Port Huron City

Postcard:  Port Huron circa 1902 - Photographer Unknown

This city is one of the most naturally attractive, as well as pleasantly located, in the State. The streets are nearly all broad, and richly shaded with large trees, the growth of forty years, and the entire aspect of the place is one that Goldsmith would have delighted to describe, so quietly restful and peaceful is the scene, and so far removed from the restless and, more portentuous (sic) activities of large commercial centers. To the north, the broad river trails its beauteous way throughout the land, basking like a silvery serpent beneath the sun's glorious beams, while to the southeast and west extend the farms - the richest portion of the county, presenting to the eye a most magnificent rural view. Any lover of nature will acknowledge the perfection and beauty of the whole picture, and perchance, may indulge a sigh that all the world, and every place in particular, is not so happily conditioned. The inhabitants are generally from the North Atlantic States, or are representatives of the Eastern States, all well known in our vernacular as Yankees, who dropped out of the ever-westward-flowing tide of their brotherhood, and settled down here.

To the people who came and remained we can say - you found a wilderness and cleared a place for habitation. You have taken from the mountains wealth to pay for labor; you have found at hand the clay for brick, the pine trees for lumber, and out of these materials built your towns. No better illustration is afforded anywhere of the skill and ingenuity of man. There is nothing great in this world but man, there is nothing great in man but mind. He found materials in nature's great storehouse; but he was the master, they his slaves. He found the land wild and inhabited by savages - lo! the change! The great stores, the busy banks, the restaurants, the hotels, stand where a few years ago the tangled underbrush gave [489] shelter to wild beasts and creeping reptiles. The morning whistles, the school and church bells ringing from the hillside, have supplanted the wild yell of the Indian. The newspaper, the great modern missionary, is abroad in your midst, and reports to you the outside world. The telegraph and telephone are yours; a railroad system is yours; a well organized society is yours. These are your statistics! This is your civilization! Withal, your neighbors in the old countries may enjoy some advantages which you do not; many live in the midst of culture, in a region of accumulated wealth, yet would you change places with them? Would you go back to the quiet life, so poor in experience, as the old past you left in your old home? Nay, tarry here, amid these scenes, full of the romance of promise, the mysteries of illimitable possibility, where opportunity - a goddess shy in the older communities, and coy and hard to win - extends a friendly hand on hill-top and in vale, and fairly leads you to the summits of success.  (History of St. Clair County: Port Huron Township and City - A T Andreas 1883)

Port Huron, which is located in St. Clair County, Michigan was grew quickly after the 1850's due in part to the shipbuilding and lumber trade.  In 1857 it was incorporated.  By the time Michael and Bridget (Dunn) Murphy had moved there in was a thriving town.  By 1870 the population had exceeded that of the surrounding villages and in 1871 the Supreme Court designated it as the county seat. That same year the city and surrounding areas burned.  Ten years later the Thumb Fire again engulfed the city.

LOC Collections

The  Port Huron City Directory, Brown, 1871-2 and the Port Huron City Directory, Leath & Talbot, 1881 show Michael living on Chestnut, between 7th and 8th.   The Port Huron & St. Clair County Directory, Sherman, 1893-4  lists Bridget as a widow living at 2211 Willow.  The directory also lists Michael, a fireman, living at the same address.  It seems likely that this is in fact her son, John, who was a fireman later in Chicago.  It is also possible that Michael was not deceased, but rather absent and living in Chicago.

Neither of these areas were included in the detailed Sanborn Maps of 1898, however, you can see the streets in the main map above.

 

• Port Huron - Wikipedia
• Michigan County Histories and Atlases
• St. Clair Online Historical  Directories

Bridget Dunn

Bridget the daughter of John Dunn and Bridget Lonergan was christened on the 3rd of March 1836.  Later records give many different birth years from 1833 to 1838, it is more likely that she was born in 1836 or late 1835 as Catholic christenings  are usually soon after birth.

Bridget was about 10 when the family emigrated from Mocklershill, Tipperary, Ireland to Ontario, Canada.  Little is known of their life in Canada before her marriage to Michael Murphy in Stratford in 1861.  Within the next seven years Bridget had four children, Mary and Ellen born in Stratford, then John  and William born in Port Huron, Michigan.

