Family History Narrative
Regenauer/Schottoefer/Ouker/Shepherd/Shaughnessy/Butler families

Frances Regenauer at 18
(my great-grandmother )-------------- The Regenauer Family in 1893

Oukers and Regenauers
Mother's mother was Helen Ouker who was the daughter of Frances (Maria Francizska) Regenauer (1853-1929) and Christian Ouker (1850-1888). Once a widow, Frances would marry John Garies (b. 1848). My mother's family dominated our family life when I was growing up. Her grandmother Frances M. Regenauer was born in Speyer, Bavaria, in 1853. George Regenauer (b. Nov. 29, 1818) and Eva Barbara Schotthoefer (b. 1821) were her parents. Records show that Georg and Eva Regenauer, with 9 children--Gottlieb 26, Ludwig (Lewis) 22, Francizska 16, Johanna 10, Gertrude 10, Margaret 8, Helena 7, Matthew 6 and Anna 5-- arrived in New York on 2 Aug 1871 on the Holsatia. Their oldest son Joseph had immigrated in 1865 and prepared a place for them in Cleveland.

The Regenauers setled in Cleveland, where they were listed in the 1880 census: George Regenauer 61, laborer, with his wife Barbara 59, Louis 30 laborer, Maggie 18 pants tailor, Ellen (Helena) 17 seamstress, and Matthew 15 laborer. Frances was not with them. She had already moved to Chula Missouri, near Chillicothe where she married Christian Ouker, born in northern Germany in 1850, a strong Lutheran, whereas she was a strong Catholic. They were married in Livingston, Missouri April 15, 1879, when he was 29 and she was 26. Some of Frances's siblings had remained in Cleveland and remained close. Her brother Ludwig (Lewis) had a daughter whom he named Frances Regenauer (d. 1941) who married Tony Poelking. The Poelkings had five children, including spinsters Agnes and Mary, Mother's cousins, who came often to Kansas City, and made us laugh as they played the piano and sang rollicking German songs like Ach du lieber Augustin.

From Chula Frances and Christian eventually moved to Kansas City, where he became a grocer. They had five children--Helen Ouker (my grandmother) in 1880, Hannah in 1881, Amelia (in Chillicothe) in 1883, Frank in 1884, and George F. in March 15, 1888. Christian Ouker built a "big 2-1/2 story house" on 1905 West Prospect place (1810 Jarboe, where the family were listed as living in the 1900 census) and bought or built two smaller houses on either side "to protect it." They always lived well, Mother said. George never knew his father, for Christian Ouker died in 1888, (according to his gravestone); however, Mother said his death occurred when Helen, his oldest child was 12, which would have been 1892.

Frances Regenauer Ouker was cheated out of the grocery store but retained the other assets from Christian Ouker. In 1893 she remarried John Garies (born 1848), a cabinetmaker, also German. She was 40, with five children already, and he was 45, so one might not expect her to start another family, but in June 22, 1898 at age 45 she bore Leo Frances Garies, and on March 4,1900, at age 46, she bore Herbert Joseph Garies ("Herb") who never married.

By 1900 Frances's Ouker older children were reaching maturity. In the 1900 census, Oukers--Amelia (17), Frank (16), George (12)-- were listed as living with Frances Garies and children, but John was not living there. (Mary Garies speculates that he may have had a drinking problem and lived away from home, since Grandmother Garies made Herb and Leo take the pledge not to drink before 21.) Life centered around the "big house" of Grandmother Garies on Prospect (also known as 1819 Jarboe) . Frances and John Garies children--Mary, Jack and Bill, our cousins-- grew up there and remember it well. Grandmother Garies also owned another house on 23rd and Fairmont, which she put in her husband's name.

The Ouker girls had married (often to older men) and/or moved out. In 1898 Hannah Ouker (age 17) married the older Dr. Franklin Cave. Doctor Cave was a naturopath/chiropractor who eventually built a fine stone house/office at 5746 Harrison, (with a south entrance on 58th for his patients) and back steps where most family pictures were taken. Helen had also met and married William Shepherd, and here his story begins.

1891 Cleveland Directory--George, Gottlieb, Louis, Matthew and his son Michael are all listed. Matthew lived near Gottlieb
Christian Ouker 1850-1888)
(Frances Regenauer married Christian in 1879. They had 5 children.)

Frances Regenauer Garies
(1853-1929)

Frances Garies with sons Herb and Leo and grand-daughter Frances Shepherd

Wm. Clifford Shepherd and Helen Ouker

The McGrew Bible

The McGrew family Bible records in a labored hand the births of eleven children to an unnamed mother (my great-great grandmother) over 24 years. They were Jennette McGrew (16 Nov, 1824), John McGrew (11 April, 1825 or 1835?), Mary Ann McGrew (18 Feb 1827), illegible "byepsa"(3 April, 1830), James McGrew (24 Feb, 1832), Angeline McGrew (5 Dec, 1833), Margaret Jane Mcgrew (12 Mar, 1834), Elizabeth McGrew (March, 1836), Jehuda McGrew (14 Nov, 1839), Wm. P. McGrew (6 Oct 1842), Ellen Catherine McGrew (23 Aug, 1848). Only one marriage is recorded in the bible. The oldest daughter Jenette McGrew is listed in the McGrew bible as having married James Ring in Oct, 1849 (when she was 25).

