My Old Ohio Home - New York

John Parent of Onondaga, New York

2023-10-14T00:00:00-04:00

They say that life is about the journey, not the destination. ¹ I hope so, because I spent a lot of time looking for the family of John Parent and when I got there I found someone else had already figured it out.

I started with George E Parent, husband of Mary Dial and father of Frank Parent of Abilene, Kansas. George is on the 1860 census of Rockford, Illinois, with his apparently widowed mother Sarah E., and on the 1850 census of Onondaga, New York, with his father John, his mother and his older brother Ephraim. So far, so good, but that is all I knew about George's father John. When did he die, and whose son was he?

Thanks to some hints on ancestry.com, I found the Baldwin Genealogy ² which says that Sally Eliza Baldwin was born January 29, 1810, and married John Parent of Syracuse on October 13, 1841. The book said that John died January 16, 1852, while John's headstone on findagrave.com says he died June 12, 1853.

As for his parents, there was really only one Parent couple in the area, namely Thomas and Elizabeth Parent, of Otisco. Were they John's mother and father? I still don't know for sure, since I never found a record that connected him to them.

Thomas' brother David Parent's probate information in 1862 was the key document that put the family together. His widow Polly provided a list of David's heirs and next of kin naming Thomas and four other brothers, along with four of Thomas' daughters and numerous grandchildren. But no mention of John. Was it because he had died 10 years earlier and his widow had gone west? ³

Conclusion

For the time being, I'll have to just assume that John Parent was the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Parent of Otisco, New York. As for the end of the journey, you can find the complete family of Thomas and Elizabeth Parent, his brothers, parents, grandparents, and maybe more at Thomas Parent, on ancestry.com, though for some reason the tree's owner thinks that Thomas was married 3 times. I doubt it. You could probably piece the family together in the tree at familysearch.org as well.

Credits

^1. To be honest, it isn't just "they" who say it, it was Ralph Waldo Emerson, and that isn't exactly what he said. I found a neat site called Quote Investigator which provided the real quote: "To finish the moment, to find the journey's end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom."

A footnote on that site points to Google Books which has the original: Essays: Second Series by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Second Edition, published in 1845 by James Munroe and Company, Boston. Essay: II Experience. The quote is on page 65.

It sounds a lot like 'today is the first day of the rest of your life' or however that hippie saying went, but then I've been spoiled by reading the Bible for a while where the Proverbs actually have something to say.

^2. The Baldwin Genealogy, from 1500 to 1881, by Charles Candee Baldwin, (The Leader Printing Company, Cleveland, Ohio, 1881). You don't need ancestry.com to read it. It is long out of copyright and is on the Internet Archive at The Baldwin genealogy from 1500 to 1881.

^3. You don't need ancestry.com to find David Parent's will either. It is transcribed at the NY Genweb site, (ah, remember Genweb?) at David Parent Will.

Joseph Whalen of Lockport and Cleveland

2018-10-09T00:00:00-04:00

Joe Whalen, 1915

To a genealogist, siblings are your friends, as illustrated by the case of Catherine Rodgers' husband Joe Whalen. His death notice on February 5, 1968 said that he was survived by a brother Fenton. It was through Fenton that I found Joe Whalen's ancestry.

Of course it helped that when Joe married Catherine Rodgers on June 29, 1912, he mentioned that his parents were Joseph Whalen and Catherine Delaney, and that he was born in Lockport, New York. But there is not much trace of Joe in Lockport, only the 1892 State Census with his parents and family, as shown here:

1892 New York State Census, Lockport, Niagara County, Ward 2, ED 2
Joseph Whalen, 42, citizen, carpenter
Cathrine 37
Jennie 15
Mamie 14
Joseph 11
John 9
Alice 7
Marie 6
Fenton 2
Catherine Delaney, 65, born in Ireland, a citizen
all others were born in the US.

Fenton Whalen, age 2, proved to be the key to the family. He showed up on other records with his family, including a World War I draft registration where it says his occupation was "baseball player."

