Updated March 8, 2015
Daniel McNamara was born March 1841 in Ireland. I first found his name on his daughter Lizzie's death certificate.
He also consented to Lizzie's marriage.
This also gave me a location of Penn Township, Pennsylvania in 1888. This was important because I had never been able to find Lizzie in a census record before she was married. It also matches the location of his wife
Jane McKinzie McNamara in the 1920 census.
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| 1880 "Dan Mc Namor" |
Thank you cousin David for finding these guys for me! Mc Namor wasn't being picked up by ancestry or familysearch as McNamara.
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| 1900 |
I was able to find children born in Pennsylvania:
John born 1865, married Mary Ellen Mullen
Mary born 1867
Lizzie born 1868, married Patrick Henry McGowan
Kate born 1870
Mary born 1872, married James Gallagher, divorced and married John Rogers, Sr.
Alice born 1875
Rose born 1878, married John W Hogan
Sarah Jane born 1880, married John William Baine
Margaret born 1889 married Richard Johnston.
Anna born 1890 never married.
I turned to the city directories to see if Dan could be found. Finally some info!
Title: J.F. Diffenbacher's directory of Pittsburgh and Allegheny cities, 1888
Author: Diffenbacher, J. F.
Publication Info: Pittsburgh, Pa: Diffenbacher & Thurston, 1881-189-., 1888
McNamara Danl, lab, rr 6359 Penn av
I worked my way backward and found something interesting. He ran a saloon.
Title: J.F. Diffenbacher's directory of Pittsburgh and Allegheny cities, 1887
Author: Diffenbacher, J. F.
Publication Info: Pittsburgh, Pa: Diffenbacher & Thurston, 1881-189-., 1887
McNamara Danl, saloon, 6365 Penn av
Title: J.F. Diffenbacher's directory of Pittsburgh and Allegheny cities, 1886
Author: Diffenbacher, J. F.
Publication Info: Pittsburgh, Pa: Diffenbacher & Thurston, 1881-189-., 1886
McNamara D, 6365 Penn av
Title: J.F. Diffenbacher's directory of Pittsburgh and Allegheny cities, 1884
Author: Diffenbacher, J. F.
Publication Info: Pittsburgh, Pa: Diffenbacher & Thurston, 1881-189-., 1884
McNamara Danl, saloon, 6365 Penn av
Title: J.F. Diffenbacher's directory of Pittsburgh and Allegheny cities, 1883
Author: Diffenbacher, J. F.
Publication Info: Pittsburgh, Pa: Diffenbacher & Thurston, 1881-189-., 1883
McNamara Danl, saloon, Penn av, n Station
Title: J.F. Diffenbacher's directory of Pittsburgh and Allegheny cities, 1882
Author: Diffenbacher, J. F.
Publication Info: Pittsburgh, Pa: Diffenbacher & Thurston, 1881-189-., 1882
McNamara D, lab, Penn av, n Station ay
Title: J.F. Diffenbacher's directory of Pittsburgh and Allegheny cities, 1881
Author: Diffenbacher, J. F.
Publication Info: Pittsburgh, Pa: Diffenbacher & Thurston, 1881-189-., 1881
McNamara Dani, saloon, Penn av, n Station
Title: Directory of Pittsburgh and Allegheny cities, 1880
Publication Info: Pittsburgh, Pa.]: G.H. Thurston, 1880
McNamara Dal, saloon, Penn av, n Station,e e Ninth and Liberty, h 2S5 Penn av
Title: Directory of Pittsburgh and Allegheny cities, 1878
Publication Info: Pittsburgh, Pa.]: G.H. Thurston, 1878
McNamara Daniel, saloon, Penn av, ab Sta- 21st wd tion, e e
Two Daniels were found in several years previous. Mine was the coal miner.
Title: Directory of Pittsburgh and Allegheny cities, 1876-1877
Publication Info: Pittsburgh, Pa.]: G.H. Thurston, 1876
McNamara Daniel, lab, Penn av, opp Dennison av, 21st wd, e e
McNamara Daniel, coal miner, n Lincoln av, city line, 21st wd, e e
Title: Directory of Pittsburgh and Allegheny cities, 1874
Publication Info: Pittsburgh, Pa.]: G.H. Thurston, 1874
McNamara Daniel, lab, r Liberty hall, Penn av, 20th ward
McNamara Daniel, miner, Sable coal works, A V R R, 21st ward
Title: Directory of Pittsburgh and Allegheny cities, 1870
Publication Info: Pittsburgh, Pa.]: G.H. Thurston, 1870
McNamara Daniel, lab, 21st ward
I tried moving forward from 1888 and found daughters? at the same address, although this may not be the correct Daniel.
Title: J.F. Diffenbacher's directory of Pittsburgh and Allegheny cities, 1889
Author: Diffenbacher, J. F.
Publication Info: Pittsburgh, Pa: Diffenbacher & Thurston, 1881-189-., 1889
McNamara Danl, lab, rr 6359 Penn av
McNamara Mary, dress mkr, rr 6359 Penn av
McNamara Maggie, dress mkr, rr 6359 Penn av
I was also able to find a death certificate for a Daniel, but he is
not the correct one. He threw me off track for a while, but I'll leave this posted for
his family.
At the time of his death, the above Daniel was a gas inspector living at 6389 Penn Ave. No location in Ireland for his birth, but it did list parents and the cemetery.
I googled all the addresses in the above city directories. The locations are now a huge shopping center called The Village of Eastside, but I did stumble on a great image on Flickr of the Stone House Gas Station.
This address is where Daniel McNamara was living in 1902. It's quite possible the house itself was converted into a gas station. Unfortunately it turned out to be the other Daniel. His widow Anna is living at the same address in 1903 per the city directory.
Thanks to my DNA match to David (who has been wonderful by the way) I have some new info on my Daniel and family.
Daniel was a boarder living with Archibald McKenzie in the 1861 census in Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorganshire, Wales.
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| 1861 McKenzie and McNamara census |
This led to a further search, and I was able to find a marriage for Dan and Jane in the 2nd quarter of 1861, also in Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorganshire, Wales.
Daniel and his brother-in-law Murdock McKenzie blazed the way to the United States. They sailed on the ship Universe and arrived in New York December 28, 1863. Destination is stated as Pennsylvania.
His wife and her family would arrive in 1864.
Per "The Changing Hills, Vol. 2", by Gary Rogers and Jane Hawkins, Daniel's wake was held in the downstairs parlor of his Penn Hills home while his granddaughter
Catherine Baine was being born upstairs. She was born February 10, 1904.
If you have any info on the people mentioned in this blog, it would be great to hear from you!