The information I have of my grandfather William Clifford Shepherd came chiefly from the bible his mother, Angeline McGrew, kept, of her family history. It must have been she who passed on the information about the Shepherds. Aunt Meal (Amelia Daly) kept photos and passed them on to Jack Daly.) The Shepherd family came from New York. Daniel Shepherd (b. 1757) had married Chloe Burr (b. 1762-d. before 1852) of Fairfield Ct. in 1777 in Goshen Presbytarian Church, Orange, NY. ( I have written a separate account of Chloe Burr's ancestry, tracing Moses Shepherd's pedigree back to Charlemagne and before.) Daniel and Chloe had 8 children in Greenbriar County, Va, of whom 4 died in infancy as there are no death dates given. Daniel and Chloe moved to Madison, Ky and had four more children, of whom Moses Shepherd, my great, great grandfather, was the oldest and the longest surviving of all the children (1797-1886). Moses Shepherd married Hannah Draper ( b. 1801 in Madison, Ky) in Clinton, Ohio in 1816. So the Moses Shepherds were listed as from Clinton Co. Ohio.
Moses Shepherd and Hannah Draper had five children: Daniel (b.1825, Ohio), Grace Ann (b. Nov. 5, 1830, Crawford, Ill.), Thomas D. (b. April 2, 1822, Clinton, Ohio), Peter A. (b. Oct. 20, 1833), William W. (b. 1838, Indiana) and Mathias Croy Shepherd (b.1827, Clinton, Ohio).
Matthias Croy Shepherd (1827-1878) of Clinton County, Ohio, married twice. He and Martha Nichols were married in Illinois in 1852. She bore him two children--Clarence E. Shepherd (6 Mar 1856) and Willie W. (13 Nov. 1862, named after Uncle William W.) in Crawford County. Martha must have died young, for in 1865, when he was 38 he married Angeline McGrew (1833-1926), of Green County, Indiana, who was already 32. She had not been married before. She still managed to have six children: John was born in Crawford County, IL (1866-1956); Chester (b. 1868) who married Lydia Crystall in 1894 and their son Russell was born in 1898; William Clifford Shepherd (born 1869 in Crawford County, IL.; he was called "Cliff" to distinguish him from all the other Williams), my grandfather; Thomas Henry was born 1872 (also in Crawford County Il); Mary was born in 1874 and married Raleigh White in 1893, and their children were Hazel White b. 1894 whose daughter Paige ended that line. Finally, there was Anna Shepherd, born in 1876. when Angeline was 43. Matthias Croy died in 1878 but Angeline lived until 1926 (age 96). They moved to Kansas City, following William C. who appears in the city directory in 1892 as a candymaker residing at 3840 E. 10th. By 1897, Chester had joined him in the candymaking business along with John D. working as a "motor" agent and Anna (Angeline) widow of trhias C. In 1899 William C. married Helen Ouker and they moved to 1855 Holly, but the rest of the Shepherd family, including daughter Anna, a seamstress continues to reside at 3844 E. 10th. By 1903 Chester had probably married as he had moved to his own home at 2925 Flora. Annie (Angeline) was at 1751 Holly; William C. with Helen at 2620 Mersington. By 1905 Annie was living with her daughter Anna Shepherd (a machine operator) at 505 W. 18th. Mother was born in 1904, so all the Shepherd aunts and uncles as well as the Ouker aunts and uncles would have made much of her. Having two grandmothers, Frances Ouker Garies and Angeline Shepherd, must have made her spoiled.

Note: Shepherd was variously spelled "Shepard" and "Sheppard" by the family members.

None of Grandmother Garies' children seemed able to live far apart from her. Houses were important. Frances had her big house on 1810 Jarboe. Helen and Cliff Shepherd bought a house, "on the east side." (look up address in City Directory). Cliff Shepherd remains unknown to me, except that he left us his mother's "McGrew family bible," now in Kathleen Connor's possession. (Mother also wrote for me the dates on a sheet which I have.)

Helen Shepherd bore the first grandchildren to the Regenauer-Ouker family while her half-brothers Leo and Herb were still children. William Clifford Jr. (the fourth generation of the name William) was born in 1902, and my mother, Frances Angeline (named after her two grandmothers) was born in her grandmother's house in 1904. Helen was "the restless type" and when Mother was "three or four" (1907) they moved to Winnepeg, Canada, where Mother's only memory was of a big parade. William managed a candy factory there, but Helen decided she didn't like being so far away from her mother, so they moved back. Helen later settled near her mother in Kansas City.

In 1910 Amelia Ouker (27) married Fred Daly (39, born in 1871), a Colgate-Palmolive salesman from Canada, and moved into her own home, but didn't have any children for several years. In 1912, when Mother was eight, her brother William, ten, developed meningitis. This epidemic was widespread in Kansas City; one family in three was affected. William's case was so severe that Mother was sent to live with Aunt Meal (who must have been pregnant with Fred). (Mother never lived with Aunt Hannah, as I had thought.) That Easter, Mother recalled that Aunt Meal made her a white Easter outfit with a white hat and took her over to the apartment where her parents and brother were staying (they were "between houses" at the time), so she could stand outside on the sidewalk and show them how pretty she looked in her Easter dress. William had a relapse, which left him deaf and paralyzed on the right side. There is a picture of Mother with William, which may have been taken after he recovered, for he looks about 14 and Frances about 12. He was handsome, and, according to Mother, "brilliant."

Grandmother Garies must have doted on her growing family of children and grandchildren. Frances was dolled up and displayed in family photos, but she was essentially without playmates her own age, except for her young uncles, Leo and Herb, who were 6 and 4 years older. Did the Garies boys often play together with Frances and William?

