Good neighhors: The Tierney family and St. John the Baptist Parish, Quincy, Mass.

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St. John the Baptist Church on a beautiful day in 2008
(Photo thanks to "Slim" at Quincy Daily Photo)

It was in 1909 that my great-great-grandmother Catherine Tierney and her family moved to Gay Street from another home in Quincy (pronounced Quin-zee), Massachusetts. They resided at 52 Gay Street for several years, then moved to 32 Gay Street in 1912: just one house down and across the street from the rectory of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church. The church and the Tierney family would be good neighbors for many decades.

The location of St. John the Baptist Church and rectory in relation
to the Tierney family residences at 52 and 32 Gay Street, Quincy
(Click to enlarge)

The family had moved to Quincy from Boston's North End a few years before Catherine's husband Patrick's death in 1900. They were probably already well-acquainted with the parish around the time of this 1890s era photograph below.

St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in 1893

Over the years the Tierney family would form many connections to the church and many family milestones would be passed within its care. Catherine's daughter Margaret (my great-grandmother) married George William McCue within St. John's rectory on October 11, 1911.

This announcement appeared in the Quincy Patriot Ledger
after my great-grandparents' wedding in the parochial residence of
St. John the Baptist Catholic Church on October 11, 1911

Catherine Tierney was able to purchase her home at 32 Gay Street in 1923. The matriarch of the family known as "Gran" to her family passed away in 1934.

The obituaries of two of her daughters, my great-grandmother Margaret (Tierney) McCue and her sister Elizabeth "Betty" Tierney, tell of their involvement within St. John's Blessed Virgin Mary Ladies' Sodality. A cousin who visited them often as a child (and enjoyed milk and cookies at their home while his father visited with his older sisters) remembers that "both ladies were very active in all facets of the church activities".  Each of their requiem funeral Masses, held in the early 1960s, had at least three priests in attendance. This may be a testament to their long involvement with the church.

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St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, its rectory and also the Tierney home at 32 Gay Street each have historical and architectural significance.

St. John the Baptist, built in 1853 to serve the many Catholic families who had arrived in the area to work in the granite quarries, was the second Catholic church in Quincy. The church was expanded in 1873.

The church backs up to the rectory,
but is located at 44 School Street

Its rectory is located just behind the church on Gay Street. According to the Quincy, Massachusetts Historical and Architectural Survey: "This large house has been the rectory for St. John's Church since at least 1876 and may have been originally built for that purpose." The survey continues:

"When this residence was built in the 1860s it was considered very modern for it imitated the latest French building fashions. It was concomitant with the Italianate and the Gothic Revival Styles which were part of the Picturesque movement. The distinctive roof (which could be convex, concave or straight as in this house) was named for a 17th century French architect, Francois Mansart. In the 1850s, the style was revived in France by Napoleon III, hence the term 'Second Empire' or 'mansardic' for modest structures." 

The porch and a series of additional rooms were added to the rectory during the 1920s. Unfortunately, during the siding of the building with aluminum most of the original exterior features of architectural significance were removed.

The priests' residence at 21 Gay Street

Unlike the priests' residence, the long-term residence of Catherine Tierney and her children at 32 Gay Street has kept its architectural integrity. According to the Quincy survey:

"This residence is one of the fine Greek Revival cottages in Quincy which has retained most of its architectural integrity. Built in the 1850s as gable-end-to-street one and one half story cottage with the typical cornice board around the house and under the eaves and a recessed side entrance, it had added to it during the Italianate period two one-story angular, bracketed bay windows. The windows have stylized pediments atop them; the entrance is framed with pilasters and on top is the same type of lintel as the windows; the door has sidelight to floor level. The house rests on a granite foundation. Unlike the other Greek Revival property listed in the South Quincy inventory list which has been resided with vinyl to its detriment, this cottage has retained its wood clapboards and its architectural integrity. It is a fine component of the Gay Street streetscape."

The Tierney family resided at 32 Gay Street from 1912
until the latter part of the 20th century

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This article is part of the "Doors of Faith" series on our ancestors' Catholic parishes. Visit The Catholic Gene to learn how you can share photos and stories of your family's "Doors of Faith" in honor of the upcoming Year of Faith 2012-2013.

Wordless Wednesday: Quincy, Massachusetts Railroad Station

This Quincy station photograph is posted in memory of George William McCue, one-time station master in Quincy.

