Jane immigrated from Ireland to the United States sometime between 1884 to 1887, and since she stayed in the New York area for the rest of her life, she probably went through the Castle Garden Immigration Center[iv] in Manhattan, New York. The 1900 U.S. Federal Census, the only one Jennie appears in, reports her as immigrating in 1884. If this is true, she would have been 20-22 years old, certainly old enough to travel from Ireland to the United States by herself. However, I have not found an entry for a Jane Boland on any ship manifest coming into America during the year 1884. I did find two entries for a Jane Boland in May and September of 1887 each entry on the same ship, City of Rome, out of Liverpool, England, and Queensland, Ireland (now known as Cobh). On both of the 1887 manifests, Jane Boland's age is listed as 21 and her occupation is listed as a servant[v]. Did she try to enter the United States in May only to be turned away as a pauper, vagrant, criminal or diseased person, or she simply wished to return to Ireland. Another option is that perhaps they are two separate Jane Bolands coming over at different times. The latter seems unlikely since we know that the last name Boland was not that common in Ireland, and they are the same age with the same occupation. So, at this point, I am willing to be content with my estimate of Jane's immigration timeframe as sometime between 1884 and 1887, which I think is accurate enough for now. I will hopefully fill in the blanks later as I continue to search for more information to validate what year Jane arrived in the United States.
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| Aerial view illustration of the tip of Manhattan in New York City, featuring Castle Garden (round fortress type building in center bottom) in Battery Park and docks on the rivers. Brooklyn Bridge under construction is shown in an exaggerated scale. Circa 1880 |
The following description of what an Irish immigrant girl like Jane might encounter upon arrival in America has been paraphrased from "The Irish Bridget: Irish Immigrant Women in Domestic Service in America, 1840-1930" by Margaret Lynch-Brennan: "The Catholic Mission of Our Lady of the Rosary provided a service...to help Irish immigrant girls to obtain service jobs. The mission began operation in New York in 1884 ...and the mission aimed to protect Irish immigrant girls landing in New York City from the untrustworthy and sometimes evil people in the port area who preyed on their innocence. The mission protected Irish girls by having a priest available at Castle Garden (the point of entry to New York from 1855 through 1890) to counsel them, by setting up a safe lodging house in which they could stay until they obtained a job or were otherwise safely seen to, and by setting up a chapel for their use. ...no fees were charged to any girls for staying in the Home of Irish Immigrant Girls established by the mission, no matter the length of their stay. Regardless of whether the advantage that room and board represented has been overrated, Irish girls flocked to domestic service because there were plenty of job openings throughout this period as the demand for servants continually exceeded the supply. They secured service employment through the assistance of the Catholic Church, the Irish community, use of employment agencies called intelligence office, relatives, word of mouth, and perusal of newspaper advertisements.”
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| The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, New York) · 9 Dec 1885, Wed · Page 3 |
No information has been found yet that documents Jane's life from the time of her arrival to her marriage to Thomas O'Connor, which I know of because it is listed in the 1900 Federal Census. It is sometime during this period that once in America, she seems to become known by the name Jennie, not Jane.
At some point, Jennie met Thomas O'Connor, they married in 1896 and had their first child, Edward, in 1897. As covered in the previous post, Jennie's information on the 1900 Federal Census shows her as the wife of Thomas O'Connor and mother of two-year-old Edward O'Connor, residing in a rental house/tenement at 252 Wyckoff Street in Brooklyn, age 34, born January 1866 in Ireland, married four years, immigrated in 1884, had already been in the U.S. for 16 years, both parents were born in Ireland, and she could read, write and speak English. And while the census doesn't list it, Jennie is at that time about four months pregnant with her daughter, Anna Margaret, who was born on November 17, 1900, in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York.
While in the midst of building her American dream family and probably looking toward better times ahead, less than four short years later, Jennie dies. She was survived by her husband of eight years, Thomas age 41, son Edward age 7, and daughter Anna age 3.
In September of 1903, Jennie started seeing a doctor in Brooklyn and possibly was then diagnosed with breast cancer. Just ten months later, she passed away on July 26, 1904. Her cause of death is listed as "Carcinoma of the Breast and by Metastasis to the Spinal Cord." Her death certificate as issued by the State of New York gives us revealing information about Jennie's life, like her parents' names and birthplaces, and that she was not employed. Her address is reported as 248 Wyckoff Street, not 252 Wyckoff Street. Perhaps when Anna was born they were able to move to a larger tenement unit just a few buildings from their previous home. Jennie is listed as being both in the U.S. and a resident to New York City for 20 years. Yet in the "Special Information" section at the bottom of the certificate, Jersey City, N.J., is listed as her former or usual residence and six years as the length of time she resided at the place of death (presumably the Wyckoff Street tenement in Brooklyn). This indicates to me that when her son Edward was born in 1897, Thomas and Jennie must have been living in New Jersey not New York. I had suspected that early on, so now I really must dig deeper into New Jersey records!