All indications are their's was not a happy household.  It appears that Michael was in trouble, most likely in Stratford and most definitely in Port Huron.  I haven't been able to dig up what exactly the trouble was, but I wouldn't be surprised to find he was part of the "Irish Mob". 

Before 1870 daughter Ellen passed away and in 1880 son John died of dropsey.  Sometime after the 1880 census was taken, Bridget kicked Michael out of the house.  Michael went to Chicago where he disappeared into the streets.  Someday, perhaps, he will be found.  Bridget remained in Port Huron.

William followed his father to Chicago where he died under suspicious circumstances in 1904.  His death certificate says he is married and is a fireman. Bridget brought his remains back to Port Huron to be buried near his brother.

Daughter, Mary, married in 1888 and settled in Bay City, MI.  

Family tradition states that Bridget was divisive, always creating problems in the family.  I heard this from family of my Great Aunt as well as family members of Bridget's sister Mary Kelly.  Bridget was the second generation in my story of Sarah (Bridget) Lonergan's Legacy.

Bridget Dunn Murphy
holding
James Howard Madden
abt 1925   -- Age 90+

In 1910 it appears that she was living alone in Port Huron.  By 1910 she is living with her daughter Mary Haffey in Bay City.  I haven't located her in 1920, but in 1930 she is again living with Mary and her family.  Shortly after the census was taken she entered Grand Traverse Hospital  in Grand Traverse, Michigan.  

Bridget was well liked within the hospital according to all known remaining records.   Her reputation for creating turmoil in group situations does not seem to have followed her there, perhaps she had mellowed as she reached the century mark.  Her entry into the hospital was arranged by her grandson Joseph, and it was noted that dementia had begun about twelve years earlier but had only lately become impossible to manage at home.  It was also noted that the family was attentive, writing and visiting often.d

Bridget died 13 Oct 1931.  Her death certificate gives he age as 98, but it is more likely she was 95.  It is thanks to the notes in her hospital file that we have been able to locate not only her christening, but those of all of her siblings in Ireland.

Joseph Phillip Haffey

Joseph Phillip the son of John James Haffey and Margaret Keenan was born 24 August 1847, maybe.  Joseph, son of John and Margaret,  was  baptized on 3 Oct 1847.  For a long time, other researchers tried to convince me that this was an earlier Joseph who died and our Joseph was born during the period where no registers for St. James Colgan parish exist.  They would use the date on his death certificate,  24 Aug 1853,  which is also the date given in the Bay County History, as proof.

However, in those early years finding the census records for Ontario was difficult.  We now have a census record for the Haffey family in 1861 which states that Joseph is 13 years old.  The 1871 census gives his age as 22.   So lacking any evidence to the contrary including the 1851 census I contend that the Joseph christened in 1847 is ours!

In a family of farmers, it seems Joseph was not meant to stay on the farm.  In 1871 he is listed with his family in the census, the entry giving the information that he is a clerical student at college. Joseph spent six years studying at St. Michael's College (now part of the University of Toronto) and then stayed on for one year as a teacher.  Following that he taught in the public schools for two years. When Joseph passed away, the family wrote to St. Michael's at the behest of the University of Michigan in a quest to get a list of the degrees he had earned there.  They received a letter stating that no one had ever received as many awards.  Marie, his daughter, remembers that they were listed in the letter, however, the letter did not survive the ensuing generations.

In 1879, Joseph left Canada to attend the School of Law at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. In 1882, newly graduated, he applied for citizenship and went to work for Lindner and Porter in Bay City.  Two years later he was admitted to the bar.  Eventually he became a partner and when Lindner retired the firm was known as Porter & Haffey

Joseph was known for his honesty and integrity,  he gave of himself and did not let the pursuit of power or money take over his practice of the law. While this earned him the respect of his colleagues, it did not always cushion him from the realities of the practice of law.  He was quick to tell his sons not to follow him into the practice.

 

In 1888 Joseph married Mary Ann Murphy in Port Huron, Michigan. The record of the marriage is found in the Bay County Marriage Register. They had met while he was in school in Ann Arbor.  

It was, perhaps, not the happiest of marriages.  It seems, according to the memoirs of daughter Grace,  that Mary was not content with his decision to not pursue riches. Perhaps the childhood of hearing stories of the mill that should have been in the family, or the poverty she had supposedly endured as a child caused her to always want more.  Bridget Lonergan's Legacy of discontent did not lead to a happy life and it seems that there was a sad aura over the family.

