Third Post

It's Sunday morning and my husband is still sleeping, so I'm back on the computer.

A search of the 1850 US Federal Census for Thomas Cavanagh or Kavanagh using the soundex has been unsuccessful, neither was a search on Mar* or Marc* Cavanagh or Kavanagh. It's possible that the couple were not married that early. Based on the age of the oldest child I know about, (Arthur), Thomas and Marcella should have been married by 1856.

I caught the "Who Do You Think You Are" episode with Matthew Broderick last night on Prime Time on Demand. I had missed the original airing of the show because my husband and I were at the Rockin' the Red Cross Corporate Band Challenge at the Landmark Theater in Syracuse on Friday Night. The CXtec Dinosaurs came in third, and lead singer Leila Dean won best female vocalist. Leila rocks!

Back to Matthew Broderick. In the episode Matthew finds out that his great-great grandfather, Robert Martindale, was a Civil War soldier who died in battle. This got me wondering whether Thomas Cavanagh also served. He was the right age, and a great number of recent Irish immigrants from the New York City area served in the Union Army. I did find a record for a Thomas Cavanaugh who enlisted as a private in Yonkers, NY into Company A, 17th Regiment NY on 29 April 1861, at the age of 29. This is about the right age to be my Thomas. This Thomas received a disability discharge from Company A, 17th Infantry Regiment NY on 11 Nov 1861. I checked the Civil War Pension Application database on Ancestry.com but did not find a Thomas Cavanagh who applied from New Jersey who served in the 17th Infantry Regiment NY. I think I'll try to find out more about Thomas before ordering his service records from the National Archives.

I did find Thomas and Marcella in the 1900 US Federal Census. At the time of enumeration they were living in Ward 3 of Elizabeth, NJ, at 236 Bond Street. The information is listed below:

Cavanagh, Thomas, head, white, male, b. Aug 1835, 64 yrs old, married 38 years, b. Ireland, both parents b. Ireland, immigrated 1870, 30 yrs in US, Naturalized citizen, blacksmith, 0 months unemployed, able to read, write and speak English, owns house, free of mortgage
Cavanagh, Marcella, wife, white, female, b. Oct. 1836, 63 yrs old, married 38 years, b. Ireland, both parents b. Ireland, able to read, write and speak English

There seems to be some discrepancy regarding when Thomas immigrated, also, was Marcella born in England or Ireland? According to the information above, Thomas and Marcella married about 1862, but we find them married, with children in the 1860 US Federal Census...

I'm hoping that one fact on the above census is correct, that Thomas was a naturalized citizen. I'll check the Naturalization records to see if I can find him.