Mother was usually photographed alone or in family groups, with older people. Little Frances appears like a large doll plopped down in the center in family snapshots and formal pictures. She is dressed in white bouffant dresses and big white hairbows. In 1908?, she is sitting on the front porch of the house on Jarboe, surrounded by her grandmother Frances (55), and uncles Leo (10) and Herb (8). One picture, probably taken in 1911 or 1912, before Fred was born, shows her at 7 or 8 sitting with an old man with a white beard on the front porch of a two story home. The family's oldest and the youngest, the picture seems to say. Her father Cliff, of whom there are no known pictures, would have been 42 or 43, younger than the man in the picture. (His father had died in 1878.) Only John Garies was old enough-63 or 64. John died in 1913, the same year that Fred was born to Amelia. In another picture probably taken in 1913 nine year-old Frances is holding newborn Jack, while Leo (15) and Herb (13) stand beside her. Grandmother Garies then began appearing in photos with Fred or Jack. Even Hannah was photographed with Fred and the infant Jack. Mother must have welcomed Fred and Jack.

I often wonder who the photographer of the family was. Since Aunt Meal was in many of them, and I don't ever remember her holding a camera, it wasn't she. Was it George? Was it Hannah? Frank? Or was it Helen, who wanted pictures of her precious daughter Frances with her beloved mother Frances and other charming young half-brothers of the Garies family?

Frances Shepherd -- 2?


Great Uncle Gottlieb (?)Regenauer from Cleveland with Frances (c. 1908)
Herb and Leo Garies, with Frances and baby Fred Daly in 1913.

Frances with brother William

Frances Shepherd (12-Confirmation)

Frances Shepherd (20?)

I continue the story of
Mother's life in
Memories of My Mother

In spite of being so devoted to her mother, Helen was still "restless," so in 1919, when Mother was 15, Helen the entrepreneur bought land in and near Dallas, Texas and moved to a farm there. It is a family belief that Helen at one time owned the land that SMU is now on. Frances was in high school, so she stayed in Kansas City with her grandmother Frances, visiting Texas in the summertime. Frances attended Manual High School around Prospect, and learned typing and secretarial skills. (Later she made sure that we took secretarial courses at Sarachon-Hooley.) She also liked to swim (and had us take swimming lessons at Southwest High) and sew (and enrolled us in sewing classes from Miss Pierce at ______High School). She began working after graduation and whenever we complained, she reminded us that she had worked since she was 16. Her parents eventually moved back to Kansas City from Texas. Her sister Cleo was born either in 1917 (according to her tombstone) or in 1920 (Mother remembered she was sixteen when Cleo was born) . Helen was 37 or 40. Cleo came along too late to be a companion to Mother, who was already into her teens. Cleo contracted rheumatic fever as a child and died young. The family had a lot of sickness. William, who, in spite of his affliction, was very bright and was close to Mother, went to a school for the deaf, where he learned to read lips. He was trained as a draftsman and worked as such for Western Union, though he had periodic weak spells and was hospitalized, owing to the "brain paralysis."
Mother had been working for herself since she was 16 (1920), as a bookkeeper at Associated Motors at 2705 E. 15th . The agency provided her with a car so it could claim, "Of course, women can operate automobilies. Why even our bookkeeper has one!" As a pretty young woman with a car, Mother began to shine among girl friends her own age. She belonged to the Phileo Club, a group of imaginative and clever girls who staged a "mock wedding" in 1923, at which Mother was pictured. I used this as the basis for a story I wrote about her and how she met Dad.

The Mock Wedding-1923

Having a car at her disposal led to her meeting with Dad. She had been asked to chauffeur some girl friends to a Halloween party in Kansas. It was a costume party. Loving clothes, she attired herself as a gypsy, and there she met an Indian chief, Joe Shaughnessy from Kansas City, Kansas. ("He just wrapped a blanket around himself and stuck a feather in his hair," she told me, implying that Dad had no imagination.) He had graduated from Notre Dame in 1922, (David Shaughnessy has the Domes from 1921-1922). He was working for Bob Gornall. He lived at 928 Tenney Ave in Kansas City, Kansas with his mother and stepfather. They began dating regularly on Wednesday nights. The courtship went on and on.

The Butler-Shaughnessy-Sullivan Family--

The Shaughnessys from Ireland
The only Shaughnessy ancestors I knew of were Dad’s parents, John A(dams) Shaughnessy (April 16,1847-October 3, 1903--gravesite at right) and Rose Butler (October 13, 1865-June 7, 1920). Where were they from? Aunt Dorothy (Butler) Schweitzer, Dad's cousin--2 years younger than he, told me that John had a brother Thomas Jefferson as well as several sisters--Lena and Lizzie, Rosa Hager. She also said that he was a sculptor, that one of his pieces was in the Smithsonian, and that he was a water boy in the Civil War. Was that true? Thanks to Fern Allen and Barbara Butler and further research, the Shaughnessy story has come to light.

John's father was Thomas (O')Shaughnessy, born in Ireland, as was his mother Bridget (Abt. 1814). They immigrated to New York in the 1830's and had nine children in New York: Lena (Abt.1833), Daniel (b. 1838), Rosana and Elizabeth (Abt 1841), James (Abt.1843), John Quincy Adams (b. April 16, 1847-- 1845?), Thomas Jefferson (Abt 1847), George W(Washington? Abt 1850), William H. (Abt 1852) When the great wave of Irish immigrants arrived during the famine years (1850-52), finding work was harder in New York--"No Irish need apply." The O'Shaughnessys decided to move on.

