Remembrances of the Kane and allied families
stories about the Kane and allied families
Letter from Vivian Bryan to Francis “Frank” Kane, envelope postmarked 12-20-1991
Dear Frank,
You all had such a lovely party for a disparate group of the family that I’ve thought back to it a number of times. I believe any sweetness we have in this generation and in our descendants came via (Great) Grand pappy Kane, our shared ancestor (Daniel Kane). He used to live with our mother’s family in his last days. She was crazy about him, and, I gather, all in her family felt the same way. I have always heard that Uncle Denny (Dennis Kane, son of Daniel) was a sweetheart, too, and the same could be said about my maternal Grandmother (Mary Elizabeth Kane), his sister.
In fact, I was always pretty close with my Great-Aunt Florence, my Grandfather’s youngest sister. She married a fine man, Dr. William Kenealy. Aunt Florence commented several times that everyone always loved “Mamie” Kane. Grandmother’s name really was Mary Elizabeth Kane Thorn. “Mamie” in those days was a nickname for Mary. Boy! When you pass the “in-law” test so highly, you must be a pretty special person.
I certainly know that all of Grandmother’s children were absolutely devoted to her. It’s a shame she got TB which was so prevalent in those days. Still, she had a lot of spunk. Our Great-Grandmother Kane (Catherine Hegarty Kane) disliked my Grandaddy Thorn. She always referred to him as “The Englishman” — the height of Irish scorn in those days. Memories of the famine which drove so many to the United States remained strong then. Grandmother, despite her frailty, flared up and told her mother not to come there again if she could not refrain from disparaging Grandmother’s husband, William D. Thorn.
I do not think our Great-Grandmother was a soft, warm lady. Her mother must have died when she was young. In the fashion of the times, Great-Great-Grandfather sent her to live in a convent where ladies would look after her. So, from the beginning the poor little girl knew only the strict, severe, not necessarily warm attention of the early ascetic nuns who looked on everything as a sin. Any tendencies to be outgoing were severely curtailed so that spontaneity was squashed out of her from almost the beginning. She lost any ability to be empathetic. It was not her fault. She was a victim.
In time she returned to her ambitious father’s home. He had probably re-married for he was financially secure, amazing for any Irishman in those English dominated times. She reached a marriageable age and he decided, per the custom of that day, that she should marry some man who was a political help, but had a shady reputation for getting neighborhood girls pregnant. Indignant, Great-Grandmother refused to be espoused to such an immoral person. So, she put aside a little money and ran away to America.
Here, she, like a lot of Irish, were made to feel unwelcome. Signs everywhere in New York and many other cities proclaimed that “no one of Irish ancestry would be hired”. There was , despite the Revolution, still a lot of emotional linkage with England. No love was lost ‘twixt the Irish and the English. It persists today overseas and is probably one of the sources of those awful bombings still carried out against England. If a lot of the English didn’t still have large monetary interests in Ireland, they’d probably drop old Ireland in a flash. I strongly disapprove of attacks on innocent people to get at a resented government. But, I understand how that terrible resentment, hate, still persists. Long memories in the Irish. Strong attachment to their monies and holdings among the British.
Well, Great-Grandmother, a proud lady who was used to having servants, had to become the equivalent thereof by housekeeping at a rectory, just to survive. Via there, she met Grand pappy Kane. He could not read or write, but she taught him these basics. He was clean, honest, respectful, a quick study, hard working, frugal,religious and honorable. So, she married him.
She was, for that time, well educated and did take the local newspaper and read everything she could get her hands on. She also had an in-born business sense. I am not particularly sure it was any great romantic alliance, but it worked. They became very successful and owned several farms on which they raised vegetables and animals for food which was sold at the old Center Market (no such thing as Safeway or Giant then). My maternal Great-Grandfather Thorn also had a farm and did the same thing. That’s probably how Grandmother and Grandaddy met. Or, at a Church function.