Joseph was a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians.  The 1894 Bay City Directory lists him as the Vice President of the Bay City chapter.

In 1905 Joseph joined his siblings in quit claiming his share of the family farm to their brother John.  
All of the children of John and Margaret are mentioned in this quit claim.

On 8 Nov 1917 the Bay City Times Tribune reported.....

Joseph P Haffey is Called to Reward
Well known lawyer and citizen succumbs to long illness
Had Practiced law here for past Thirty-Three Years

Joseph P. Haffey died early this (Thursday) morning, at his residence, Tenth street, following a long illness.  Death came peacefully and quietly, as it was not known that the end had come until members of the family went to his room and found that he had expired.  Mr. Haffey's illness started about three years ago, but he apparently was on the road to recovery after spending a winter in the south.  Within the past few months, however, his ailment became incipient and he gradually declined.

Bay City Times Tribune
10 Nov 1917

Joseph P. Haffey was one of the best known citizens of Bay county and one of the leading attorneys of this section of the state.  He had practiced law here since 1884 after graduating from the University of Michigan.  He had previously read law in the office of Lindner & Porter and later became a member of the firm, its name then being Lindner, Porter & Haffey.  Some time afterwards the firm became Porter & Haffey , which continued up to this time.  Mr. Haffey was born near Toronto, Ont. August 24, 1853, and was a graduate of St. Michael's college, Toronto.  He taught school in that city for about two years and then came to Michigan.  He was married in Port Huron to Miss Mary Murphy, of Stratford, Ont., and five children blessed the union.  They with their mother survive and are as follows: Joseph who is teller in the Bay County bank; Misses Marie and Grace, teachers in the city schools; Thomas J.., an ensign in the U.S. navy and now in charge of a gun crew, somewhere in the Atlantic, and Miss Isabel, who is a student at Ypsilanti.  He also leaves several brothers and sisters.  Mr. Haffey was a man who impressed his fellows with his stern and uncompromising honesty, by his thoroughness and industry and by his courage of his convictions.  He was a good neighbor and friend and a conscientious husband and father.  He was a credit to his profession and to the community.  In politics Mr. Haffey was a democrat and fraternally he was a member of the A.O.H. and of the Knights of Columbus.  Funeral arrangements have not been completed. 
A few days later the paper reported on the funeral and the resolution passed by the County Bar Association.

Uncle Tom with his Madden
grand-nephews at Lake Tahoe

Joseph Haffey and Mary Murphy had five children

1. Joseph (1890-1970) lived in the family home his entire life.  A banker, he never married.
2. Marie (Ree) (1891-1971) was a teacher.  She also remained in the family home and never married.
3. Grace (1893 - 1986) also started out as a teacher.  She married John O'Connell in 1921.  They were living in San Diego, CA by 1940.  Grace and John had five sons.
4.  Thomas (1895 - 1978) graduated from the Naval Academy in Annapolis in 1915.  He spent his entire career with the Navy.  After retirement he returned home, although he spent quite a bit of time visiting various relatives.  
5. Isabel m. Frances Martin Madden

• Joseph Phillip Haffey  [Dropbox] 
• Adjala, Ontario, Canada  [Dropbox] 

Sarah Lonergans Legacy

Oops...newly confirmed name change, every child's christening record says Bridger, so even the name passed on was embellished..........

Sarah Bridget Lonergan was lace curtain Irish.  She could have been the owner of the Mills of Golden, Co. Tipperary, but instead married poor farmer, John Dunn and had her life disrupted by emigration to Canada.  The poor lady never recovered from the poverty and sadness .... or so my grandmother told me.

Some fifteen years ago I encountered a fourth cousin and sharing notes, the story told by her great grandmother was the same.

As we delved into the story of John and Sarah, reality set in.  There is absolutely NO evidence that Sarah had any claim at any time to any mills in the town of Golden.  At no time did anyone with the name of Lonergan own the mills.  And even more telling, there was no eligible bachelor owner or son of an owner at any time that Sarah might have married. 