Image of the postcard courtesy of USGenWeb's Penny Postcards website.

"A light in the window": The sign of welcome for 70 million cousins

The title of this blog, A light that shines again, was inspired by a poem by Christopher Pearce Cranch, a 19th-century American preacher, artist and poet. Thought not Irish, and certainly more well-off than the 19th-century Irish-American immigrants on whom this blog focuses, Pearce's words describe well the poor and often forgotten lives of my ancestors and that of many of their contemporaries, and remind me of an old Irish tradition.

Here is an excerpt from Cranch's poem that was read at the 250th anniversary of the first church in Quincy, Massachusetts:

“…Nor less should we forget the worthy sons
And daughters who through centuries lived and died
Unknown to fame. The muse of history shuns
Their buried records. Gathered side by side
In yonder burial ground, they leave no signs
Save in half-obliterated lines
That tell their birth, their death. Yet not in vain,
Fathers and mothers, were your humble lives;
Each in its turn an influence that survives,
A light that shines again
In sacred memories, and in hearths and homes,
Vital as greater names that gild historic tomes…”

History does so often "shun the buried records" of those who "lived and died unknown to fame". Yet, the "humble lives" of my Irish ancestors, particularly those that I celebrate here on this blog and on Small-leaved Shamrock, are a saga of survival: survival out of the great Irish famine, survival out of the American industrial age, survival into the modern age in the lives of myself and others of my generation who have sprung from their seed. I hope that in some small way this blog will enable their stories to be passed on to at least one more generation.

I found the words of another poet thought-provoking, this one a modern Irishwoman of the 20th-century. Here is Eavan Boland's The Emigrant Irish:

"Like oil lamps, we put them out the back —

of our houses, of our minds. We had lights
better than, newer than and then

a time came, this time and now
we need them. Their dread, makeshift example:

they would have thrived on our necessities.
What they survived we could not even live.
By their lights now it is time to
imagine how they stood there, what they stood with,
that their possessions may become our power:
Cardboard. Iron. Their hardships parceled in them.
Patience. Fortitude. Long-suffering
in the bruise-colored dusk of the New World.

And all the old songs. And nothing to lose."

My own ancestors represent only a small number of the many Irish people of the 19th-century who beat incredible odds to survive the largest humanitarian disaster of their century and emigrate from their native land to a new country. Many of you reading this have similar family stories to tell: stories of survival, stories of courage, and tales of odds that were overcome by your ancestors as they struggled to make a life in a new land.

Today the descendants of many brave Irish emigrants number in the millions. There are approximately seventy million people of Irish descent living throughout the world.

Former President of Ireland Mary Robinson sent a special message to the great Irish diaspora during a speech on February 2, 1995. Her words, recalling the simple Irish tradition of placing a candle in the window to welcome visitors, are heart-warming to those of us who long to keep alive our Irish roots. Here are the words of Mary Robinson:

"At my inauguration I spoke of the seventy million people worldwide who can claim Irish descent. I also committed my Presidency to cherishing them - even though at the time I was thinking of doing so in a purely symbolic way. Nevertheless the simple emblem of a light in the window, for me, and I hope for them, signifies the inextinguishable nature of our love and remembrance on this island those who leave it behind."

As we approach St. Patrick's Day this year, plans are in order for a family celebration in my home. There will be green decorations, shamrocks, Celtic music, traditional Irish dance, and images of St. Patrick. There will also be a candle in the window: a symbol of thankfulness for the heritage that our struggling Irish ancestors passed down to us, and a symbol of welcome to any of our seventy million "cousins" who might want to join us in celebration.

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If you have Irish descent, then you are a member of the worldwide Irish diaspora of which Mary Robinson spoke, and you and I are part of a group of seventy million "cousins"! If that is the case, take a few moments to visit the Seventy Million Project. It is "a social project to find, map and connect the Irish diaspora worldwide". It is "not about Ireland, but about Irishness and all that it means to people of Irish heritage worldwide." Visit the website today and put yourself on the map as either a first, second, third, fourth or fifth-plus-generation Irishman or woman.

You might also enjoy visiting the new Irish Central which is being unveiled March 15. Billing itself as an "Irish website and social networking community", it plans to "use the power of the Internet to create a home for the more than 70 million people around the world who identify themselves as Irish". Irish Central plans to be a hub for Irish news, the home of Irish America magazine and the Irish Voice newspaper, a source for editiorial and video coverage of travel in Ireland, a Gaelic translator, a resource for Irish family history, and more.

