Past Remembered - William A. Conway

FOREWORD: This document was written by William A. Conway (b. April 16, 1910, Newark, NJ - d. March 31, 2006, Summit, NJ) during the early 1990’s. It was compiled and edited by Kevin Cullen (the author’s grandson) over a period of weeks in late 2007 with the help of Gina LeDuc, a researcher/editor residing on the coast of Maine. This version encapsulates a variety of different draft “memory” documents that Mr. Conway had written at the urging of his daughter Mary Conway (at the time Mary was working on a history paper at the University of Michigan; not coincidentally, that paper focused on the Conway genealogy). While it was never finalized due to computer problems, it is hoped that this version reflects what his paper would have looked like had it been finalized (with additional detail or supporting documentation footnoted for reference). Future updates may be possible if readers have any additional details to share about his life or the lives of his ancestors or descendants. Corrections, additions or updates may be forwarded to: Kevin Cullen ([email protected]). Past Remembered: William Conway’s Life and Family Memories Now that I have acquired a bit of computer IQ some of my kids have urged me to put into my disk the things that I can remember about my family and events past. I am aware that memories can be wiped out in an instant by that Great Operator above, just as I wiped out the first five pages of this kind of stuff by one key stroke. So, I will try. My family came from two branches: McKeon and Conway. Both branches came here from Ireland. I will try to recall facts and memories of the two branches as well as I can and maybe some data on the twigs. The McKeon Family Here, as in most of that which follows, I begin with memory. In the old country (Ireland), three bachelor brothers, in need of someone to run their home, hired a Spanish runaway as their housekeeper: Thomasina. The oldest brother decided to save the wages paid to her, so he married her. They had four children; their first child, Michael McKeon, who was my grandfather. Michael was born in Ireland. The remaining children where: Matthew McKeon, Mary McKeon Burke, and another sister whose first name is unknown. What is known about her is that she married into the Caton family. All the McKeon siblings left Ireland and came out to settle in Newark, New Jersey. My grandfather, Michael, married Mary Meskill. They were married on April 12, 1880 at Saint Columba Catholic Church in Newark, New Jersey.1 Mary was a first generation2 Irish girl from Morristown. She and her sister, Margaret, or "Aunt Maggie," worked in a Newark Law office. Both women had "an excellent hand" which is to say beautiful penmanship; a necessity in copying legal documents. No typewriters way back then! Throughout my childhood we visited my grandmother’s home town, Morristown, several times. We most often traveled to Morristown by train: DL&W. At that time, it was possible to take the Morris County traction cars all the way out to Morristown and beyond to Dover. The Morris County traction cars were
1

A review of the marriage record located on www.Familysearch.org indicates that Mary’s name was shown as Mary Maskell age 24 with parents being Daniel “Maskell” (not Meskill) and Margaret (O’Donnell) Maskell. Michael McKeon’s parents were listed as John Mckeon and Catherine Devine. 2 William Conway’s notes state ‘second” generation. Considering Mary’s parents immigrated, this would make Mary first generation if she was born within the United States after her parents immigrated.

Past Remembered: William Conway’s Life and Family Memories distinguished from the Public Service Company cars both by their size and color: they were large green cars as opposed to the Public Service Company’s yellow cars. My great grandfather, Daniel Meskill, Mary’s father, also came here from Ireland. He made the journey to this country bringing with him only his eldest son, Thomas. My great grandfather’s objective was to, with help from Thomas; earn enough money to pay the passage from Ireland to this country for his wife, Margaret O’Donnell, and their remaining four children3. My great grandfather earned the necessary fare by establishing a dirt moving business. He made enough money hauling fill used in the development of the palatial country estates being built in the area to send for his entire family. They all sailed on a packet ship; it must indeed have been a rough crossing as three of the children did not complete the journey. In the McKeon house the expression "God bless you and save you from the dangers of the sea" was in common use, particularly when one was about to leave the house. I can now understand why. Thomas Meskill, my grandmother’s brother, continued to operate their father’s dirt moving business through out his life. The business was operated from the barns in back of his home. Tom had five children: Thomas, Daniel, Julia, Eleanor, and Elizabeth (Lizzie).4 What I know of Thomas Meskill’s five children is as follows: Thomas was a United States mailman, Daniel was killed in France during WW 1, Julia never married, Eleanor became a school teacher and also never married, Lizzie married a drunk; she and he husband had two boys. Lizzie worked as a telephone operator in Whippany, New Jersey. My grandparents, Michael and Mary McKeon, lived on 136 Wakeman Avenue, Newark, New Jersey. Together, they had two children. Their first child, Daniel, was born in about 1882. Daniel grew up to play first base for a baseball team in the Lackawanna League. He was killed in 1908 in Chatham, New Jersey by a batted ground ball that hit a stone in the field and took an odd bounce. The ball struck his jaw in such a way as to fracture his skull. He was pronounced dead on arrival. Michael and Mary’s second child was my mother, Julia McKeon. She was born on January 6 th, 1885.5 While growing up, she and my father, William Aloysius Conway, lived within a block of one another and went to the same parish events. They married on June 10th, 1909 at St. Michaels Church. I was born April 16th, 1910 at our home on 460 Summer Avenue, Newark, New Jersey. I recall two Doctors being referred to in connection with that event: Dr. Hawks and Dr. Whitenack. Dr. Hawks opened his practice in Newark after he returned from the Spanish American War; his office was opposite St. Patrick’s Church. It was he who set my father’s leg which was broken when a pile of lumber fell over on him. He also made a house call on a Sunday morning to put clips in a deep cut I sustained through the eye brow over my right eye. Dr Hawks was on the staff of Newark’s Presbyterian Hospital; his son and grandson still practice medicine. Eventually, our family moved from my birth place on 460 Summer Avenue, Newark New Jersey into the first floor flat on 138 Wakeman Avenue. The move occurred sometime around 1913 or 1914. In about
3

The 1880 Census confirms Daniel and Margaret Meskill residing in Morristown, NJ with two children Thomas Meskill (age 24) and Margaret Meskill (age 19). Another daughter, Mary, had married by then; no record of the fourth child has been found at the time of this writing.
4

William Conway’s notes did not mention Thomas’ wife; a review of 1900 census data shows Thomas Meskill (45, born 1855), Eleanor Meskill (39, born 1861), Julia A Meskill (15, born 1885), Mary E Meskill (13, born 1887) Daniel Meskill (11, born 1889), Thomas H Meskill (7, born 1893) Eleanor B Meskill (3, born 1897)
5

This researcher surmises she was born in Morristown, but William Conway’s notes did not indicate place of birth.

