Catharine "Joe" Leggett - A Spicy 1920s Love Story (52 Ancestors - #16)

After telling Oliver's story last week my mom's cousin Dotti dropped me a note saying that one of my future stories needed to be about "Joe" Leggett. She went on to tell me about my maternal great grand aunt, Catherine Josephine Leggett (aka "Joe). After reading what Dotti told me about her, I felt an urgency to write about Joe and I thought that there is no time like the present!!

Catharine Josephine Leggett was born on a cold Boston, January day in 1885 to William and Honora (Marnell) who were immigrants from St. John's, Newfoundland. She grew up with at least two sisters, Elizabeth (my maternal great grandmother) and Mary as well as two brothers, James and William. Catharine was second youngest.

Many knew her by "Joe" Leggett, including my cousin, my mom and my aunts.  It is not clear when she adopted her nickname.  As of the 1920s US Census, Joe was living with her sister Mary, brother-in-law John McDonough and her mother Honora on Second Street in South Boston.  She listed herself as a machine operator in a hosiery factory.  When asking folks what she was like or what she looked like, they all fondly remembered her being a tall thin woman with strawberry blond hair.  She was quite likeable and lived around the corner from my grand aunt Cassie (Griffin) Hurl.  From what I hear she loved to dress to the nines!  Wish I had a photo!!
 

1920 Census Listing the Leggetts (snippet taken from my tree in Ancestry.com)

This is where the story gets interesting!  According to my cousin Dotti, "Joe was the first forelady (aka: female foreman) in a stocking factory on B Street in Southie."  I tried to find a photo or the name of the factory with no luck.  Apparently a female foreman was unheard of for the time!  She was a modern woman of the 1920s, listed as single in the 1920s census, but not for long!

At some time between 1920-1924 Joe had an affair with a married man, Francis (Frank) Leo Cotter, who had an upper management job at the hosiery factory. He was so smitten with Joe that he decided to divorce his wife and marry her.  They were still married in the 1930s and 1940s US census and without children.  It did not seem that he was working as of the 1940's census and it showed that he was several years younger than Joe.

Sadly, Joe died in 1949.  I'm not sure of the cause of her death, but as any good genealogist would do, I'll research the death certificate next time I visit the Vital Records Office here in Boston.  

Note: If Joe were alive today, I would want to know what it was like to be a female foreman back in the 1920s.  I'm pretty sure her pay was not that of her male counterparts.  I would also like to know what happened to Frank's first wife and children.  Today families of divorced parents can find a way to get along for the sake of their children, but I wonder if that was the culture back then??  If anyone has photos of the B Street Factory or where I might be able to find that building, please email me at kbruynell1@gmail.com.  I would especially like to thank my cousin Dotti (Hurl) Cucinatta for her contributions to this story!!

Visiting with the Griffins: Southie was more fun than Disney! (52 Ancestors - #10)

Imagine sending your 14-year-old daughter to Boston to bring home your 2 year-old-daughter every week.  Imagine a loving sister who was happy to take your two year old daughter!  Imagine a spread of goodies that leaves deliciously vivid memories.  Family are wonderful!  When I was a child, I too had fond memories of Southie...visiting Aunt Cassie, despite being wheel-chair bound by the 1970s, put out a mouth-watering spread of goodies (bologna sandwiches and bake shop treats).  My Aunt Marilyn (Amirault) Lima, the writer of this story, tells us of how wonderful she felt when visiting her Griffin relatives in Southie!

Aunt Mal (white hat) with her mom and sisters (1939)

By the time I was born in 1934 and all my grandparents had died. Therefore, I have no memories of grandparents (Michael & Elizabeth (Leggett) Griffin and Lawrence and Mary Alice (Boudreau) Amirault).

I do recall going in to South Boston to visit my mother’s sister, Cassie, every Sunday. I was seven when my father died but I have heard we visited Cassie every Sunday before my father died and as he pulled his Dodge automobile in to Bolton Street, the street was so narrow, my Dad had to pull half of the car up on to the sidewalk to make room for other cars to get by.


Harry's car that would almost block the street in Southie!

My more vivid memories of visiting relate to after my Dad died and my mother, along with the five of us, took a bus to Quincy, switched to a trolley car which took us to Fields Corner followed by the subway train that took us to Broadway Station. We went up the stairs, out of the station to Broadway where we got a trolley to C Street. I can picture my mother with the five of us in tow.

Oh, what fun we had at 96 Bolton Street. We played with our cousins which consisted of Cassie’s kids and my mother’s younger sister, Nonie’s kids. Nonie lived in the next building. Rita, another sister, lived in the same building as Cassie in her own apartment. Rita was widowed when I was young and she had no children. My mother’s brothers, Tom and Buff also visited Cassie and that is where we got to know them. My mother’s maternal aunt, Jo Leggett used to come over also. It seems in looking back that Cassie’s was the focal point for all to visit.

