Letter Written 22 JAN 1893 by Thomas J. Shanahan
[Thomas J. Shanahan later changed his surname to SHANNON]
(son of Denis Shanahan and Ellen Kerrigan)
to his Aunt Sallie M. Potter Shanahan
Spouse of Michael William Shanahan
[Letter from T.J. Shanahan, son of Dennis Shanahan, to Sallie Potter
Shanahan?]
5
I was instrumental in getting the family reunited once more. I went
up to Auntie Maggie’s on the morning
of the funeral I arrived at her house at 6:30 am and
the ceremony
took place at 10:00 am giving her
ample time to get down to see her
but; not being on friendly terms with Maggie> or
her husband; she
thought it wise not to venture in the house; but instead went to the
church and on the way out my wife seen her and shook hands with her,
and then they all shook hands with her and she got invited
6
to attend the funeral had she known the way she was going to be
treated, she would have gone to the house to see her but being of a
very sensitive nature, she did not think it safe to do so. It was
the second time in all my life that I seen all the family together.
Auntie it is now 3 years 7 months and 4 days since I received your
last letter. And in my last letter I sent you a picture of Johnnie,
who is quite a boy now; but, we have two more since then a boy and a
bouncing girl
7
going on five months and named after herself and
the boy we named
after Henry. We have had a great luck with our
children in regard to
sickness also ourselves, neither of us had use for a doctor. We had a
Cholera scare here last summer and it really was quite serious as
there was ships laying down the bay with cases of that dreaded fever
on board. It is the most deadly of all the diseases. It was that
disease that made the dirty City of Hamburg the curse of the whole
world where they were dying
8
at the rate of 500 a day and any one in the city
could not leave it under no pretence what ever, but, all the same on the first outbreak of the disease people left
the city some coming to this city and fetching the disease with them. I hope it don’t reach us this coming
summer for it is hard to tell where it will wind up. I started to write several times; but, I filled up with emotion I
had to give it up until now almost two weeks after her death; but, you must excuse me Auntie as I could not
write sooner
9
We enjoyed the holidays immensely, having a tree for the boys, and they were having a nice time with santy
Claus, while over the river all was not so Maggie
being sick and the baby being sick now every
body has changed from mirth to sadness. John Dick’s father thought quite a lot of Maggie while living and now
being “Dead” he still shows his love for her, by buying a splendid plot in a nice part of the cemetery and gave
orders for a nice enclosure no expence was spared
10
having a splendid casket, and solem High Mass celebrated over her at his fathers expence. My mother is taking care of the house and the children and it is quite an undertaking for the Old Lady,
being well advanced in years but she holds her age pretty well considering all the trouble she has gone through
for the last five years. She is troubled with rhumatism very bad sometimes; being up in the hospital for five
weeks with it; it was that short space of time that told on Maggies health. She never picked up after that
11
Auntie Maggie’s husband is crippled pretty bad
with the same disease as the Old Lady: he is also afflicted with cancer on the lip which compelled him to retire
from work altogether; but, I think they are so fixed that they will never want for anything, having quite a snug
bank account. I would like to write a few words to Dennie, but, I have not the time or space to do it now. I
will write him as soon as I get an answer to this letter, I was afraid or ashamed to start to write being so long
since
12
I wrote, but Auntie I know you will excuse me when you know the position I was fixed in. I have been constantly
on the go for the last three years, no sooner settled in one place than we were getting ready to move. The last letter you wrote was to 296 W tenth
street; but we had just gone, and there was nobody there to receive it and I guess it was returned to you. I was
sorry it happened that way but; I could not get it I assure you. I will draw my letter to a close. Good night.
13
Lizzie and the Children join me in sending our love and kisses to you all hoping everything is the same as when
I wrote three years ago ever remaining your affectionate nephew.
Thomas J. Shanahan
Address Me To
John B. Dick
417 York St.
Jersey City, N.J.
PS
Don’t forget to write soon and I promise you if you do that I will never neglect writing again
TS
Auntie please excuse writing and spelling as it was all done in haste. I could have wrote more; but any more
would be superfluous. I guess I have wrote a tiresome letter.
T. Shanahan
Good Night
Notes:
This sentence is NOT a part of the original
document, but rather a comment made by the Transcriptionist, Tina Rhodes.
From these referenced sentences it sounds as
though there was some sort of discord within the family which kept them from
being a close-knit group even though it appears that they lived relatively close to one another. I have suspicions
that the break between the
family may have been religious in nature; I base this solely on the fact that a break was known to have occurred
between Michael William Shanahan
and his sister Margaret "Maggie" Anne Shanahan upon Michael's conversion from the Catholic to the Baptist
faith. My conjecture here is that
someone else in the family *may* have strayed from the Catholic faith and that "Maggie" who appears to have
remained Catholic, may have not taken kindly to
her family "straying" from the "one true faith". "T.J" admits that he has only seen his entire family gathered
twice in his lifetime (and at the time
he wrote this he was a man grown and married with children of his own), so it is fairly apparent that their was
some deep division or rift in the family and this
letter does not make it clear which members of the family have grown apart--although I get the impression that
Denis and his wife Ellen Kerrigan Shanahan and that
"T.J" and his wife were all still on good terms with "Maggie" and her husband. Was the rift between the
mysterious "she" who is referenced in Footnote #5?