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Past Remembered: William Conway’s Life and Family Memories 1914, my mother lost an infant son, Daniel, about two weeks after his birth. His was not born at home, but instead, at Saint James Hospital in Newark. On July 8th, 1918 my sister, Mary, was born. Around 1922, our family moved from Newark, NJ to Bayonne, NJ and then in 1938, we moved the Short Hills, NJ. A coal fired steam system supplied the heat to our Newark home on 138 Wakeman Avenue. Cleaning out the ashes became my job by 1916 when I was six years old. My father took the big ash barrels out to the curb once a week. Blocks of lake ice were delivered weekly in the winter and three times a week during the summer. Window screens and awnings were our summer air conditioning. The awnings were kept down on the sunny side of the house while the windows were kept open. The screens filtered out the flies and bugs. Deliveries of all kinds were made directly to the home: milk by the quart in glass bottles, ice, coal, news papers, mail, groceries, and department store purchases. Vegetables were sold by hucksters directly from open wagons. We finally got a telephone; the exchange was "branch brook.” Automobiles were just becoming common; I even had a ride in one. I recall, before I was old enough to attend school, the children and teachers living south of us passing by our home each day. I was very young and possessed both an alphabet book, printed on washable cloth, and an interest in attending the Nursery Street School. One day I took my book in hand and went off to school. A full half hour later I was escorted back home by one of the teachers; thus my early education was brought to an abrupt halt. When I was finally old enough for school I went to St. Michael’s located on Bellville Avenue just south of Fourth. It was about a mile from home to school. Every day we came home for lunch thus we logged four miles each. The block on the west side of Bellville Avenue between Fourth and Kearney was the site for all pick up baseball games. An old wooden low picket fence ran along the Bellville Avenue side. It was over hung by what we knew as an Indian apple tree. The tree bore a fruit which contained a non-eatable nut. The branches were protected by long hard thorns; we were certain those thorns were the same kind used in Christ’s crown of thorns. Needless to say, the Sisters of Charity nuns agreed and concluded this was a holy tree; the fruit made a wonderful missal to throw at the beer wagons. Fires were a big event and happened frequently in Newark. A big protestant church on Bellville Avenue, just north of Fourth, caught fire one day. The kids were glad that it was not St. Michaels and more than happy that it was a protestant church. Fire engines were still drawn by horses; Dad and I often walked down to the hook and ladder company on Washington Avenue. The horses were stabled in stalls at the back of the fire house. When an alarm was rung a bell sounded, the stall doors opened, and the horses galloped to their appointed places under the harnesses rigged from the rafters. The driver mounted his seat while the other men strapped the harness to the horse. All this took less than three minutes. “Don’t get in the way,” was an important lesson. We had a picture of three horse heads at home and my father told me that the animals were the three from the fire house: Tom, Dick, and Harry. I suppose that is how I became a story teller. There was also a three story horse stable on Fourth Avenue just east of Bellville Avenue. One Saturday night, around 1915, it, too, caught fire and was gutted. What a stink when we went to Mass on Sunday morning.

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Past Remembered: William Conway’s Life and Family Memories Father Felix O'Neil was the pastor at St. Michaels Church. While pastor, he had a three car garage added to the rectory. Plus he added a second floor with rooms for the house keeping staff. A fresh air fanatic, Father O’Neil had a third floor added designed to allow for all sides of the addition to be open, yet screened. Accessible from the third floor of the rectory, the addition was used as his year round bedroom6. Newark was a growing city. Many of the old buildings were being demolished to make room for new buildings. This, Father O'Neil considered a gift from heaven as the demolition created numerous opportunities to buy brown sandstone and marble. There were many emigrant Italians living in the parish and Father O'Neil had learned that many of them had been stone and marble workers in the old country, so he put them to work installing marble in the church. To this day there is not a wall left without its marble wainscot. The brown sandstone was piled into a wall ten feet, by eight feet, and two-hundred feet long. I never knew just what Father O'Neil’s plans were for that stone. My grandparents, Mike and Mary McKeon, lived next door to us at 136 Wakeman Avenue. Aunt Maggie had moved in with them, years earlier, to help my grandmother overcome the trauma of Dan’s untimely death. In 1912 Maggie decided to stay on with my grandparents and she bought the then vacant lot at 138 Wakeman Avenue. She built a two family house on the lot as an investment. Living next to the McKeons was great for me because my grandfather, being retired from the Public Service Company, became my baby sitter. I remember him taking me for walks frequently. On one occasion, we were stopped by people who tried to decide if I was leading a poor old man around or if a poor old man was leading a little lost boy. Mike was quite angry at the stupid people. Before my grandfather had retired and taken the charge as my babysitting duties, he had worked driving a team of horses for the Public Service Company. His team of horses, in concert with several other teams, supplied the motive power for the street cars prior to the advent of the electric trolley car. The Public Service Company held the franchise for this horse generated power. My grandfather worked out of the North Newark barns located at the south west corner of Belleville Avenue: now Broadway and Arlington Avenues. Proximity to the barns was the reason why my grandparents bought the house at 136 Wakeman Avenue. I can’t remember my grandparent’s finances being a big thing at the time, but now, looking back, I do believe they did play some part. My grandparents lived only on my grandfather’s salary from the Public Service Company, yet they managed to own 136 Wakeman Avenue outright. My grandmother, Mary, had at one time worked. She and her sister, Maggie, must have had some savings because Maggie was able to build and own 138 Wakeman without any debt, still manage to maintain a bank account, and hold a small mortgage on a house in Bernardsville. That house was owned by an Italian who, at one time, had worked for Tom Meskill, Maggie's brother. Perhaps Mary had put her savings into 136 Wakeman, or their brother, Tom, may have helped both my grandmother and Aunt Maggie. After my grandfather retired, the Public Service Company paid him a pension. In order to collect his pension, my grandfather had to appear personally at the End of the Line Barns in Nutley, New Jersey. The Public Service Company required this personal appearance to be sure that the pensioner was still alive. This was a monthly event in which, weather permitting, I was allowed to participate. My grandfather and I would walk down to Gishes’ Saloon on Bellville Avenue and wait there until a group of, perhaps ten former drivers, or “pensioners,” as they were familiarly referred to, arrived. We, of course, had a beer while waiting for the latecomers. Mine was in a very small stein, which I had to hide by resting it on the under table shelf. After wiping the suds off the collected mustaches we boarded an electric trolley for the
6

For additional information about Father O’Neil, please see the history section of the St. Michael’s parish website (http://www.saintmichaelparish.com/History.htm).