They moved from New York to Chicago around 1853. .
Where could Thomas find work to support his growing family? A new city only several decades old--Chicago--was quickly rising beside Lake Michigan. Railroads were being constructed--the Chicago & North Western and the New York Central and the Illinois Central lines were all built in the 1850's. The Illinois Central RR yards on the south side attracted Irish workers to the district known as Carville and nearby Bridgeport. Thomas and Bridget moved the family to Chicago around 1853 (probably thinking they could do better somewhere else, once New York was overrun by the famine Irish). Probably there was a relative, perhaps the O'Shaughnessy who had a saloon on Canal Street, near Harrison, who had come to Chicago in 1843. (It was to him that Bridget turned to shelter her sons briefly in 1858.)
Thomas Shaughnessy is listed as a laborer (in the city directory for 1855-56), with a home at 15th and State. (He was the only "Shaughnessy" but there were several O'Shaughnessys.) The family probably attended St. John's Church at 18th and Clark. In 1856-57 Thomas Shaughenessy "tinman" who had lived in Chicago for 3 yrs. was listed at Canal nr Harrison (right next to the O. Shaughnessy, saloon, at Canal nr. Harrison, who had lived in Chicago for 13 yrs.) Somehow Thomas was working as a tinsmith for his relative. That year Bridget O'Shaughenessy, who had lived in Chicago for 3 yrs., was living at State St. bt. 12th and North. (That year, every Shaughnessy was given an extra "e").

Thomas died in 1857 or 1858..
The Shaughnessys must have found that life was hard in Chicago too. Epidemics of cholera, small pox, dysentery, "fevers" arrived as well as floods of immigrants.
Public conditions were equally noxious and threatening. Odors, or “miasmas,” were widely believed to cause disease, and in Chicago, the slaughterhouses were “diffusing the odors of animal putrefaction throughout the city,” especially in summer. In the North Branch of the Chicago River, “the water remaining standing with the yearly accretions is, during the hot months converted into a cess-pool, seething, boiling and reeking with filth, which fills the north wards of the city with mephitic [noxious] gases.” The South Branch had become “fully as foul.” (Encyclopedia of Chicago, "Epidemics") Thomas died in 1857 or 1858, leaving Bridget at 45, a widow with nine children to support, aging from about 5 (William) to 24 (Lena). Lena worked as a dressmaker; the boys as "laborers", even though underage.

The death of the father caused a disruption in the family. From the 1859 city directory, it appears that a relative, Michael O'Shaughnessy, a saloon-keeper, took in some of the boys as boarders and listed them as laborers--John (14) and even William (7) were living with him at 251 S. Canal; another John O'Shaughnessy was living next door at 247 S. Canal. (This John may have been an orphaned relative; he moved with the family. ) Thomas J. (12) was boarding as a "laborer:" on S. Clark, near North. The 3 girls must have remained with mother, Helena and Elizabeth working in their home as dressmakers.
The 1860 census shows them all living together in the 1st Ward, being supported by Daniel (a butcher) and two daughters (dressmakers). The combined family assets were given as $350 (more than $9000 in terms of today's purchasing power).

Rosana was not working in 1860; she was preparing to marry Joseph Hager, and Austrian, that year and move out. Their first son Francis W. was born in 1861. Her husband became a successful fruit merchant and formed a company with Joseph Spies --Hager, Spies and Co. at 101 S. Water.

The Civil War, and more marriages in the 1860's
The 1860's was a crucial decade. From 1861-1864 the Civil War was a presence in their lives. The 23rd Illinois Infantry or "Irish Brigade" was specifically recruited from the Irish, as was the 90th Illinois Infantry or "Irish Legion", whose chaplain was Father Kelly, the pastor of the local Irish parish of St. James. The big army camp--Camp Douglas was in their neighborhood, at Douglas (35th) and Kankakee (now King Dr.) The oldest son Daniel (23) could not have volunteered, as he was needed to support the family. James (18) also would have been needed at home. John was 16.  He could very well have volunteered and become a water boy in the Civil War, as the family legend went. If he was with the 23rd, he would have gotten to Lexington, Missouri, very near Kansas City, and seen their celebrated defeat there at the hands of the Missouri State Guards and their reinforcements.  http://civilwar.ilgenweb.net/history/023.html. He may have had his ambitions raised by that experience. He would later sculpt a bust of a Civil War admiral who was active in some of the same areas as the 23rd Illinois Infantry.

Daniel had been working almost from the time the family arrived in Chicago, and in 1865 he married Louisa and settled permanently in Chicago, working as a butcher.

On August 24, 1866 Helena married John McKinnell, a house painter from England (b. 1830) in Old St. John's Church. She was 33; he was 36. They had three children in Illinois--Mary (b. 1868), John T. (b. 1871) and Louisa (b. 1873).

1870's in Chicago.
By 1870, the Shaughnessys remaining at home with Bridget at 594 Wentworth in Chicago were George (20, carpenter), James (27, butcher), John (25, carpenter), Thomas (23, hammersmith Rock Island RR) and William (18, not working so not listed).-


By 1871, the year of the Great Chicago Fire, Bridget had only one son (William) living with her on Shurtleff Av between 32 and 33 (3200 S. Wells). Daniel and Louisa Shaughnessy were living in ward 6 at 417 Archer with 2 males (himself and perhaps one of his brothers), 3 females (his wife and 2 young daughters, Lillian b. 1866 and Rosa b. 1867). Rosana and Joseph Hager had 2 boys, Francis S. b. 1861 and Walter J. b. 1864, and another female (possibly Rosana's twin, Elizabeth) living with them at 46 Wisconsin Av. in Ward 16. In 1871 Thomas (abt 25), a hammersmith with the railroad, married Mary ? and started a family--Thomas J. Jr. (b. 1872) and Dennis (b. 1876).

