A good crowd of cousins gathered at Denny’s to catch up with each other and learn something new about our family history. Joan Cleary ran the meeting and began with news from those that could not attend:
GENE KENNEDY
Rock River Wyoming. They are sorry that they will miss the reunion but it is calving time out here now. They have calved about 40 young ones so far and have about 300 more to go. They wish everyone well and love to hear the news that you share. They had 10” of snow yesterday. They brought the cows into the calving shed yesterday. One more calf last night and 4 more today. At least they will be warm and cozy until they get “their legs” under them.
TOM STACK
Tom Stack is putting in a kitchen floor today.
JEANNE STACK DONAHUE
Jeanne Stack Donahue and husband are volunteering at a food pantry on Mondays.
SISTER CATHERINE CLEARY
“Thank you for the Roots lunch notice. I would love to come, but the distance between Bloomington and Rock Island, seems to get longer as each year goes by. I know Jack Haas will be very interesting and probably funny. One of the last times I attended a Roots luncheon he and Audrey met, me for the lst time, but he knew Audrey when they were high schoolers. He said to Audrey, “I loved coming to your home because you always had a lot of beautiful girls there visiting you from the Academy of Our Lady in Peoria. So I came to meet them. So we had a lot of laughs and a good visit. Unfortunately, Sr. Audrey, brilliant, vivacious and very bright has Alzheimers. She is still very affable, loves to walk with me, smiles a lot and one day in heaven all her gifts and more will be restored. Please pray for both of us. Love, Sr. Catherine Cleary, OSB”
LEE AND THOMAS NETHERCOTT
“I can’t make it from SC but please send me a transcript of his comments. I think I shared with you the narrative I did on the Cleary- Nethercott- Boma line. Feel free to share it. Don’t know if I have anything new in there but it’s nice to have the story all in one place written down. Lee and Thomas Nethercott”
PAT ADAMATZ
“Won’t be there. I have a painting retreat that weekend that I teach at.
See you in the fall. Pat Adamatz”
LARRY WALLACE
“I won’t be there but will be thinking of you all. I plan to attend a Quinlan Cousins Family Reunion in Madison, Wisconsin in July. I hope to see you in Bloomington about that time.
I am doing well. Have a great day.”
MARY STACK
Mary is nursing her daughter who was in a car accident but doing very well with only a broken wrist.
WHAT’S NEW ON OUR WEBSITE
James Deary submitted a life timeline for Philip Murphy. (under James Murphy tab)
Larry Wallace submitted the Civil War story of his great-great grandfather James Thomas Wallace. (under Civil War tab)
Pat Jennes submitted the Spanish American War story of Joseph Penn, son of Mary Cleary Penn. (under Civil War tab)
Gene Kennedy submitted the World War I story of his father, William H. Kennedy. (under WWI tab)
Pat Cain Kruetzer submitted the World War I story/photos of Francis “Frank” Kennedy. (under WWI tab)
Mary Stack submitted an El Paso IL news article from 1914. A letter from Leo J. Cleary (son of Michael J. Cleary) describes the harrowing events of being trapped in Europe with his family just as World War I was beginning. (under WWI tab)
Anne Cleary Lyons submitted the WW I story of her father, Michael Joseph Cleary. (under WW I tab)
Mary Cleary Adlington submitted WW I stories of her uncles Boniface and Frank Cleary. (under WW I tab)
JACK HAAS TALK
John “Jack” Haas gave a wonderful presentation to the group about his Haas ancestry. Jack’s grandmother, Loretta Cleary, married Archibald Haas. Loretta was the daughter of John T. Cleary of El Paso IL. Her grandparents were Michael and Sarah Murphy Cleary.
Jack’s great grandfather’s Joseph Haas farm is pictured above around 1889.
The Haas family was a pioneer family that settled western Woodford County. They had emigrated from Bavaria, Germany in 1836. Jack had many wonderful stories about the Haas family and he will be submitting a written copy soon which will appear on this website.
CHARLENE KIMPLER
Charlene and family of Morton IL met up with cousin Myra Ring of Oshkosh, Nebraska while on their way to Colorado. They met in Ogallala, NE and visited for about an hour at a McDonald’s. Myra sent greetings to all relatives back in Illinois. She wishes she could attend our Roots meetings and has fond memories of the Roots Reunion in 2010 which she and her two sisters attended.
Charlene’s late husband, Terry, and Myra are descendants of Michael and Sarah Murphy Cleary.
NEWSPAPERS.COM
Newspapers.com is a subscription website in which old newspapers from around the country/world are available digitally. No more searching thru microfilm. Several Roots members are using this service and showed the group some of the interesting articles from the past 100 years they have found about the family.
ROOTS WEBSITE
Our Roots website has been renewed for three years at the half-price cost of $150.
MARTIN CLEARY DATE OF DEATH MYSTERY
Mystery finally solved. The facts of the death of Martin, last surviving child of Mary Quigley Cleary, had been lost over the years. Martin was the only immigrant son that we had no date of death for and no burial information. A study of the St. Mary’s Cemetery in El Paso IL showed that Martin owned two burial plots near his brothers Michael, Patrick, John, Thomas; his sister Mary Penn; and his mother. But the plot map had never been filled in with burial dates. Perhaps as the last survivor of his brothers and sisters, no stone was ever erected. No records could be found at St. Mary’s Church. We knew Martin’s wife had died sometime around 1897 from city directory records and we knew Martin was still alive in 1910. When Newspapers.com came on line, Mary Stack, entered Martin Cleary’s name and up popped an article on his death in the Bloomington Pantagraph. (1914) A later trip by Mary to the El Paso Library and a search thru the El Paso newspaper holdings found more information. Martin’s direct descendants have been notified. After more research has been done, at the fall 2015 meeting Mary Stack plans to ask the Roots members if a small headstone could be purchased for Martin and his wife and placed on their plot in the St. Mary’s Cemetery. It may be that Roots could pay for one-half and Martin’s direct descendants the other. We have finally “found” Martin and it would be a gesture to the Cleary immigrants to mark Martin’s grave. More information to come at the fall 2015 meeting.
Our next lunch meeting will be Friday, October 23, 2015, at 1:00, Denny’s Restaurant, Veteran’s Parkway, Bloomington IL. Pat Adamatz and Roseann Clifford will talk about their Cleary/Quinlan/Corbett ancestry.
Written by Mary Stack (June 2015)