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Past Remembered: William Conway’s Life and Family Memories trip to the “Big Barn.” Just as my grandfather had been replaced by the advent of electricity, so too had the horses; both my grandfather and his team were retired. My and my grandfather’s outings by street car were numerous: to buy shoes for my grandfather at Cowards on Fulton Street in New York City, to Palisades Park in Cliffside Park, to Seidler Beach, to a restaurant on Raritan Bay near Lawrence Harbor. On one such trip I saw the North German Lloyd liner, "SS Leviathan", docked at her pier in Hoboken. During the summer months, excursions by train to Asbury Park were a daily event. The excursions were so heavily traveled every local organization ran their own. I recall the Knights of Columbus, Clark Thread Mills, Westinghouse, and Masonic Lodges using as many as five to ten car trains a day. The trip was cheap, but hot and dusty and slow. Frequent beer was served. The trains catered to the travelers’ time schedule: if a train started before a traveler’s return, then the next train would pick him up. In later years, I learned that the Hoboken barges, towed by tugs, served the same purpose as the car trains; they too catered to the summer travelers visiting Asbury Park. Smaller tug boats would follow along the barges to fish anyone out of the Hudson River who may have fallen or been thrown overboard. Though I spent much time with my grandfather, Michael McKeon, I know very few details of his own brothers’ and sisters’ lives. But, of this I do know; my grandfather had a rogue of a brother, Matthew McKeon. Poor Matt had an unfortunate fatal fondness for the bottle, a fondness touching every corner of his life. Because of this, Matthew was the character in an often told story of my grandfather’s wake. Matt came for the wake and stayed for the whole three days. When it was time to take my grandfather to his final Mass, Matt was too drunk to be allowed on any of the horse drawn coaches. My Dad persuaded Matt to go to the toilet. The toilet had been recently moved into the house from the far backyard outhouse. Lacking electric lights, a candle lit the way. After Matt had relieved himself, my Dad blew out the candle so as to confuse poor Matt. My father then led Matt to the coal bin and latched the door. Not to be too unkind to my grandfather’s brother, Dad arranged to have someone release the latch permitting Matthew’s escape from the coal bin at about noon. Matthew was gone when we finally came back home from the grave yard. He never came to visit again. Sadly, the bottle led to Matt’s ultimate demise. He had a bottle with him when the West Orange Police found him frozen to death behind a billboard. This unfortunate event occurred in 1928. 7 No one in his immediate family cared to lay Matt to rest, so my Mother and Father buried him. None of his children showed for the Mass. Besides this infamous brother, my grandfather had two sisters: Mary and another sister whose first name is unknown. My grandfather’s sister, Mary, wed into the Burke family8. Her husband, like my grandfather, drove the street cars. Mary and her husband made their home in East Orange, New Jersey before the railroad tracks were elevated. There they raised three children. Their two daughters, Mary and Nellie (most likely a nickname for her real name, Eleanor), were sales ladies in the "Lining Store." Their only son, Willie, worked for the United States Mail Service. Their eldest daughter, Mary, married a fellow named Loomis late in life. Nelly never married.

7 8

Date of death needs to be verified as William Conway supplied two different dates (1928 and 1914). A record of a wedding between Mary McKeon and Charles Burke was found and listed to have occurred on March 5, 1878 at Saint Columba-Catholic, Newark, Essex, New Jersey. The parents of Mary McKeon Burke were listed as John McKeon and Catherine Devine. Charles Burke’s age on the date of the wedding was listed as 27.

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Past Remembered: William Conway’s Life and Family Memories My grandfather’s other sister, whose first name is unknown, married into the Caton family. Her husband, too, was a driver for the Public Service Company. The family lived in Caldwell, New Jersey on Bloomfield Avenue between the town and the loop. This spot was known as the turn around point on the Caldwell trolley line located near the end of the Bloomfield Avenue trolley line. The Caton’s had three children. Two of their children were girls; both girls were seamstresses at Hanes in Newark. In 1918 my father changed jobs. This was a major event in my life because it led to me meeting my future wife, Peggy. Frank Ferguson, a former New Jersey bank examiner, recruited Dad to take over as manager of the Bayonne Branch of the Union Trust Company of New Jersey. Mr. Ferguson had been put into the Union Trust Company to repair the damage caused by its former President: Frank Ludlow. Its branch in Bayonne was the former City Bank of Bayonne. This branch came close to shutting down, but it was rescued from closing by the Union Trust. The Bayonne branch had been managed by a Mr. Van Order. Dad fired him. Prior to moving to Bayonne in 1922, my father commuted to Bayonne from Newark by train: Central Railroad of New Jersey. His daily commute commenced at Elizabeth Port, changing to a New York bound train stopping at 22nd Street, thence a short walk to the Union Trust Company of New Jersey at Broadway and 22nd Street. My father wore a tie pin. Tie pins were the fashion then. While dressing one morning, the tie pin slipped out of his hand and fell behind the radiator. The tie pin continued its journey down through a small hole to eventually come to rest in an inaccessible space between two floor beams; it is still there. Dad bought an Oakland Touring car in 1919, and garaged it on Lincoln Avenue. I don't remember cranking the engine so it must have had a self starter, but we did have to keep it warm during winter. We kept the engine warm by throwing blankets over the hood; the freezing cold air was too dumb to go under the car and come up from the open spaces below. I went to Horace Mann School: Mr. Agnew was principal. Later, I attended Saint Peters in Jersey City and finally to Pingry in Elizabeth. My sister, Mary, started school at Saint Aloysius in Jersey City. My Dad drove her to school each day, for the trip home: bus. My father arranged with a business contact, Bill Higgins, to have Bill’s daughter, Margaret, escort Mary to the bus each day. In turn Margaret got a ride to Saint Aloysius each morning. Sometimes I would ride along if Dad had to drive down to the main office of the bank located on 75 Montgomery Street. This is how I met Peggy; my childhood sweetheart and future wife. My folks bought their first house on 16 Avenue B when we moved to Bayonne 1922. The home was purchased from people named Edwards. Mr. Edwards worked for Standard Oil; he had been transferred to Louisville, Kentucky. The Conway Family The Conway’s came here from Ireland to escape the Irish potato famine landing in Keyport, New Jersey sometime in 1851.9 According to the Griffiths Valuation of Ireland (1848) there was a Maurice Conway who lived in the townland of Coolcullen located in the parish of "Mothell" (Ossory diocese) the the county of Kilkenny in Ireland. According to google maps, Coolcullen appears to be about a 20 minute drive from the "Goresbridge" location on the River Barrow that is the supposedly where he and/or his wife Ellen grew up in the early to mid-1800's. Once here, they took a tenancy on a farm in Mattawan. The
9

“Famine Immigrants-Lists Of Irish Immigrants at Port of New York: 1846-1851.” Vol VII. April, 1851 – December, 1851, ed. I.A. Glazier, M. Tepper, (Baltimore, MD, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1986).

