Part One: Drought, prairie fires, blizzards and hail storms…..
In an earlier post (Russian the Irish) about the Cronin family, I noted the journey of my wife’s 2nd great grandparents from Massachusetts to Nebraska in 1879. Part One of this post provides a brief glimpse into William Cronin Sr.’s initial years in America. Part Two (7N 15W 25/36 – The Next Generation) explores the lives of Kate and William’s children, the next generation of Cronin’s.
In 1879, Kate (Crowley) and William Cronin and their five children rode in a Central Pacific Railroad boxcar to Grand Island Station, Nebraska and then by wagon to Minden where they established a farm. According to a newspaper story, celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary (Article and Photo: Slide 1), the couple experienced “drought, prairie fires, blizzards and hail storms” as pioneer settlers.
William Cronin was born on August 8, 1846, in County Cork, Ireland, the son of Mary and Leonard. William emigrated from Ireland to Massachusetts in 1862 at the age of 16. In the 1865 Census, William (Wm.) is working as a laborer on the farm of Mr. James Carey in Swampscott, MA. In the same household is a Julia Cronin, age 20, who working as a domestic servant. Although I found no additional information regarding Julia, I believe that she was his sister. (He later named one of his daughters, Julia)
In the 1870 Census, William is listed as one of three farm laborers working on property owned by Ebenezer B. Phillips, in Swampscott, MA. Phillips was one of the countries first millionaires, having perfected a dry fish process. It was noted that in a previous year, that Phillips’ farm(s), raised one thousand five hundred barrels of onions for sale in Boston.
William married Catharine (Kate) Crowley on Easter Sunday, April 17, 1870, in Lynn, Massachusetts. William became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1876. Kate died in 1930 at the age of 86 and William died in 1935 at the age of 90, both are buried in Minden, Nebraska. The slides above include articles celebrating their 59th and 60th wedding anniversaries, William’s naturalization certificate and both of their obituaries.
Future Research: William’s obituary notice indicated that he “established a home for his parents” in Massachusetts and Catherine’s obituary provides the names of her parents, Humphrey and Nora. My initial research has been unable to locate their parents.