I had never heard of the name Fenton before, so I assumed it was a name that had been passed down in the family. It turns out that Joe and Fenton's grandfather was named Fenton also. He is seen here in 1870 with sons John, Joseph and, you guessed it, another Fenton:

1870; Census Place: Lockport Ward 2, Niagara, New York; Roll: M593_1054; Page: 222A

Finton Whalen 60, laborer, Real Estate: $3500, Personal estate: $500, born in Ireland
Jane Whalen 56, born in Ireland, cannot read or write
John Whalen 22, works in sash factory, born in Canada
Joseph Whalen 20, works in sash factory, born in Canada
Jane Whalen 12, born in New York
Maria Whalen 8, born in New York
Finton Whalen 6, born in New York

This is probably getting confusing, so here is a tree from the first Fenton down to the Joe Whalen who married Catherine Rodgers:

Fenton Whalen (b. 1810, Ireland - about 1875, Lockport NY)
...+ Jane Hughes (b. abt 1814, Ireland - Oct 3, 1896, Lockport NY)
.........Joseph Whalen (July 3, 1849 - 1918, Lockport NY)
.............+ Catherine Delaney (Dec 4, 1853 - May 26, 1898, Lockport NY)
......................Joseph Whalen (about 1881 - Feb 3, 1968, Cleveland)
.........................+ Catherine Rodgers (May 1, 1877 - April 18, 1966, Cleveland)
..................................Joseph Whalen (b. about 1914 - )
..................................William Whalen (b. about 1916 - )

Did you notice that in 1870 the information said that the first two children were born in Canada? Sure enough, I found a marriage record for Fenton Whalen and Jane Hughes in Gore Roman Catholic Mission, Peel County, Ontario, on September 2, 1844. There was also a birth record for a son Martin who died before 1870. Peel County is now part of York County and was near Toronto.

While I was waiting to hear from the Lockport, New York, library I thought I would put "Fenton Whalen" into a search for records in all of Ireland. On Griffith's Valuation of Ireland, taken about 1850, there were only two Fenton Whelans in the whole country, and both of them were in Ballyadams Civil Parish, Co. Laois.

Of course neither could be the same Fenton who was in Canada at the time, but there is a very good chance that they are relatives who were named after the same common ancestor. So for now, the most likely county of origin for the Whalen family is Co. Laois. It will be difficult to prove, however, unless there is a mention of a birthplace in one of the American records.

The moral of the story: you may be stuck with your family, but if you are interested in your ancestry then "siblings are your friends."

Edited September 27, 2020, to add:

You can find more information about the Whalens in the Ohio Families section of this website.

Ellen Sloan, Killowen to Brooklyn

2019-11-12T00:00:00-05:00

Introduction

Some people are easy to find, some are hard. Ellen Sloan would have been a lot easier to find if 1) she hadn't said she was the cousin of Minnie Keeves/Caves of Mullahead, County Armagh; 2) she hadn't taken a few years off her age as she got older, and 3) she had shown up on at least one United States census. Just one would have been good enough. But, for better or worse, here is her story.

Early Life

Killowen, Co. Down

Ellen Maria Sloan was born August 22, 1873, in Ballincurry Townland, Killowen, County Down, and was baptized the same day in Kilbroney Catholic Parish. She is the third known child of James Sloan and Mary Brennan, preceded by her sister Susan and a brother Peter. Following her in the family were Thomas, David, Francis and Matthew.

Ellen was still in Ballincurry in 1894 and 1895 when she was the informant on the death records of her father (July 10, 1894) and her brother Peter (April 17, 1895), but is not with the family in 1901. She may or may not be the Ellen Sloan on the 1901 census who was working as a servant in the household of Oliver Goldsmith, vicar of the Church of Ireland in Greyabbey, County Down.