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Past Remembered: William Conway’s Life and Family Memories family consisted of my great grandfather, Maurice Conway, and my great grandmother, Ellen Welsh Conway. Additionally, there were several children some of which were born in Ireland. The names of the children are very vague, but I do remember visiting some of them. My great grandparents, Maurice and Ellen rest today at St. Joseph’s graveyard located in Keyport, New Jersey.10 Their grave stones can be found in Section 0, plots 137&140(Conway/Cavanaugh). The grave stone indicates Maurice lived from 1815-1882 and Ellen, known to me as “Little Grandma,” lived from 1825-1916. The stone also lists three sons buried there: Charles, James, and William. My great grandparents had eight children all together: John, Margaret, Elizabeth, William, James, Mary, Joseph, and Charles. 11 I know much more about William’s life than the others’. As for the other Conway children, I must rely on memory. Joseph P. Conway (born 1860) was a New York City policeman 12. He may have been the eldest, because he had acquired the skill of breaking horses to the saddle. I always thought that skill had come over with him from the Old Country. He used his skill for breaking the two-hundred horses which were brought in annually from the west to be trained as remounts for the mounted force. His family was quite large. They lived in the Bronx some place near a brewery. Of this I am sure because, on the one occasion, I remember visiting on a very hot summer Sunday afternoon. We traveled there by trolley, Hudson tubes, and subway. The weather being very hot, the kids of the family took me down to the brewery to enjoy the cooling effects of the water aerating tower. It really was cold. Another Conway son was also a policeman serving for the Plainfield, New Jersey force. Like his brother, he also had a large family. Dad and I visited there, at least once, when Peg attended Holy Trinity High School located in Westfield, New Jersey. A grand son of this family was in Peggy’s class; his home was in Scotch Plains, New Jersey. William Conway was a carpenter working in the Philadelphia area. He was involved in the labor movement and was killed in an accident at a Philadelphia construction site. At the time of his death, he was engaged to Catherine Murphy nicked name “Kate.” It is speculated that William met, and became engaged to, Kate through his sister, Elizabeth. William’s sister was working as a domestic in New York. Kate also had a sister, Maggie, working in New York as a domestic during the same time period. As Elizabeth and Maggie were in domestic service for prominent New Yorkers it seems logical the two may have known and been friendly with one another; possibly introducing William and Kate. Another possible connection may have occurred through Joseph P. Conway who was making his home in the Bronx while serving on the Bronx police force. This chapter remains open. Elizabeth married into the Cavanaugh family and her name appears on the family head stone at St. Joseph’s cemetery. The story goes that Elizabeth married young; only fourteen or fifteen years of age. Her husband was eighteen. Elizabeth’s husband had some type of mishap and died shortly after the marriage. Left to fend for herself, Elizabeth became a "lady maid" to a Mrs. Major, the wife of J.P. Morgan’s business partner in association with the Morgan Guarantee Trust Company. The Majors lived in New York City and Englewood, New Jersey. Elizabeth earned a good pension from her employment with the Majors; she rented a home in Englewood where she lived to be 100 years old. She shared her home, and life, with “Little Grandma,” after Maurice's death.

10

This information was taken from “The Family Tree; The Conways,” by Mary E. Conway. Different dates were also cited in other draft documents (1848/1849). 11 Taken from “The Family Tree; The Conways,” by Mary E. Conway 12 Identity, occupation and location confirmed via a review of 1900 census data. The household names include Joseph P Conway (39), Catherina Conway (38), Morris Conway (14), Loureto Conway (11), Alaca Conway (9), Lincent Conway (4), Marie Conway (3), Millard Conway (3).

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Past Remembered: William Conway’s Life and Family Memories Charles Conway was another brother; his history remains to be told. We know that he is marked on the Conway/Cavanaugh stone at Saint Joseph’s Cemetery in Keyport, New Jersey: see Section 0, plot 137 and 140.13 James Conway, yet another brother, is listed on the head stone with his Father and Mother; his story also remains to be told. Margaret Conway (1845-1901), married a John Mulhall (1837-1907). 14 She and her husband, John are buried in St. Joseph’s Cemetery. There is not much known about the Mulhall offspring. I recall meeting a Mulhall daughter in Jersey City around 1916 or 17. She married a man who was president of a railroad; I think his name was Loomis. John W. Conway, my grandfather, was born in Mattawan,15 New Jersey and was older than his brother William. He became a printer and finally a linotype foreman for the “Daily Advertiser” in Newark which is no longer in publication.16 John was twice married. His first wife was Mary A. King, who died around 1883 or 1884 leaving him a widower with four children: Eleanor (Nellie), Elizabeth (Lizzie), Mary (Mamie) and Joseph. John was also well-known for his gardening skills, maintaining a large backyard garden at his future residence (383 Summer Ave), where he grew grapes and the largest turnip my father had ever seen. My grandfather’s first child by his first wife was a daughter, Mary (Aunt Mamie). She was a secretary for the Edison Company at the West Orange Plant The couple’s second daughter was Eleanor (Nellie) who married into the Donnelly family. Her husband was a hatter who worked in the felt hat industry in Orange Valley, New Jersey. Together, they had four children: Edward, Robert, Eleanor, and Gertrude. They also had a big black dog named “Bounce;” though the two dogs looked nothing alike, the Donnelly family dog was the source of our dog, Bounce's, name. Elizabeth (Lizzie) was the couple’s third daughter. Lizzie married Eugene Mulvaney. She and Eugene were politically appointed to manage the poor house on Clifton Avenue. They lived on Clifton just north of Park Avenue. Together they had six children17. Joseph was the couple’s youngest child; he died in early adulthood while working for a Newark newspaper. He was killed when a roll of news print fell from a tray as it was being unloaded. Joseph left

13

“The Family Tree; the Conways,” by Mary E. Conway, indicates the family plot is located in St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Keyport, New Jersey.

14

A plot map of 1872 found in the library at Matawan shows that a Mrs. J. Mulhall lived in a house near Matawan Creek. The Red Bank Register Obituary dated August 7, 1907: John Mulhall of Matawan died of stomach trouble on Tuesday of last week. He was 64 years old and had been in failing heath about a year. He was born in Ireland and came to this country 45 years ago. He obtained employment on a farm as soon as he reached America and in a few years had saved enough to buy a small farm. He bought more land from time to time and at his death owned a large place. He has held a number of township offices and was a road supervisor when he died. His wife died a few years ago. He leaves six children.

