Chicago address

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Lucille
Posts: 144
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:59 pm

Chicago address

Post by Lucille » Sat Aug 19, 2017 3:18 pm

Hi,

Is there anyone on the forum who is familiar with the streets of Chicago?

I am tracing a family named Kane/Keane from Furoor who emigrated to Chicago in 1865. From biographical information of one of the family who became a nun it is known that they were living in the Holy Family parish. I have been unable to find them in the 1870 census, but in the 1880 census they are in Ashland Avenue.

Most of the sons were given as labourers, as were many of the others on the same page. But a Google search indicates that Ashland Avenue at that time had been developed as a wide street with large gracious houses on either side, not the sort of place to find labourers. So was there more than one Ashland Avenue in 1870?

Thanks for any ideas,

Lucille

Kurt in S.A.
Posts: 67
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Location: San Antonio, Texas

Re: Chicago address

Post by Kurt in S.A. » Sun Aug 20, 2017 12:54 am

If I found the same family in an Ancestry search, I'm wondering if the Ashland Avenue address (685??) might have been in Chicago Heights, ILL? I see that the 1880 census says specifically Chicago and Ashland Avenue, but maybe it was more of a suburb of Chicago??

Or what about North or South Ashland Avenue? Those are streets today...not sure if it was that way in 1880.

Kurt

Jimbo
Posts: 591
Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2013 9:43 am

Re: Chicago address

Post by Jimbo » Sun Aug 20, 2017 3:03 am

Yes, here is a Kane family on Ashland Avenue in the 1880 census including one daughter who is a nun (source family search):

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YB9-H1B

The "ED" (I think Electoral District?) on the census is listed as 60 which has the following boundary:

"North by the south side of 16th Street, east by the west side of Ashland Avenue, and south by the north side of 21st Street, and west by the east side of Robey Street". Robey Street is now Damen Street renamed after the Dutch Catholic priest Arnold Damen who founded Holy Family Catholic Church.

On the second page in the 1880 census from the Kane family of Ashland Avenue is indeed 21st Street. The real nice part of Ashland that you mentioned with the gracious homes was between Monroe and Harrison cross streets. This nice section was about 1.5 miles or so north of Ashland at 21st Street. I'm not too familiar with Chicago, but I suspect that this neighborhood south of the city center and fairly close to Holy Family Catholic Church would have attracted Irish immigrant laborers.

How you arrive at the numbered address of 685 on Ashland Avenue on the 1880 census to the current system (Ashland at 21st street is 2100 etc) is more complicated and might require a Chicago expert. Here are a few articles describing the changing number system for Chicago streets - good luck sorting this out!
http://forgottenchicago.com/articles/old-addresses/
http://livinghistoryofillinois.com/pdf_ ... 201909.pdf
https://www.chipublib.org/blogs/post/or ... over-time/

Have you checked out the annual city directory to get their exact address (old system numbering) and possible movement between census years?

Also, Illinois has some great on-line databases for marriage and death records you should check out:
http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/depar ... death.html
http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/depar ... riage.html

smcarberry
Posts: 1281
Joined: Fri Mar 30, 2007 4:31 pm
Location: USA

Re: Chicago address

Post by smcarberry » Sun Aug 20, 2017 12:32 pm

I have access to Chicago city directories through Fold3. Using the 1880 census listing provided by Jimbo, I looked at 1865 through 1875, using only the spelling Kane. In 1867 John Kane, a laborer, first appeared on 155 Canalport Avenue. That is the sole listing for him, but then Mary Kane, widow of John, appears at that address in subsequent years. At various times, the sons John, James, Patrick, and Michael also reside at that address, usually as employed as moulders. The youngest son William later appears (at that address), first as a helper and then as a clerk. Canalport is now shown on the map as South Canalport Ave, a short diagonal street crossing Interstate 90 just north of 90's juncture with I-55, in what is known as the West Near Side, the location of Holy Family Church.

I found no family in 1870 corresponding to the Kane family of the provided 1880 census listing. When I looked, I had not known that John was the father's name. When I couldn't find any ofthe sons, I consulted my notes. Using other Clare-born men living in that West Near Side location and known to be there in 1870 (one by a city directory listing and the other by details in his biography), I also couldn't find them, even by using just their first names (Simon and Cornelius). Seems to be some missing census records. So, finding an 1870 census record for this Kane family might not be possible. With the father John disappearing from the directory after 1867, a search for his death in 1868 might be fruitful. It seems a lot of families in this area used Mount Olivet Cemetery.