Emigration and Citizenship

At any rate, Ellen Sloan left Ireland for America on October 5, 1907, from Londonderry aboard the Columbia. She said she was 30 years old, born in County Armagh, and last resided in County Armagh. She was travelling with Minnie Keeves [Caves] whose father Charles lived in Mullahead, Tandragee, Armagh. Neither had been in the U.S. before. They were both headed to Minnie's sister Frances' home at 536 North 40th Street, Brooklyn. They said their final destination was Philadelphia, but I don't think they ever got that far. They arrived in New York on October 14.

Now, this might not look like our Ellen Sloan, but I am pretty sure that it is, because…

Declaration of Intention,
Ellen Sloan, 1925

…on February 11, 1925, an Ellen Sloan declared her intention to become a citizen of the United States in the US District Court, Eastern District of New York, Brooklyn. On that occasion, she stated that she had been born in Killowen, County Down, on August 15, 1873, and had arrived on the Columbia on or about October 12, 1907. The dates match closely enough to what we have already seen to say that this is the daughter of James Sloan and Mary Brennan.

When Ellen filed her petition for naturalization on January 25, 1928, in the same court, she got the date of arrival exactly right, October 14, 1907. Both records required a physical description—Ellen was 5'6", 155 pounds, with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a fair complexion. She also stated that her occupation was a food checker. She became a US citizen on June 12, 1928.

Return to Ireland

Previous to that, Ellen had made a trip back to Ireland. On June 9, 1924, she arrived at Moville, Co. Donegal, on the TSS Tuscania, and was headed to Mayobridge, Newry. On her voyage back to New York she stated that her last residence in Ireland had been her nephew Peter Sloan's home in Mayobridge, County Down. Interestingly, there was a Peter Sloan in Ellen's sister's household in 1901 in Ballincurry who later lived in Mayobridge before moving to Dundalk, Co. Louth. This Peter was likely the person Ellen visited.

On the passenger manifest, Ellen said that she was going to her sister Mary Sloan's home at 306 East 3rd, Brooklyn.

David and Mary Sloan, of Brooklyn

Let's take a brief interlude to consider Ellen Sloan's destination, her "sister" Mary Sloan. Ellen had no sister Mary, and definitely no sister at all born as early as 1859, which is what Mary Sloan's information said. Mary and Ellen may have been relatives in Ireland, or acquaintances. Or Ellen Sloan may have been related to Mary's husband David.

David Sloan was born about 1855, the son of David Sloan and Julia Feran. His tombstone said he was a native of Killowen, County Down. I didn't look through the baptism registers for David, but there was a Mary Sloan baptized April 19, 1850, in Kilbroney Parish, daughter of David Sloan and Julia Feran. David died February 3, 1908, and is buried in Calvary Cemetery, Brooklyn.

David's wife, Mary Sloan, was also a Sloan by birth, the daughter of James Sloan and Margaret Sloan. She died June 10, 1930, and is buried with her husband. The headstone gave her birth as May 14, 1859. I have a feeling that Mary was also from Killowen or nearby, but I couldn't find her on the Kilbroney or Kilkeel baptism registers, at least as indexed at ancestry.com and findmypast.ie. But Sloan is a common enough name throughout Ireland, so Mary may have been from somewhere else.

Update: I found a bit more on Mary Sloan after all. It is included in the article A Few Sloans from Killowen and Rostrevor.

Later Years

Getting back to Ellen Sloan, you will remember that she was headed for 306 East 3rd, Brooklyn, in 1924. She is listed in the 1933 Brooklyn City Directory at that address. But alas, not on the 1930 Census at that address with Mary Sloan, her son, daughter, and granddaughter. Which kept her census slate clean, since I didn't find her in 1910 or 1920, in Brooklyn, Philadelphia, or Cleveland, where her brother Matt had settled.

Ellen Sloan died 22 Oct 1939, in Brooklyn. Her last residence was 306 East 3rd, Brooklyn, her occupation–food checker. The death record gave the names of her parents as James Sloane and Mary Brennan. Interestingly, it also said she was widowed and her husband's name had been John, no last name given. On all her earlier records–the passenger manifests and her naturalization documents–she said she was unmarried. I never found a trace of a marriage.

