Listed on the same 1870 census page as James J., and living in a dwelling that is likely just across the way or next door, is Agnes Haggerty, age 75, born in Ireland, unable to read or write.  She could well be James’ mother (our great-great-grandmother) or some other relation.  As noted below, Cornelius names one of his daughters Agnes.  (The name Agnes is not uncommon in this period, but it is much less common than Elizabeth, Mary, Ellen, Ann, or even Winifred.)  Also, James Haggerty’s daughter Mary A. could be Mary Agnes.

The 1870 census lists Cornelius Haggerty and Margaret living with their children in Rahn Township, Schuylkill County, PA: Mary 16, James 13, Michael 12, Cornelius 6, Agnes 4, Ellen 2, and Margaret 5 months.  Neither Cornelius nor Margaret can read or write.  Cornelius is eligible to vote and thus must have been naturalized.

Baptismal records from St. Patrick’s Church in McAdoo, dating from 1875, show that Aunt Katie’s (Kathryn Haggerty’s) godparents are Anna Haggerty and Alexander McMullen.  The pattern at St. Joseph’s at this time is for parents to choose a married couple to serve as godparents, and for the church record to refer to the godmother by her maiden name.  It is also customary for the priest to Latinize given names.  “Anna” is probably Ann, just as James J. Haggerty is “Jacobo” and Mary Castles is “Maria” in this same baptismal record.  Ann Haggerty is most likely James’ sister.  There is probably a family tie between Ann’s husband Alexander McMullen and James McMullen (apparently married to Mary Castles Haggerty’s sister Elizabeth), who is named as Michael Haggerty’s godfather at St. Patrick’s in 1877.  Also, in the 1900 census for Kline Township there is an Alexander McMullen living in Honey Brook, b. 1865 in PA.  He is not Ann’s son–all her children have died by 1900–but he is probably related to her through her husband.  Living with Alexander McMullen in 1900 are his wife Margaret and his wife’s cousin, Julia McFadden, who marries another Haggerty man, Frank, at St. Patrick’s in 1901, who is discussed toward the end of this account.

Ann Haggerty McMullen was born in Ireland c. 1836 (about one year after James J.) and was buried in St. Patrick’s Cemetery in 1906 at age 70.  In the 1890 Federal Census Directory for Kline Township, she is apparently the head of the household (and thus widowed), living with Willie 21 and Margaret, probably her children, both of whom have died by the time of the 1900 census.

A few years before her death Ann Haggerty McMullen appears in the 1900 census as Ann McMullen, a widow, age 66.  She has borne 13 children, none of whom is still alive.  The death of her husband and all her children probably explains why she is now living with several of her nieces and nephews, all unmarried and named Haggerty: Annie C. 35, a hotel keeper; Thomas V. 33, a day laborer; Mary F. 26, a music teacher; and Agnes 24, a dressmaker.

This same Haggerty family appears in the 1870 census, headed by Joseph Haggerty (Haggarty on the form), who must be Ann’s brother, if his children are her nieces and nephews.  He is working as an innkeeper, a position that seems to have been passed down to his daughter Mary by 1900.  Joseph 41, born in Ireland c. 1829, is living with his wife Elizabeth Haggerty 41, born in New York, and their children, all born in PA: Ellen 10, Ann 8, Thomas 5, James 3, and William 1.  (Mary F. and Agnes are not yet born.)  The family is living in North Schuylkill Township, which puts them in the same vicinity as James J. and Cornelius Haggerty.