Hope that helps,
Sharon Carberry

Lucille
Posts: 144
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:59 pm

Re: Chicago address

Post by Lucille » Sun Aug 20, 2017 8:06 pm

Thank you Kurt, Jimbo and Sharon for the interest you have taken in my query.

i can't quite get my head around a street being long enough for classy houses at one end and labourers' houses at the other end, but that simply shows the difference in expectations between Chicago and Dublin! We do small scale here!

You have all given me plenty to work on. From Sharon's entry however I've noticed a hole easy to fall into - John was indeed the father of the family but he died in Clare before the family emigrated to Chicago.

I'm going to enjoy following up all your leads.

Many thanks

Lucille

Jimbo
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Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2013 9:43 am

Re: Chicago address

Post by Jimbo » Sun Aug 20, 2017 8:57 pm

Hi Lucille,

When I first visited London I was surprised the street names kept changing for no apparent reason!

Ashland Avenue is much longer (both north and south) than indicated in my response. Today, if you were to continue south on Ashland from 21st street (where the Kanes were located in the 1880 census) to about 76th street or so you are in the murder capital of Chicago / United States. So if you are planning a visit to Chicago please be careful on how you approach your old Ashland Avenue neighborhood!

I believe that the Chicago city directory information that Sharon provided you could still be your family given all the evidence (all sons listed at same residence in different years). In 1867, the directory could have simply listed the eldest son, John Kane. In subsequent years, Mary Kane was listed as the widow of John Kane. Although he died in Ireland, she could still be listed as widow of John Kane.

Good luck in your research.

Lucille
Posts: 144
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:59 pm

Re: Chicago address

Post by Lucille » Mon Aug 21, 2017 9:04 pm

Hi Jimbo

Fortunately I have no intention of travelling to Chicago, but thanks for the warning!

Looking again at Sharon's post, it does look very like the family I'm looking at. I was too easily scared off by the deceased father. I tried the links to the Illinois marriages and deaths but they seem to be out of action at the moment - trying them from scratch gave the same results. I think one of the boys married so I will definitely pursue the links.

Thanks again for your help.

Lucille

Jimbo
Posts: 591
Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2013 9:43 am

Re: Chicago address

Post by Jimbo » Fri Aug 25, 2017 1:37 am

Hi Lucille,

Try this link instead to the same website. The other links might not work from outside the USA - I discovered this about 10 years ago, but thought it would have been fixed by now.

http://www.ilsos.gov/isavital/deathsrch.jsp

There are many Kanes in Chicago. I searched for Mary Kane using above with two possible matches: an 80 year old Mary Kane died in 1893; and an 81 year old Mary Kane died in 1896.

The marriage record index (select "databases" in above link) will only tell you the spouses name and a certificate number to obtain the actual record ($$). When you obtain the marriage record you will get the age of the groom and bride. But not the parents or much other information. The Kane brothers in the 1880 census are very common names so you would end up having to purchase many certificates. You might be better off looking for the Kane children in the death records (age is included in the index) as well as the 1900 through 1930 census records via Family Search (there is no 1890 census). Since you have the birth year, Ireland as place of birth, immigration year or thereabouts, PLUS the men were single in 1880 - this will eliminate many of the numerous choices in your search for John, William, Patrick etc in the Chicago census records. Family Search also now has many records from the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Good luck!

Lucille
Posts: 144
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:59 pm

Re: Chicago address

Post by Lucille » Sat Aug 26, 2017 1:09 pm

Hi Jimbo

Thanks again for your continued interest. I'm afraid the new link to the illinois records doesn't work either. I hadn't realised that some websites only worked in the US, and even going through a World subscription to Ancestry gets the same result - zilch!

I should explain that this is not my personal family. I am writing a book on the lives of women born in County Clare, (to be published by the Clare Roots Society), one of whom is Mother Mary Isabella Kane. She was very kindly with her family in Ashland Avenue in the 1880 census rather than in the convent, thus I was able to confirm this census entry with my other information.

She was apparently a brilliant administrator, responsible for opening many schools, particularly in Iowa, her final hurrah being Mundelein College in Chicago, an Art Deco building that has heritage status. Nuns of the time were discouraged from writing personal memoirs, so after that 1880 census there is no confirmed connection to her family. When she died in 1935 the only family recorded as attending her funeral were a niece, Mrs Farrell and her daughter Anne. This implies that one of the brothers married - it would be interesting for the story to identify which one, but if the records are not accessible, so be it.

