Person in this family
Catherine Lavelle
Born about May 1894; death not recorded
Baptismal material names “Cath. Lavelle” as mother of Barbara and Catherine Brennan in two St. Mary baptisms: Catherine and Thomas brought Barbara to St. Mary’s three days after her June 1886 birth and Catherine one day after her October 1888 birth. However, this profile's user-tree birth of May 1894 makes it impossible for her to be the mother of Barbara (born 1886) or Mary Veronica (born 1884). Those maternal links are removed; this profile may be a later wife of Thomas Brennan or a conflation with an older woman.
Proved by a record
Catherine Lavelle was the mother of Barbara and Catherine Brennan, whose Bayonne baptisms in 1886 and 1888 disprove a reported 1894 birth date.
Birth: From our family tree - no record found yet
How is this person related?
Andrew John Leahey’s great-great-grandparent's spouse (by marriage)
Gina D. Cacace’s connected in this tree, but not by a line this tool can name
Abigail Ann Leahey’s great-great-great-grandparent's spouse (by marriage)
Marie C. Fitzgerald’s connected in this tree, but not by a line this tool can name
Kevin Leahey’s great-grandparent's spouse (by marriage)
Worked out from the recorded parents and marriages. No sex is recorded for anyone in this archive, so the wording stays neutral.
How this person is related to Andrew:
Catherine Lavelle is the spouse of your 2× great-grandparent.
Life
Catherine Lavelle was recorded with Thomas Brennan as the mother of at least two daughters baptized at St. Mary in Bayonne; our family tree identifies Thomas as her spouse. Barbara Brennan's entry reads "June 10 – 1886 | June 13 – 1886 | Thomas | Cath. Lavelle," recording baptism three days after birth. Catherine Brennan's entry records birth on 6 October 1888, baptism the next day, and parents Thomas and Cath. Lavelle.
The younger Catherine's sponsors were Peter Lavelle and Anna McCabe. Peter's shared surname suggests a possible family connection, but the record does not state what that connection was.
Our family tree records Catherine Lavelle a birth date in May 1894. That cannot describe the mother in these baptisms, who had already borne a child in 1886. The date is therefore a bad merge or a bad date, not a usable fact about her life.
Barbara later appears as the mother of infant Margaret Leahey in a 1914 funeral entry, but that record adds nothing about Catherine herself. Catherine's birth, parents, marriage, residences, and death remain unknown.
How we know this: Two original baptisms securely identify Catherine as a mother and expose an impossible family-tree birth date, but little else is known about her. [1][2][3]
Family
Spouse
See this family in the family treeWhere they lived
Use the place list first. The map below is optional.
Places listed on this page
- Bayonne, Hudson County, New Jersey
- Syracuse, Onondaga County, New York
- England
- Germany
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The pins show approximate places. The line only joins them in time order; it does not prove the route travelled. 2 of the places listed above are recorded only as a county or country, so they are not pinned. Cemetery and burial places have red pins.
Timeline
Life event
Barbara later appears as a mother in the funeral entry for “Margaret | Leahey … 05/20/1914 | 83 W 12th St. … James/US | Barbara Brennan/US … Aged 11m.” [3]
Proved by a record
What the records say
3 records transcribed.
Record exhibit
baptism
This is an entry in a church book, often naming a child, parents, and godparents.
Proved by a record
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
Barbera /Brennan/ | Barbara Brennan | June 10 - 1886 | June 13 - 1886 | Thomas | Cath. Lavelle | Patrick Powers | Barbara Brennan, | June 10 - 1886, | 24 | 141 | CHIL | 83 W 12th St. | 121 Barbara Brennan | June 10 – 1886 | June 13 – 1886 | Thomas | Cath. Lavelle | Patrick Powers. | 121 Barbara Brennan | June 10 – 1886 | June 13 – 1886 | Thomas | Cath. Lavelle | Patrick Powers.
Record exhibit
1888
This old record gives information about the person or family named here.
Proved by a record
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
Cath. Lavelle | 209 Catherine Brennan | Oct 6 – 1888 | Oct 7 – 1888 | Thomas | Cath. Lavelle | Peter Lavelle | Anna McCabe. | 209 Catherine Brennan | Oct 6 – 1888 | Oct 7 – 1888 | Thomas | Cath. Lavelle | Peter Lavelle | Anna McCabe.
Record exhibit
1914 Dempsey transcription
This old record gives information about the person or family named here.
