Immigrant Ancestors Part 2: Edward J. Fenlon, Sr.

Immigrant Ancestors Part 2: Edward J. Fenlon, Sr. 

Edward J. Fenlon, Sr. on his wedding day in 1907.

This is the second post on our immigrant ancestors and details the life of Edward John Fenlon, Sr., who was born in Ireland, probably County Wexford, on 31 Jan 1879. Edward's parents were Patrick Fenlon and Catherine Ryan Fenlon.  We know this principally from the genealogy notes of my grandmother, Anne Treacy Fenlon -- the daughter-in-law of Edward. Irish birth and baptism records for three of Patrick and Catherine's children (Mary in 1865, Thomas in 1867, and John in 1870) show that they lived in Ferns, County Wexford, during this time.  They had at least five children, one of which was Anna "Rose" Fenlon who was born ca. 1862 and came to the US in 1882, when she was 19 years old, on the ship Arizona. After arriving at Ellis Island, the oral history of Anna's family tells us that she spent some time in Rhode Island before settling in Solvay, NY, where she cleaned people's homes for a living. Anna met and then married Michael J. Ward, also an Irish immigrant, ca. 1885 at St. Francis Xavier church in Marcellus.  Michael worked at the Lawless Paper Mill in Marcellus and Anna and Michael used to pick apples to make extra money which they sent to Edward back in Ireland so that he could buy a ticket to the US.  

Michael and Anna Fenlon Ward (Note: I will update the quality of this photo if I can find a better one.)

Edward made the trip to the US on the steamship Paris (formally known as the City of Paris) arriving at Ellis Island on 1 April 1893.  His trip started in Southampton, England and took about a week.  Below is an advertisement for the ship line as well as a photo of the Paris.  

Richardson, Spence, & Company advertisement for passage to the NY from Southampton, UK.

The steamship Paris was built in 1888 and carried many Irish immigrants to the US, including Edward Fenlon in 1893.

The ship manifest has a steerage passenger "Edw. Finlan" from Ireland with an age of 18 and a final destination state of NY.  Besides the different spelling, this record is not a perfect match to our Edward as he was born in 1879, which would make him only 14 at the time of his passage.  However, other evidence strongly suggests that this is our Edward. On the 1900 US census 1893 is listed as his immigration year and on the 1905 NYS census it states that he has been in the US for 12 years. His newspaper obituary says he came to Marcellus at the age of 16 and lived there the rest of his life.  After his arrival, the next historical record we have for Edward is when he became a US citizen on 8 April 1899. Interestingly, April is an eventful month for Edward. It is the month he arrived at Ellis Island, became a  US citizen, got married, and died. 

Citizenship certificate for Edward J. Fenlon, Sr from Onondaga County Court in 1899.

Edward held many jobs in his life.  According to census data, in 1900 he was a servant in the home of Edward and Julia Baker and in 1905 his occupation is listed as "papermaker" and he was a boarder in the home of James and Mary Ragen.  He continued to worked at the paper mill (perhaps the same mill, run by the Lawless family, where his brother-in-law Michael Ward worked) as a "finisher" until at least 1920. Sometime between 1920 and 1930 he switched jobs and started working at Solvay Process Company as a "tester." He was also working at Solvay in 1940.  (The Solvay process uses salt brine and limestone to  manufacture soda ash. Chemically the reaction is NaCl + CaCO3 --> Na₂CO₃.  Unfortunately, the Solvay Process Company contributed to the significant pollution in Onondaga Lake.)  I am not sure about the nature of Edward's job at Solvay, but it was dangerous because an article in the 31 Aug 1945 issue of the Marcellus Observer notes that he was admitted to "University Hospital suffering from a severe injury to his right arm. He was injured last Wednesday at the Solvay Process Plant, where he has been employed for many years." The 26 Oct 1945 issue states that Edward had finally returned home after several weeks in the hospital. It also has a "card of thanks" from Edward: "I wish to thank all my friends and neighbors who visited me or remembered me in any way during my long stay in the hospital."  Edward also did some farming on the side, as discussed in a previous post. 

Postcard with a photo of the Solvay Process Company ca. 1920s. Edward worked here for many years. 

It is not known how Edward met his future wife Elizabeth Frances Kilcoyne (17 Mar 1878 - 24 Mar 1948). Perhaps they met at St. Francis Xaiver's church. My theory is that they met on Limeledge Road in Marcellus.  The farm Elizabeth (she went by Lizzie) grew up on is only a quarter of a mile away from the farm that Michael and Anna Fenlon Ward lived on for many years. In any event, Edward and Lizzie were married on 16 April 1907 at St. Frances Xavier. Shortly after their wedding they purchased the 2501 Falls Road house from the Miss Edith Eggleston, whose father George A. Eggleston had passed away in December 1906.  This house was built by George's father John Eggleston, who was a carpenter. George was born in 1836 and his family moved into the house when he was very young -- sometime between 1836 and 1840.   It is interesting to note that even though this house is almost 180 years old, it has only been owned by two families. 

