In Grandma’s acknowledgements page of her personal history book (written and printed in 2001), she says, “Write your own book in rebuttal, but not while I’m still around to read it.”
Well, she has not been around for almost two years now, so it’s time we started mentioning the things we know now that Grandma didn’t know. No disrespect to Grandma intended: I know she’s cheering me on up above as she sits and chats with Margaret and her mother Ann Dunlope about life, family, and the gospel.
As I’ve mentioned before, when Grandma passed away, I felt a strong need to pursue a specific line of family history. Frank and I were successful in finding a few different family lines related to James and Margaret (Shields) Simon (pages 25-28 in Grandma’s book). With my baby being born I’ve not focused on the family for more than a year now, but I’m feeling the spirit of Elijah very strongly again, so expect more of these posts in the next few days and weeks.
Here are some general corrections to the story of James Simon as found in Grandma’s book. More detailed information to come, with links to the records we’ve found.
On page 26, Grandma was unable to find a birth record for Grandpa Simon but knew that he told Greenfield cousins about “when he was a little boy in Dublin.” We do not know for certain when he was born, that is true. However, chances are nearly 100% that he was born and raised in Manchester, England. Certainly not Dublin, since his family came from Galway County, Ireland in 1847.Grandpa Simon was born between 1847 and 1850.
On page 27, Grandma says the family tradition stated that James’ father Thomas died at sea on the way to America, but she states it was not true since they could not find record of it. With closer inspection of the ship manifest, we know it is true. Thomas Simon died of apoplexy literally one day before the ship arrived at Castle Garden, New York City.The manifest transcribes his age as 12 1/2 years old. But it seems clearly a misread of the sloppy writing, which has been crossed out at his death.
As for Grandma’s further thoughts on Maggie and the baby Edwin, we have not yet found them in America or even found any evidence of Edwin’s birth, but we are not finished searching yet. There may be an Edwin somewhere, and Margaret probably did not disappear in to thin air.
There is lots more to learn about Margaret (Shields) Simon another day, for her story is far more complicated than Grandma’s book suggests. Note that on page 26 of Grandma’s book, she says they were married in 1867 and James D was born in 1866…notice any thing about those dates?!
Bottom line is, there was a first marriage, and James Delaney was the son of Denis Delaney. I’m still working on details of this, and we don’t yet know what happened to Denis. More info to come. In 2012, the Catholic Family History Society finished digitizing baptismal and marriage records for St. Wilfrid’s Catholic church, which is the church where Margaret and James were married. I have ordered a copy of that (a CD-ROM; it is not online), because I found evidence that a James Delany was baptized there, with Thomas Simmons as his godfather.
I’m working on a write up about the two families (the Shields and the Simons) for those who may be interested in the sources and so forth. Watch this page for more information! You can also log in to New Family Search and see what Temple work has been done.
It is very exciting to me to see you and Frank working on this line, and I am sure Grandma is very happy to be encouraging and helping you. Grampa (James) Simon also had some connection to County Cork in Ireland, though I don’t know what. He was still alive when I was a baby, and there are pictures of him holding me. My mother knew him, and he spoke with an Irish brogue, because my mother always imitated his accent, so I am surprised to hear that he wasn’t born in Ireland. Mom
Mom, I believe the County Cork and Dooblin comments in Grandma’s book (and from what people told you and Grandma) are simply wrong. I don’t think they came from there. Those are examples of family tradition/misunderstandings leading us astray. It is very clear from Martin’s baptismal record in Ireland in 1845 that he and his family were in Galway county in the 1840s. That is far from both County Cork and Dublin. Unless they moved to Galway before they moved to Manchester, of which there could be a slight chance, I believe Cork and Dublin are red herrings in our search.
Grandpa James Simon died in 1927, so there cannot possibly be pictures of him holding you. Unless you are a lot older than I knew! I believe you are thinking of James D. or Uncle Jim holding you as a baby. Grandma probably remembered Uncle Jim quite well. I’d love to see those pictures.
Although every clue suggests Grandpa James Simon was born in Manchester, it is very possible, however, that everyone Grandpa James Simon associated with in his developmental years was Irish. Manchester had an abundance of immigrants straight off the boat from Ireland in those years. It is very possible that he did have a very strong Irish brogue and strongly identified with that heritage regardless of the fact that he was born in Manchester shortly after his parents arrived there.