Surname Saturday: Michael Walsh has gone in hiding

Michael Walsh has gone in hiding. Well, at least it seems that way. I have managed to narrow down his death year but I know so little about him.

Walsh is an extremely common Irish surname. My 2^nd great grandparents are Michael J and Anna Keating Walsh. I know little of her and even less of him. My grandmother had told me once that Michael was born in Dublin. She was not sure when he immigrated. Anna, she said, left Ireland as a child with her siblings. They met up near Shenandoah, married and had several children.

Their children (that I know of) are:

John

Katherine (1875-1939)

Daniel James (1877-1957)

Margaret Mary (1881-1926)

Martin Joseph (1884-1923) ß my great grandfather

Michael Joseph (1893-1968)

The Walsh family lived at 306½ Lloyd Street in Shenandoah, Schuylkill County. By 1910 Michael Walsh, the father, was already passed. This I know since Anna’s marital status is widow on the 1910 US Federal Census. The Census shows just Anna, 56, and their 17 year old son Michael. It also states she had 11 children but only six are living.

Until today the 1910 Census was the only one I found. Today I found an Anna ten years earlier on the 1900 Census. Most of the information is as I already have it but there are a few differences.

In 1900 the family lived on West Centre Street in Shenandoah and comprised Anna and four sons: John, Martin, Mike, and Thomas. The 1900 Census asks the month and year of birth. Anna was born February 1851, is 49 and a widow! She came to America in 1860. It does not however state if she is still an alien or if she is naturalized yet. It also asks the number of children. She answers that she had 10 children and six are living. Ten years later, in 1910, she said she had 11 children with six living then. John, 21, was born in May 1879. Martin, 14, was born in January 1886. (I have Martin’s birth recorded as being 20 December 1884). Mike, 6, was born March 1894. Thomas, 2, was born June 1897.

I never knew of a Thomas. If this is my family then Michael – the father – would have died between October 1896 and 1900.

I also found a death certificate for a Margaret, daughter of Michael Welsh and Anna Keating but Margaret’s last name is given as Good. Her birth and death are close enough to be their Margaret Mary. My conflict with this one is that Margaret Mary married a John Williams in 1904 and had a daughter Margaret “Peg” Williams. (She was a sweetheart!) I think Margaret (all of them) and I are will be spending some quality time together here shortly!

So many questions remain!

Surname Saturday is a genealogical prompt of GeneaBloggers.

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