Where were the other boys--James, the butcher (28), John, the carpenter (26), and George the carpenter (21)? Perhaps they were waiting for some opportunity.

Chicago was a depressing place to live in the 1870's. The1871 fire had been followed by the Panic of 1873 and a subsequent decade-long depression.
"The depression that followed lasted for the rest of the decade and temporarily slowed the city's growth. Industrialists and entrepreneurs lost fortunes. One in three workers lacked employment. Many workers had come to Chicago in order to take part in the city's reconstruction. Now many of these recently arrived, single male immigrants walked the streets as tramps."(Drew VandeCreek, 1873-1876, The Panic of 1873 from Illinois During the Golden Age ).

In 1874 William died (perhaps of TB?) His death prompted Bridget to buy a big plot in Calvary Cemetery (along Lake Shore Drive, dividing Chicago from Evanston), to erect an obelisk monument there for him and the family. She also moved the bones of Thomas from the old Lincoln Park cemetery. This must have been a big funeral, for all the family were still living in Chicago. Thomas even added the O' back to his name (briefly). By 1875 Thomas J. O'Shaughnessy was trying a new line of work--as a pipeman for Engine Company No. 1. Perhaps the Great Fire of 1871 had made him switch from hammersmith to pipeman. Rosana and Joseph Hager and their sons Francis W. and Walter J.lived on 33rd and had their fruit market on 101 S. Water; Daniel (a butcher) and his growing family lived at 35th and Indiana. John McKinnel, a painter, lived on Shurtleff (Wells). Bridget may have moved in with them, after William died.

The Shaughnessys begin relocating to Kansas City beginning in the late 1870s

Kansas City, Kansas didn't even exist when Thomas O'Shaughnessy moved his large family to Chicago in the mid 1850s. But since 1856, when squatters settled beside the Missouri and Kansas Rivers, the area had exploded. By the 1870's Kansas City was a land of opportunity needing laborers for its stock yards, packing houses, and rail yards. (For a good Kansas City Kansas history during those early years Cutler's History of Kansas (1883). Eleven Railroad companies had offices in Kansas City in 1877.

Whose idea was it to move to Kansas City? Probably it was Thomas the blacksmith who was drawn to Kansas City by the lure of the railroads, for he showed up there first, in 1877, working as a blacksmith for the Missouri River, Fort Scot and Gulf Rail Road and had already settled in his permanent residence--917 Wyoming, in "West Kansas" as the area of the bottoms between the Missouri and the Kansas River was known. He had with him his wife Mary (b. 1835) and 2 sons--Thomas Jr. (b. 1872) and Dennis (b. 1876). By 1879, the unmarried Shaughnessy brothers had followed him, working in K.C.I.W., the Kansas City Iron Works, a foundry: George Shaughnessy, as a laborer; James, as a  teamster; and John as a molder. Thomas by then was working as  a blksmith helper at K.C. Ft. Scott & Gulf RR. They were the only Shaughnessys in town at that time and briefly lived with Thomas and family at the 917 Wyoming address. John McKinnell and Helena moved there as well and found a permanent residence at 217 James St. John worked at first as a painter, then became a butcher and opened a meat market in his residence.

Thomas Shaughnessy's line.

Thomas continued to live at 917 Wyoming and to work as a smith for the railroads through the 1880s, with his wife Mary and their sons Thomas Jr. and Dennis who were first listed in the 1891 directory--Thomas as a butcher, and Dennis at the Wyoming address. They also had a daughter Laura, born in 1878, and all are in the 1880 census with the spelling " Oshaunsey." The 1892 directory indicated that Dennis Shaughnessy died May 8, 1892 ( his headstone says April 8). Dennis was buried in Old St. John's Cemetery. In 1897; Thomas's remaining family were still at the home on Wyoming, but by 1900 they had moved to 1618 Penn, and Thomas Jr. was working as a butcher. They continued residing at the Penn address through 1905 when Thomas Sr. was still working as a blacksmith and Thomas Jr. as a plumber. Thomas died in 1905, and his widow Mary with her son Thomas J., butcher were still at 1618 Pennsylvania Av. Mary is listed as a widow in the 1910 census, with her son Thomas at home. She died in 1910 and her son buried her with her husband in the family plot in Old St. John's in KC, KS. Thomas Jr. is listed in the directory as a butcher at 1618 Penn until 1916, but after that he disappears. He must have died abt 1917. With no heirs and having lost contact with the rest of the family, I hope he was buried in his family plot in Old St. John's, but there is no headstone. What happened to Laura?

Daniel's family in Chicago meanwhile had been steadily growing, adding a new child almost every other year. His wife Louisa (b. Ireland 1833) bore him 8 children-- 5 daughters--Lillian (1866-1945), Rosa (1867-1944), Louisa (1872-?), Alice (1873-1956) and Lucy 1879-1972), and three sons, Thomas (1874-?), Daniel (b. abt. 1881) and William (July 1883). Their residence was 255 Archer in 1866; 417 Archer in 1871, 151 Kossuth in 1880. Louisa died in giving birth to William in 1883 (she was only 37) and Daniel purchased Lot 28, Block 1, Section K in Calvary Cemetery for her and others in the family.

