Our family has a written Family Record dated 1942 written, most likely, by my grandmother Bezzie Renn. It records births, baptisms, deaths and siblings of my great-grandparents and their children.  This document was the starting point for learning about my great-grandmother, Catherine Golden. The siblings of great-grandmother Catherine Golden were Ned, Anthony, John, Pat, and Maria.  

Ned Golden

So far, the only information that I have about Ned is his name and the note, “in Eng. navy” that is in the Family Record.

Anthony Golden

The next eldest brother was Anthony. He and his wife Mary were born in Ireland but their children were born in Chicago and I’m guessing that that’s where they were married. Anthony Golden died when he was just 48 years old. His obituary, published in The Chicago Daily News, described him as a native of Balla in County Mayo. He left behind his wife Mary, née McGourk, and his brothers John and Pat. The funeral was from his residence at 95 Superior St. to Holy Name Cathedral on Feb. 3, 1885. He was buried in Calvary Cemetery in Evanston.

He and Mary had five children who were included in the 1880 census: John, Ann, and Mary (ages 16, 13, and 7). From our Family Record we know that two more children were born to Anthony and Mary: Sarah and Anthony. The children’s names are recorded in our Family Record as John, Annie, Molly, Tony and Sadie.

Mary later married Matthew Dickey and had one child, Elizabeth, with him.

John Golden

Catherine’s brother John was born on June 24, 1850, according to his Cook County death certificate. That death certificate records his parents as John Golden and Sarah Fitzgerald of Ireland. John married Maria Philbin in 1867, a few years after his immigration to the United States in 1864.  He and Maria had five children that survived childhood: Annie, Edward, John, Lizzie, and Joe.

According to census data, John worked as a drayman, or teamster, throughout his working life in Chicago. In 1900, all five children of John and Maria’s children were living with them. Edward and John (ages 31 and 26) also worked as teamsters. Elizabeth, age 19, worked as a stenographer. Joe, age 16, worked as an office boy. Annie, age 27, did not work outside of the home.

When John died at the age of 67 in 1917, he was a retired widower. He was buried at Mt. Carmel cemetery.

Patrick J. Golden

The youngest Golden brother was Pat. In 1880 he was 36 years old and his wife Mary was 30 years old. They lived at 537 Hubbard Street with their children John, age 5, and Nellie, a baby of 8 months. They would later have a third child, Willie.

Patrick died in 1898 and Mary must have died before him. His funeral notice in the Chicago Daily News read, “Golden, Patrick, March 10, 1898, father of John, Eleanor, William, brother of John Golden, and Mrs. John Connelly, native of Co. Mayo. Funeral from resid., 193 N. Ashland ave. to St. Columbine’s Church to Calvary.”

Maria Golden

The Maria was the very youngest of the Golden siblings, born perhaps five or seven years after Patrick. My information about her comes from our family record along with census data. She left Ireland at a later time than her older siblings. Irish records hint that she may have left Ireland after the death of her father. She never married.Anthony Golden death Chicago Daily News 1885

In 1880, Maria was likely living with my great-grandmother, Catherine (then Connelly) and her family on Huron St. The relationship to head of household was recorded in the census as “servant,” but I think it is highly likely that this Maria is indeed Catherine’s sister. The 1880 census didn’t collect much information. It does describe Maria’s age as 32 and that she and her parents were born in Ireland.

The 1900 census finds Maria living with her two nephews and a niece: John, Eleanor, and William Golden, who were children of Patrick J. Golden (the brother of my great-grandmother Catherine described above).  The 1900 census notes her age as 28 and that she was born in October of 1871 in Ireland and immigrated to the United States in 1882. It also notes that she could read but could not write. Other sources contradict both the age and year of immigration shown on the 1900 census for Maria. She was certainly older than 28.

1890 census data was destroyed. Too bad, as that could confirm where Maria lived in the years between 1880 and 1900. Maria likely went to live with her brother Pat after his wife died giving birth to Willie, in 1884. Pat died in 1898. Eleanor married Patrick Collison in 1902 and the couple moved to South Dakota. Willie followed them to South Dakota and there married  Josephine Toohey. I don’t yet know anything more about their brother John.

The 1910 census shows Maria Golden, “servant,” living with James P. McDermott and his family. She could have been a servant to the family; she was also likely a cousin of James P. McDermott. Thus Maria lived with her sister, her brother, his orphaned children, and finally with a cousin: an unmarried woman, caregiver to her siblings children, and servant.

Maria died on Feb. 15, 1917 and The Cook County death index recorded her parents as John Golden and Sarah Fitzgerald and her age as 65. When she died, she was living at the McDermott home on Fairfield Avenue. She was buried at Mt. Carmel Cemetery in Hillside, just west of Chicago.