The Clubs

Sometimes on Sunday afternoon we would go to the East Erie Turners on 9th & Parade. When I was very young the club had slot machines, and I can vaguely remember grandma playing the penny machine. When we were a little older, Pat, Harry, Tommy and I would play around the club. Pat and I would look for Tommy and Harry or the other way round. There was the main club room, a smaller dining room, the bar room and the bowling alley downstairs. It was a crowded place and so it seemed easy to hide from each other. As the day passed the building got very smokey, and your eyes would burn. Who ever heard of the dangers of second-hand smoke?

By the mid 50's we started going to the CYS club on East 2nd Street between French and Holland. We called it the Russian Club. I'm not sure why we started going there, but I remember that they had chicken in the basket - 1/2 chicken and French fries - for a dollar. In the early evening they had bingo, and Anna would get extra cards so the kids could play.

Razanauskas Brothers in WWII

On the left is Eddie. His rank was Petty Officer Third Class and served in the engine room on the aircraft carrier USS Franklin.

Bill is the guy in the middle. In his wife's Crotty family he is known as Willie. He was a Staff Sergeant in the Army, and was stationed at Frederick Army Airfield, Frederick, Oklahoma. He was a Physical Training Instructor for pilots.

Walter's rank was Ensign. He commanded a Navy Landing Craft. These boats were used to convey a landing force from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. He was stationed in the Pacific.

Norma

A note to Dede from Mike Crotty:

Dede--thanks for your comments about my Mother. Throughout her life, she always helped out family and even strangers deal with health, and many other issues. I think a significant factor was that her own Mother died the year she was born and she was raised by her Grandmother (Mary Chellis) and her aunt (Mary LaVerne Chellis aka Gooie). Her Grandmother was in fragile health so from a very young age, she was a health care provider,homemaker, cook, etc. Gooie worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad for 52 years so my Mother had to fill in for many of the day to day duties.

The honeymoon picture was taken at Miami Beach in July, 1942.

Also see "The Veterans" posting from Nov 2007.

Horrigan

One time years ago I was at Anna's. We were sitting in the kitchen having a few beers when for some reason I asked what she knew about the family history. I remember that she said that her grandmother Lucy had come to the U.S. through Canada. A few years after that my dad went up to Betty and Willie's to see the family bible. There wasn't much in it except the Marriage Certificate for Lucy's marriage to Michael Smith. It had Lucy's parents as "Daniel Horrigan and". Her mother's name is not written!


This week using Ancestry.com I've found the Horrigan's in the 1851 Canada census! They were living in Flamboro West, Wentworth county. Daniel, 35, is listed as a cooper from Ireland. Others listed are Margaret, 35, Lucy, 12, Margaret 10, Richard, 6, Johannah, 2, and David, 1. The last two children were born in Canada.








Lucy's sister Johannah shows up in the 1870 census working as a domestic in Erie. In the 1880 census she is the wife of Dyer Colgrove in Meadville, PA. It shows her as being born in Canada. She has four children - Anna, Harry, Daniel and William. Anna later became a nun taking the name Sister Augustine. My mother had told me that sometimes she would go over to the convent and walk with Sister Augustine over to her house so that her father could visit with his cousin. I remember that my mom said that she was a very jolly person.



Johannah's son Daniel had a daughter Mary in 1904. Mary shows up in the 1910 census as living in St. Joseph's Orphanage. She later became a nun taking the name Sister Pierre. My mother sometimes mentioned her also.



Lucy shows up in the 1870 census also working as a domestic. The 1880 census shows her with her two sons, Pierre David and Richard J. She is running a restaurant on State St. In 1881 she married Michael Smith. He died in 1914. She died in 1929.



I cannot find anything on Lucy brothers or her sister Margaret. Maybe only Lucy and Johannah came to the U.S. But what about Grandma Powers? Was this Lucy's mother Margaret who remarried a Mr. Powers? I cannot find anything in the census or Erie City Directories that shows them living here.



It seems Lucy named her sons after her brothers. I wonder who the original Pierre was.

Happy Birthday Willie

Happy Birthday!

Remembering Mary Ann...