Great-Grandmother also foresaw that Georgetown, then not a part of Washington, D.C. because a huge ravine separated the two areas, would eventually merge. The bridge, which spanned the gap over what became Pennsylvania Avenue on the D.C. side, was built. It connected with the M Street in the Georgetown section and the “car barn” was put up just across from what was a ferryboat terminal (which my Great-Grandaddy Thorn ran). Now, it’s a bridge called Key Bridge. Originally, when I was little, the bridge was an iron bridge which seemed to sort of rattle like a bag of old iron pieces, when we drove over. The trolley was extended over that iron bridge to Virginia, and alongside some of the “suburbs” going east and west, along little townships like Cherrydale. When I was on the way, Daddy and Mother rented a little house in Cherrydale as they could take a trolley over the bridge to get to Georgetown Hospital.
Grandaddy Thorn worked for the Capitol Traction Company and my Aunt Marion, Mother’s second oldest sister, also worked there. She and Grandaddy “locked horns” and she used to come over to our Cherydale house every night after work. Daddy finally told her he’d rent the extra room to her. Once she moved in, she went instead every night to her friend’s house. Dora Trail was that friend, and they were inseparable until Aunt Marion decided to marry Bill Bickel.
Meanwhile, Daddy and Mother moved to the house behind their first home in Cherrydale because Ann Marie was on the way. They thought she might be a boy and the two should have separate rooms. They got fooled. But, the house came up, so they took it.
In the meantime, to back up, Great-Grandfather Kane gave Grandaddy Thorn the brick “row house”. Nowadays, called “townhouses”. After his wife died, he was over at Grandaddy all the time. Grandaddy Thorn “adored” his wife, now gone, so he did not marry again until 1917. She had died (my Grandmother) on April 16 or 17, 1908. He hired a housekeeper, a Mrs. Oliver. Grand pappy Kane (Daniel) moved into Grandaddy Thorn’s where he lived until he died. He’s buried in Holy Rood in the plot where he put his wife. I think Uncle (Dintz) is buried there, as is my Grandmother. Then, when your father died so young, Frank, he was buried in his Grandfather’s plot.
I recall a bit about when your father died, Frank. I remember your Mom had to go to work and she put the boys in St. Jopseph’s and the girls in St. Rose’s. Then she grubbed away at everything she could find, did without everything but enough food to stay alive so she could pay something on the maintenance of her kids. She was proud and didn’t want her kids “on charity” altogether. My Aunt Marion did the same thing when she did the almost-unheard-of thing then. She divorced Uncle Bill Bickel. Eddie, the 3rd. boy, was not even born. She and two other little boys lived with us and when Eddie was only about six weeks old, she put all three of the boys into St. Anne’s. As the boys got older, they transferred over to St. Joseph’s. You all probably never realized (you were cousins) at that time.
I have written all of this out for you in case you all had no information about earlier events. Mine is based on accumulated information gathered from overheard conversations as well as directly from Mother and her sisters.
“Strawberry-blonde” hair seems to run in the family. Grand pappy Kane was alleged to have had that color hair, as did his children. My sister, Ann Marie, had reddish hair and I always had reddish tints until age converted it to white-ish. My cousin, Eddie, had red hair (more mahogany red in time) and my cousin, Florence, last child of Mother’s younger brother, Uncle Joe, also had strawberry blonde hair. My second girl, Mimi, has it and both of her girls are blondes with a touch of red, strawberry-blonde, in their hair.
My Mimi is very much like my Mother who resembled the Thorn’s, high cheek bones, very dark hair, dark brown eyes, but who was sweet, a hallmark of the Kane branch. Mimi is a happy, tactful, concerned-about-everyone type, who is always popular. She runs her house as Mother did. Mother called her home the “Do Drop Inn”. Mimi’s is always “jumping” with friends, kids, pets, et al. Her sister, Lauralee, is a nice person and a talented person, with five kids. My son is a bachelor and (sorry- couldn’t read this last phrase).