Here's looking at Quin-zee: Postcards that bring history to life

I've long been a fan of Arcadia Publishing's local history books. Annotated collections of historical photographs compiled by local authors, these books are a treasure for readers wanting to gain an understanding of social history in the times and places of their ancestors' lives.

I was happy to recently discover a title in their Postcard History Series that brings my Tierney family's hometown to life: William and Elaine Pepe's Quincy (Postcard History: Massachusetts). View an introduction to the book including a sampling of its postcard images online in this short video presentation uploaded by Quincy's Patriot Ledger. The images in the book focus particularly on the early 20th-century - just the time period I am particularly interested in since my Tierney ancestors moved to Quincy from Boston's North End just before the turn of the century.

For map lovers: New England historic maps online

I am a lover of maps, so you can imagine my excitement when I learned of the University of New Hampshire Library website's Historic USGS Maps of New England and New York. Dating from the late 19th-century to 1950, this topographical collection is a treasure for anyone researching the New England area. According to the website, "This online collection of over 1,500 USGS topographic maps includes complete geographical coverage of New England and New York from the 1890s to 1950s." The digital collection was placed on the internet because of the difficulty that researchers experienced trying to access historic maps of the area. In particular, one map enthusiast interested in locating abandoned railroad right of ways in New Hampshire began the project after finding that no single New Hampshire library had a complete collection of historic maps of the state.

The digital map collection now includes images from many research repositories in New Hampshire covering various areas of New England and New York. Digital maps from the Harvard University Map Collection are also included.

I found a gem in this 1941 survey of the Quincy, Massachusetts area which includes a view of the Fore River shipyard where many of my Tierney family ancestors worked.

Also researching Massachusetts? You might want to start with the Historic USGS Maps of Massachusetts Alphabetic Town Listing.

Thanks to Dick Hillenbrand of Upstate New York Genealogy for mentioning the map collection at Old Maps of New York Towns Online and to Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings for spreading the news about the Historic USGS Maps of New England and New York.

Kwin-zee, Massachusetts

As I mentioned earlier, I've been enjoying Bill West's continued pronunciation guides through his series of posts Speak Like a Native New Englander.

Lesson six focused on how to pronounce the name of Quincy, Massachusetts. Since Quincy (kwin-zee) figures prominently on one branch of my family tree, I thought I'd suggest a visit over to Bill's post.

There are just under twenty towns with the name of Quincy in the United States today, but apparently there is only one Kwin-zee (as opposed to Kwin-see). For more info and a little history on the Massachusetts Quincy (Kwin-zee), see the City of Quincy webpage About Quincy, the official Quincy tourism website, or the Quincy Historical Society.

In search of Patrick

Well, I'm stumped. I've made phone calls to the St. Francis Xavier Catholic cemetery in Weymouth where Patrick Tierney would more than likely have been buried back in 1900, but he did not appear to be listed in their records. The cemetery, which was founded in 1850, was certainly open for business during Patrick's day. But where is Patrick, who I thought to have been laid to rest there in 1900?

It is now 107 years ago since Patrick Tierney passed away. He and his family had moved to Quincy from the North End just a few years before, and he must have been suffering from illness for quite some time. His obituary on page three of the Quincy Patriot Ledger of August 7, 1900 indicates that before his passing he had suffered "an illness of several years". According to the listing of his death on the civil registry, Patrick died of mitral stenosis. Just 59 years old but worn out from a hard life of stress and labor, he left his family to pass to the next life.

Patrick's death record in the civil registry lists him buried in Weymouth, but I cannot seem to find him there. Family members who died after him, beginning in the 1920's, are buried in New Calvary Cemetery in Mattapan, Boston, Suffolk County. Patrick is not among them. But where is he?

I've had other ancestors trouble me with hard to find information and missing records, but many of Patrick's records were easy enough to find. I just can't find where he is buried.

Must I search through all the cemeteries (where an Catholic Irishman might have been buried) in Norfolk, Suffolk and Middlesex counties in order to find him?

Patrick, oh Patrick, will you ever turn up?

"The hill remains..."

From the fields of Tipperary to the crowded streets of Boston's North End, Patrick Tierney's two worlds were different yet very much the same. The struggle for daily bread was a part of every day of his short 63-year life.