15 16

“The Family Tree; The Conways,” by Mary E. Conway, indicates “John” was born in Ireland approximately in 1844. The Newark City Directory of 1886 is quoted to show a J.J. Conway, Foreman resides at Jane Street. It is assumed this to be the home John Conway shared with his first wife and four children. A subsequent review of Newark’s marriage records indicate that John’s first wife was Mary A. King. 17 The 1920 Census listed the following members of the Mulvaney household living in Newark Ward 8, Essex, New Jersey: Eugene J Mulvaney, 49 (estimated DOB: 1871); Elizabeth Mulvaney, 44, (estimated DOB: 1876); Mary Mulvaney, 17 (estimated DOB: 1903); Elizabeth Mulvaney, 15 (estimated DOB: 1905); Eugene J Mulvaney, 12 (estimated DOB: 1908); Wm Mulvaney, 8 (estimated DOB: 1912); Katherine Mulvaney, 5 (estimated DOB: 1915), John Mulvaney, 3 (estimated DOB: 1917)

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Past Remembered: William Conway’s Life and Family Memories a wife, Alice McLaughlin,18 and two children: Mary and Joseph.19 Once grown, Mary wed John Imgrund20. The couple lived on Summer Avenue in Newark, New Jersey two blocks north of May Street just north of the funeral parlor where Aunt Maggie Meskill was waked. The couple later moved to Nutley in the late 1940’s. Philip was Lizzie and Eugene’s first child. In 1917 Phil tried to enlist in the Canadian Air Force. He was too young, but did succeed later in enlisting into the United States Air Force. He crashed and died in England while training. He is buried at St Michael’s Cemetery. He was laid to rest in a military funeral; his casket lashed on a gun carriage pulled by four horses. Philip’s funeral may have been the first at St. Mikes of the WW 1 causalities. Mary was Lizzie and Eugene’s second child; she married Eddie Graham. Betsy was the third child. Betsy married Jack Farrell who covered the Trenton news and was later City Editor of the “Newark Evening News.” Gene was the fourth, was nick-named "Mo Jo." Despite a serious infection in the bone of his right arm during childhood, he went to Georgetown and became a dentist. His wife was a possibly a Fisell. Her younger sister was in Kathy’s class at St. Elizabeth’s. William (Billy), my age, the next to youngest child, joined the Benedictines went out to Latrobe, Pennsylvania. He developed TB and died before final vows. Lizzie and Eugene’s youngest child was John who originated the nickname we all use for Santa “Chon”. Last time I saw him he was applying for admission to Delbarton. There is an old picture taken in the backyard of 383 Summer Avenue. The picture is an image of me, my father William Conway, my grandfather John Conway, and his mother, my great grand mother, Ellen Conway who we knew as "Little Grandma".21 She died about 1916, and is buried in the family plot in Keyport.22 She and the mourners made the trip to Mattawan by train: CCRR of New Jersey. Philip Mulvaney, Lizzie’s oldest boy, was on the train making the journey to “Little Grandma’s” final Mass. My father told me Phil was much impressed with the Cavanaugh 23 lady who also made the trip. She had married a railroad official and was loaded with diamonds: a girl’s best friend. My grandfather’s second wife was my grandmother, Catherine Murphy; William’s one time fiancée. My grandfather and Kate had only one child; my father, William A. Conway. My father as born on June 10, 1886 at my grandparent’s home on James Street in Newark, New Jersey. He was named after his Uncle Willie, the Carpenter. Kate (Murphy) Conway and her sister, Aunt Maggie Murphy, had some accumulated money. Maggie had been a house keeper for a retired Civil War General; possible General McClellan who organized the
18 19

Last name provided in e-mail sent from Kathy DAntonio to Kevin Cullen. Name correction provided in e-mail sent from Kathy DAntonio to Kevin Cullen. 20 Based on an email from a family member of the Imgrund family. Mary and John had 5 children, Jean, Mary Louise, William, John and Robert. Jean married Bob Milone and had 5 children(8 grand chlidren), Mary Lou married George Hart and Had 8 children (18 grandchildren), Bill had 4 children ( 8 grandchildren), John had 4 children ( 8 grandchildren), Bob had 2 children
21

“The Family Tree: The Conways,” by Mary E. Conway indicate this particular Conway was named Ellen, not Mary as reported in William Conway’s notes (this is corroborated by the headstone at. St. Joseph's Cemetery). 22 “The Family Tree: The Conways,” by Mary E. Conway indicate “Ellen” passed in 1916 and is buried in St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Keyport, New Jersey. 23 This may have been Elizabeth Conway Cavanaugh

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Past Remembered: William Conway’s Life and Family Memories Army of the Potomac. Maggie owned a house in Lakewood, New Jersey and went back to the old country (Ireland) every year. Kate, after she married my grandfather, John, bought the house at 383 Summer Ave in Newark, and built the flats next door (385 Summer Avenue) – a three-story, six-family dwelling which supplemented the family income; both of which she prudently put in her sole name. John predeceased her. After my grandfather’s death on April 9, 192324 some of his children sought an accounting of his estate; there was none as Kate held all her property in her own name and Dad was her sole child. 25 My grandmother lived on for another two years. After her death on August 1, 192526, the house passed under New Jersey inheritance law to my father, William A. Conway. Aunt Mamie (Mary Francis Conway) continued to live on at 383 Summer Avenue. Her sister-in-law, Alice Conway, and her two children, Mary and Joseph also moved into the house. Alice’s husband, Joseph had been killed while on the job in Newark by a paper roll that fell from a tray. Alice kept the house while the others worked. Mamie commuted by trolley car to the Edison company in West Orange, New Jersey until she retired about 1930. Elizabeth (Lizzie), Eleanor (Nellie) and Joseph Conway grew up at 383 Summer Avenue and lived there until they married. Aunt Mamie was a traveler and made several trips to Ireland. She would have been a prolific source of information because she visited the area in which Maurice and Ellen, known as Little Grandma by this time, had lived. This source unfortunately died with her on February 18, 1958. Up until 1939, my father owned 383 Summer Avenue, but did not make his home there: we and my father lived in Short Hills, New Jersey. After my father’s death on April 8, 1939, it became necessary to liquidate his estate to pay his debtors leading to the sale of 383 Summer Avenue. Having no other place to live, Aunt Mamie then went to live with her sister Lizzie Mulvaney. Upon the breakup of the Mulvaney household, Aunt Mamie lived with the Sisters of the Poor in Newark, New Jersey until her death. HIGGINS FAMILY I married Margaret Higgins, or Peggy, as she was commonly known, in 1935 at St. Henry’s Church in Bayonne, NJ. Peggy’s father was William F. Higgins and her mother was Ellen C. O’Connor. Peggy’s parents married in about 1904. William Higgins lost his father young in life. Despite this, Bill prospered and built a house for his mother at 810 Avenue A, Newark, New Jersey. Bill also owned the corner lot which he left vacant. On the east end of the lot he built a one family house in which he and his wife, Ellen lived. Peggy and perhaps Ruth were born there. Ellen’s mother, Peggy’s grandmother, became very ill. The O'Connor family still had several children at home Gertrude, Charlie, and Ray. Mr. O’Connor, being blind, was not able to care for his wife or the remaining children, as well as run a big house. Apparently Mr. O’Connor made a deal with his daughter, Ellen; if she and her husband were to move into 761 Avenue, assume all the household duties, care for Mrs. O’Connor and the three remaining O'Connor children, then he would give Ellen and William title to his house. They did. He did. And so the Higgins family acquired 761 Avenue.
24