Elizabeth Kilcoyne and Edward Fenlon on their wedding day in 1907. 

Marcellus Observer article noting the sale of 2501 Falls Road by the Egglestons to the Fenlons.

2501 Falls Road through the years. 

In 1929, Edward hired W. D. Snyder to add an enclosed porch to the home and cover it with stained shingles.  In 2003, Edward's grandson Mark Fenlon put a major addition on the back of the home. Mark worked with Dave Reed (from Copenhagen, NY) on this project. 

One year after Edward and Lizzie moved into their home they either invested in some additional land and/or finalized their mortgage by borrowing $1,350 from Uncle Willie (Lizzie's brother). (This is approximately $38,000 in 2019 dollars.) The mortgage document describes three parcels of land and refers to surveying done on 15 March 1907 by Elbert W. Coville. The terms of the loan are that $50 of the principal and 5% interest are to be paid on the first of every month. Part of the document is shown below and it illustrates that even on a legal document Lizzie used her nickname and not her given name of Elizabeth.

Legal document describing Uncle Willie's loan of $1350 to Edward and Lizzie. 

Edward and Lizzie then proceeded to start a family and in the short timeframe from 1909 to 1913 Lizzie had three pregnancies and five children from them.  Twins Edward J., Jr.  and Emmett Martin Fenlon were born on 9 Nov 1909, Clara Elizabeth Fenlon was born on 5 Feb 1911, and Marcella Anne and Mary Agnes Fenlon were born on 29 Dec 1913. Photos of the children from the 1920s and 1938 are shown below.

Fab Five Fenlons ca 1920s. Front row (L to R): Mary, Clara, Marcella. Back row: (L to R) Emmett, Edward. 

Fab Five Fenlons from 1938, same order as above. This photo appeared in the Syracuse Herald in 1938 under the title "Marcellus Twins and Their Sister Comprise Interesting Group."

Edward and Lizzie lived in the Falls Road home from 1907 until they passed away.  Lizzie died at home on 24 Mar 1948, she was 70 years old. She lived to see two of her children (Emmett and Mary) marry and six grandchildren be born. She is buried in St. Francis Xavier cemetery.  Edward continued to live at Falls Road with his three unmarried children.  After Marcella and Edward, Jr. married (both in 1957) Edward, Sr. continued to live with Clara at Falls Road. He passed away at Community Hospital in Syracuse on 24 Apr 1965, he was 86 years old. He died approximately three years before his first great-grandchild (me) was born. Edward is buried next to Lizzie in St. Xavier.

Gravestones of Lizzie and Edward in St. Francis Xavier cemetery in Marcellus.

Edward's obituary from the Marcellus Observer.

Before closing, I want to highlight an interesting aspect of Edward's reported age in the historical record.  In many census forms and other documents his birth year varies from 1875 to 1880, but 1877 and 1879 are the most common dates.  Table 1 below provides a summary of the record. It is not unusual to have some variation in genealogical records, but I think there is an explanation for Edward.  With respect to his immigration, my hypothesis is that he fibbed about his age because there might have been a minimum age to make the trip without an accompanying adult.  Fourteen might have been below this age so he made himself out to be the minimum age of 18.  The 1877 vs. 1879 has a different explanation which relates to Lizzie's age.  She was born in March 1878, so by claiming his birthday was January 1877 he appeared to be 14 months older than his wife, rather than 10 months younger based on the January 1879 birthdate.  Back then it was not socially accepted for wives to be older than their husbands. Lizzie's brother Martin was five years older than his wife Sarah and Lizzie's father Patrick was ~12 years older than her mother Barbara. In fact, I remember when I was growing up we were told that Edward was younger than Lizzie, but also told that this was a family secret and we should not let others know about it!  All of this seems odd today. For example, Stephanie is a year older than me and it has never been an issue.

This post finishes the immigrant ancestors on my dad's paternal side.  Future posts will cover my dad's maternal immigrant ancestors: one featuring Dennis Treacy and his wife Mary Hayes and another featuring Janet Macdonell and her mother Mary MacMillan.

In closing, I leave you will four photographs of Edward ranging from 1907 to ca. 1960.  It is unfortunate that we do not know more about his relatives that stayed in Ireland, but at least we have a full picture of his life once he came to the US.

Photographs of Edward John Fenlon, Sr. from his wedding day in 1907 up to c. 1960.