Tom Griffin

Cassie’s husband was Charlie Hurl. I can recall his coming to North Weymouth by bus to do something for my mother in the way of yard work. He was a great guy.

Charlie Hurl

When Judy was about two, she moved in with the Hurl family where she lived until she entered the first grade in Weymouth. Cassie did not hesitate to add another little one to her family of seven kids. Cassie was the best. Joan, at a very young age, went to Southie every Friday to bring Judy home for the weekend. When we would leave Cassie’s on a Sunday late afternoon, my mother and Cassie would both be crying as it was so hard for my mother to leave Judy. At this point in time, my mother was only 38 years old.

My cousins were so good to all of us. We played outside until the gas lights came on and I can remember their listening to "The Shadow Knows" on the radio which I found very scary. I also remember McCarty’s store where I would get orange sherbet in a cone that was like paper but I thought it was delicious.

Uncle John and Aunt Cassie (siblings)

Every Sunday, Cassie put out the best spread a kid could imagine. There were boxes of pastries from the bakery shop plus rolls and cold cuts and soda (which we called soda "tonic"). Soda was a definite treat as we did not have that at home. Happiness is something we all experience in our own individual minds. Kids today go to Disney World and are happy. They are no happier than I was when visiting Cassie each and every Sunday when growing up in North Weymouth.

Mary Jane (52 Ancestors - #7)

Mary Jane (Shaw) Shaw was born to John Thomas and Ellen (Meehan) Shaw on September 15, 1887. She was obviously very beloved as you can tell by the fond memories and loving way my brother-law, James (Chip) Bruynell tells us her story...

John, Mary Jane and Mary

Nanny, we pronounced it “Nah’-nee”, was born in a sleepy quintessential fishing village known as Little Heart’s Ease on Newfoundland’s Coast. Most villagers eked out a living there fishing the bountiful waters known as the Grand Banks.

Soon after marrying James Shaw (December 30th, 1909), Mary Jane and James, with their two sons Ronald and Anthony emigrated to the U.S. and settled in the predominately Irish Catholic neighborhood of South Boston known as “Southie” to those who took up residence there. James embarked on a trade as a carpenter while Nanny lovingly raised a family of three boys and one girl. John and Mary rounded out the family and were born as U.S. citizens. (Mary Jane naturalized on December 8th, 1952).

James and Mary Jane Shaw (1949)

They lived on the upper end of G Street historically known as Dorchester Heights even though it was located in “Southie”.  Nanny loved her Romany rye bread and could venture down to Doc’s one block away at the bottom of the hill for staples for her kitchen.  Sundays were a special day on G Street for “Sunday Dinner”. Her favorite meal to prepare was a boiled dinner consisting of either a daisy roll or smoked shoulder with carrots and potatoes with pot liquor on the side.

James and Mary Jane (1949)

In October, 1951, while working at his shop, James suddenly died of a heart attack. Mary, the youngest of the family, was already 7 months pregnant with their first grandchild and unfortunately James would never get to share that joy with Mary Jane.

Nanny was deeply religious. Every night at precisely 6:40, she would brew herself a cup of either Tetley or Lipton tea, butter a piece of toasted Romany rye bread and take a position at the kitchen table where an old style radio with a rotary tuner would be preset to her favorite and only station. Sitting around the table with whomever was staying or visiting, all were fervently glued to the radio as the familiar scratchy drawling voice of Richard Cardinal Cushing, a very predominant figure in Boston, would intone the Mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary. There were to be absolutely no diversions to be undertaken until the last “Amen”. Bedtime prayer time would follow for any of the grandchildren present. The prayers typically would begin with a litany of “God bless … where they would list individually all those near and dear to them. On one occasion, the first and last of its kind, Nanny became a little upset when one of the grandchildren concluded his prayer with “God bless Sparky and Spooky”, the family household pet dog and cat. That was one of those religious taboos.

James (Chip) Bruynell with his beloved grandmother, Mary Jane (about 1957)

Nanny eventually moved to Chickatawbut Street in Dorchester where she shared a duplex with her daughter Mary and husband Kenneth and their five children. This was very advantageous for the grandchildren because they knew that she made a habit of “spoiling” them. Nanny always had a cache of nickels on hand and she doled them out like she meted out her prayers on those she loved. Back in the day, one could go to Ike’s and buy a candy bar for 5 cents. There were extra bonuses for those who would do her grocery shopping which usually consisted of a loaf of her favorite bread and a quart of milk to go with her tea. Both of these items could be purchased for under 60 cents.

