Cohan is the American composer whose life story was told in the James Cagney film, "Yankee Doodle Dandy."
Family history researcher John P. OâÂÂConnor, left, is shown here at the grave in St. Benedict's Cemetery in Springfield, where George M. Cohan's grandparents are buried. Pictured with him is visitor Barbara Glassel from Wisconsin. Back in 2004, a few months after I started writing the Family Tree column for The Republican, I received a telephone call from Wisconsin. As it turned out, the call was from a couple who were in Springfield at the corner of Bridge and Main streets.
They had some information which indicated the burial place of the grandparents of George M. Cohan, of “Yankee Doodle Dandy" fame, was in Springfield.
From my research, I knew that the Cohan grave was located in the rear corner of St. Benedict’s Cemetery at the Armory Street rotary off Interstate 291. I had those folks meet me at the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum, and we went to the cemetery.
There, we found the grave of Jane Scott, wife of Michael Cohan, George M. Cohan’s grandparents.
The lady from Wisconsin ‘s great-great-grandmother was the sister of Jane (Scott) Cohan. Also buried in the same plot is William Scott (1774-1858), who was Jane (Scott) Cohan’s father.
A few months later, I received a most delightful note from Madison, Wisc., thanking me for my assistance and indicating that as a result of their visit they had to rethink all previous research of their family history. As I have said many times, “thank you” are the nicest words in the English language.
Fast forward to a couple of years ago, I received a call from a gentleman in need of some information about an Irish ancestor. I asked how soon he needed it, and he indicated he was calling from the airport at Shannon, Ireland.
More recently, I received a query from a woman who was planning a trip to Ireland this summer. She was in search of guidance on how to find the county of her ancestors. I suggested several potential sources: Naturalization record; newspaper obituary; gravestone; Catholic marriage records from after about 1908 which should indicate
a place of baptism. No such luck in this case.
However, some research found the couple was married in St. Michael’s Cathedral in 1894. Most unusually, Father Fitzgerald, at the cathedral, supplied in addition to the surnames of the bride and groom, the maiden names of the mother of both of them. Census records indicated that the groom and bride were both from Northern Ireland.
There is an excellent research tool "Co Armagh, Derry, Antrim, Tyrone, Down" to find records of births, marriages and deaths. I entered all four names in this case - Cawley, Barron, Marra and Ford - and got an 80 percent rate for chances they came from County Antrim. Further research is necessary.
By coincidence, my great-great-great-grandfather, John Patrick Hammill, was from Ballymena in County Antrim.
I gave a recent talk to the Western Massachusetts Genealogical Society and welcome invitations to speak before community groups.
As always, comments and suggestions for future columns are greatly appreciated.
John P. O’Connor can be contacted by email to jpoconnor@springfieldmuseums.org or by calling (413) 263-6800, ext. 483.