And was this mysterious "she" perhaps Maggie's daughter?
Well, according to new information just obtained from the Shannon Family
Bible
the answer is, NO the pronoun "she" is not
referring to Maggie's daughter. The "she" is Maggie herself.
Apparently we interpreted this letter all wrong. The new information obtained from the Shannon Family Bible
indicates that the funeral about which Thomas is
writing is the funeral for his sister Margaret "Maggie"
Anne Shanahan Dick not his Aunt Maggie. My assumption that there was a falling out between Maggie
and her daughter was incorrect; I now believe that there
was some sort of falling out between Aunt Margaret "Maggie" Anne
Shanahan and her namesake Margaret "Maggie" Anne Dick.
Margaret "Maggie" Anne Shanahan, daughter of
Bridget Luby and Thomas Henry Shanahan and sister of Michael William Shanahan and Denis Shanahan.
The pronoun "her" refers to Thomas' Aunt Maggie
who is thought to have been living in NY at the time of this letter.
The pronoun "her" refers to Thomas' sister Margaret
"Maggie" Anne Shanahan Dick.
John[nie] J. Shanahan, first born son of Thomas J.
"T.J." Shanahan and Elizabeth "Lizzie" Pender, born circa 1889 in NY; died 1955.
Elizabeth "Lizzie" Lillian Shanahan,
daughter of Thomas J. "T.J." Shanahan and Elizabeth "Lizzie" Pender, born 1892 in NY; died 1977; married
James McDonald.
Henry "Harry" A. Shanahan, son of Thomas J.
"T.J." Shanahan and his wife Elizabeth "Lizzie" Pender. Henry "Harry" A. Shanahan
was born in 1890 and died in 1962. He was named for Thomas J. Shanahan's
brother Henry Shanahan who was born 9 Nov 1866 and who died 17 MAY 1888.
"The Lancet, in an editorial,
says that the cholera is making steady headway in Russia, and that
even the incomplete official returns received admit that 550 deaths are
daily caused by the scourge in that country." Quote from the New York Times, 29 July 1892.
Thomas' sister Margaret "Maggie" Anne
Shanahan Dick died on 10 Jan 1893 so one can assume from this reference that this letter was written
approximately the 24th of Jan 1893.
UPDATE Oct 2008: Recently found a handwritten note that passed between
Lowry Steward and Beulah "Billie" Shanahan Murrie that speaks of the letter written by TJ Shanahan to his
"Auntie" and this note indicates that the letter is dated Jan. 22, 1893. Apparently both Lowry Stewart
and Beulah "Billie" Shanahan Murrie had the COMPLETE letter at one time as the date must have been written
on the first page of the letter which is now missing from our current copy.
Margaret "Maggie" Anne Shanahan, daughter of
Ellen Kerrigan and Denis Shanahan. Born 8 Jul 1863; Died 10 Jan 1893. Spouse of Mr. Dick (per the Shannon
Family Bible).
Obviously Maggie and Mr. Dick has issue; we
believe there was more than one child. See footnote #15.
John Dick is thought to be Maggie's husband, so
obviously her Father-In-Law was the one who actually paid for her funeral expenses.
Ellen Kerrigan, wife of Denis Shanahan and
mother of Thomas J. Shanahan and Margaret "Maggie" Anne Shanahan Dick.
The reference to "children" is plural here, so I am
assuming that after Margaret "Maggie" Anne Shanahan Dick's death, her mother, though elderly and in poor
health, took over and helped look after her grandchildren.
Another cryptic reference to Aunt Maggie's
spouse failing to note the surname; (he is mentioned in a letter written in 1868 also without benefit of mention of
a surname). I don't know if we'll ever be able to track Maggie and her family down unless we can somehow get
her husband's surname.
Dennie, is actually Dennis Potter Shanahan, son
of Sallie Margaret Potter and Michael William Shanahan and a first cousin to Thomas J. "T.J." Shanahan.
UPDATE Oct 2008: Also on the recently found handwritten note that passed
between Lowry Steward and Beulah "Billie" Shanahan Murrie that speaks of the letter written by TJ Shanahan to
his "Auntie" (see update on Footnote #10) Beulah "Billie" Shanahan Murrie remarks that her father Dennis
Shanahan was named for Michael William Shanahan's brother Denis.
Supporting evidence that Thomas J. moved a lot
is found in the Shannon family bible; descendants indicate that while all 8 of his and Lizzie's children were born
in NY, they lived in various places ranging from Greenwich NY to Jersey City, NJ and many places in between.
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 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!
More notes coming soon!
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.