It’s amazing that we all know each other when you think of how we all grew up separately. The nice thing is I believe all of Grand pappy Kane’s descendants, so far, have turned out fairly well. I cannot help but feel sorry for our Great-Grandmother in view of the bleak and somewhat “cold” start she got. I don’t think I mentioned that she had been used to “living in style” in her father’s home. Once they made enough money, she had a fancy buggy and driver. Mother said she would drive up in front of the house looking very “high style” in taffeta and lace, etc. She sort of “flowed” into the house. She took Aunt Marion to live with her and to spare Grandmother from doing too much. Aunt Marion was pliable. Aunt Estelle, the oldest, was NOT and Great-Grandmother and Aunt Estelle did not belong together. Consequently, she raised poor Aunt Marion as she was raised and the poor dear became so over-conscientious, she was in agony in case she’d made some mistake in a prayer or a religious observation, all of her life.
Mother thought a lot of your Dad though I never got any particulars. She was devoted, too, to your Uncle Frank who used to send me Christmas cards signed “Mr. Kane”.
I think these little details may interest you all. As poorly as I write (and please excuse the scratch outs) I decided to send this along to you. It would be a treat to see you all and I’d like Jim to meet such friendly people. Hope to see you all again soon, dear second cousins.
My poor husband isn’t very Irish, despite the name. He only had two first cousins who produced but four children. He doesn’t even know his second-on-out-there relatives. In our family, widespread as we are, we all stay linked. And you all helped to strengthen those links.
Have a wonderful, healthy New Year!!
Love, Vivian (Bryan)
P.S. I can’t type anymore or I’d have typed this.
Thorn – McIntyre (McAteer) maternal great grandparents
William Baker Thorn married Ann McIntyre in 1858. Ann was an Irish immigrant. The name McAteer was evidently heard as McIntyre by the immigration clerk who wrote the name on their papers and they have continued to use it to this day. Ann’s sister and two brothers came with her and one brother, Peter, married Aunt Clem, Baker’s sister. We assume the McAteer’s left Ireland because of the potato famine.
Baker’s close ties with the brother and sister who remained in the Washington area were still evident in my mothers generation. This may have been due to the fact that he took over his father’s role when his father died.
At least eight children were born to Baker and Ann because that many survived. At the time of his marriage, he was what was referred to as a cartman in the census. Between 1850 and 1870 he moved to Rosslyn (Va.) where he operated a dairy farm and was also a toll keeper on the bridge. He owned the farm, according to the census records, which valued the farm at $800.00, a good sum for that time. We believe he educated his children, as my grandfather went to St. Matthew’s Institute in D.C., which later became St. John’s College.
I know only one story that gives a glimpse of the character of Annie McIntyre. Immigrant though she was, she must have become an ardent southern sympathizer because when Lincoln was killed, and everyone was required to show some sign of mourning, she refused to do more than hang the sleeve of a black coat out the window. She was still alive in the summer of 1884. My grandmother spoke of visiting her when she was pregnant with Aunt Marian. The reason my grandmother mentioned visiting her mother-in-law was because she had admired the bleeding hearts her mother-in-law had in her yard and when Aunt Marian was born, she had a birthmark that looked like a bleeding heart. Baker remarried January 26, 1885, his second marriage was precipitous.
At the time of his mother’s death, my grandfather was 26 and already married. His sister Mary Alice (Sissy) was 23 and also married. The other children ranged in age from 5 to 20 years. Baker’s second marriage to a 22 year old girl, younger than two of his children, produced such an emotional upheaval that all of the unmarried children left and went to live with their brother and sister. My mother did say once that if Great Aunt Biddy had kept her mouth shut, things might have worked out so there must have been some family meddling. I do not know who Aunt Biddy was. All my mother ever said of her grandfather was that he lost his money and his farm in Virginia. His second wife was from Baltimore. He may have gone there to live. He died in Clementine’s house. According to his death certificate his wife was still living. My mother was 22 when he died but never mentioned seeing him.