******** SEE NOTE 1 IN RIGHTHAND COLUMN

Now to return to the context of 1870:  Living in North Schuylkill Township near Joseph Haggerty are Owen Haggerty (Hagerty on the form), age 45, and his wife Mary 45, both born in Ireland.  Their children, all born in PA, are James 16, Bridget 14, John 10, Thomas 6, and Mary 3.  Age-wise Owen fits into the family picture; he would be the oldest sibling (born c. 1825) and would probably have come to the US at about the same time as Cornelius (Connel), since both men’s first child is born in PA in 1854 (ten years before our great-grandfather James J.’s first child).  Note that when I say their “first child” is born in PA, it’s a manner of speaking.  Based on the documents I consulted, we cannot know whether any of these Haggertys, including Connel and James J., were married and had children before or even while sailing to the US.  So many people died in Ireland and on the “coffin ships” carrying the Irish from their famine-ravaged homeland to this country that some individuals were surely forced to mourn their lost loved ones and to start over once they arrived in the US.  A related point is that I am speculating when I infer from the data that the Haggertys discussed so far seem to have had their first child very soon after arriving in the US.  My guess is based on the assumption that these individuals traveled more or less directly from Ireland to PA and started their families right after their arrival, whereas it is entirely possible that they spent time in New York or Philadelphia before arriving in the anthracite region of PA, and so may have been in the US for years before marrying and having children.

So far, then, we have Agnes Haggerty, the matriarch (mother or aunt), and our great-grandfather James J. living next door to each other.  Connel/Cornelius Haggerty is linked to James by Mary Kellington’s notes and by the geographical proximity of Hazle and Rahn Townships in Luzerne and Schuylkill Counties, respectively.  There is another compelling link as well, which is that Cornelius’ neighbor in 1860, Michael Cassel, has a daughter, Mary, who is the age of James Haggerty’s future wife (Mary Castles).  We also have Ann Haggerty tied in through Aunt Katie’s baptism and Ann’s burial at St. Patrick’s, as well as through Ann’s cohabitation with her nieces and nephews, who in turn tie her to their father (Ann’s brother) Joseph Haggerty.  The link to Owen is less compelling, but his proximity to Joseph in North Schuylkill Township suggests a possible connection, as does the birth of Owen’s first child in PA in about 1854, the same year Cornelius’ first child was born there.  I think there’s a good basis for considering this to be our first ancestral family group in PA, at least some of whose members must have arrived in PA by the early 1850s.

Here I want to mention three other Haggerty men who seem likely to be brothers or cousins of our great-grandfather but who cannot be linked to him as clearly as Connel, Ann, Joseph, and Owen.  In Hazle Township in 1870, where James J. and his family are living, there is an Andrew Haggerty 36 (b. 1834), married to Ann 40, both born in Ireland and living with their PA-born children Mary 11, Cellie 6, and Andrew 4, as well as 8 other people with Irish names, apparently in a boarding house.  The timing of their immigration seems to coincide with that of our family.

Next is Peter Haggerty, who in 1870 is in North Schuylkill Township very near Owen and Joseph.  Living with Peter 34 is his wife Eliza 28; both are born in Ireland.  They have a son John 2, also born in Ireland, and a one-month-old daughter Anna, born in PA.  Peter seems to fit in age-wise, even though he was perhaps born the same year as Ann (1836); they could well be twins or, to use a derogatory expression of the day, “Irish twins”—siblings born less than 12 months apart.  The timing of the birth of Peter’s Irish-born son John suggests that he did not arrive in PA until 1867 or 1868, at least 13 years after Connel and Owen, and at least 4 years after James J.

There is a probable reference to Peter’s son John in the 1930 census, where John indicates that both his parents were born in Northern Ireland and that his family immigrated to the US in 1867.  John is married to a woman who, like his sister, is named Anna; both are 63, born about 1867.  They are living in Hazle Township with their PA-born children William 32, Catherine 27, John 26, and Mary 22.

