Letter Written Circa 1865 by Denis Shanahan
to his brother Michael William Shanahan
[letter from Dennis Shanahan to his brother Michael William Shanahan after the war?]
5
Now I will tell you about my marriage you say that there ought to be no secrets between Brothers. I assure you there are no secrets about me and never was with regard to you and sister. I need not tell you now at this [??] day how I have always looked out for you and sister both with my head and heart and all I possessed I never denied either of ye anything and took good of ye when ye were wild and foolish and we were near each other. I have no secrets to keep now more than ever and it makes me feel bad at this late day to accuse me of inconsistency a thing I never was possessed of I am strictly honest6
it would come better from another but I have got to be my own lawyer in this case Dear Brother. I assure you I would give the world see you and so would sister If I make well this winter I may go to see you if you don’t promise to come when your engagement expires. Now about my marriage. I will be married 4 years next January. I have children living and one I buried the one I lost was, the first born it was 4 months old when it died it was a boy named Patrick Henry was born on St. Patricks day the next is a girl named Margaret Anne I called7
her after sister the next and youngest is a boy named Thomas of called for Father and as I am writing about Thomas I am sorry to let you know he is very sick we thought he would die a few days ago but thank god he is getting better Margaret is 2 years old and Thomas is 8 months he was a great big infant before he got sick my My wifes name is Ellen Kerrigan She was boarding at the Kerrigans where you were stopping when in New York and as I had Kerrigans address that was the first place I went to enquire for you after I landed They told all they thought well of but I went thru a few things after8
as they invited me to call again and as I did not know where you were. I thought they would hear something and let me know but the only I heard from you was through a letter I got from home from sister ------ ----------- I suppose it was to be my fate. I got acquainted with Ellen and we were sparking 4 years off and on before we got married She is a mild quiet woman and very pious. I like her first rate I suppose you remember her she remembers you first rate She wants to know if you remember the night you were at the wedding whe[sp] the old woman fell down stairs.9
My Business is Killing and dressing Poultry a kind of dirty job but I make a little money from time to time I was working for other men when I started for myself. I suppose I had about 100.00 dollars to start with. I took a partner in lately as I could not work it alone he put in another hundred I think we will get along pretty well if you came on you need have a cent of course I am nothing different now to what I always was we have to rise pretty early 3 oclock is the morning but we get through about 4 or 5 in the evening I don’t know how this won’t agree with your Constitution but you10
would get used to it after a while the same as myself the reason we have to rise so early because Washington market is a wholesale market and business commences at that hour Sister desires me to say to you she will send you her likeness when her eye is well which will be the next letter please god and also she got your letter and would have answered it but for her sore eye she will write to you pretty soon she sends her respects to your Southern flower and hopes his general health is well and so do we all let us know if you are married and how you are situated I hope you arm is as strong as ever11
you will have a letter from Sanford P. England he is a Clerk in the War Department in Washington he has 1200 Dollars a year he is married & has one child let me know something about Robert McCarthy if you can I hope he is well I sent him something when he was a prisoner on Johnson’s Island I never heard whether he got them or not if he is around give him my best respects we all join in sending you our best love in the kindest manner and
I remain as ever
P.S. Excuse this long letter and bad writing as my pen was for but I will try and do better next time write as quick as possible as we are very anxious to hear from you direct as before 268 Washington Market your bro DS
Your loving brother till
Death Denis Shanahan
Sisters Margaret Shanahan
Ellen Shanahan
Notes:This sentence is NOT a part of the original document, but rather a comment made by the Transcriptionist, Tina Rhodes.
Margaret "Maggie" Anne Shanahan, daughter of Thomas/Henry Shanahan and Bridget Luby.