At the time of the rift, most of the children went to live with Aunt Sissy. Aunt Jenny lived with my grandfather because she was considered ‘difficult’. All of the girls were considered beauties. Aunt Sissy married a grocer who died when her four children were quite young and she still had at least one sister living with her. Her daughter, Anita, who was two at the time of her father’s death, did not know how her mother managed. She said her mother kept things well, but was too proud to go in the grocery store to work. Some said that Aunt Sissy was snobbish. Everyone agreed she managed her home beautifully, was a great cook and made lovely clothes. She certainly took in most of the younger children when her father remarried. Anita said of her mother: “Mother was quite a lady, or thought she was, anyway. We didn’t have much money but we always lived nicely, the house was always lovely, and mother always looked nice about the house.” When they grew up and married, Sissy’s younger sisters were good to Sissy’s family. This family liked to visit. They never required entertainment other than enjoying each other’s company. This is a trait that seems consistent through subsequent generations.
These women were strong. Except for Aunt Lizzie, each had a particular problem. Each gave the others moral or financial support when they needed it. Aunt Lizzie married an Irish immigrant who became an interior decorator and had a normal family life. Everyone loved Aunt Lizzie.
Aunt Gussie married a handsome rake. He was a drinker, a gambler, sold real estate and was also a successful artist. Some of his sculpture is in the Library of Congress. He worshiped Aunt Gussie, showered her with jewels, clothes and lavish living, but from time to time, had to sell the household furnishings when his fortunes lapsed. When after many years she discovered that he had been married before and probably never divorced, she left him.
Aunt Jenny married three times and died fairly young of cancer. While the family did not approve of three husbands, they always liked Aunt Jenny. What her problem was , we do not know. She liked men and they liked her, but apparently she could not get along with them. Anita, who knew two of her husbands, liked both of them.
Aunt Florence, the youngest child and not much older than my mother, married a tall, handsome, brilliant Irishman who was a medical doctor but never practiced. He had a Phd. in pharmacy but employed a pharmacist in his drug store. He had done post graduate study in psychiatry at St. Hopkins. In addition, he had a beautiful singing voice and sang regularly at St. Aloysius Church, across from their home in Washington, D.C. His niece, Anita, said that he never practiced his professions, he practiced talking. Aunt Florence was an excellent manager and managed the business affairs with great success. They became quite well to do. The fact that they were childless was a lifelong regret. Uncle Will Kenealy drank, not regularly, but periodically. Aunt Florence said that as long as he was studying, he did not drink. His drunken bouts were severe enough to give him delirium tremens in time. One of the stories told about Uncle Will and Uncle Jack (Gussie’s husband) describes the night they drove all over New York in a carriage with a boa constrictor under their feet, both thoroughly drunk. At the end of the spree, the snake was dead. No one knows where they got it.
Most members of this family were very religious and for them, it was a real source of strength. My grandfather and his sisters saw each other frequently throughout their lives.
Stories of Catherine Estelle Thorn Von Wald
The following recollections are typed as recounted to Betsy Toffolo-Cresce during the 1960’s. They have been altered as little as possible.
The Thorn home, where William Daniel Alphonsus Thorn was born, was next to the Throckmorton’s in Rosslyn, Virginia. The Rosslyn house was built of red bricks from England. It had some outhouses and some former slaves (from the old plantation in Friendly, Maryland) worked there. The Thorn name originated among Danes who settled in England.
Catherine Hegarty Kane was the third youngest of fourteen children. Some remained in Ireland, some came to America and some went to Australia. Their father was democratic and taught his workers.
The Kane’s tilled the soil. In the early centers of the Irish Church you hear about the Kane’s. Daniel Kane’s brothers and sisters all died before they were twenty of TB.
Daniel Kane came to America. His wife told him to go to the mountains, so he went up where they were cutting wood for two years in West Virginia. He lived outside and thus never got the TB. He lived to be 79 and was a grand man. Excellent business man.He was financially independent after a few years. He started with a horse and cart working for the government. His wife kept the books. She died at 72. He was younger than she. She had hair that was thick and snow white for as long as Estelle could remember.
