In an earlier post, I briefly mentioned the "mystery" of the sixth child of Michael and Sarah Hogan, my great-great grandparents. In the 1900 and 1910 censuses, Michael and Sarah are listed along with six children - Patrick, George, Frank, Harry, Joseph and Marie. These two censuses, however, were also the only two censuses to pose the following two questions to all women - "Mother of how many children?" and "How many children living?" In other words, how many children have you given birth to, and how many are still alive. These questions can be very useful in genealogy - in many cases, they are the only clues to point us toward children that were born and died between census years.
For Sarah Hogan, the answer to both these questions was '5' in both censuses, in spite of the fact that there were six individuals listed as 'son' or 'daughter' for Sarah and Michael. A closer look at the ages of the children showed that Patrick Hogan was born around 1979, a good three or four years before the estimated date of marriage for Michael and Sarah - a good clue that Patrick was the "extra" of the six children.
My first thought upon reading this was that perhaps Michael Hogan had been married before Sarah and that the oldest son, Patrick, was the result of that marriage. Unfortunately, shortly after coming up with that hypothesis, I located Michael in the 1880 census - living with his sister and mother, and listed as 'single,' with no sign of a son. So, scratch the first marriage theory.
That was a few weeks ago, and the discovery of a very extensive new line on my mother's side of the family (look for a post on that soon) put this mystery on the back-burner for a little while. Then, this past weekend, I started doing a little internet research on what sorts of records were available for Mansfield, Ohio (where Michael and Sarah lived). All I have to say is this - God bless the good people of the OhioGenWeb project and, more specifically, the volunteers who put together the Richland County, Ohio site. This amazing resource is full of records on Richland County - of which Mansfield is the county seat.
A quick search of the site for the surname 'Hogan' turned up a handful of promising looking resources - among them, an article on the opening of the new county Children's Home, dated June 6, 1883. The article included a list of the twenty-odd children currently in the home, including...you guessed it...one 'Patrick Hogan'. Then, just a few records later, another article, this one entitled "Children From The Children's Home Indentured," listing several children from the Children's Home and the families who had taken them in. Second on the list: "Patrick Hogan...to Michael Hogan, policeman, Mansfield. June 31, 1883."
So, I now knew that Patrick Hogan was indeed adopted by Michael Hogan. The question remained, though, of why Michael and Sarah would have adopted a child. That's not to say that adopting a child isn't a wonderful thing, but at that time, it generally wasn't done unless the couple couldn't have children of their own, or unless there was some personal connection to the child. The fact that Sarah and Michael would have five children of their own over the next ten years mostly rules out infertility, which leaves a personal connection - even more likely because Patrick's name appears to have been 'Hogan' even before the adoption.
Last night, I finally had a chance to take a close look at the baptism records of St. Peter's Catholic Church in Mansfield. As I was looking for my direct relatives, I came across the entry for the baptism of one 'Patrick Hogan'. His parents are listed as 'Cornelius Hogan and Mary McCahill'. And the biggest clue of all...Patrick's godfather, none other than Michael Hogan. There was the personal connection I'd been looking for!
I know absolutely nothing about Michael's family, so right now, I can only speculate on his exact connection to Cornelius Hogan. Were they brothers? Cousins, maybe? More research will be needed to figure out their exact connection.
Other questions come out of this new discovery, too: What happened to Cornelius Hogan and Mary McCahill? There are four other Hogans in the 1883 Children's Home list - John, age 11; Cornelius, age 5; Ellen, age 7; and Catherine, age 2. The article that lists Patrick's adoption also lists the adoption of Cornelius, John and Ellen by a 'Cornelius McCahill' - perhaps a brother of Mary's? Are these Patrick's siblings? If so, what became of the youngest of Cornelius and Mary's children, Catherine?
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