Margaret's missing middle name

It was many years ago that I learned the name of my great-grandmother, Margaret Tierney. Although I first spelled it wrong on the paper pedigree chart after questioning my grandfather about the names of his parents and grandparents, it was exciting as a budding new genealogist (and quite a young lady) to add another new surname to my family tree. This one had such a nice Irish ring to it.

It would be many years later before I would learn Margaret's middle name. Vital records, cemetery records, obituaries, and other resources provided me with only her first name or her first name and middle initial "H". But although I made many guesses, I was no closer to finding out Margaret's middle name - until I read it in the newspaper!

Thanks to the help of a friendly librarian in the town where Margaret and her husband were married, I found a newspaper announcement about their wedding in 1911. There in the Quincy Patriot Ledger, was Margaret's long-missing middle name!


The announcement reads:

"Miss Margaret Helen Tierney and George William McCue were united in marriage on Wednesday evening at St. John's Parochial residence, Quincy by the pastor the Rev. John J. Coan. The bride was attended by Miss Katherine Berry of Braintree and the best man was John T. McVay of Boston. A reception followed at the home of the bride's mother, Mrs. Katherine Tierney on Gay Street, Quincy. Mr. and Mrs. McCue left on a two weeks trip to New York, Philadelphia and Washington. On their return they will reside at 11 Leslie street, Dorchester."

How exciting to finally find Margaret's middle name, not to mention all the news about the beginning of my great-grandparents' married life together: wedding party, reception, honeymoon, and all!

This article has been contributed to the "I read it in the news!" edition of the Carnival of Genealogy hosted by Jasia of Creative Gene.

In brief: Summary of the life of Patrick Tierney 1841-1900

The August 7, 1900 edition of the Quincy Daily Ledger newspaper published a City Brevities section. The fourteenth "brevity" down the page is as follows:

J.P. Tiery of Quincy avenue passed away yesterday after an illness of several years. A widow and seven children survive him.

A brevity, to be sure. I was struck with amazement when I read this little obituary.

This was a man (my great-great-grandfather Patrick J. Tierney) who had been born in 1841 in County Tipperary, just prior to the Great Famine in Ireland. He survived and at age 17 immigrated to the United States, married, became a United States citizen at age 35, made a life for himself with various odd jobs, and left seven children.

Most people will never overcome the odds that Patrick Tierney had to overcome in his lifetime. Most people will never need half the courage that he must have had to muster to face each day of his childhood during the Great Hunger, his trip over the ocean to a new land, and his daily work as a laborer, trader, peddler and grocer struggling to make ends meet in Boston's Irish north end during the late 19th-century.

And the newspaper didn't even get his name right.

Source: “City Brevities: J.P. Tiery…,” Quincy Daily Ledger, 7 August 1900, p. 3.