The Hegarty family had found it necessary to learn English in Ireland. They spoke Gaelic. Catherine H. taught her husband much English. She came when she was 19 because she did not want to be affianced to a rich man. His maid had had a baby and it was rumored that he was the father. Catherine wrote to her brother who was the black sheep of the family (he had married beneath him). Her brother sent her the money. Catherine was the only member of the family who kept in touch with him. She came in 1858 or 1859. Catherine met Daniel at an Irish dance in New York. He was very handsome, but he did not care much about dancing. She was a good dancer.
Harry A. Hegarty, Jr. was a lawyer who died when he was about to be appointed to a judicial post. His brother, Jeremiah (Jerry), went to Georgetown for three years but was not interested in it. Jerry became an official at the Metropolitan railroad. Harry’s wife was a Catholic convert, pretty. They spent a lot of time at the Thorn’s.
Estelle and Marian Thorn were born on 36th. Street. At that time there were only two houses on the block, both owned by Grandfather Kane. Mary E. (Kane), called Mamie, and Dennis Kane grew up on Lingan Street, now 36th. (note: house purchased in 1869 by Daniel and Catherine Kane) Mary E. and William Thorn were married at a big wedding at Holy Trinity. Their children: William, Marian and Estelle were baptized at Holy Trinity.
When Estelle was about 12, the Thorn family obtained their own piano. Estelle played by ear. Aunt Sissy had kept the piano taken from the home in Rosslyn. (Mary Alice Thorn, Sissy, was the oldest sister of William Daniel Thorn) Her son, Archibald, “Archie”, married Laura Kane, daughter of Dennis (Kane). Aunt Sissy took care of most of her younger brothers and sisters after their mother died and their father remarried. Aunts Lizzie and Gussie (Elizabeth and Augusta Thorn, two younger sisters of William D.) had taught Estelle to play.
William D. Thorn’s mother was Anne McIntyre. Anne and her brother, Peter McIntyre (the name was actually McAteer) had come from Newry, County Down (Ireland), with their brother Patrick and sister, Catherine. Anne and Peter married a brother and sister in the Thorn family then living in Georgetown. The Thorn family originated in southern Maryland and owned large farms near Fort Washington. Anne McIntyre and Baker Thorn went to live in Rosslyn. Peter McIntyre and Martha Clementine Thorn owned quite a bit of property around Rock Creek and M Street.
Estelle prayed for a piano and finally got it. She went to the door and Drupe’s piano wagon delivered the piano. Upright, three pedal pianos had just come out. Estelle said, “Oh, That doesn’t belong to us!”. Her mother had hoped to get the piano in without Estelle seeing it. They paid for the piano on time. Estelle played Irish jigs and Catherine H.K.(Kane) danced the jig.
Grandmother Catherine Kane asked her daughter, Mary E., how much she paid for it. ($350.00) Mary E. told her mother that she planned to pay $10.00 down and $5.00 a month. Grandmother said, “You are not going to do any such thing!” (it was mahogany or rosewood piano and the year was about 1907). Grandmother gave them the money but they used it to start a “nest egg” and paid for the piano on time. At that time, there was no interest on such payments. They never told grandmother. The Thorn’s used the money to buy stock in Capitol Traction Co., which was taken out when William D. Thorn died in 1926.
Estelle finished paying for the piano when she obtained a government appointment at sixteen. She played every night until 12 o’clock. The piano was hers. When she married and moved to South Dakota, her father sent her the piano. Her brothers and her sisters were not interested or had their own. When the Thorn’s left South Dakota, they gave it to the boy who worked for them. The first mark on the piano came when Ervin threw a toy horse at the piano. He couldn’t make it walk.
Estelle obtained a position later in the Treasury Department. When she was interviewed by the Secretary of the Treasury, she wore a “red picture hat”. Estelle became a money counter. (note: according to a history of these women at Georgetown University, this occupation paid about $1,000.00 a year, very high for women during this period. This group was rather famous and there are pictures of them and the work they did on all aspects of the care of currency. The women actually “laundered” the money, then put it back in circulation).