Ah, a tradition broken.  But then this is not the story of John and Sarah, but rather the story of the legacy that Sarah left to her family.  A legacy of discontent.  As Ruth and I compared notes a pattern emerged, a pattern of unhappy unsatisfied women, disrupting lives of husbands and children with cries of woe as the world mistreated them.

Bridget Dunn Murphy

Sarah's daughter Bridget was born in Ireland and accompanied her parents and older sister Mary to Brant County Ontario about 1840.  Little is known of her life there until she married Michael Murphy.  Michael, the son of James Murphy and Mary Brion was born in Ireland about 1833-.  Bridget and Michael emigrated to Michigan early in their married life, the story was Michael was in trouble and they needed to leave the area.  They settled in Port Huron where Michael worked as a chauffeur. 

Mary Murphy Haffey

Eventually Bridget kicked Michael out of the house, though the story never says why.  In the early days Michael sent money home to Bridget, but she would send it back.  And so Michael disappeared into the streets of Chicago, final destination still undiscovered.   Bridget lived on to age of ninety eight.  

According to Ruth's grandmother, Bridget was always unsatisfied with her life and always creating turmoil in the family...Ruth laughed in the telling and said that so she remembered was her grandmother.

Bridget's daughter Mary Murphy was born in Ontario in 1868.  While living in Port Huron, Michigan she met a promising young law student.  

Joseph Phillip Haffey was born in Adjala, Ontario in 1854,  the son of Irish immigrants, John Haffey and Margaret Keenan. Joseph attended St. Michael's College in Toronto and then remained as a tutor for another five years.  In 1880, he pulled up stakes and emigrated to the US, to attend the University of Michigan School of Law in Ann Arbor. 

Isabel Haffey Madden

Joseph was an honest and ethical man.  Much as he loved the law, he grew to hate the legal scene, it was a time of corruption at every level and he refused to be corrupt.  Thus the family was comfortable but did not reach the ranks of the wealthy.  Mary lived the life of leisure but longed for the life of the rich, poor Joseph never Quite met her expectations as a provider.

Mary had five children, both sons and one daughter never married.  But the legacy lived on.   

Isabel, the youngest child of Mary and Joseph,  was my grandmother. Though I loved her dearly,  I can honestly say she was always unsatisfied with the cards life dealt her and she created major turmoil in my family ......

Will the legacy continue..... or will the telling of the tale allow it to be finally at an end.

Family: Martin Silbereisen and Catherine Resch

 No immigration has been found for Martin Silbereisen . (1823 Bavaria - 1860 Bay City, MI).  Catherine Resch (1828 Bavaria - 1907 Bay City, MI)e sailed from Harburg on 1 September 1854 on the Luneburg, arriving in New York on 30 October.  Martin and Catherine were married in  12 Aug 1855 in Hampton, Saqinaw Michigan.  

In November of 1858 Martin  bought land from Jacob Wisheintner.  He signed an indenture for $102 for lot 5 block 220, village of Portsmouth (later incorporated into Bay City.)  A brew master by trade, he built  and was a half partner in a brewery on the land.

In February of 1860 Martin signed a petition to become a citizen, but he did not live long enough to complete the process.  Martin died on 22 Sep 1860 at the age of 37.

He left his widow and two small daughters his half share in the old brewery, which was worth only the land it stood on.  He also owned a 3/5 share in a new brewery on lot 4 block 109.  His estate was estimated at a worth of $700.

Catherine retained personal possessions valued at $80.80 which included furniture, bedding, a milk cow and a horse.  A dwelling on the original lot was worth $175 and tools of the brewing trade, including wagons and stock for delivery were worth $168.70.(1)

Shortly thereafter, on 14 Jan 1861, Catherine remarried another Bavarian brew master, John Martin Schramm.  Their daughter Magdalena was born in 1865.

Great granddaughter Mary Rowe remembers her grandmother, Mary, talking about the Indians who used to come to the brewery on ponies with their manes tied up in rags. After an afternoon of drinking they would sleep it off on the floor of the  brewery.  As Mary was a toddler when her father died, it would seem logical that she was remembering the brewery of her step-father Martin Schramm.

Catherine outlived her second husband, who died in 1903.  In 1905 she was living with her widowed daughter Elizabeth and daughter Lena, who never married.  Katherine died on 8 Aug 1907 in Bay City.