After Louisa died, Bridget came to help care for Daniel's 8 children, and took little Louisa (11), Daniel (2) and William (newborn) to Kansas City to leave them with Helena. She returned to Chicago to help Lillian (17) and Rosa (15) look after Thomas (9), Alice (6) and Lucy (4). Daniel may have been ill himself; after the death of Louisa and the disruption of his family, he died in 1886, three years after Louisa, to the day, and was buried next to Louisa in Lot 28, Block 1, Section K of Calvary Cemetery. He was 48, about the same age as his father Thomas when he died.

Daniel's girls stayed very close, sometimes living together with their families, and eventually taking over the four family graves in Calvary, Chicago.. Rosa married William Deto in 1885, and their son Robert was born in 1889. She died in 1944 and she and her husband were buried with the McKinnells in Chicago. Lillian (1866-1945) married Corydon Lewis Ford in 1887 and their daughter Louise was born in 1889, after Daniel's death. Lillian died in 1945 and was buried in the Hager plot in Calvary, and her husband Corydon was buried next to her in 1953. (By that time all the Hagers had died--see below). Lucy married John Wymond about 1905 and their son John L. was born in 1908. She and her husband and son were living with Lillian and her husband Corydon and their daughter Louise in 1910. Louise married John I. Cochennett around 1917, and their daugher Mary Louise was born in 1918. She married a Carney and had two daughters Patricia and Joan. Mary Louise buried her mother in 1865 and her father in 1966 in the Hager's grave as well. Alice married William Robeson who died in 1935, age 62. They are buried together in Bridget's plot. Lucy married

Helena McKinnell-Matriarch

John McKinnell's son John joined him as a butcher and his daughter Mary ran a dry goods store on the Kansas side. His younger brother William worked as a clerk for the businesses. Everybody was living at 219 James. In addition to her own three children, Mary, John and Lulu, Helena looked after other family members as they needed her. Boarding with her on and off during the 1880s was a John Shaughnessy (probably our grandfather John A.). He was there in 1880 and 1882, moved out for a year In 1883, (and resided at 3rd sw cor Armstrong, KCK, about 1/2 mile NW from the McKinnells), was back in 1885 (when he was a meat packer). In 1886 she took in three of her brother Daniel's children from Chicago after he died--Louisa (12), Daniel (4) and William (2). Her mother Bridget moved in as well and stayed there with her until she died. Helena gradually took over as the matriarch of the family.

1888 was an especially difficult year for Helena.-- Her own husband was ill, and she was also looking after a cousin, another John Shaughnessy, (also born in New York). On January 17,1888 he died of consumption. . Helena took charge of his remains, had him interred at the Union Cemetery vault. In April, her husband John died. Helena had his remains and John Shaughnessy's buried in Chicago's Calvary Cemetery, Lot 63, Block 16, Section O, a plot she had bought in 1886, (possibly when John first became ill) and where she intended to be buried. On top of all those losses, her mother, the matriarch, Bridget O'Shaughnessy, died in Excelsior Springs (considered a TB resort then) on September 9,1888. Helena had her body returned for burial beside Thomas in Calvary Cemetery, Chicago.

Besides the house at 217 N. James, Helena also owned the house at 222 N. James (either that or both are the same address?) She needed a lot of rooms. She had so many to look after-- her own 3 and Daniel's 3. She used whatever extra rooms she had to earn rental income. Her son John T. was working as a carpenter, her daughter Mary E. a city clerk, before she married Cornelius Morley and had a son Joseph Clifford.and her brother-in-law William, a laborer, still roomed with them at 222 N. James in 1890. In 1892 the McKinnells moved their residence to Grandview, corner of Lyon (later numbered 49 Grandview), and used the James property as rental (furnished rooms) and ran a restaurant there in 1900. This was a common arrangement in those days.. Her son John never married stayed with her. He often changed his profession, working as a packing house foreman in 1903 and as a painter in 1905. He died in 1935. They all lived with Helena. Mary died in 1897 and was buried in Old St. John's Cemetery.

Daniel's 3 children who grew up in KC all married. The girls moved out, but William, who married Mammie Lucas and had a son George, lived with Helena in 1910. Mammie died, leaving Helena in charge of baby George, but the matriarch Helena died in 1912, leaving a big gap in the family. Her obituary in the Kansas City Star called her a "pioneer." She was buried in Calvary in Chicago with her husband, John.

The family line continues through the descendants of Helena's daughter Louisa, "Lulu," who married Roy W. Irvine in 1903. They had two children. One son Bernard never married. The other son Raymond A. Irvine had a daughter Lida Lou, who lives in San Mateo, California and has two children, John Douglass and Kathrine. She has helped me fill out Helena's line. After Helena's death, William could not look after George and turned him over to an orphanage in Kansas City, where he was raised by the Sisters of Charity. He married Lynn Herbert and his line went on and he has a grandson--Michael Brian O'Shaughnessy.