Date of Death is indicated from records found at Holy Sepluchre Cemetery in East Orange, New Jersey whereas the date of death was indicated at April 9, 1923. Holy Sepulchre Cemetery records show five (5) graves (ALL SAINTS PATH, Lot 22, Graves 1-5) purchased by J.W. Conway on February 2, 1873. Grv#1 Jos. F. Conway, Alice Conway, Mary F. Conway 2-18-1958; Grv#2 Ann Eliz. A. King (This is what was written in the plot book), Alice Josephine Conway; Grv #3 John and Thomas Conway; Grv #4 Mary A. Conway; Grv #5 John Conway 4-1923; Anna Conway, Catherine Conway 8-2-1925 25 The Newark City Directory of 1890 backs up the family chronology. It lists John J. Conway as head of household at the 383 Summer Avenue home. 26 Date from “The Family Tree: The Conways,” by Mary E. Conway.

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Past Remembered: William Conway’s Life and Family Memories

With all the work that she had assumed, Ellen must have been a very busy person. All this may account for Kay, Angela, and Helen going away to boarding school at Mount Saint Mary’s in Plainfield. Some of the O’Connor children namely Mae, Ray, and Charlie, married making enough room for Kay, Angela, and Helen to come home. Then Peggy, Ruth, and Mary went off to the Ursuline nuns at Middletown in Orange County, New York where a cousin of Ellen’s was the Superior at the Ursuline convent school. Also, the girls had an Aunt living in Plainfield; Margaret. It was Margaret who suggested Saint Mary’s as a school for the Higgins children. Peggy was named after Margaret and was willed $1000.00. Aunt Ruth was Peg’s next younger sister by about a year and a half. She and Peg went to the Ursuline school together; they were quite close. Ellen had very little time to do much more than care for other people. I remember meeting her on the Tubes taking Dick and Bobbie to New York for a shopping trip. Ellen was a bit dour and had strong opinions on people and things such as FDR, the New Deal, and Father Coughlin who gave Sunday night sermons on the radio from the “Shrine of the Little Flower” Royal Oak, Michigan. Bill Higgins, Peggy’s father and Ellen’s husband, owned quite a bit of real estate; he was convinced of a constantly increasing market value for the property in which he owned. He believed that the values increased faster than taxes could accrue. He was wrong. When the bubble burst he was badly pinched financially. Red Higgins27 was foreman of trimmers on the Jersey Central Railroad coal docks out on the Hook. The Railroad carried coal from mines in Eastern Pennsylvania to dock side at Bayonne. From there the coal was loaded into the holds of costal coal boats and moved to the Boston area by tugs. Red’s job was to see that the coal was stowed, evenly behind wooden bulkheads, to prevent shifting of loose coal during passage. He developed "black lung" and died at an early age. He and his wife, Catherine had seven children: John, Richard, Joseph, Rose, Fanny,?????,28 and Margaret. 1. John was a plumber and father of: Cathleen H. Crummy, Ciel H. Madaras, May H. Powers, Richard. 2. Richard advanced to chief petty officer in the U.S. Navy. 3. Joseph went off to Texas to work in the oil fields. It was reported that he had married a school teacher, but this is not a certainty. 4. Rose married Mike O’Brien. They had no children. 5. Fanny married George Keenan. They had two children: Virginia and George. 7. Not legible. 8. Margaret married Timothy Driscoll. They lived in Plainfield. My wife, Peggy, was named after this particular aunt. O’Connor Family Peggy’s mother Ellen descended from the O’Connor family. Lawrence O’Connor, Ellen’s father and Peggy’s grandfather, came back from a gold rush with a poke. He married and had seven children with his wife. He bought a saloon in the northeast corner of Rector and Greenwich, New York City. Over time,
27 28

The notes did not give enough information to determine how “Red” Higgins was related to the Higgins family. This name was not legible

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Past Remembered: William Conway’s Life and Family Memories he lost his sight to glaucoma and sold the bar. He bought a big house in Bayonne where he and his family lived until they died. 1. John married and lived on Staten Island working at a city job. He had one child. 2. Charles married Anna: number of children unknown 3. Peter married Agnes: number of children unknown. 4. Ellen O'Connor married William Higgins; they had ten children. 5. Margaret married into the Mullins family and had three children. 6. Raymond married Florence; they had one child. Ray gained renown for flying a B25 under a Railroad bridge crossing the Mississippi over St. Louis, Missouri. This occurred while flying on his way to England during WW2. Ray was reduced to Warrant Officer as a result. 7. Gertrude never married. The following is an outline of Ellen and William Higgins children; my wife Peggy’s siblings: 1. Kay married Ray Vizzetti. They had two children: Barney and Mary Angela. Ray came from Hoboken. He was a High School friend of Ed Higgins’s and Ed often played silly jokes on Ray. Ray’s father, Bernard, came from Italy. His family was builders of sea front villas. Ray’s mother was Louisa Barrone. Ray was one of six children: Albert, Charles, Alice, Florence Boon, Edna Campi, and Ray. 2. Angela married Edmund Hourigan. Ed’s father was a Hoboken plumber his mother a Burke. He had a brother, Vincent, who died of some brain infection and a sister, Rita Houseman Otto. When Ed finished Columbia Law he partnership with his Uncle Willie Burke: Burke, Sheridan, and Hourigan. The firm had a lock on the legal work of the Commonwealth Trust Company. Angela and Ed had four children: Maureen Hauk, Eddie, Peggy Meaney, and Mary Huff. 3. Helen married Jim MacIsaac. Jim’s father was a salesman. His mother may have come from Fall River, Massachusetts. Helen and Jim lived in Montclair, New Jersey. They had five children: Jim, Ellen, Peter, Rosemary, and David. 4. Lawrence died in infancy. 5. Margaret married me, William Conway. Together we had seven children: Bill, Kathy, Angela, Robby, Margaret, Mary, and John. 6. Ruth married Jim Seerey. Jim’s family came from Chatham, New York. He lived with his mother and aunt in Manhattan and attended Fordham. Joe Flesey was in his class. Ruth and Jim had two children: Jimmy and Tommy. 7. Bill married Marion West. Bill and Marion met in Florida while on vacation. Marion’s dad, Dr. James West, was National Director of the Boy Scouts; he was also a good friend of J. Edger Hoover’s, then director of the FBI. Hoover, at the request of Dr. West, appointed Bill to the FBI. Bill participated in several important cases while in the FBI.