Ellen is buried in Calvary Cemetery, Brooklyn. There is no listing for her on findagrave.com, so I don't know the plot number or whether there is a stone or not; the cemetery might be willing to provide that information. There was no death notice in the Brooklyn Eagle for the dates October 23 to 25.

Conclusion

So in the end, I am about 99% sure this is the Ellen Sloan born in 1873 in Ballincurry. Which is about all the certainty you can expect from paper records, I guess. It would have been a little better, as I said at the beginning, if she hadn't claimed to be Minnie Keeves' cousin or, for that matter, if her death record hadn't said she was a widow. But in the first case, she may have needed a destination in the United States to be admitted, and may have known Minnie from working as a domestic servant. As far as "widow" on her death certificate goes, that information could only come from her survivors, probably a neighbor, or a relative of Mary Sloan. Although, they did get her parents' names correct. Well, we might just have to end it there…

Sources and details for Ellen Sloan are in the Ohio Families tree on this site.

Credits

The picture of Carlingford Lough and Killowen, "IMG_9643" by mary_mac_82, is licensed under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 .

Mary Ellen (Gaffney) Lavin of Cuilmore, Sligo, and Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York

2019-09-08T00:00:00-04:00

Sometime in the 1940's, Mrs M G Lavin of 179 East 32nd, Brooklyn, NY, received a letter from Co. Roscommon, Ireland.(footnote)The envelope was once on the Jim Forte Postal History site but has been sold. I am not connected with the site. The name of the post office and the exact date were unreadable. Can we identify Mrs Lavin? Did she come from Roscommon?

When the 1940 census of Brooklyn was taken, Malachy and Mary Lavin were living at 179 East 32nd Street. Malachy was 49 and his wife was 47. With them was Anne Curley, 32, who was called Malachy's sister. The supplemental information for Mary said that she was married at 24 and never had children. (Note: I never established that Anne Curley was related to either Malachy or Mary Lavin.)

Mary (Gaffney) Lavin

I am fairly certain that this couple was married June 23, 1918, in Manhattan. If correct, then Mary's maiden name was Gaffney and her parents were Thomas Gaffney and Anne Finn. Working backward we find a Mary Gaffney arriving at Ellis Island on May 1, 1910, aboard the SS Carmania. Her nearest relative in Ireland was her father Thomas, of Gurteen, Ballymote. She was headed to her aunt Mrs. McKeever's home at 2055 3rd Avenue, New York. There was a Bridget (Finn) McKeever living at that address, according to the 1910 census and the New York City birth records.

So Mary (Gaffney) Lavin was from Co. Sligo, not Roscommon. Her father Thomas was actually in Cuilmore Townland, Sligo, in 1901 and 1911.

The Lavins

Cuilmore, Sligo, was near the border with Co. Roscommon, and not far from Clegernagh Townland, Roscommon, where Mary's husband, Malachy Lavin was born in 1885, son of John Lavin and Catherine Lavin. Malachy arrived in the United States on April 29, 1912, aboard the SS Caronia, headed for his sister Mary Lavin's home in Garden City, Long Island. I didn't find Mary in America, but she is on the 1901 Census of Clegernagh with her mother.

If I have everything correct, Mary and Malachy Lavin lived for a time in Orange, New Jersey, but spent most of their married lives in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Malachy died in November 1968 and Mary in August 1969. They are both buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, Brooklyn.

There is more about both of these families, including the sources, in the Other Families section of this website.

Caveats

I am not 100% certain of all the conclusions in this article. If this were my family, I would like to see the death record for the Mary Lavin who died in Brooklyn in 1969. It might give her parents' names. If they are Gaffney and Finn, then I have identified her correctly. Or, if Mary applied for a Social Security number, the information might be on the application. She didn't have a SSN in 1940. Ancestry.com has these records, but I don't currently have access to ancestry.com.

