The Final (For Now) Post about the Robert Macken Family

I told you I had a small update on this family. So I thought I would get it out there before I finished up the Read children. I’m afraid that when I get buried in their story I will forget all about the Macken information.

I will go by age so Mary is first. I found her in the 1900 census as a maid in New York so I filled in that information. I also discovered that she married David Cronin in 1906, a widower at the time of their marriage. They had no children and I’m not sure David had any by his pervious wife either as there were none living with them in any of the census records I have. Mary died 1925 in Brooklyn and is also buried in Holy Cross.

Elizabeth “Lizzy” is next. She was first married to a man named George Droge in 1901. I only had her marriage to Connolly because of her brother’s obit and the SSDI entry for her. The couple had 6 children together. George died in 1922 and she stayed a widow for a few years before marrying John J. Connolly. I cannot locate a marriage record for them but I know they were married 1925-1926 according to the 1930 census. I found several articles about Elizabeth in NY newspapers due to the death of her youngest child, Laurence Droge. Apparently he was suffering from diphtheria and when Elizabeth went for help at the hospital where the family was on vacation they turned her away. When she got him to a private physician she was told he was already deceased. The articles take a she said-he said mentality so there really is no way of knowing exactly what happened concerning her hospital visit. There was even a picture of young Laurence at the burial of his father 3 years earlier. Poor boy!

James, died 1908, unmarried.

Joseph, died 1907, unmarried.

The last one with an update is William. I received a copy of his marriage record and he is definitely the one who married Pauline Shannon in 1914. I traced them through to the 1940 census and from the look of it they had no children that I can find. Or, none that survived long enough for the censuses. Both were alive in 1940.

As for Charles. I still have not been able to prove that he was in fact the one who married Mary but am still searching. Will keep you updated.