Proved by a record
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
James Leahey ... 06/01/1914 ... 83 W 12th St. ... John/US Margaret Mahoney/US ... Aged 28y ... train operator. | Margaret Leahey ... 05/20/1914 ... 83 W 12th St. ... James/US Barbara Brennan/US ... Aged 11m. | Dennis Leahey/Ire Ann Galvin/Ire ... Aged 38y, Born US ... Ordered by John Hedley. | Dennis/Ire Anna Galvin/Ire ... Aged 83y,1m,11d, Born US (Syracuse, NY), Widower.Show the full recordHide the full recordFull record, about 400 words
| Dennis/Ire Ann Rowlor/Ire, | John/US Margaret Mahoney/US | **George | Hoffman | H155 | 02/05/1915 | 36 W 23rd St. … Bayonne y … unknown/Germany … unknown/Germany | HCCC | Aged 69y,2m, Born Germany, 35y resident of state, Married, Occupation stillman** | **in a small number of entries the dates may be of the date of burial and not the date of death** | **Edward | Hoffman … 12/19/1914 | 10 W 21st St. … George/US | Mary Lynch/US | HCCC | Aged 3m, Born US, Date of birth 9/22/1914, Buried in Block C, No. 1061** | **Nov 1846** | **Aged 69y,2m**, | Edward | Hoffman … 12/19/1914 | 10 W 21st St. … George/US | Mary Lynch/US | HCCC | Aged 3m, Born US, Date of birth 9/22/1914, Buried in Block C, No. 1061. | Edward | Hoffman … 12/19/1914 | 10 W 21st St. … George/US | Mary Lynch/US | HCCC | Aged 3m, Born US, Date of birth 9/22/1914, Buried in Block C, No. 1061. | Margaret | Leahey … 05/20/1914 | 83 W 12th St. … James/US | Barbara Brennan/US … Aged 11m. | Margaret | Leahey … 05/20/1914 | 83 W 12th St. … James/US | Barbara Brennan/US … Aged 11m. | George | Hoffman | H155 | 02/05/1915 | 36 W 23rd St. … unknown/Germany … unknown/Germany | HCCC | Aged 69y,2m, Born Germany, 35y resident of state, Married, Occupation stillman. | Nov 1846 … Germany … 1880 | in a small number of entries the dates may be of the date of burial and not the date of death, | stillman | unknown/Germany | George | Hoffman | H155 | 02/05/1915 | 36 W 23rd St. … unknown/Germany … unknown/Germany | HCCC | Aged 69y,2m, Born Germany, 35y resident of state, Married, Occupation stillman. | George/US | Mary Lynch/US | Date of birth 9/22/1914, | Block C, No. 1061. | Catherine | Lynch | L520 | 10/11/1917 | 16 W 21st St. … John Griffith/Ire | Anna Shannon/Ire | Mt. Olivet | Aged 58y, Born England, Widow. | John Griffith | George/US | Mary Lynch/US | Catherine | Lynch | L520 | 10/11/1917 | 16 W 21st St. … John Griffith/Ire | Anna Shannon/Ire | Mt. Olivet | Aged 58y, Born England, Widow.
Historical context
These background articles explain the places, work, and events in this entry.
Bayonne and the Industrial Waterfront, 1870–1920
The Bayonne in these family records was a new city built around water, rails and heavy industry. Bayonne Township was formed only in 1861, uniting older settlements on Bergen Neck; it became a city in 1869. The…
What Sponsors and Witnesses Can Tell Us
Catholic registers often preserve the people standing just outside a family photograph. A baptism normally names the child, parents, date and sponsors or godparents; a marriage normally names the couple and wit…
A Stillman in Bayonne’s Oil Works
George Hoffman’s 1900 census entry calls him a “Stillman Oil Refinery” and places his family at 36 West 23rd Street in Bayonne. His 1915 funeral entry still gives his occupation as “stillman.” That was not a su…
A Train Operator in Bayonne, 1914
James D. Leahey’s funeral entry records a compact working life: married, American-born, age twenty-eight, living at 83 West 12th Street in Bayonne, occupation “train operator.” He died on 1 June 1914, twelve da…
What we still don't know
- Her actual birth date and place
- Her parents
- Her marriage date and place
- Her relationship, if any, to sponsor Peter Lavelle
- Her residences, death date, and burial place
- Her own identity remains thin despite the decisive correction to the tree. Find Thomas and Catherine Brennan in the 1880/1900 censuses, Bayonne directories, civil marriage index, and death records; test Peter Lavelle as a brother or other relative.
- Determine whether this 1894 Catherine Lavelle was a later wife of Thomas Brennan or whether her date/profile was conflated with the older Cath. Lavelle named in the Brennan baptisms.