Edited

November 2019, I looked for a death notice for Mary E Lavin in the Brooklyn Eagle, but the online archives for the paper only go up to 1963. And the 1969 death records are not at familysearch or ancestry.com.

Miss Carrie I Martin of Rochester, New York

2019-09-07T00:00:00-04:00

Postcard, Tamney, Ireland,
to Rochester, NY

In November 1906, Miss Carrie I Martin of Rochester, New York, received a postcard from Miss. J.C.V. Moore, of Tamney, Letterkenny, County Donegal, Ireland.(footnote) "PHILGEN: Philatelic Genealogy". Can this postal cover tell us anything about Carrie Martin's ancestry? What can we learn from the online records?

In 1900 there was a Carrie I Martin at 61 Magne St, Rochester. She was the daughter of William H and Carrie A Martin. Carrie's father William was of German extraction. Her mother was born in Ireland in April 1845, so we can concentrate on her side of the family. In fact, on the 1930 census, Carrie A Martin said she had been born in Northern Ireland, which includes Co. Donegal.

It would help in our search to know Carrie A Martin's maiden name. She was married by 1870, so we could search the 1860 census of Rochester for anyone named Carrie or Caroline born in Ireland at the right time. Our search turns up a Caroline A Livingston, age 14, with her father Alex Livingston, age 45. Also in this household is Catherine M Livingston, 41, Alex C Livingston, 19, and Edmond H Livingston, 17. Could this be the right family?

It seems so, since when Catherine M Livingston died, on January 28, 1873, she was living on Magne Street next door to Caroline and her husband. Carrie Martin's death record (November 5, 1934, in Rochester) should confirm or deny this theory, since it probably asks for her maiden name.

Catherine was not Caroline's mother, however. Alex Livingston and family entered the United States on March 3, 1851, having arrived from Liverpool on the ship America of New York. He was 33 and his wife, whose name was Eliza, was 31. The children were Alexander, 10, Edmond, 7, and Caroline, 3. Eliza also had an infant with her. But by 1855, Alex, Sr., was widowed and living in Clay, Onandaga County, New York. He had just arrived there the month before. So evidently Eliza died soon after arriving in the United States and Alexander remarried.

As mentioned Carrie A Livingston married Henry C. Martin. They had six children: William H (born August 1869), Francis (about November 1871) John F (November 1874), Laura A (March 1880), Jessie A (July 1882), and Carrie I (May 1887). None of these children married.

Carrie's brother Alex Livingston married Harriet A Glen and had three children: Edmund H (born about 1864), Charles B (about 1871), and Alfred (about Jan 1875). Her brother Edmond married a woman named Mary. They had two children: Harriet (Dec 1881) and Edith A (about 1884).

All this is interesting, but what about the postcard from Letterkenny, Donegal?

Well, it might help us a bit, but not as much as we would like. There were no Livingstons in Donegal at the time of Griffith's Valuation in the mid 1860′s, but there were twenty-five men by that name elsewhere in Northern Ireland. The sender of the card, Miss J.C.V. Moore is probably the Jeannie C Moore, in Tawney, Donegal, age 23 in 1911. Her mother's maiden name was Cassidy. It would have been nice if it was Livingston.

So to find the Livingston's Irish origins we might have to look elsewhere. For a start, the death records for Carrie A (Livingston) Martin and her brothers Alex and Edmund might record their mother Eliza's maiden name. An obituary for their father in the Rochester papers might have some helpful information. Their may be birth records for Carrie and her brothers in Ireland. Or there might be a mariage record for their parents.

Or maybe someone out there just knows.

Sources

Federal and state censuses of Monroe and Onandaga Counties, New York, at familysearch.org and ancestry.com.

Rochester City Directories at ancestry.com.

1911 Census of Ireland at the National Arvchives of Ireland.

Irish Times Surname Search.

"New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1891," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/27PK-8SH : accessed 19 Dec 2013), Caroline Livingston, 1851.