Back in Chicago, Rosa's husband Joseph Hager died in 1884 and she buried him in Lot 49, Block 1, Section R in Calvary Cemetery, which she purchased at the time of the burial. Rosa stayed in Chicago with her sons, Francis W. and Walter S. (who continued to work in their father's fruit store with Spies). She died in 1892, and after burying her next to her husband, her sons moved to Kansas City, where all their uncles had gone. They were both there on the Missouri side in 1897. Francis married Katherine Doran in the late 1890s. Their daughter Mildred Ruth Hager was born in 1899. Mildred married Leo N. Williams in Kansas City in 1925. Mildred Ruth's uncle Miles Doran had a daughter Maurine Doran who married Fritz Henkle, a newspaper editor in Kansas City in 1930 (possibly providing a connection for Mildred Ruth to hold a job as assistant editor of a KC newspaper in 1930.)

John Adams Shaughnessy marries Rose T. Butler
On February 11, 1890 John A. and Rose T. Butler were married at St. Bridget's Church in Kansas City, Ks. Their marriage certificate says he was 40 and she was 26, but he was probably 43 or 45. He gave his occupation as sculptor. (A gilded copy of his bust of Admiral Schley is at the right)

The Butlers
Who was Rose Butler? Rose's parents were Jeremiah J. "Jerry" Butler (1827-1895) from Tipperary and Laura Campbell (1830-1874) from England. The passenger list of the Briseis that left from Liverpool for Philadelphia in 1853 under Edward Tilly Master. The Briseis lists Jeremiah Butler 24 and wife Laura Butler 22 as passengers.

Jeremiah J(ohn) Butler was born on 27 May 1827 in Co. Tipperary, Ireland. Emigration on
14 Jul 1853 in Liverpool to Philadelphia on the Briseis; (this would be at the end of the Irish
Famine) Residence in 1880 in Wyandotte, Kansas,He died on 15 Jan 1895 in Kansas City, Kansas. Burial 1895 in St. John's Cemetery, KCK. Cause of Death was congestion of lungs.

Laura Campell was born on 24 Dec 1830 in England. Emigration on 14 Jul 1853 in
Liverpool to Philadelphia on the Briseis. Arrival on 14 Jul 1853 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ].
Burial 1874 in St. John's Cemetery, KCK. She died on 04 Oct 1874 in Kansas City, Kansas.

Jeremiah and Laura had several children in Philadelphia, then moved to Cleveland, where Jeremiah worked as a cooper (a barrel maker), an occupation he took up from age nine, according to Dorothy Schweitzer. The rest of their children were born in Cleveland. He had a sister, Maggie Butler Nichols. Eventually he moved to Kansas City, Kansas to get work with the Armour Meatpacking Company. He “landed in the bottoms,” in Dorothy’s words. ("The Bottoms" referred to the floodplain beside the Kansas River where the stockyards were located. It was vulnerable to flooding and was devastated in the 1903 flood.)
They lived at 176 E. Armstrong in Kansas City, Kansas. Laura died at age 44 in 1874 after giving birth to 11 children, only 8 of whom survived (see below ). Jeremiah survived her until 1895. The only daughter at home to look after their father and the rest of the children was Rose, although she was only 9.

Eight Children of Jeremiah Butler and Laura Campbell:
1) William Butler (“Uncle Billy”)
2) Helen (Mellie) Butler m. Joseph Etchingham and whose daughter Susan married William John Schmittner; she died in a fire started by smoking in bed
3) John G. Butler (no children)
4) Rose T. Butler (October 13, 1865 - June 7, 1920), who raised the family when her mother died in 1874. My paternal grandmother.
5) Thomas H. Butler (grocer) who married Nell and had 3 children: Tommy (mentally retarded because his mother had diptheria during pregnancy), Maurice (a salesman in Dallas), Richard (died when he was 12)
6) Joseph Aloysius Butler founded the Butler Funeral Home, married Mary Elizabeth "Minnie" Nichols (1872-1947) from Ireland.. (Her sister was Margaret T. "Maggie" Nichols (1869-1952) who married John Menary (1869-1925). The children of Joseph A. Butler and Minnie Nichols were:
Loretta Butler, m. Jim McNamara; Marie Butler, m. George Winters (childr: George Edward m.Norma Lee Loske; Jo Anne Butler, m. Skip Wheat; Virginia “Gin” Butler, m. Tom Rowland; Arthur Butler, m.Dee Wohletz; Joe Butler, Jr. m. Naydene Rhodus (children Joe Butler III + Joan Malloy);
Dorothy Butler (who lived into her nineties in St. Louis), m. John Schweitzer, children Betty Marie m. Frederic Shadley; John Henry Schweitzer m. Joyce Bindbuetel; Harry Burns Butler
7) Mary Ellen. Butler, (“Aunt May”) m. Mr. Jamison, child Susan and moved to Toronto, Kansas
8) Frances J. (“Fanny”) Butler, m. Mr. Gaffney and lived at 55th & Michigan

Children of John and Rose Shaughnessy
John and Rose had four children: Helen M. "Nell" Shaughnessy, born on 24 Mar 1891 in Kansas City, Kansas; Ruth A. Shaughnessy, born on 13 Mar 1893 in Kansas City, Kansas; John Shaughnessy born on 18 Aug 1895 in Kansas City, Kansas and died the next day of exhaustion; Joseph Bernard Shaughnessy, born on 21 Aug 1897 in KCK; and . Marguerite Louise Shaughnessy, born Sep 1899 in KCK. In 1900 they were living at 16 North Eighth in 1900. Nearby lived Rose's brother, Joe Butler. (More detail about our relationship with Dad's family is below.)