Martin and Catherine are buried in St. Patrick's cemetery in Bay City.

Martin Silbereisen and Catherine Resch had two daughters

Mary married Michael Lynn 
Elizabeth married Thomas Francis Martin

Catherine Resch and Martin Schramm had one daughter Lena.  Lena helped raise her three nephews when her sister, Elizabeth, died in 1911.  She died 4 May 1943 at the age of 78.(2)


(1) Petition for the Appt. of an Administrator Bay Co MI, 21 Dec 1861 -- State of Michigan, County of Bay, Probate Court in the matter of the Estate of Martin Silbereisen, deceased, Aug 21st 1907, 18 Sep 1907, 19 Sep 1907 (daughters had reached majority).

(2) "Michigan, Death Certificates, 1921-1952," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KF4Y-QQ2 : accessed 04 Sep 2013), Lena F Schramm, 1943.

Family - Elizabeth Silbereisen

22 Feb 1859 Bay City, MI - 19 Jan 1911

Elizabeth Silbereisen was the daughter of Martin Silbereisen and Catherine Resch immigrants from Bavaria.  Her father died when she was a year old and her mother married John Martin Schramm.

Little is known about Elizabeth's early years.  Her father and her step-father were brew masters so it is likely that she spent time in the brewery.

She was married on 18 Oct 1882 to Thomas Francis Madden.  The information on the wedding date comes from the bible that belonged to Merril Rowe (a descendant of Elizabeth's sister Mary).  There is a gap of nearly ten years between the marriage and the birth of the first known child of Thomas and Elizabeth.

Thomas's death certificate lists four children, three still living.  This was filled in by Elizabeth who would know with certainty,  so it is probable that there was an infant or stillbirth  in those early years.

When Thomas died in 1903, Elizabeth was left with three children, the youngest just four years old, and a shipping company to run.  She left the day to day operations of the business to her brother in law Michael Lynn.

Among the items found about life in those days was this notice in the Bay City Times announcing the family trip on the lakes on the Lizzie Madden in 1906.

Eliza's sister, Mary, her husband Michael Linn (Lynn) and their two daughters were living with Eliza in 1910.  By that time Elizabeth had already been diagnosed with uterine cancer, she succumbed on 19 Jan 2011 and was buried in St. Patricks's Cemetery in Bay City.

Picture taken by Jane Madden Marqueling

Connections: Jerry Madden of Menimonee, Michigan

The connections with other Maddens around the Great Lakes are intriguing.  Among those nebulous connections is Jerry Madden.   As I explored his family, I found it led back to the same family as Capt. Michael Madden.  He was the subject of an earlier blog.  Michael and Jerry were cousins, the sons of Jeremiah and John, respectively.  They in turn were the sons of Mary who was born in Ireland about 1795. I did not find the name of their father.

In 1861 John was living in Ellice, Perth, Ontario, Canada with his wife Louisa, six children and his mother Mary.(1)  By 1871 John has moved to Wisconsin.  Mary was now living with her son James and his wife Ellen.(2)

While I did not find Michael's father Jeremiah in the same household with Mary, the proximity in Ellice and naming patterns of children make it very likely that he is another son.

I found an obituary for Jerry's father John.  It states he was born in Bauden, County Cork in 1826 and traveled to Canada when he was fourteen.  So much for a close connection to my James (or else, perhaps James was not from Limerick).  The obituary also states that he lived in Kingston for 25 years before moving to Clay Banks in Wisconsin.  We know that this is incorrect as the census record in Ellice, which is Perth County, is definitely his.

Son, Jerry, was living in Menominee, MI by 1900 and remained until at least 1921.  He was the owner of a lumber mill and by 1921 he was president of Commercial Bank.

Jerry died in Chicago, IL on 29 Jul 1923 shortly after James H. Madden died there.  It was James' obituary that set me on this hunt as his obituary was copied to Menominee, where as far as I knew he had no family.

Click here for more information on this family. 

(1) 1861 Census Library and Archives Canada; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Census Returns For 1861; Roll: C-1064-1065.  Upper Canada pg 23

(1) Census of Canada, 1871. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada, n.d. RG31-C-1. Statistics Canada Fonds C-9940 p 23 Family 72 Ellice, Perth, Ontairo