Marriages and Mt. Hope Cemetery records at search at:
http://www.cityofrochester.gov/app.aspx?id=8589943531

Anna (Cummisky) Lynch of Curraghan, County Leitrim, and Port Jefferson, Suffolk County, New York

2019-09-03T00:00:00-04:00

In 1941, Mrs Martin Lynch of Belle Terre Park, Port Jefferson, Long Island, received a letter from the town of Sligo, County Sligo, Ireland.(footnote)I first saw this letter on the Jim Forte Postal History website. I'm not sure if it is still for sale there or not. Can we identify Mrs Lynch, and can this envelope help us find her county of origin in Ireland?

In 1940, Mrs Anna Lynch, a widow, was living in Belle Terre, Port Jefferson, NY. She was 66 and had been born in Ireland. She and her husband Martin had been in the same town since at least 1925. Before that they had lived in Poughkeepsie, New York. In fact I found Martin there in 1880 with his parents and four siblings. The parents had been born in Ireland, but Martin, his brother, and sisters were all born in New York.(footnote)United States and New York State Censuses of Poughkeepsie, NY and Port Jefferson, NY.

Anna and Martin had three children that appear on the censuses: Thomas, Phillip, and Catherine. Anna died on February 15, 1966.(footnote)United States Social Security Death Index. I didn't find the record of Martin's death.

Update

The first time I worked on this family I came to a dead end at this point, unable to find Anna's place of origin in Ireland. Since then I was able to get to the library and use their edition of ancestry.com. In the Social Security Applications database, there was an entry for Anna Lynch that said she was born July 1873, in County Leitrim. Her parents were Phillip Comisky and Katherine Dolan. Her 1900 Census in Poughkeepsie said she was born in July 1873 as well.

So I came home and looked for the civil registration of her birth and found:

born July 18, 1873, Anne [daughter of] Philip Cummisky, a farmer of Curraghan, and Catherine Cummisky, formerly Dolan, born in Curraghan Townland, Drumlease Civil District, County Leitrim (Superintendent Registrar's District of Manorhamilton).

Her parents are on the 1901 census of Ireland, living in house 3 in Curraghan (Sramore, Leitrim). Her mother and brother were still in Curraghan in 1911.

Which might explain why she also received a letter from County Leitrim in 1941:

As for the letter from Sligo, Anna had a sister Ellen who married John O'Hara, a postman of Sligo, on November 19, 1903. They were living in Sligo East in 1911 with three children.

Conclusion

So in retrospect, I suppose the envelopes didn't help much in finding Anna (Cummisky) Lynch's Irish county of origin. It would have been easier just to go to ancestry.com in the first place. But the journey wouldn't have been half as interesting.

Patrick J Slowey of Syracuse, New York, and Holyoke, Massachusetts

2018-10-08T00:00:00-04:00

Postal Cover, Co Cavan, Ire. to Holyoke, MA

I came across P.J. Slowey while looking through some postal covers at the Jim Forte Postal History site. In 1939 he received a letter from Ballyjamesduff, Ireland.(footnote)The image of the envelope is used by permission of the Jim Forte Postal History site and can be found on this page of the site, unless it has been sold. I am not connected with the site. As a genealogist I wondered if that was his place of birth.

I've done a few of these postal cover articles and they are usually a challenge, but Patrick Slowey was one of the easiest persons I have researched. I'm not going to bother listing most of the sources. If you type his name into the boxes at Familysearch, you will find almost everything you need. To find his trips through Ellis Island, start at stevemorse.org. A few bits of information were only at ancestry.com.

Patrick was indeed born in Ballyjamesduff, County Cavan, Ireland, March 2, 1885, the son of Alexander and Catherine (Kelly) Slowey. He is on the 1901 Census of Ballyjamesduff in his brother Thomas' household, along with his widowed mother and his brothers Alexander and James.(footnote) National Archives of Ireland, 1901 Census of Ballyjamesduff. His father's name comes from Patrick's passport application in 1919, which was on ancestry.com. His mother's maiden name can be found at Familysearch in some of the records of her children's births.