Finally, there is an Irish-born James Haggerty who immigrated to PA in 1872.  According to the 1880 census James 30 and his Irish-born wife Susan 28 are living in Eckley with their children Ann 5, Peter 4, Mary 2, and Frank, 2 months. (Also living in Eckley at this time is a widow, Bridget Haggerty 40, and her children Francis P. 19 and John 17.)  In 1890 James Haggerty and his family live in Union Township East, according to the US Census Directory for Schuylkill County.  James has died by 1900, when Susan appears in the census as a widow living in Honey Brook with her children Peter 24, Frank 20, Sarah 17, James 15, Maggie 14, and Rebecca 7.  There is no further sign of Susan after the 1900 census, so she may have died before 1910.  Susan is buried in St. Patrick’s Cemetery and, as I show toward the end of this account, 3 of her children are married at St. Patrick’s Church between 1901 and 1903.  The family’s residence in Honey Brook and their affiliation with St. Patrick’s indicate that Susan Haggerty and her children surely knew our family, and could be relatives as well.

******SEE NOTE 2

Joseph Haggerty’s son James, b. 1867, appears in the 1900 census as married to Catherine Kane, b. 1875, and living in Schuylkill Township with their daughter Mary, b. 1899.  By 1920, James and Catherine Haggerty are living in Tamaqua, South Ward with Catherine’s brother Michael Kane and their children Mary 20, James 18, William 16, John 12, Francis 9, Walter 8, Thomas 6, Donald 3 years 9 months, and Catherine one month.

The 1870 and 1900 censuses say that Joseph Haggerty, James’ father, was born in Ireland, whereas the 1920 census says that he was a born in Scotland but spoke Irish.  I believe the latter entry is a mistake.  There’s another mistake here as well, namely that two of James Haggerty’s sons, James and William (clearly figuring in a list of the children in descending order of birth) are said to be 78 and 76, respectively, rather than 18 and 16, even though they are also designated as sons of the head of the household.  This is probably due to a misreading of the census taker’s handwriting by the staff at ancestry.com.

****  NOTE 2 *****   Here, let me suggest how many other Haggertys lived in nearby areas in the anthracite region of PA in the period 1840-1870.  The 1840 census lists a William Haggerty and a Patrick Haggerty (2 pages apart) living in Pottsville with their wives and children.  (In 1840 only the heads of household are named.)

In 1860 in Rush Township, where Connel is living at the time, there is a James Haggerty (Haggerdy on the form), age 27, and his wife Jane 26, both born in Ireland, and their PA-born children Charles 8, John 4, and Ann 2.  The date of Charles’ birth suggests that James Haggerty too arrived in the US in the very early 1850s.

The 1870 census lists an Edward Haggerty 65, a railroad worker born in Ireland in 1805, also living in Rush Township, with a sister or spouse, Mary Haggerty 70.  Also in 1870 there is an Irish-born James Haggerty, apparently a widower, 48, living in Blythe Township with his PA-born children Margaret 16 (possibly another first child born in 1854), James 14, William 11, and Ella 6.

In New Philadelphia Borough, the 1870 census lists a John Haggerty (a relatively wealthy Irish-born merchant, retired at age 52); his Irish-born sister (?) Ellen Haggerty 68; and his second wife Mary 33, born in PA, the stepmother of his children: Bridget 18, John 13, James 10, and Hugh 6, all born in PA.  Thirty years later this family is largely intact, minus the patriarch and his sister, living together in Blythe Township.

In nearby Palo Alto in 1870 there is a Cornelius Haggerty 50, a laborer born in Ireland in 1820, living with his wife Anne 44 and their children: Mary 21 (a schoolteacher), Anne 17, John 14, Edward 11, Cornelius Jr. 7, and Philip 4.  The four younger brothers apparently live together for decades, migrating only as far as West Mahanoy Township.

There is also an Annie Haggerty listed singly (that is, not with a family group) in the Schuylkill County and Kline Township Federal Census Directories for 1890, but I haven’t been able to identify her as the daughter of one of the Haggertys mentioned above.  I was hindered by the fact that in 1890 the directories did not list the ages or occupations of women or girls.  I suspect that she may be the same Annie Haggerty who works for many years as a servant for Emily Bland in Pottsville, Schuylkill County.

Finally, there are many Haggertys in Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, the two biggest cities nearby, and in more distant mining areas in every direction.