Looking back at Sharon's message I noticed (or took in!) the reference to Mount Olivet cemetery. On Findagrave there is a Mary Gorman Kane buried there, death 14 Sep 1897. Gorman was the maiden name of Mary Kane, mother of this family. Ancestry has the death in Chicago of Mary Kane 14 Sep 1896, and the birth date matches the 1880 census, so it's a definite possible, but the link to the Illinois records didn't work.

One of the best things that all of you have done for me is to add to the background knowledge of Chicago of the time - which gives flesh to the story. I will acknowledge your help in the book.

Lucille

Jimbo
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Re: Chicago address

Post by Jimbo » Tue Aug 29, 2017 5:05 am

Hi Lucille,

Your book project sounds very interesting and no doubt lots of work - best of luck!. My interest was piqued in your Kane family research as my great great grandparents left Killadysert and settled briefly in Chicago before moving on to Iowa. I realize now that I need to go back and research my own family as most of my work was done using microfilm records and it looks like many new Chicago records are now available on the internet.

I think you will find that all 5 of the Kane sons married.

Take another look at the 1880 census record of Mary Kane and her 6 children. Did you notice that for 3 of her sons the box is checked for "Married": John (age 40), Patrick (age 39), and Michael (age 38)? Which is strange as their wives are not included in the household? Also, for her daughter Mary, isn't it a bit odd to be a nun and still be living with your family? Could the mother Mary Kane misunderstood the census taker when he asked if she had any children living with her, and instead listed them all? Which of course is great for your research!

His age is slightly off, but I reckon this could be Patrick (occupation moulder) in the 1880 census with his wife Mary and 4 children (the eldest son named John after Patrick's father):

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... cc=1417683

Perhaps you can also find the other sons John and Michael living elsewhere with their families in the 1880 census? It might also be good to check the 1880 census for the Sisters of Charity convent and see if there is a Sister Mary Isabella living there?

I had a quick look at the 1870 census (see attached screen prints) and found the widow Mary Keane (age 50) living with her 3 youngest sons: Michael (age 23), James (age 20), and William (age 15). This Kane household is in Ward 7 where 155 Canalport Avenue is located. In the same dwelling is a Prussian family and then on the next page is John Keane (age 32), his wife Margaret (age 26), and their son John (age 2). John Keane has real estate with a value of $1,500 so it looks like he is the owner of the property at 155 Canalport Avenue.

Most likely then Patrick Kane / Keane was married prior to 1870 and is living elsewhere with his wife Mary in the 1870 census. And this means that Michael Kane was married sometime between 1870 and 1880.

For your biography, the big question is where is the future nun Mary Kane in 1870? At first I thought she could be working as domestic help for a rich family as this wasn't too uncommon at this time. But age 12 is a bit young (most girls this age were at school) and doesn't make sense when your elder brother John has a personal estate of $1,000 (per 1870 census) and all her other brothers were working. Plus, your biography of her achievements would indicate someone who is more highly educated.

I read in the history of the Catholic Church in Chicago that in 1864 the Religious of the Sacred Heart established a girls academy and girls boarding school next to Holy Family Church. And then several other religious orders set up other academies for girls in Chicago in the next few years, including the Sisters of Charity. The focus of the nuns definitely appears to be for the education of the girls and not so much on the boys! Check out the "Catholic Church in Chicago" in below link starting on page 202 - lots of material for your book. I reckon there is a good chance that Mary Kane wasn't with her family in 1870 as she was being educated in a boarding school run by nuns?

As far as what happened to the Kane brothers, I think I've raised more questions than I've answered!

history of "Catholic Church in Chicago" on google books:
http://tinyurl.com/ya587b42
Attachments
Mary Keane 1870 Chicago Census.jpg
Mary Keane 1870 Chicago Census.jpg (108.71 KiB) Viewed 35839 times
John Keane 1870 Chicago Census.jpg
John Keane 1870 Chicago Census.jpg (163.21 KiB) Viewed 35839 times

Lucille
Posts: 144
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Re: Chicago address

Post by Lucille » Tue Aug 29, 2017 8:28 pm

Jimbo - Ye gods!! is all I can say.

You have turned my whole story upside down! It never crossed my mind that the mother would have misinterpreted the question of who was living me her to that extent. If a common event, it could call many census records into question.

I had, mentally, queried the presence of the nun at home when she should have been in the convent, as my understanding was that they did not go home that easily. Now your information on the boys completely changes the focus. I will definitely go back to the 1880 census - I didn't realise Family Search carried the census - I had only been using Ancestry. thank you for that information too.