Patrick came through Ellis Island at least three times: February 19, 1906, as an immigrant; July 11, 1911, with his brother James; and March 23, 1920, as a citizen. Patrick worked most of his life for the Holyoke Belting Company: first as a salesman in upstate New York, then as a company official and later President in Holyoke itself. He died January 15, 1965, in Holyoke and is buried in St. Jerome Cemetery.(footnote)Larry Murray & Carole King Murray Family rootsweb database for Patrick Slowey.

Patrick's mother seems to have died about 1919 or 1920. When Patrick applied for his passport in June of 1919, he said his reason for travel was to visit his mother before she died. In December he seems to have sent the passport in for renewal, saying he was unable to make the trip as planned.(footnote)U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925, at ancestry.com. Then in March 1920 he returns through Ellis Island. The Civil Registrations in Ireland should have his mother's death.

Elizabeth J Nolan

Since Patrick was so easy, I thought I'd try to find out something about his wife Elizabeth. Ireland was partitioned in 1922, so the 1930 U.S. Census was the first to distinguish between the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland as a place of birth. Elizabeth's information said she was born in the North. The 1940 Census says she was born in the Irish Free State, but the census indicates that her husband provided that information.

Maiden name

I had the hardest time finding Elizabeth's maiden name, until I Googled "Patrick J Slowey Syracuse" and found an article in the August 9, 1938, Ogdenburg Journal, page 3, which said:

**Chippewa Bay**
Mr. and Mrs. Patrick J. Slowey and family arrived here by motor on Wednesday from Holyoke, Mass., to spend a month at their summer cottage on Marjorita Island.

Lieutenant William E. Nolan of New York arrived here by motor on Thursday evening to spend part of his annual vacation with his sister and brother-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Patrick J. Slowey.(footnote)August 9, 1938, Ogdenburg Journal, page 3. This is a .pdf file. The article is in the upper left corner of the page.

Marriage record

I had already looked at the Italian Genealogical Group website for a marriage record, searching for Slowey, but to no avail. This site has indexed many vital records for the New York City area for the late 19th and early 20th century, not just for Italian couples but for all marriages.

I went back and searched for "Elizabeth Nolan" and found the following:

Nolan Elizabeth Apr 5 1915 7569 Manhattan

Clicking on the groom lookup button got me this:

Siowey Patrick J Apr 5 1915 Certificate Number:7569 Manhattan(footnote)Italian Genealogical Society, bride's search.

No wonder I didn't find him. They indexed his name as "Siowey" instead of "Slowey." But anyway, they were married in Manhattan on April 5, 1915. And they are together on the (June) 1915 NY State Census of Manhattan at 4509 Sixth Ave, Patrick already a salesman.

Edited to add:

In December 2018 I took another look at this couple and found the marriage record now indexed at familysearch. It said that Elizabeth's parents were Philip Nolan and Bridget Callahan.

Death

Elizabeth may have died in Holyoke about 1963 or 1964. In the 1964 Holyoke City Directory she and Patrick are listed at different addresses on Linden Street. In the street cross reference section both of these addresses are for the Buckley Manor Nursing Home. And Patrick's obituary does not mention Elizabeth as a survivor.

County of Origin

Unfortunately, I didn't find enough information for Elizabeth Nolan to definitely determine her birthplace. My best guess is that she was from County Fermanagh, but it is only a guess. There is a couple named Philip Nolan and Bridget Callahan who have at least six children on the birth records in Greagh Townland, Lisnaskea Registration District, Fermanagh, including an Elizabeth. However their Elizabeth was born 18 January 1878, which is about 8 years earlier than Patrick Slowey's wife Elizabeth said she was born.

Perhaps Elizabeth was a few years older than Patrick, and lowered her age on the census records to better match his. Her passenger manifest would have been helpful in that regard, but I couldn't find it. Likewise for a census listing for Elizabeth before she was married.