Nanny possessed the benevolence of a saint and the patience of Job. Her three sons would often visit her. They were all considered “Masters of Tease” no doubt a Shaw trait passed down even to this day. Ron, the oldest, was the best at it. With him it came as second nature. On one particular occasion after Nanny had made sure that at Sunday dinner everyone was served, she would, at last, sit down to enjoy the meal after “Grace” had been said. She was still donning her apron in case she had to refill a serving dish besides kitchen duties were never concluded until the last dish was dried and put away. Ron made an excuse to momentarily excuse himself from the table and on his way back, unbeknownst to Nanny, stealthily sneaked behind her chair, unfastened her apron strings, and reattached them snuggly to the chair. It wasn’t until sometime later when she tried to get up to refill a platter that she discovered that she wasn’t going anywhere easily unless the chair was attached to her butt. Flustered, she would reprimand any of her sons if the occasion warranted with a phrase she would use quite often and you knew it was coming. On that and any occasion she would say, “Ron, ye ain’t got a grain of sense in that head of yours”. Nanny still had a trace of that “Newfie” accent and was very accustomed to the local vernacular which she never lost despite her years here.

When Mary and Ken needed a well-deserved break from the kids and decided to go out for an early night, Nanny would always come over and sit with the kids and made sure they were behaving. Rewards were always more predominant than admonitions.

Mary Jane's Prayer Card

Nanny’s health soon began to deteriorate. She became increasingly unsteady on her feet and her memory was starting to fade. On one summer morning shortly after rising for breakfast she finally succumbed. It was that day that the angels sang and she went peacefully and lovingly to her maker to whom she always remained faithful.

Note: If Nanny was alive today I would ask her about her parents. She also had a daughter Madeline who died young while in Newfoundland who I would like to know what happened to her.

James Shaw (52 Ancestors -#6)

James is my husband's grandfather who passed away before even my oldest brother-in-law was born in 1951.  I've always heard about him and knew he must have been a great guy given he raised my mother-in-law Mary and she is pretty terrific.  So I sent my husband Buddy out last week to be the roaming genealogist for me and find out about the person who was his grandfather, and this is what he discovered about James Shaw.

In the tiny village of Little Hearts Ease, Newfoundland, James Daniel Shaw was born on August 15, 1886 to Daniel and Catherine (Flynn) Shaw. James was the third of seven children. Little Hearts Ease was a very scenic rural village with a population of about 250 and they saw their first post office in 1896. Located to the south of Trinity Bay, it was surrounded by coves and it's harbor considered quite secure. Many men, including James, had the occupation of fisherman and townspeople could pick raspberries, blueberries, bakeapples, black berries, and partridgeberries up in the slopey green hills above the coves.

James Shaw - 1940s

In December, 1909 he married Mary Jane Shaw and their wedding was witnessed by William Shaw (of Daniel) and Mary Shaw (of James).

Like many of his relatives, James decided to move his family to Massachusetts. James arrived in Boston in January, 1924. His wife and sons Ron and Anthony (Mike) followed almost two years later, in December, 1925.

When he came to the US he lived at various locations in South Boston including 614 and 524 East 6th Street and G Street. Once settled, James and Mary Jane welcomed two more children, John and Mary Catherine. James decided he liked living in Southie and became a US citizen on the 6th of February, 1939.

Left to Right: James and Mary Jane Shaw, their daughter Mary and her new husband Ken (1949)

James was a very small in stature and a stern man. He would never yell at you...he would just give you a look and that was enough, you knew what he wanted. James worked hard as a carpenter for a company he referred to as Sharkies and did a lot of work on the side as a carpenter.

In James' spare time he enjoyed going to evening baseball games at M Street Park and he enjoyed playing cards...his favorite game was called 45. He also enjoyed going to Castle Island in nice weather or would take the street car to Everett to visit relatives. James never drove and therefore was always dependent on the street car to get him everywhere.

Another favorite pastime for James was playing the dogs. Oddly enough he never went to the track. Instead, he would go down to the corner bar and place his bets with a bookie! We never found out how lucky (or unlucky) he was with his bets.

James lived a simple, uncomplicated life and had minimal belongings. One of his most prized possessions was a ship that he had worked diligently to build inside a bottle.

James often hung around the local fish piers in Boston because many of those he knew were family and friends who worked on the O’Brien boats. Every week like clockwork James would bring home fresh cod off these boats, salt it and hang it on the clothesline on his back porch to dry it out for a week. When they were ready to eat the fish they would soak out the salt then deep fry it in pork fat.

James (Jimmy) Shaw on his last trip to Newfoundland

James only returned to Newfoundland once after his son Mike got out of the service. He worked until the age of 65 at which time he died suddenly of a heart attack while at work on October 17th, 1951.

Note: On my ride home tonight from picking up my husband from work, I asked him if his grandfather was still around, what would he ask him.  My husband was interested in James' fishing methods while he was still in Newfoundland, so that is what his conversation would revolve around.

