aunt, Elizabeth Hartnett. Well, it’s possible and I know it will shock you all, but I appear to have made a mistake.
In fairness to me, it was my first trip down the Ancestry rabbit hole, and I have learned a lot in the last 2 weeks about how to manage the system.
So – we’re not Swiss or Danish.
Emma’s parents were George and Anna or Annie. They were not in Deerfield. George was born in New York to German parents, though I don’t know anything else about that. Annie / Anna (it appears as both in various places) was born – get this – in MENDOTA ILLINOIS! I knew it, we were always meant to be there. Her father was Joseph Clark from Roscommon, Ireland. If that town sounds familiar, it’s because that’s where the McDonough family was from as well. Small world. Her mother was Elizabeth Datcher from Dublin.
Emma was the second youngest of eight children; Frank, Charles, Mary, Elizabeth, Joseph, Margaret and Leo. They lived at 5705 Sangamon in Chicago. George was a Conductor for the city railway. In the 1910 census, all the children over age 16 were working; Emma was still a student at 11 years old.
I’m working on details of the siblings, but did find that Elizabeth, 1892-1958, married George Hartnett. They had a son, Martin, who according to Mom was “adopted”. I put that in quotes because evidently it was never legal, and when he was a teenager, his birth mom showed up and wanted him back, but he wisely chose to stay with George & Elizabeth. Nana Pat was great friends with Martin.
I apologize for the error, and will do my best to never let it happen again…
More to come-
DMT
Tropp Family History 