John Lewis Krimmel, Artist - 1786-1821 - Pepper Pot in the Philadelphia Market 1811

Some Notes on Great Aunt Rose Meehan McShay

Great Aunt Rose's House - Zeralda St near Wayne Ave., Nicetown, before 1959, from Cousin Peg Stoner, Left to Right, Rosalie Kremer, Rose Meehan "McShay", Joyce Kremer, Aunt Annie Cotterall, Rose's Sister, back to camera.


On a tangent, It took some time talking to a distant cousin on the Internet to find out the origins of the Meehan cousin who worked at Sears on the Boulevard except for WWII all his life and he and his wife were my godparents, the origins of his family. He and his sister were taken into my fraternal grandmother's house to be raised and cared for when their parents died and they were orphaned. The relatives that would have taken them in were Protestant and my grandmother would have none of that. They were Catholic and going to stay so. No social networks in those days or payments from Social Security for dependent children who lose one or both parents. 

Great Aunt Rose had left her children in the care of her Meehan clan and set off to the big city of Philly to make a living. She eventually settled into the position of cook to the household of a Mr. Bell who was I think President of Philco Radio after Philco rose from the ashes of the old Atwater Kent Radio (state of the art) factory over in Nicetown. With her savings Aunt Rose bought a house and brought her three sons home to Philly. She got her oldest son a job at Philco and he worked there after WWII until his retirement in the 1970s with pension from Ford who had bought out the Philco company in Philly.

Her other two sons worked at the Post Office post WWII and died young. Probably from the result of alcoholism. In and out of Veterans' hospitals from oral histories. Possibly PTSD too considering they were Marines that saw action at Guadalcanal and other battles in the Pacific theater of war.

The alcoholism and domestic abuse of her husband is what drove her to Philly for a better life for herself and her kids.

Somewhere along the timeline she legally changed her surname to the McShay spelling, different from her married name of McShea. Family oral history said that she did so on advice of a relative, a young monsignor in order that her divorce that she would not be talked out of would not affect the young monsignor's political ambitions when public notice of petitions for divorce where published in local newspapers. The difference in the spelling of her name would be plausible deniability for the young priest as to her not being his relative. We always thought that this priest was Bishop McShea whose cronies in the Vatican gave him Allentown as a consolation prize when they imported the Polish bishop from Cleveland to succeed Cardinal O'Hara and not a local Irish boy.  

The family oral history was not too accurate. I had to finally determine that Joe McShea was not a close relative as told to me by various relatives, though none knew exactly what the genealogy was. Lots of research needed in the end, because he seemed to keep his own family history close to his vest considered how his daddy was on one of the Sheriff's posse (deputy) who went postal on Coal Mine Strikers in 1897 at the Lattimer Mine Massacre. The only Catholic deputy on the Sheriff's crew btw. 

I do not believe Aunt Rose ever paid into Social Security and as such she was dependent in old age on savings and sharing her house with her oldest son and daughter in law. 

Strange old 1890s house. Four bedrooms. And I think that one of the bedrooms and the bathroom on the second floor got their natural light and air from a giant skylight that opened in the middle of the house above the dining room on the first floor, its only natural light. No ground floor window for the dining room. The giant skylight thing covered like 50% of the ceiling of the dining room. 

And Aunt Rose shared her house with her widowed sister Annie Cotterall. Story on Annie was her she had one daughter who died. She had deeded her house to her daughter as a wedding gift. When her daughter died at a young age, her son in law evicted Annie from his inherited form his wife's house. No social safety nets back then. Rose took in Annie and they were companions as such in old age. I do remember Annie was sickly but no medicare in those days. etc. Just family. 

Aunt Rose's "Chile" Sauce Recipe

(my father was an ex-army cook, WWII, and when he cooked there were no small pots used in the kitchen) (memories of Thanksgivings past)

Doing some genealogical studies a few years back, I looked and looked on the Internet for a recipe for "chili sauce" that my great aunt Rose had assembled in her Nicetown kitchen (Phila.) Some fifty odd years ago during a long summer break in grade school.

Great aunt Rose was a Meehan, her mother nee Breslin of the Mt Carmel, Pa. Breslins and Meehans, before that female family tree branch hooked up with several male McShea cousins over in McAdoo, Pa.. Aunt Rose was both my father's aunt by marriage and his first cousin once removed through his mother who was Breslin btw.

My father had a vacation and little money. He also wanted Aunt Rose to share a recipe that his mother had used to make. Aunt Rose was getting along in years. We went to a farmer in the country, bought fresh veggies and assembled something like an Irish-American version of salsa. Then there was the "canning" of such into mason jars.

I lost Aunt Rose's recipe that my father had written down. The "chili sauce" that she had made resided in my stored memory until I found something close to the original in composition and after I made it - in taste. In retrospect the Quest or the end of the search was probably as satisfying as the food.

I found a recipe in the 1923 Fanny Farmer cookbook under the label "Celery and Tomato" relish on the Internet that fit my memory and visuals of those two long dead relatives, my father and great aunt Rose, on that day in the kitchen five odd decades ago. The Internet does in many small ways serve humanity or at least this human from time to time.

(and of course the "chili sauce" recipe)

Tomato and Celery Relish

1 onion finely chopped
1 tablespoon salt
1 large green pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons sugar
1 large bunch celery, chopped
2 allspice berries
2-1/2 cups canned whole or fresh tomatoes
2/3 cup vinegar

Mix ingredients, heat gradually to the boiling-point, and cook slowly one and one-half hours. Cayenne or dry mustard may be added if liked more highly seasoned.


FYI:

Heinz 1910 - Chile Sauce - Tomato Relish

Here Is To The Official Lincoln Civil War Thanksgiving Day - 2018

Christopher Columbus blvd in Philly long overdue to be renamed back to Delaware Ave.

CC a proven historical genocidal criminal. 

This also to wonder How American Thanksgiving is not a day of prayer and petition to help end and now remember how uncivil we once were to each other as a nation - sound familiar - in the bloody Civil War as in Abraham Lincoln, how it became a celebration of candy-ass Mayflower Wall Street types mooching a turkey dinner off the Local First Nation People types. Should have refused them service at the door - no soul no compassion and no respect (only greed) for the land.

Have a nice day. We are having pork on thursday btw. Cooking a turkey sucks! 

:-)

Sign of the Seven Stars Inn - Frankford

(Stafford Philadelphia City Directory - 1800)

John Haines (Hains) 1774-1850

John T Haines 1803-1885

Wintering Circuses in Philadelphia - NY Sign of the Times 1 Feb 1885

Passing of The Seven Stars - Billboard 14 March 1925