William D. Thorn was 6 ft. 2 in. tall. Estelle looked like the McIntyre’s as did William, Marian and Eulalia. Eva looked like the Hegarty’s. Joe Thorn’s family were dark and handsome. They looked more like the Thorn’s.
Estelle’s brother, Joe, was going to join the Jesuits, but he met Minnie (Wilhelmina) when his mother died. Joe went home with her brother and their mother had a shawl like Mary E. . Joe decided to get married. He was 20-21 and she was 17-18.
Legacy from Daniel Kane – left to Mary E.’s and Dennis’ children. The property was valuable but it sold at its lowest ebb. The 36th. Street homes, when sold, one house brought $900.00 and the other $700.00. In four years each house was worth $10,000.00. The houses still had outhouses.
Mary E. K.(Kane) Thorn died on Good Friday (1908). Dennis died on the following Ash Wednesday. His wife was not given custody of the children. She married Mr. O’Callaghan, a nice, prosperous, plumber. William Kane married one of the O’Callaghan’s. The guardian was Tom O’Brien, a young graduate of Georgetown law school. He worked in Estelle’s office. Dennis’ wife was Kate Roberts. Her sister, Maggie, was very nice. They were born and raised in New York City. Kate died eight months after her second marriage while pregnant. The children came to the Thorn’s house crying. Kate was about forty. Mr. O’Callaghan died within two years. Kate died of a stroke.
The Kane’s had red hair. Some looked like Catherine H. Kane with their hair inclined to be curly. Joan Marie Kane was in Bobby’s class. The Kane’s were all beautiful. Joan Marie married an Italian with whom she had been going since high school.
Dennis Kane had never recovered from his sister’s death. He cried the entire year afterwards. Dennis had always found her a good advisor. Mary E. was 47 when she died of TB. She had contracted pneumonia while taking care of her husband. TB ran in the Kane family. Daniel Kane’s father died of TB, as did five other children. Mary E. was sick for about four years. She was in the western Mayland mountains for a year with her daughters, Eva and Eulae. Her husband was crazy about her.
Some years after Mary E.’s death, William D. shocked the family and married his housekeeper, “Mrs. Oliver”. He was in his sixties and she was a little younger. She became a Catholic. Mrs. O. waited on him hand and foot (William suffered most of his life from severe pain due to rheumatoid arthritis). She came from an old Virginia family. They had a large farm. Mrs. O. had an older brother and a couple older sisters. Her name was Louise “Lula” Wright and she married a man named Oliver. Louise took care of her cousin when she was sick. After she died, Louise married her cousin’s husband. He lived only a little while after she married him. Louise went to Washington, D.C. to look for work.
The Thorn’s had a terrible time keeping help. They had an Irish widow but William D. fired her because he thought she spoiled Eva and Eulae. William D. always called her “Mrs. Oliver”. The Thorn family found Mrs. O. a Methodist church but she did not like it and never went back. Many priests used to come to the Thorn house. Mrs. O. became a Catholic. Estelle took her to the cornerstone laying of Our Lady of Victory church. They went in an electric car on Sunday afternoon. While there Mrs. O. watched and understood better than Estelle because Mrs. O. knew the Bible. On the way back, Mrs. O. said, “you know, Miss Estelle, all the things that the bishop did, I am familiar with them”, etc. Estelle did not know much about the Bible.
Fr. Tandorf, head of Georgetown’s astronomy department and also on the medical school faculty, arranged for instructions in the Catholic faith for Mrs. O. from a nun at Visitation convent. Estelle became her godmother. Estelle was in her late twenties. Mrs. O. and William D. went to 6:00 mass every Sunday. People began suspecting. Mrs. O. did not do much work on the house. She was used to black people waiting on her. A black woman also worked for the Thorn’s. Mrs. O. would not scrub or vacuum. She also had heart trouble. She was a good cook – she could really fry chicken, also a good supervisor. Small salary but she had board and room.