The birth order for Denis Shanahan and his siblings is unknown; however, it appears from this statement that Denis may have been the elder brother and that he "took care of" both Michael and Maggie after the death of their parents in Ireland. New Info has come to light in the form of the Shannon Family Bible which indicates that Denis Shanahan's date of birth is 1830 in Limerick, Ireland. This date has not been verified as yet and it seems a little too early as the span between Denis and Michael would have been 11 years, but it does at least confirm that Denis was Michael's ELDER brother.
Since this letter is partial and undated this statement does not tell us the year Denis wed...but it does tell us the month...January. New Info has come to light in the form of the Shannon Family Bible which indicates that Denis Shanahan and Ellen Kerrigan wed on 4 Jan 1861.
Again since this letter is undated, the only thing to be derived from this comment is that Denis' first born was born in the Month of March and died 4 months later in July of the same year. New Info from the Shannon Family Bible indicates that Patrick Henry Shanahan was born 17 Mar 1862 and that he died 16 Aug 1862. Patrick is buried in the Calvary Cemetery, which is located partially in Brooklyn and partially in Queens. Info gathered so far indiates that Patrick is most likely buried in the Queens section of this cemetery.
Probably safe to assume here that Michael's and Denis' sister's proper given name is Margaret Anne. Prior to this letter she was only known by the nickname "Maggie" and the initial "A.".
We had previously assumed that Denis' father's name was Henry; however, if he named his son for his father and gave him the name THOMAS, then we were mistaken about the name Henry OR his father's name is actually some combination of these two given names, i.e., Thomas Henry or Henry Thomas.
Based on the assumption that this letter was written Oct 1865, (see note #9) if Margaret Anne is 2 years old, she would have been born about Oct 1863. New Info has come to light in the form of the Shannon Family Bible which indicates that Margaret "Maggie" Anne Shanahan was born 8 Jul 1863 in NY and died 10 Jan 1893 in NY. She married a Mr. Dick. Given this information it is now possible to understand and date the letter written by Thomas J. Shanahan (her brother) for it is now apparent that the funeral of which he was writing in his letter was that of his sister "Maggie" and not his Aunt Maggie as we at first believed. Read This Letter
A record for the birth of a Thomas Shanaghan on 12 Feb 1865 in Hudson Co, NJ to Elen and Dennis Shanaghan has been located. We are relatively sure that this is the correct record for Thomas the son of Denis Shanahan and Ellen Kerrigan in spite of the misspelling of the last name and the lack of Ellen's maiden name. Based on this record, it is possible to date this letter to October of 1865. New Info has come to light in the form of the Shannon Family Bible which indicates that Thomas J. Shanahan was born on 11 Feb 1865 in Hoboken, Hudson County, NJ.
As of 14 July 2001, I have not been able to locate any records for an Ellen Kerrigan (other than the birth record for Thomas, which does not identify Ellen's maiden name). New Info has come to light in the form of the Shannon Family Bible which indicates that Ellen Kerrigan died on Feb. 1904.
Unknown at this time where Kerrigan's boarding house was in New York City; also unknown if Ellen was simply boarding there and the fact that her last name was the same as the establishment was just a coincindence or if she was actually a relative of the owners of the boarding house.
Since Denis and Michael only have one sister, I would assume from this that Margaret "Maggie" Anne Shanahan had not yet immigrated to the US and was still at "home" in Ireland. This helps us narrow her immigration date to after 1857 (the year Denis would likely have immigrated based on the mention in this letter that he "sparked" for 4 years before marrying Ellen Kerrigan (m. Jan 1861)).
Since Ellen Kerrigan was at the Kerrigan boarding house when Michael was there, it may be another indication that she was a relative of the owners of the boarding house and NOT simply boarding there herself. This is conjecture, of course, but we *might* be able to locate this house if we make a careful search of census records in NY for the time period for the surname KERRIGAN.