September 25, 2009 marks the passing of the second oldest of the Crotty 15 cousins. Our dear cousin, Mary Ann Callahan Niedzielski died early that morning surrounded by her children.

Mary Ann….I remember one time asking Julia why she named her Mary Ann as it seemed kind of ‘rhymey’ with Callahan. She said she was named for the Blessed Mother, and her mother, Saint Ann. ‘Nuff said. That was Julia.

As a kid, I used to spend the night at the house on west Third street…. I remember that she was always sewing, LOVED to sleep late and was so pretty. I aspired to be as talented and pretty as she was. When I had my first dance at St. Pat’s in the 8th grade, Mary Ann let me wear one of her dresses. (I was a whole lot skinnier then!) I felt like a princess.

Mary Ann gave me my first year St. Ben’s uniforms. We knew they were going to change uniforms between my freshman and sophomore year and it made the most sense for me to wear her ‘hand me downs’. Kids today would be appalled….but that is the way it was.

When I graduated from St. Ben’s, she was my sponsor (don’t remember exactly what it was called, but she attended a luncheon with me)


Mary Ann was Miss Industry of Erie in 1963. See the picture of her attached on the float in the parade.

When I got out of high school, Mary Ann was already working at Hammermill, and I was working at Westinghouse on Hess Ave. About once a month we would go to our house on Eagle Point and Mom would fix us lunch. We would talk away the hour….

After Kim was born, I would go over to their house on 7th street to play with Kim and visit with Mary Ann and Stan. Funny story, I met Rick on Memorial Day, 1968. (May 30). On that weekend, Mary Ann and Stan were going to go out and had asked me to babysit. Rick really wanted to come over or call me while I was there. I wouldn’t tell him where she lived, but I did tell him that Stan’s name was Niedzielski…I figured he would never be able to spell it. He did, looked up the phone number, called me and we talked the night away after Kim was asleep! He reminded me that he too grew up in Erie and knew how to spell Polish names! The rest of Rick and I are history…we were married 6 months later.

When Mary Ann was expecting daughter number two, we all had the biggest shock when David died. A truly tragic time that we will all never forget. But then sadness turned to joy, when little Karen was born and I was asked to be her godmother!! What a thrill!!

I kept up with Mary Ann intermittently through the years…mostly keeping up with Karen.

We have all kind of gone our separate ways through the years, marrying the loves of our life, some getting divorced and then finding that special someone again to share their life with. Some of us have lost our spouses due to death. We mourn that loss with each other, but celebrate lives well lived. We raised our families, watched them grow, excel, and then marry and have families of their own. Some of our children now have grandchildren of their own.

The 14 remaining cousins have reconnected in recent years and it has been wonderful. We sit down to talk and the years just melt away.

In October, 2007, Rick and I were in Erie to attend his nephews wedding. I had been emailing Mike Crotty and found out he was going to be in Erie that weekend. We took a ‘mug shot’ of the gang of us at Nunzi’s Restaurant.








Also attached is a picture that was taken at Kristin’s on June 7, 2009. On July 3, Rick died, and now Mary Ann on September 25. May you both rest in peace and know no more pain.

I feel very fortunate to have been her cousin. The joy and happiness we have had in our lives far out shadows our sadness. Through it all, our life and our legacy lives on.

My better half...

On July 3, 2009, I lost my best friend and husband Rick to Cancer. He was envious of the way that I grew up....all the aunts, uncles, cousins that were a part of all of our lives.

His memories of growing up in Erie were not as memorable as mine, but he truly loved going back to Erie and sharing with our children the way it was 'growing up Crotty'....the many times sitting around the kitchen table at Anna's.

He was so supportive of the time and energy that I spent on our reunion in 2006. He was an incredible help with the genealogy program, working on favors, encouraging me that it was all going to work out and we would all walk away with memories for the rest of our lives. ...and that we did!

We were able to come away from that reunion, reconnected with each other as we all march into this next phase of our life.

True adversity and heartache show all of us how strong we all are. We are a strong family and even stronger individuals and I truly have all the Crotty, Sullivan, Jackson, and Queeney families to thank for this. God Bless the Irish!!