Mary the nun entered the convent in 1870 at the age of 14, God love her. I'm not sure which month but that might account for her non appearance in the census. Apparently the Sacred Heart nuns ran a school for poorer children beside the boarding school, which part financed it, and that was where Mary Kane went when the family arrived in Chicago in 1865, making her first Communion and her Confirmation there. Then the Blessed Virgin Mary nuns were invited to Chicago from Dubuque, Iowa in 1867 and they opened two schools in the Holy Family parish within months of arrival. Mary transferred to their school and then to the convent.

Thank you so much for all those ideas you have raised. Research is never done - though my deadline is looming!

Lucille

smcarberry
Posts: 1281
Joined: Fri Mar 30, 2007 4:31 pm
Location: USA

Re: Chicago address

Post by smcarberry » Tue Aug 29, 2017 10:04 pm

I agree with Jimbo that there are far too many Kane/Keanes in Chicago in the latter half of the 1800s, so doing research using the Illinois Statewide Marriage Index would put you beyond your deadline. I can contribute this link to a book on the Holy Family Parish with a few comments (pp.475, 481) on Sr. Mary Isabella Kane and her mother (not her siblings), which you may want to list in your bibliography for the sake of completeness:
https://archive.org/stream/holyfamilypa ... k_djvu.txt

This text states that Mary left for the Dubuque convent in May, 1870.

Good luck with the rest of your research and the writing task.

SMC

Jimbo
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Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2013 9:43 am

Re: Chicago address

Post by Jimbo » Wed Aug 30, 2017 1:29 am

Great find on the book, Sharon. Found this bit in the prologue especially interesting "The diminution of the congregation from twenty-five thousand souls (1900) to less than five thousand (1923) almost spells despair." I read elsewhere that in the 1990's when they succeeded in saving the church from demolition that Holy Family Parish was down to some incredibly low number - I think it was 150 families registered as parishioners!

My advice was not just that the marriage index would be cumbersome to use, but that the death records on FamilySearch were excellent and often provide useful information including birth date and parent names.

Lucille, your goal was just to get info on the niece "Mrs Farrell" and her daughter who attended the 1935 funeral of Sister Mary Isabella Kane. I don't think you want to recreate the entire Kane family tree since it appears that all five sons married. There are lots of Kanes in Chicago, but not too many that married Farrells. From the Cook County death records on FamilySearch:

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... print=true

Mary Kane was born on 30 October 1876 and her parents were Patrick Kane and Mary Kane (maiden name unknown??). She married James Farrell and was a widow when she died on 5 December 1952 in Des Plaines, Cook County.

So "Mrs Farrell" who attended the funeral was the 3 year old in the 1880 census I linked to in my last post. Perhaps she was named after either her aunt or grandmother?

Her daughter Anne (born 21 December 1912) died on 22 March 1993 also in Des Plaines:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... print=true

Hopefully this speeds things up a bit with your book!

Lucille
Posts: 144
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:59 pm

Re: Chicago address

Post by Lucille » Wed Aug 30, 2017 9:50 pm

Hi Jimbo and Sharon,

Thanks again for your invaluable help.

I have, almost certainly, found Patrick living away from his mother in the 1880 census, with four children. One of them is Mary, who I found on FamilySearch Cook County births of her Farrell children, was herself named Mary Isabell (sic). So the identity of the relatives at the funeral has been sorted. As you say, I don't need to work out the rest of the family tree (though it's kind of tempting, I will be focussed!). The issue of John being relatively wealthy is intriguing - I have suggested in the book that it may be the proceeds from the sale of the lease of the family farm back in Clare, being held on behalf of the family, but if so, does he share it? This has the makings of a family saga.

Thank you Sharon for the reference to the book on the Holy Family parish. There is actually a fair bit online about it, fairly recent work by the look of it. There are also two books written about the BVM sisters and their educational work, by one of their Sisters, Ann M Harrington. The first book, widely available, I got it in our National Library in Dublin, goes up to 1919 when Mother Kane is about to take over as Mother General. The second one deals with her years in charge and the following MG - appears to be only available from the convent in Dubuque, not in any library or Amazon etc. I haven't the time to get the book over, so I'll have to hope that there's little in it of a personal nature that is new.

Lucille

johnmayer
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Re: Chicago address

Post by johnmayer » Fri Sep 22, 2017 1:01 am

As a Chicagoan, Ashland is among the longest streets in Chicago running almost 20 miles in length and has every type of home from rich to poor.

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