Person in this family
Caroline Meaney
Born 17 October 1887; death not recorded
Caroline Meaney was born at Bayonne on 17 October 1887, a daughter of Thomas Francis Meaney and Catherine Roland, and was baptised at St. Mary Star of the Sea thirteen days later. On 22 January 1911 she married Louis Smith in the same church. Until 11 August 2026 this archive knew her only as “Mrs. Louis Smith” — a woman recorded by her husband's name, with no given name, no dates and nothing else. Her own baptism gave all of it back.
Proved by a record
Caroline Meaney was born at Bayonne on 17 October 1887, a daughter of Thomas Francis Meaney and Catherine Roland, and was baptised at St. Mary Star of the Sea thirteen days later. On 22 January 1911 she married Louis Smith in the same church. Until 11 August 2026 this archive knew her only as “Mrs. Louis Smith” — a woman recorded by her husband's name, with no given name, no dates and nothing else. Her own baptism gave all of it back.
Born at Bayonne, Hudson County, New Jersey
Recorded as: Mrs. Louis Smith — the only name this archive held for her until 11 August 2026
How is this person related?
Andrew John Leahey’s no single word covers it — connected through Dennis C. Leahey, who is a great-great-grandparent's sibling
Gina D. Cacace’s connected in this tree, but not by a line this tool can name
Abigail Ann Leahey’s no single word covers it — connected through Dennis C. Leahey, who is a great-great-great-grandparent's sibling
Marie C. Fitzgerald’s connected in this tree, but not by a line this tool can name
Kevin Leahey’s no single word covers it — connected through Dennis C. Leahey, who is a great-grandparent's sibling
Worked out from the recorded parents and marriages. No sex is recorded for anyone in this archive, so the wording stays neutral.
Life
A written life story has not been added for this person yet.
Death and burial
Evidence distinction: [RECORD] means text read from the photographed stone. [COMPILED] means volunteer-typed memorial information and is only a lead.
Find a Grave memorial 184119540
Why this memorial is attached
Matched by spouse Matthew Sylvester Leahy and the archive’s 1889 marriage report naming Matthew Leahy and Catherine Meaney. Find a Grave memorial 184119540 (findagrave.com).
Spouse Matthew Sylvester Leahy 1866–1934 (m. 1888)
[COMPILED] Volunteer-typed memorial fields
These fields are leads, not civil or church records, and do not replace documented dates. Find a Grave memorial 184119540 (findagrave.com).
Name: Catherine Elizabeth Meaney Leahy Birth: 13 Nov 1871 Death: 16 Aug 1939 (aged 67) Cemetery: Holy Name Cemetery and Mausoleum, Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, USA Plot: Blk-F Sec-JA Gr-38 1E Family links: Parents: Thomas Francis Meaney 1849–1917; Catherine Meaney unknown–1937. Spouse: Matthew Sylvester Leahy 1866–1934 (m. 1888). Sibling: Ann Meaney Leahey 1875–1894. Children:Show the full recordHide the full recordFull record, about 100 words
Dennis C Leahey 1890–1968; Catherine Elizabeth Leahey Quinlan 1893–1940; Anna Estelle Leahey McNelis 1895–1964; Ellen Teresa Leahey 1897–1933; Helena Veronica Leahey 1900–1900; Thomas F Leahey 1902–1906; Bertha Marie Leahey Blackwood 1905–1953; Jean Cecilia Leahey Leary 1907–1981; Matthew Sylvester Leahey Jr 1912–1984; Matthew Leahey 1914–1914.
Photograph status: a photographed inscription is available and shown below. Find a Grave memorial 184119540 (findagrave.com).
[RECORD] Photographed inscription, transcribed verbatim
LEAHEY
Citation: Find a Grave memorial 184119540 (findagrave.com); monument photograph credited below.
Family
Parents
Siblings · birth order
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
- Holy Name Cemetery, Jersey City Cemetery or burial place
- New York
- Holy Name Cemetery, Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey Cemetery or burial place
- St. Mary Star of the Sea, Bayonne, Hudson County, New Jersey
- Brooklyn, New York City, New York
The map could not load. The complete place list is above it.
The pins show approximate places. The line only joins them in time order; it does not prove the route travelled. 1 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
Baptised at St. Mary Star of the Sea
Her sponsors were James and Jane Fannon. The register annotates its own baptisms with the marriages that followed, decades later and in the same parish — which is how a woman recorded here only as her husband's name gets her own back. Her mother is entered as Cath. Rohling in one register and Cath. Rohlan in the other: the clerk's spellings of Roland, and an independent confirmation of Thomas Meaney's wife. The priest, A.M. Egan, is the same Rev. Andrew M. Egan who married her sister Catherine to Matthew Leahy in 1889. [2]
Proved by a record
Married Louis Smith at St. Mary Star of the Sea
Written into the margin of her own baptism entry, twenty-four years after it was made. This is the marriage that gave the archive the only name it had for her. [2]
Proved by a record
What the records say
2 records transcribed.
Record exhibit
Catherine Elizabeth Meaney Leahy memorial, Holy Name Cemetery
This old record gives information about the person or family named here.
Partly proved
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
Catherine Elizabeth Meaney Leahy, born 13 November 1871 at Brooklyn, Kings County, New York; died 16 August 1939 at Bayonne; buried Holy Name Cemetery, plot Blk-F Sec-JA Gr-38 1E. Parents Thomas Francis Meaney 1849-1917 and Catherine Meaney d.1937. Spouse Matthew Sylvester Leahy 1866-1934, married 1888. Sibling Ann Meaney Leahey 1875-1894. Children: Dennis C 1890-1968, Catherine Elizabeth Quinlan 1893-1940, Anna Estelle McNelis 1895-1964, Ellen Teresa 1897-1933, Helena Veronica 1900-1900, Thomas F 1902-1906, Bertha Marie Blackwood 1905-1953, Jean Cecilia Leary 1907-1981.
Record exhibit
St. Mary Star of the Sea, Bayonne — baptism of Caroline Meaney, 30 October 1887
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.
265 | Caroline Meaney | Oct 17 - 1887 | Oct 30 - 1887 | Thomas / Cath. Rohling | James Fannon, Jane Fannon | Married to Louis Smith Jan 22 - 1911 in St. Mary's A.M. Egan
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…
What we still don't know
- [HER HUSBAND IS NOT IN THIS ARCHIVE] Louis Smith, married at St. Mary Star of the Sea on 22 January 1911. No person has been created for him — a name and a wedding date is not yet a man, and Smith is the hardest surname in New Jersey to search. Her sister Joanna married a Henry Smith two years later, and a William Smith stood sponsor at Joanna's baptism, so the two Smith husbands are quite possibly brothers. Nothing here proves it.