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| Jennie's Death Certificate |
After Jennie's passing, life must have been difficult for the O'Connor family, especially little Anna and Edward. With no known immediate family in their area to depend on, who would have taken care of Edward and Anna those first few years while Thomas continued working in order to support his family? Maybe someone in their Irish community circle of friends helped out. But nothing is known for sure simply because there are no written records until the 1910 Federal Census, the only one that Anna is ever listed on. Thomas is now married to his second wife, Helen, and as a family, including 12-year-old Edward, they are living in another tenement house on Smith Street in the Evergreen/Ridgewood area of the Queens borough in New York City. At this point, Anna may be attending the same New York City public school as her brother Edward, if she was healthy enough. Tragically, little Anna Margaret passed away a few months short of her 11th birthday on September 19, 1911, from Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis[vi] and Asthenia[vii]. Anna's death certificate gives some indication that she may not have been a healthy child at all. Had Anna been weak and sickly for awhile? According to her death certificate, she had only been treated by a doctor for these diseases just ten days before her death. Anna was buried a few days later in The Calvary Cemetery just as her mother, Jennie, was seven years earlier.
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| Anna's Death Certificate |
Afterthoughts:
1) How did the O'Connor family function after Jennie's death in 1904? The Irish community and Catholic Church had programs in place to help out widows and their orphaned children, but I have not found anything that addresses helping a widower with children. One alternative was to give your child up to various institutions, asylums, and orphanages. From about 1854–1929, some 100,000 homeless children from New York City were "placed out" to families in upstate New York and the midwestern states. They are frequently referred to as the orphan train children. How close did Edward and Anna get to that fate?
2. What was a typical school day like during the early 1900s? 3,000 children were crowded into one typical school. 40 or more students in a class. Supplies were in short order. Free space to play was non-existent. Children of different intellect, culture, and backgrounds were taught civics, patriotism, and the 3 R’s. There was one language you were expected to learn- English. And if Anna was not healthy, she could have been excluded from attending school?
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| Children suspected of contagious disease are examined carefully and when their presence may endanger others they are excluded. Every day the Health Board sends to every school a printed list of all houses where contagious disease exists. The principal must compare the addresses with his register and exclude residents of the specified houses. https://stuffnobodycaresabout.com/2017/11/07/photos-of-new-york-city-school-life-children-in-1902/. |
[i]
https://storymaps.esri.com/stories/2019/irish-surnames/map/
[ii]
https://www.irishorigenes.com/boland
[iii]
https://www.irelandbeforeyoudie.com/top-100-irish-surnames-last-names-family-names-ranked/
[iv]
In the first half of the 19th century, most immigrants arriving in New York
City landed at docks on the east side of the tip of Manhattan, around South
Street. On August 1, 1855, Castle Clinton / Castle Garden became the Emigrant
Landing Depot, functioning as the New York State immigrant processing center
(the nation's first such entity). It was operated by the state until April 18,
1890, when the U.S. Government assumed control of immigration processing, soon
moving the center to the larger, more isolated Ellis Island facility on January
2, 1892. After many unnecessary deaths, and scandals over immigration
workers cheating and stealing from immigrants, the immigration center was moved
to Ellis Island. Most of Castle Clinton's immigrant passenger records
were destroyed in a fire that consumed the first structures on Ellis Island on
June 15, 1897, but it is generally accepted that over 8 million immigrants (and
perhaps as many as 12 million) were processed during its operation. Called Kesselgarten by Yiddish-speaking Eastern European
Jews, a Kesselgarten
became a generic term for any situation that was noisy, confusing, or chaotic,
or where a "babel" of languages was spoken (a reference to the
multitude of languages heard spoken by immigrants from many countries at the
site). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Clinton
[v]
In the First Gilded Age (1870-1914), the term servant was widely used to
describe people employed to serve others and perform domestic duties, doing
what we would now consider domestic service (Blakemore 2017)https://bt.barnard.edu/nycgildedages/5thave-work/servants/
[vi]
Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis definition: A term in modern usage which is used for
inflammation of the membranes on the surface of the brain, involving high
fever, severe headache, and stiff muscles in the neck or back. It can be caused
by bacterial, viral, or fungal infections. (Glossary of Medical Terms Used in
the 18th and 19th Centuries)
[vii]
Asthenia definition: Also known as Debility, an abnormal bodily weakness
or feebleness; decay of strength. This was a term descriptive of a patient's
condition and of no help in making a diagnosis. (Glossary of Medical Terms Used
in the 18th and 19th Centuries)
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