Growing up, I knew my grandmother’s sisters. My grandmother was Gertrude Elizabeth McDonough Rogers and her sisters were known to me as Aunt Katherine and Aunt Lou (OK, I know they are great-Aunts, but that’s what we called them).
It was only years later (after my grandmother and Aunts had passed), that I located an obituary for my g.grandmother, Mary Doris McDonough that indicates that there was another sibling – her son, John McDonough still alive in 1951 and living in New Bedford, Massachusetts. [1] As my Mom and I were both interested in family history, I asked my mom about her uncle, John McDonough. She had never heard of him.
It was years later that I found out from my 2nd cousin, Judy (granddaughter of Katherine McDonough O’Connor), that she had heard that "one day at about the age 16, John left the house to get a pack of cigarettes and never came back." She had heard her mother say that he moved to Massachusetts. Everyone seems to have lost contact with him and he was forgotten.
As I started compiling my family history, I located his birth and baptism at St. Mary Church, Greenwich, Connecticut. [2] According to the church record, John James McDonough was born 29 November 1893 and baptized 3 December 1893 (the official birth certificate says he was born 18 November 1893 and that is the date that John James uses throughout his life).
So where did John James go? I found his WW1 Draft Card from 1917 and he is living in New York City working as a chauffeur for a “Mrs. Woodcock” on Coney Island. [3] He says he has wife, but no name is given and he claims a “dependent” exemption from the draft.
Apparently he was less than truthful as he didn’t marry until 1919, when he married Mae (or Mary) Charlotte Frank, daughter of Gus Frank and Mary Even on 4 Feb 1919 in Manhattan, New York City. His parents are given as Frank McDonough and Mary Doris.[4]
From there, he is found in the 1920 Federal census with his wife, Mary C. living as “boarders” in Manhattan, NYC and his still working as a chauffeur. [5]
John J. McDonough and his wife disappear until 1940. They are not found in the 1925 NY State census and the 1930 census in New York, Massachusetts, or Rhode Island (or anywhere else for that matter), but they do show up on the 1940 Federal census for Newport, Rhode Island as John James McDonough and Mary C. There are apparently no children as none are listed and he is unemployed. Their address in 1935 is given as South Dartmouth, Massachusetts. [6]
John James
McDonough died on 2 February 1942 in Burrillville, Providence, Rhode Island of Pulmonary
Tuberculosis and had last worked in 1938. [7] His wife
Mary Frank is still alive at this time and his parents Frank McDonagh and Mary Doris are identified on the death certificate. He is buried in the St. Columba Cemetery in
Middletown, Rhode Island. He had no children and none of his family even knew he had died. He now has a Find-A-Grave entry that connects him with his siblings and parents (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/213469734/john-james-mcdonough), although there is no photo of the grave (if one exists) yet.
John James, the forgotten brother, died 9 years before his mother, Mary Doris McDonough. Even in her 1951 obituary, John James McDonough’s siblings thought he was still alive. Despite whatever happened to cause him to leave home and his siblings, he is now restored to the family and will no longer be forgotten.
[1] “Mrs. Mary McDonough.” Greenwich Library clipping. Greenwich Times (Greenwich, Connecticut), September 7, 1951.
[2] St. Mary Church, “Baptism Register,” p.157, “Joanneum Jacobum,” baptism 3 December 1893, born 29 November 1893; Parish archive, Greenwich, Connecticut.
[3] United States World War 1 Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918,” images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6482/ : accessed 20 July 2020), card John James McDonough, serial no. 123, New York City, New York.
[4] “New York City Marriages, 1829-1940,” database,
FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/2143225 : accessed 21 May 2020), Entry for John James McDonough - May Charlotte Frank, 4 Feb 1919; citing Marriage, Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, New York City Municipal Archives, New York, FHL microfilm 1,643,254.
[5] 1920 U.S. census, New York County, New York, Manhattan Borough, p. 8A, dwelling 22, family 182, line 19, ED 1070, John McDonough household; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6061/ : accessed 26 June 2020); citing National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) microfilm publication T625 roll 1213, Image 15/43.
[6] 1940 U.S. census, Newport County, Rhode Island, Newport, p. 61B, house 396, line 45, ED 3-37, John J.McDonough household; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2442/ : accessed 26 June 2020); citing National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) microfilm publication T627 roll 3760, image 45/47.
[7] “Rhode Island Deaths and Burials, 1802-1950,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F8H5-48K : accessed 21 May 2020), certificate of death image, John James McDonough, 2 Feb 1942, no. 42-23, citing “Rhode Island Department of Public Health, Division off Vital Statistics.”
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