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Past Remembered: William Conway’s Life and Family Memories Bill and Marion had two children: Bill and Bob.29 8. Mary married Joe O'Sullivan. Joe was an attorney. He landed a job with the New York Federal Home Loan Bank based on his experience both in building and loans. He held this job with the New York Federal Home Loan Bank until a heart condition rendered him disabled. Mary and Joe had three children: Sharon Gilbert, Kathy McTague and Joe O'Sullivan Jr. 9. Richard 30 (Dick) married June Ellis. They had two children: Ricky and Brad. 10. Barbara married Mark Dalton. They had five children: Mark, Richard (Dick), Timmy, Peggy, Mary, and lastly, Ann. Family Friends Joe and Kitty McClern Kearny were life long family friends. They had one daughter, Irene. Joe was a partner in a bread bakery: Kearny and Elsdon. Joe built up a small fleet of deliver and sales wagons making the enterprise attractive enough to be bought out by one of the expanding bakeries. Joe became a sales man for Fleischmann’s Yeast, moved to Baltimore, and covered sales for Fleischmann’s Yeast in the Southern states by car. In 1916 we, jointly with the Kearnys, rented a house at 410 Newark Avenue on Bradley Beach. That was the year of the Black Tom explosion in New York Harbor. It jolted our little wooden shack31. The sea bathing beaches were enclosed in steel chain nets. There was a real shark scare. Although I never saw it happen, people were attacked 32. Offshore, net fishermen frequently had their nets torn by the sharks; they actually caught sharks in their nets. The sharks were over ten feet long. I saw them.

29

The names for the children in this family are listed inconsistently. In another listing William Conway names the couple’s children as Jim, Helen, and Bob. 30 New York Times obituary (August 6, 1980); Richard T. Higgins Is Dead at 59; Headed Builders Group in Jersey Richard T. Higgins, former president of the Builders Association of Northern New Jersey, died Monday of a heart attack at his home in Saddle River, N.J. He was 59 years old. A lawyer who became active in real estate and building after World War II, Mr. Higgins built more than 1,500 single-family residences, at first in partnership with Charles Beir and then for his own concern, the Higgins Construction Company. His developments won national builder association awards. Mr. Higgins was born in Bayonne, N.J., and graduated from William and Mary College and its Law School. During World War II, Mr. Higgins served in the Pacific with the Navy as captain of a minesweeper. He is survived by his wife, the former June Ellis; two sons, Richard E. and Bradford Robert; a brother, William T., and six sisters, Katharine Visetti, Mary Angela Hourigan, Margaret Conway, Helen MacIsaac, Mary O'Sullivan and Barbara Dalton.
31

Black Tom Explosion (1916): The Black Tom explosion of July 30, 1916 in Jersey City, New Jersey was an act of sabotage on American ammunition supplies by German agents to prevent the materials from being used by the Allies in World War I. Now a section of Liberty State Park (along Morris Pesin road including the park office and Flag Plaza), Black Tom was originally a small island in New York Harbor not far from Liberty Island. Between 1860 and 1880, Black Tom was connected to the mainland by a causeway and rail lines terminating at a freight facility with docks. At 2:08 a.m. the first and biggest of the explosions took place. The explosion was the equivalent of an earthquake measuring between 5.0 and 5.5 on the Richter Scale * and was felt as far away as Philadelphia. Windows broke as far as 25 miles (40 km) away, including thousands in lower Manhattan. 32 The Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916 were a series of shark attacks along the coast of New Jersey between July 1 and July 12, 1916, in which four people were killed and one injured. Since 1916, scholars have debated which shark species was responsible and whether one animal was involved. The attacks occurred during a deadly summer heat wave and polio epidemic in the northeastern United States that drove thousands of people to the seaside resorts of the Jersey Shore. Local and national reaction to the attacks involved a wave of panic that led to shark hunts to protect simmer and the economies of New Jersey's seaside communities. Certain resort towns ultimately enclosed their public beaches with steel nets to protect swimmers.

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Past Remembered: William Conway’s Life and Family Memories One summer vacation was spent in the Pocono Mountains. We stayed at the Ontwood 33; a resort near Swiftwater. Every one had to be in bed by nine o’clock in the evening because the management shut off the gasoline driven electric generator. Later we vacationed in Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Here my Dad hurt his hip trying to slide into 2nd base while playing for the…34 Luke and Mae Murphy came up for a few days. We spent another vacation in Asbury Park at a hotel on Sixtieth Avenue; it was here we met two young seminarians. One seminarian was from Hoboken: Brother Finnerty. After his ordination, now Father Finnerty, served at Saint Rose of Lima Church in Newark. The Mulvaney boys were his servers at one point. Father Finnerty was the Pastor in Elizabeth George Keenan and Mickie McCalley were married. Our friend Kitty Kearny had two sisters. One of her sisters married a man by the name of Elsdon. For a time they lived on a dairy farm in Union. Her husband sold out of the dairy farm and bought an apple orchard in Red Hook, New York: it wasn't a gold mine and they eventually lost it. Kitty’s other sister; Jenny McGuire married Frank, a relatively prosperous road construction contractor. Frank specialized in red brick pavement; very good for horses but too slippery for cars. Consequently, Frank ran into financial difficulties and unfortunately died before he could recover from the dollar difficulty. He left two children, Frankie and Mary. Frankie had a friend, Wilbert Lambert, who lived in the first floor flat on 138 Wakeman Avenue. “Poop,” as he was fondly nick-named, resided at 138 Wakeman Avenue with his widowed father, and aunt and uncle. Not much is know about Mary, except that she may have possibly dated Rod Keller at one time. Mother and Dad had other friends as well. Mother’s was friendly with the girls she had worked with in a calendar factory up on Summer Avenue: Lilly Huntley Smith.35 Dad was also friendly with the men with whom he worked: Luke Murphy, Ed Reilly, Charlie Murray, Lu Disinger.

