I have found some interesting information, including a passport application and photo, of Catherine Sammon. She and her daughter, Annie James/Nancy Sammon, have been very difficult to research because of their names changes and periodic untruthfulness about their family lives. Because of these issues I decided to research Catherine's oldest daughter [Catherine (aka Cassie) James] who did not live with Catherine in the US (for the most part.)
After talking to my Aunt Judy I was reminded that Cassie and Annie were raised to believe they were cousins and not sisters. But she also told me that Cassie would stay with Catherine when she visited the US. With these two bits of information I was able to locate a newspaper article with both Catherine and Cassie mentioned in 1928, a census record that led me to believe that Cassie had moved here in the mid-1920's and was working as a servant in Providence, RI in 1930.
I also found the ships manifest for the ship that Cassie arrived in North American on. She immigrated from England to the US via Canada and Catherine bought her ticket for the passage. All very cool stuff!
Then I asked for help on an ancestry.com message board and was provided with a link to a passport application of Catherine's when she went home to visit her family in 1920. For the first time I got to see what Catherine looked like as a 30 year old woman.
Because there is a lot here I plan on breaking down each of these subjects into an individual post and include as many of the documents as I can. So if you are interested see the posts immediately below this ....
Sunday, May 29, 2011
SAMMON, Catherine Ellen nee Hughes (1889-1964)
Catherine immigrated here in 1918, soon after marrying Edward John Sammon, a machinist in the US Navy stationed in Queenstown, Ireland during WWI. Catherine had been married to Richard James prior to this and she and Richard had two daughters: Catherine (aka Cassie) and Annie (aka Nancy).
Annie immigrated with Catherine to the US and they lived in Boston (separately) for the first several years that they were here. Boston, I believe, was the home port of the ship that Edward was stationed on.
For many years we had thought that Edward was Annie's father (biologically speaking) until discrepancies arose and I realized that Edward and Catherine lived on different continents when Annie was born. While trying to find Annie's birth certificate in England I thought I'd found the right one but it listed her father as Richard James. Unfortunately, the ships manifest for Catherine and Annie indicated they were sisters rather than mother and daughter and it began to create enormous confusion for Annie's descendants. A later census also indicated that they were sisters solidifying the confusion.
Another hurdle I had to jump over was that Catherine identified herself as a spinster on her marriage certificate to Edward. All things were pointing to another "truth" that no one had known about.
But I began to doubt this information the more I researched and the recent conversation with my aunt really solidified my doubts. I began looking for information stating that Catherine's oldest daughter, Catherine (aka Cassie) James, visited Catherine in the US and that she and Annie were cousins. In doing this I came across a newspaper article which read is transcribed as follows from the Newport Mercury Journal and Weekly News, Newport, Rhode Island, Friday, May 25,1928:
Annie immigrated with Catherine to the US and they lived in Boston (separately) for the first several years that they were here. Boston, I believe, was the home port of the ship that Edward was stationed on.
For many years we had thought that Edward was Annie's father (biologically speaking) until discrepancies arose and I realized that Edward and Catherine lived on different continents when Annie was born. While trying to find Annie's birth certificate in England I thought I'd found the right one but it listed her father as Richard James. Unfortunately, the ships manifest for Catherine and Annie indicated they were sisters rather than mother and daughter and it began to create enormous confusion for Annie's descendants. A later census also indicated that they were sisters solidifying the confusion.
Another hurdle I had to jump over was that Catherine identified herself as a spinster on her marriage certificate to Edward. All things were pointing to another "truth" that no one had known about.
But I began to doubt this information the more I researched and the recent conversation with my aunt really solidified my doubts. I began looking for information stating that Catherine's oldest daughter, Catherine (aka Cassie) James, visited Catherine in the US and that she and Annie were cousins. In doing this I came across a newspaper article which read is transcribed as follows from the Newport Mercury Journal and Weekly News, Newport, Rhode Island, Friday, May 25,1928:
This shows that in May 1928 Cassie was in Newport with Catherine which followed what my aunt had recently told me and helped me to follow that trail. That led to me finding a 1930 census record which looked to be the right Cassie (under the name of Catherine which my mom told me in a text message was Cassie's real name) working in Providence, RI as a servant. The census record also indicated that Cassie had been living in the US for nearly six years. This then led me down another trail which I will post about below.Three Card Parties--Affairs by Catholic Daughters, William Ellery Chapter, and for Rainbow Girls (Newport Mercury Journal and Weekly News dated Friday, May 25, 1928)
A successful card party was held under the auspices of the Catholic Daughters of America in Knights of Columbus hall Thursday evening. The dark horse prize was awarded to Miss Cassie James, and the first prize to Miss Mary .... The committee in charge consisted of ... Mrs. Catherine Sammon, Miss Cassie James and Mrs. Gertrude Noyes and Isabella Finn. [and the article goes on from there]
JAMES, Catherine (aka Cassie) (c.1911-1960)
Although Cassie is not a direct ancestor of mine I am researching her line in order to determine who her biological parents were so that I can in turn learn who Annie James/Nancy Monica Sammon's parents were and then continue to research this branch of the family tree.
From the manifest I learned that Cassie was born in Seacombe, Cheshire a town literally right next to the town that Annie had been born in (Birkenhead, Cheshire.) This means that they were both born in the same vicinity as you can see on the 1880 Cheshire map here (click to enlarge it--Birkenhead is the pink shaded area on the left side and Seacombe is right above it.)
Cassie was raised to believe that Catherine Sammon was her aunt and that Annie James was her cousin. But she immigrated here in 1925 by way of Canada and the ships manifest for this voyage provided a wealth of information to substantiate what I already believed--that Catherine Sammon was really her mother and Annie her sister.
From the manifest I learned that Cassie was born in Seacombe, Cheshire a town literally right next to the town that Annie had been born in (Birkenhead, Cheshire.) This means that they were both born in the same vicinity as you can see on the 1880 Cheshire map here (click to enlarge it--Birkenhead is the pink shaded area on the left side and Seacombe is right above it.)
Secondly, Cassie's closest relative was her father Richard James. This is the same name I show as the father of Annie back in Birkenhead and he is still living in Birkenhead in 1925 when Cassie was immigrating to North America as a 16 year old.
Additionally, the manifest listed Richard's address and when I researched it on google maps I found it was extremely close to a friend I found listed as the witness to Catherine and Edward Sammon's marriage and the friend on the ships manifest for when Annie immigrated to the US in 1918. So Richard lives in the vicinity of a common friend of Catherine and Annie seeming to tie the relationships closer together in my mind.
Additionally, the manifest listed Richard's address and when I researched it on google maps I found it was extremely close to a friend I found listed as the witness to Catherine and Edward Sammon's marriage and the friend on the ships manifest for when Annie immigrated to the US in 1918. So Richard lives in the vicinity of a common friend of Catherine and Annie seeming to tie the relationships closer together in my mind.
The final piece of evidence for the relationship was that Catherine paid for Cassie's passage on the Athenia to come to Canada and met her in Montreal.
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