Mary (Griffin) Amirault (52 Ancestors - #1)

Our family has been blessed with many many ancestors, including Mary Griffin Amirault my maternal grandmother who lived until a hardy old age of 92. Her funeral was truly a celebration of her robust life and it was difficult for her 5 daughters, 18 grandchildren and numerous friends and family to say farewell. Her life was quite a story! 

Mary Griffin as a younger gal - I'm thinking about 16 years old

I'm going to begin with the basics. She was born in "Southie" Massachusetts on a cold January day in 1905 to Michael and Elizabeth (Leggett) Griffin. She lived in the predominantly Irish projects with her many siblings. Up until age 12 she most likely had a typical life for a young girl of that era. Her typical life became tragic when her mom succumbed to pneumonia and Mary's life was forever changed.

By 1917 Buff and Gertie had moved on and other older siblings had died in infancy which sadly left Mary to take care of her other six younger siblings, her father and all the chores. According to my Aunt Judy, she alternated going to school with another sibling, but really didn't have much of an education beyond sixth grade.

Mary and Harry

In 1926 she was dating my grandfather, Harry Amirault, and another fellow. She realized one night, running between dates and falling in an alleyway, that she needed to make a decision on who she wanted to court her and she knew in her heart it was going to be Harry. Shortly after her life-changing decision in 1926 she found herself saying goodbye to Harry because he needed to sail back to Nova Scotia with his sister because his mother (Mary Alice Boudreau) had suddenly passed. Being the supportive and caring person she was, she jumped on the ship with him (no suitcase!) and humbly went to pay her respects to the mother-in-law she would never know. On their way home from the funeral Mary and Harry brought his young cousins who had been in the care of Mary Alice (because their mom had died a year earlier) back to their father in New York.

Mary and Harry dated until 1929 when they decided to wed in August of that year. Together they had one of the happiest and faithful marriages. They had five lovely and lively little girls...Joan, Geri, Mal, Harriet and Judy. Their home was often full of love, laughter and music. Mary worked hard each day to care for her girls, keep the home clean, cook, and iron. The girls were the center of her day until about 5:00 pm when she would run upstairs, bathe, put on a good dress, lipstick and a dab of perfume because Harry was on his way home from the garage where he was a mechanic. People often commented on Mary and Harry's happy marriage.

Mary and Harry's Wedding Invitation

A long happy marriage was not in the cards for Mary and Harry. Late in 1940 Harry became quite ill and succumbed to cancer of the liver. In 1941, only a short 12 years after they said "I do", Mary and her 5 little girls (age12 years to 9 months) said their tearful farewell to Harry. Years later Mary would say she never remarried because there was no one in this world as good as her Harry.

It wasn't long before Mary had a plan. She needed an income to support her family. First she altered Harriet's birth certificate and soon the 4 year old little girl would find herself in 1st grade. Judy, her two-year-old daughter, was sent to live in Southie from Monday-Friday with Mary's sister Cassie and her large family. On Friday, 12 year old Joan would set out for Southie each Friday afternoon to fetch her baby sister and journey back home on the bus. Mary found herself being "Rosie the Riveter" at the Quincy Ship Yard during WWII (she was a machinist). It was said that this was the only time that Mary was ever seen wearing pants as she loved her dresses and high heels! My Aunt Mal recalls she had to wear cover-alls plus a hat that had a net to cover all her hair. She had to buy steel toed shoes. She had lots of "dickies" that were colored collars she wore under the cover-all. Dickies were also worn under pullover sweaters. It looked like she had a colored blouse on underneath. Aunt Mal recalls Nana telling her when working at the shipyard, she was dragging a very heavy piece of steel and a man laughed. Mal was so sure he resented women working and rather than help, he laughed. "He must have been older because the women were hired to replace the men who had gone to war. Just think: the women knew they would be out of a job when the men came home." Eventually Nana worked in the shipyard offices then went to Armstrong Corp where she worked up until retirement.

The years after Harry died was not easy for Mary, but she always made sure her daughters were well cared for and clean. During summers they would travel to Nova Scotia to visit Harry's sisters Gusta, Vie, Lize, etc. Mary also had her sister-in-laws visit which brought her much joy! Mary loved company, family and food! Over the years Thanksgiving was a holiday she cherished because all her girls and their family returned to Bartlett Street to squeeze in her little house for the best stuffing and steamed pudding in America!!

Nana never just walked, she was always doing a running walk. After she had her license she would often be found driving to bingo, church (she drive like she walked) or delivering bake shop bread to the girls. She liked her heels, playing her numbers, giving us a buck and we were always a doozy! Boy there was lots to love about Mary.

Nana

Note: If Mary was alive today I would ask her about her friends. I often wonder if she had time for friends. I would also ask her more about her Griffin siblings.