August 9, 1964 – only three pages, of at least five, have been found of this set,pages 2-4 read:
Three babies had died (children of Mary Elizabeth Kane and William Daniel Thorn). There was an old Irish superstition of Catherine Hegarty Kane: “pray for a child to die early to go to heaven” (to welcome family? pray for family?). When Catherine H. Kane died, three yellow butterflies flew around her bed. They flew through the candle and were not burned. Mary E.K.(Kane) Thorn had prayed that since her mother had no babies who had died, that her own three babies, who had died, would meet her mother. Three knocks were heard before Catherine died.
(Catherine Hegarty Kane was the daughter of Catherine Farr and Jeremiah Hegarty) When Jeremiah died, the family heard galloping horses and a voice called Jeremiah in Gaelic to come out. Jeremiah’s wife threw her arms around him. He died the next day.
Grandfather Kane slept on the back of the third floor and William D. Thorn slept at the front. Estelle had a candle three feet high from Fr. Tandorf who had given it to them at Easter. When Grandfather Kane was sick, Estelle kept the candle lighted, also Eulalia and Estelle Thorn and Aunt Kate (Catherine Kane, wife of Dennis Kane). Marian Thorn would go to sleep. Estelle was about 22 or 23 years old, Marian was about 20 and Eulalia was about 12.
One night, about ten o’clock, they heard distant music from over the hills of Visitation Convent and voices singing. They said the rosary now and then while Grandfather Kane was dying. When the candle was finished (it took three days to burn out), Grandfather Kane died. He died of a stroke.
Grandfather Kane said his prayers in Irish.
Uncle Denny had studied to be an architect. Grandfather Kane had hauled coal for the government. He was a hauling contractor for many government buildings. Dennis studied architecture at……
note: Many of these individuals are buried at Holy Rood Cemetery in Georgetown in five known plots: Thorn, Kane, McIntyre, Sis, and Battley. The Thorn plot was originally purchased by William D.Thorn’s father, Baker, and its oldest graves are those of Baker’s parents, Joseph Oscar and Elizabeth Harriet Knott Thorn. The Kane plot was purchased by Daniel Kane. The McIntyre plot was purchased by Peter and his brother, Patrick McIntyre. The Sis plot contains the grave of William D. Thorn’s sister, Elizabeth Sis, “Aunt Lizzie”. The Battley plot contains the grave of Bertha “Bertie” McIntyre Battley, granddaughter of Peter and Martha Clementine Thorn McIntyre.
UPDATE: As with a lot of family history stories that are passed down through the generations, this family history story, referenced here as Remembrances of the Kane and Allied Families, has its share of mistakes and errors. The mistakes and errors of family histories are usually due to misunderstandings of the correct family history which was passed down and then the version of the family history with their misunderstandings is passed on to younger generations who continue to pass down the inaccurate family history. The accuracy of recited family histories can also be affected by efforts of previous generation family members to “enhance” the family stories to younger generations, which then continue to be passed on to newer generations in their incorrect enhanced version of the family history. This is why it is important to continue our genealogical research of the Kane and related families, as it brings forth new information to enhance our understanding of our family history and correct any previous mistakes and errors in our family history.
Two very obvious mistakes and errors that had been passed down in this family history, referenced here as Remembrances of the Kane and Allied Families history, is:
1) Catherine Hegarty (wife of Daniel Kane) was the daughter of Catherine Farr and Jeremiah Hegarty.
Genealogical research has proven Catherine Hegarty (wife of Daniel Kane) was the daughter of Daniel Hegarty and Elizabeth Farr, as recorded in the Irish baptismal record of Catherine Hegarty.
2) Catherine Hegarty Kane taught her husband (Daniel Kane) how to read and write the English language.
Genealogical research has proven Daniel Kane could not read or write the English language, as proven by various U.S. census records for Washington, D.C. and the recorded will of Daniel Kane, which Daniel Kane signed with an X.
Our genealogical research of the Kane and allied families continues and as a result, we continue to find information that corrects previous family history information or adds previously unknown family history information.