This is indeed a dirty job! Combined with the address which Denis gives at the end of this letter (268 Washington Market) and other mentions further on in the letter it can be assumed that his place of employment was the old and quite famous Washington Market in NY. Parts of this market ran from Fulton to Vesey Streets along the Hudson River and I although it appears that Denis first lived in NY at some point he moved across the river, for that is where his son Thomas J. Shanahan was born in Feb of 1865. Read about the history of the Washington Market
Who is Sanford P. England? Deirdre Shannon has just received a copy of Ellen Kerrigan and Denis Shanahan's wedding certificate from St. Brigid's Church in Manhattan. One of the witnesses to the marriage was Sanford England. Obviously he must have been a close friend of Denis' and it is apparent from this mention in the letter that he was also acquainted with and must have carried on a regular correspondence with Michael. What makes this interesting? Research shows that Sanford P. England fought on the Union side during the Civil war (73rd Infantry Regiment NY). He, like Michael was in from the very beginning and served for the duration of the war. I find it VERY interesting that two individuals would carry on a correspondence never knowing if they might be lining up across from one another on a battlefield!
KNOWN FACTS ABOUT SANFORD P. ENGLAND: On the 1860 Federal Census for the State of NY in New York County. Born in Ireland c. 1837 and living in NY with the RYAN family. Occupation listed as "Bill Poster". Enlisted as a Private on 23 August 1861 in New York City, NY at the age of 23. Transfered on 01 September 1861 and enlisted in Company H, 73rd Infantry Regiment New York on 29 September 1861 and was discharged on 23 February 1864 in Washington, DC. Wife's given name was either Bridget Susan or Susan Bridget England. Sanford died sometime before 1 June 1877, for on that date his wife filed a pension application. She is listed in the 1890 and 1891 Washington DC directories as the Widow of Sanford England.
Did Denis know Robert E. McCarthy? Or did he just know about him through Michael? We believe that McCarthy was an Irishman and that it *might* be possible that both Denis and Michael knew him before immigrating to the US. Michael and Robert E. McCarthy were very close during the war and remained in touch until Michael's death in 1887. View a Picture of Robert E. McCarthy and read a letter he wrote detailing Michael's military service.Under Construction--more notes on the way!
NEW INFORMATION: Comes from the descendants of Thomas J. Shanahan. Yup, we've finally found them. The reason it took so long is because Thomas J. Shanahan changed his name from Shanahan to SHANNON (sometime after 1893 but before 1920). All of his descendants now go by the surname SHANNON. So, how do we know we've got the right family? Well, the SHANNON descendants have a family bible which lists the parents of Thomas J. Shanahan/SHANNON as Denis Shanahan and Ellen Kerrigan and all of their children EXACTLY match the info we had to date. This family bible [which was originally owned by Denis Shanahan] is currently in the possession of Doris McDonald Marshall of Woodside, Queens County, New York. Doris is the granddaughter of Thomas J. Shanahan/SHANNON thru his daughter Elizabeth "Lizzy" Lillian Shanahan/SHANNON. This is the daughter who is referenced in footnote #7 of the letter dated circa 24 Jan 1893 written by Thomas J. Shanahan. READ THIS LETTER. Doris McDonald Marshall does not have a computer and is not currently online, but another descendant, Thomas Joseph Shanahan/SHANNON and his wife Deirdre are. Thomas Joseph Shanahan/SHANNON is the grandson of Thomas J. Shanahan/SHANNON through his son Francis "Frank" T. Shanahan/SHANNON. All of this new information from Doris McDonald Marshall is being generously shared with me by Deirdre Shannon and we owe her a great debt of gratitude. Hat's off to Deirdre and our NEW found Shanahan/SHANNON cousins in New York!
Note: Transcribed by Tina Rhodes from a photocopy of the original letter [original is partial and incomplete, missing several pages] and sent to me via email as a word processing document. I have made no corrections to this transcription; it is presented exactly as it was sent to me [K. L. Rhodes] EXCEPT for the addition of my footnotes. Accuracy of the transcription cannot be determined at this point as a photocopy of the original has not yet been provided to me. Update: Photocopy has been provided; links to scans of the original pages now available. Please go to Letters to view them.
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