33 34

The Ontwood resort lodge burned in 1961. Sentence is incomplete in original document. 35 Names were difficult to read

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Past Remembered: William Conway’s Life and Family Memories

MORE THOUGHTS A long time has past since I added to this chronology: possibly four or five months. I've decided to continue by adding bits and pieces. About 1924 I had a period of ill health, perhaps rheumatic fever. I lost considerable weight and time from school. In order to regain both the weight I had lost and my strength, I was sent up to the Poconos and stayed at the Pocohasset House; a hotel run by the Hanlins from Scranton. I was there for about five months. I managed to gain back the thirty pounds I had lost thanks to Mrs. Hanlin who saw to it I was stuffed at each meal. I walked many miles each day and usually got a free trip back to town from the Lackawanna Railroad Right of Way maintenance gang whom I'd meet along the railroad tracks. I would wave the gang down and ride their gas powered hand car back to Mt. Pocono. The Station Master at Mt. Pocono was a Mr. Bly: no relation to the famous Nellie. The State of Pennsylvania Highway Department was conducting a survey for a new alignment of the road that followed Marshall’s Creek up the valley from Stroudsburg to Pocono Summit. The works also roomed at the Pocohasset House and often took me out to the job site. The road is now complete and I have driven over it. BANKS In one way or another, banks played a major roll in our lives. Right out of Barringer High School in Newark, my Dad went to work for the Bank of Commerce in New York City where he met Luke Murphy. In 1904 or 1905, a J. Henry Bacheller organized a Bank to serve for the Ironbound Trust Company. My Dad left New York and started to work at this newly formed bank on the day the bank opened. A bank building was erected at the junction of Market and Ferry Streets. A branch was later opened at 210 Ferry Street; Dad was the first manager. The area was largely a German enclave. Dad knew a little German as it had met his foreign language requirement at Barringer High School; this made contact with the local businessmen easier. Dad’s associates at the bank, mainly Frank Ferguson and the banks attorney John Mulford Enright, developed money making ideas for themselves through ownership of the banks shares; mergers and consolidations were the vehicle. They organized, or acquired: the Jackson Trust Company, Pavonia Bank, Merchants Trust Company, Journal Square National Bank. Dad acquired bank stocks by borrowing funds from the equity in shares he had bought for cash. This, and ventures of similar nature, in the stock market eventually broke him financially. Frank Ferguson had loaned some stock to Dad which he had pledged as collateral for a loan at the Fidelity Bank. After Dad died my sister, Mary, and I took enough money out of the life insurance proceeds to pay off the loan. We turned the collateral over to Ferguson who then gave us ownership to the 400 shares of HCNB which he had held registered in Dad’s name. Mary sold hers, I held on. We had a summer house at Avon, New Jersey. A Rutgers professor widow held a $4,000.00 mortgage against the home. After moving from Newark to Bayonne in 1922, in 1938, we joined the flight, from what I don't know, 36 and bought a home at 33 Grosvenor Rd in Short Hills, New Jersey where my mother and father died respectively in December 193737 and in the April of 1939. The mortgage for that property was twenty-two thousand dollars. Percy Cruder arranged the transaction through the Woodruff family.
36

Short Hills is a well known upscale planned community for “senior executives and controlling stockholders.” The “flight” William Conway refers to may have been a social exodus from the ethnic inner city neighborhoods. 37 Dates are inaccurate in “A Family Tree: The Conways,” by Mary E. Conway.

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Past Remembered: William Conway’s Life and Family Memories

At the time of his death, Dad was a Vice President of the Hudson County National Bank. After he died in 1939 both the professor and the Woodruffs were lucky to get out whole. The Professor's widow took the deed to the Avon property in lieu of the four thousand dollar mortgage. The Woodruffs received cash as we were able to sell 33 Grosvenor Road for about sixty thousand dollars. I recently saw it sold for $1,700,000. Just before he died, Dad had been appointed Trustee for the benefit of the Management Participation Certificate38 Holders of the Mechanics Trust Company of Bayonne. My father was granted this position by the influence of John Milton. After my father’s death, Milton arranged with the Vice Chancellor to have me appointed successor Trustee. I collected fees of over $30,000.00. That plus the proceeds of the life insurance, gave me enough capital to buy the home located on 9 Iris Road in Summit39, New Jersey. I had enough funds remaining to purchase more HCNB shares. As part of the restructuring of banks after the 1933 bank holiday, the M&M Trust Company was forced into merger with Commonwealth Trust Company. I came up with the idea to merge the banks. HCNB offered a share for share exchange for the 75% of Commonwealth Trust Company shares and cancellation of 25% of the shares held by UH Security Company. It was an ideal arrangement because HCNB share holders would then control about 83% of the surviving bank. I also established an open bid on the offered side of the market for any shares of Commonwealth Trust that were offered for sale. My bidding caused much grief to Ed Hourigan and Billie Burke as they had been buying the offered shares at very low prices and did not like any one to interrupt their operation. The retirement of shares and my accumulations of offered shares proved to be very profitable. When we bought 18 Chandler Road40, I sold some of my Commonwealth stock to Russ Adams for enough to pay cash and fix our new house to our satisfaction. I profited enough on that sale to also pay the capital gains tax generated because of the sale. I even had enough cash left to accumulate more shares of HCNB as they became available. Remaining Information from Notes41 Richard (Dick) and June Ellis met in Chicago while Dick was in DCS at Great Lakes Naval School they married after Dick was commissioned and assigned to small boat school at Sabine Pass Texas. Here Dick met Mark Dalton42, who married Barbara after the War. Barbara and Mark Dalton met as above; Bobbie was a WAVE during WW2, served in San Diego. Mark was on the Law Review at Harvard. Mark’s classmates seemed to get shore jobs in Washington, but Mark wanted to go to sea. He did; all the way to Normandy Beach. He went ashore to collect data for his commander who stayed on board.

38 39

Difficult to read: not sure this name is accurate. As of December 2007, the commercial website zillow.com provided a $914 thousand estimated value on 9 Iris Road. 40 As of December 2007, the commercial website zillow.com provided a $2.3 million estimated value on 18 Chandler Road. 41 This remaining information was difficult to determine where in the chronology to place. In order to provide the Conway family options on where this information may fit in, this researcher left these notes separate from the completed chronology. 42 Dalton, Mark John (c.1915-2004) — also known as Mark Dalton — Born in Cambridge, Middlesex County, Mass. Married 1949 to Barbara Higgins. Democrat. Lawyer; law clerk to U.S. Judge John C. Mahoney, 1941-42; served in the U.S. Navy during World War II; his intelligence report from Utah Beach, Normandy, paved the way for the D-Day invasion; candidate in primary for U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, 1954; aide to President John F. Kennedy. Died, of colon cancer, in South Woodstock, Woodstock, Windsor County, Vt., May 2, 2004. Interment at Highland Cemetery, Dover, Mass.

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