“Let's change things up a bit with a theme that is especially ambiguous: "Ten." Ten what? Someone who had 10 children? Someone with 10 letters in their name? Someone who was in the 10th Infantry? Someone who was born in October? #10 on your ancestor chart? (That would be your paternal grandmother's father, if you number it the standard way.) “Unfortunately, none of that spoke to me. Hmmm.
Wait, I’ve got an idea. How about the 10th letter of the alphabet? A, B, C…..J. Okay, that’s it. Let’s pick an ancestor with a name starting with J. And that’s when I thought of my second great grandmother, Julia Horgan.
I don’t know much about Julia and after several hours of research, I’m no further along than I was before. But I can share what I do know and hope that something along the way will spark a memory.
Several years ago I connected with a cousin, Patti, who also descended from Julia Horgan so we shared some notes and a photo or two and then the unthinkable happened and Patti was taken from us. I wrote about it HERE. How I wish Patti were here so we could talk again. My hunch is that we still would be no further along but at least we sure would have had fun talking through it.
Julia was born in Derryleagh, Cork, Ireland in 1849 to Jeremiah Horgan and Margaret “Maggie” Callahan. She was the 5th of 7 children of the couple – four older brothers (Michael, Cornelius, Andrew, John) and two younger sisters (Mary and Nora).
Julia married Matthew Fitzgerald in, I believe, June, 1869 in Black Station, Yolo County, California. Julia and Matthew were living in Grafton, Yolo County, in 1870 where Julia was keeping house and Matthew was a Laborer.
By 1880, the family had grown – boy had it grown!
It’s hard to see but there with Matthew and Julia were the first of 7 children – John (b1871), Jeremiah (b1873), Nicholas (b1875), Mary Margaret (b1877), and Edward Francis (b 1879). This is an especially meaningful census for me as Edward was my great-grandfather, a lovely man whom I remember well. Two more children would join the family – Joseph (b1881) and Anna Teresa (b1883). Those two children are also special as Joseph was Patti’s grandfather and I was always told that my middle name was in honor of Anna, my mother’s great aunt whom she lived with for several years.
But just a few years later, Julia was gone. She died 4 Aug 1885 in Black, Yolo County. I have no idea of any specifics but it’s not for lack of trying. I just sealed the envelope requesting a copy of the death certificate which might give me more information. Fingers crossed.
I did find an interesting article.
Julia is buried in St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Woodland, Yolo County, California. I think she is beside Matthew as both show in Row 26-S, although Matthew shows he is in Plot 3 and Julia shows in Section 3. One day I need to walk the cemetery and see for myself.
How sad that she left so many young children behind, especially the last two. I wonder if she died in childbirth since she was having a child every two years and it had been two years since the last one.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting thought, Amy. I'll be interested to see what the death certificate shows as a cause of death.
DeleteI have been following in your steps that you took a few years ago on Ashbel Waller. I wonder if he could have had a Sarah Waller in 1806. A Sarah Waller married David Chandler Messenger around 1826, and they lived in Greene Co PA. Did you ever find Ashbel's grave. I just saw the location of the land yesterday in Sec 6, Union Twp, Butler Co. As luck would have it my brother lives about 1.25 miles from the land. I have ridden my bike past it when I was visiting him. Hopefully he will be able to do some searching during the next week to see what he can find. Dean Mills
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