Probably looking toward a better life, he and his family moved around 1895 to the town of Quincy (along with many other Irish immigrant families).

Quincy, Massachusetts (pronounced Quin-zee, if you want to say it like a native) is seven miles southeast of downtown Boston. Known as the home of John & Abigail Adams (John was our nation's 2nd president) and their son John Quincy (our 6th president), the "city of presidents" gave way to the city of the Irish: Patrick and his family among them.

The Seal of City of Quincy includes these dates:

1625: Settlement at Mount Wollaston by Captain Wollaston.
1640: Separation from Boston "to be a town called Braintree."
1792: Incorporation of the North Precinct of Braintree as the Town of Quincy.
1888: Incorporation of the Town of Quincy as the City of Quincy.

The Manet on the seal is explained as follows:
"The hill remains, connecting the present with the past,
The city remains, continuous in its history and development,
The free spirit of it remains,
The fame of it remains, and will remain forever."

The move to Quincy was a good one for the Tierney family. Although they lost Patrick only about five years after their move to Quincy, the family resided there for many years, finding work in the famed Fore River Shipyard and in other local Quincy industries.

Patrick's two daughters, Margaret and Betty, both were still living in Quincy at the time of their deaths in 1963 and 1964, when the city of Quincy was thriving.

There may still be Tierney family descendants living in the area. If you are one or you know of one, please let me know.

As I mentioned here, the last of the homes of the Patrick & Catherine Tierney family in Quincy is still standing. Although no longer in possession of the family, it is good to know that a place where our family members spent so much of their lives is still there "...connecting the present with the past...".

Growing pains for Boston

As I mentioned in my last post, the Tierney family moved to Quincy around 1895. They were one of many, many Irish families who exited the North End when the influx of European Jewish settlers began taking over the area. South Boston soon replaced the North End as the area of the majority of Irish settlement. Quincy and other areas outlying Boston also gained many Irish residents.

This map, circa 1880 (click on it to view it up close), shows the date that various areas were annexed by Boston. It is a good overview of the city during this pivotal time of growth, when Patrick & Catherine Tierney were in the midst of raising their children in the crowded and difficult world of the Irish North End of Boston.

Home sweet homes

Whether or not an Irish Catholic like Patrick Tierney should have ever set foot in Boston, he went on to make it his home for the rest of his relatively short but very full life. However, for some reason (or several reasons) he and his family did not stay put in one residence. His children's civil birth records and many city directories indicate the places in which the family moved. Here is a timeline showing the Tierney family's known addresses in Boston beginning in 1877 (although Patrick was residing in Boston earlier):

• 1877 - Rear 448 Hanover
• 1879 - Rear 442 Hanover
• 1881 - 78 Cross
• 1886-1890 - 468 Commercial
• 1891 - 66 Mercer

About 1895 the Tierney family moved to Quincy along with many other Irish immigrant families who were leaving the North End for the outskirts of Boston. Here are family's addresses in Quincy (Patrick passed away in 1900):

• 1897-1898 - 101 Quincy Avenue
• 1903-1908 - 312 Quincy Avenue
• 1909 - 52 Gay Street
• 1912-1964 - 32 Gay Street (the house pictured above)

Here is a photo of the house at 32 Gay Street taken in 2003:

On Independence Day

The sons of Patrick Tierney worked for the Fore River Shipyards in Quincy, Massachusetts for many years. (More on that later.)

The 4th of July is a good day to read this entry in the Fore River Log, a publication put out by the shipyard for its workers. It might have been read by John, Joseph and Leo Tierney, all sons of Patrick Tierney, who worked for the shipyard in the year 1918.

Your country is all that surrounds you, all that has reared and nourished you, everything that you have loved. That land you see, those houses, those trees, those smiling girls that pass, that is your country. The laws that protect you, the bread which rewards your toil, the words you exchange, the joy and the sadness which come to you from men and the things amid which you live, that is your country! The little chamber where you once saw your mother, the recollections she has left you, the earth where she reposes, that is your country. You see it, and you breathe it everywhere! I imagine, my son, your rights and your duties, your affections and your needs, your recollections and your gratitude, all united under one name, and that name will be "MY COUNTRY!"

~ Emil Souvestre, French author, soldier and patriot, as published in Fore River Log, 1918