Death of John A. Shaughnessy in 1903.
John Adams Shaughnessy, had worked his way up in the livestock business, first as a packer, then owner of a stock yard and then the meat inspector of Kansas City, Kansas. He continued in this position continued until his death in 1903. An article in the Kansas City Star for December 7, 1902 refers to his activities as an inspector. He sometimes gave his occupation as "real estate" and wanted to be thought of as a sculptor. When he died on October 3, 1903 at age 56 (58?), the account in the Star for October 4 shows he had attained some prominence:
Headline: ."John A. Shaughnessy, 51, an amateur sculptor, died at his home in Kansas City, Kansas. His bust of Admiral Schley was accepted by Congress."The bust made its way into the Smithsonian (Aunt Marguerite saw it there while visiting). He was a water boy in the Civil War. Then lived at 930 Tenny, KCK.

Death of John A. Shaughnessy. Kansas City, Kns. Man who was sculptor of local note .
John A. Shaughnessy, an artist 56 years old, died at 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon at his home, 16 North Eighth st.Kansas City, Kas. after an illness of months. A widow and four children the eldest only 12 years old, survive him. Mr. Shaughnessy moved to Kanwas City, Kas. from Chicago, twenty-five years ago. For several years he owned and operated a small packing house on the Kansas side. On retiring from that business he served the city in the capacity of live stock inspector, being the first man to hold that position. He was also the last inspector, for after holding the office under the administration of Mayor Craddock no successor to him was chosen. Mr. Shaughnessy, although engaged in business pursuits, was a sculptor and in the20last ten or fifteen years did a great deal of work in that line, merely for the pleasure it gave him. His most notable work, perhaps, was a bust of Admiral Schley, which was accepted by Congress with thanks. His faces of the late President McKinley, and his friend, the late Simeon B Armour, were good specimans of the sculptor's art. ( From the K.C.Star, 10/4/1903)
He was buried in St. John's Cemetery.

1904 KC, KS directory, H. McKinnell, widow of John is living at 222 N. James St..
Rose Shaughnessy, widow was living as a widow at 16 N. 8th
William J. Sullivan, an inspector, lived at 922 N. Tenney..

1850s - 1870s
Records tell the story of 20 years in Chicago-- .
1855-56 Chicago directory lists Thomas Shaughnessy, laborer living at State St. near Springer (now 15th St.)

1856-57 Chicago Directory: Bridget O'Shaughnessy, living at State between 12th and North. From Ireland, 3 y (in Chicago)

1859 Chicago Directory: Bridget O'Shaughnessy, wid of Thomas, home at Michigan ave. n R.R. crossing.

1860 Census lists Bridget O'Shannessy 47, living in Cook Co. Ward 1 with Helena 23 dressmaker, Daniel 22 butcher, Rosana and Elizabeth 19 dressmaker, James 17, John 15, Thomas 13, George 10 and William 8.
1866 Chicago directory shown Bridget O'Shaughnessy 60 widow of Thomas, residing on Stewart Ave, near 22nd, Chicago.
1870 census shows that Bridget Shaughnessy 60 b. Ire. living in Cook Co. Ward 6 with James 26 butcher, John 23 carpenter, Thomas 20 hammersmith, George 17 painter, William 15 painter.
Dan Shaughnessy 32 butcher born in NY was living in Cook Co. with Louisa 27 born in Ireland, and children Lillian 4 and Rosa 2.
John McKinnell 40 house painter, born in England, living in Cook Co. with wife Lena 33, daughter Mary 2 and son John 6 mo.
1870 Chicago directory shows that at 594 Wentworth Bridget Shaughnessy 60 b. Ireland was living with children James 26 butcher, John 23 carpenter, Thomas 20 hammersmith on the railroad, George 17 painter. William was not listed--probably not working at the time.
1871 state census shows Bridget Shannessy b. Ireland, widow of Thomas, resided at es Shurtleff Ave, between 31 and 32, Ward 6, with 1 male and 1 female. Daniel a butcher resided at 417 Archer Ward 6, 2 males and 3 females.
Hagers Ward 16 46 Wisconsin, 3 m 2 f.
1875 Chicago directory: Daniel OShannessy, butcher r. 64 Napoleon Pl. The Hagers are listed again at 33rd. John McKinnell, painter, resided on Shurtleff (Wells). Bridget is not listed.
1880 Chicago directory has Daniel Shannessy, butcher, in a house at 151 Kossuth. Hagers in house 3538 Indiana.

1880-1900 records show the Shaughnessy have relocated to Kansas City
The 1880 US census shows John McKinnell 50, born in England, owner of a meat market, living at 217 James St in KC,KS with his wife H(elena) 43, born in New York, with two children, daughter Mary 12 and son John 9, both born in Illinois. With them was a boarder John Shaughnessy 30, laborer, born in New York.
1881 Kansas City directory shows these Shaughnessy brothers living at 917 Wyoming (not far from the McKinnells at 219 James): Thomas J. 31, James 37 teamster, John a molder 34, and George laborer 28.
1883 Hoye's Kansas City Directory shows Thomas Shaughnessy, smith, at 917 Wyoming. John A. Shaughnessy, laborer, r. sw corner 3rd Armstrong, KCK.
1885 Kansas State Census shows John McKinnell 55, butcher from England, living with wife Elenore (Helena) 48, and their children Mary, John T. Louisa, as well as two Shaughnessy children Daniel 4 and William 2 (probably orphaned) plus a boarder, John Shaughnessy 35.
1886-87 KC,KS directory shows John McKinnell, dry goods, with Bridget Shaughnessy widow of Thomas, and John Shaughnessy blacksmith helper working at Union Pacific rail shops.
1889 city directory--Thomas Shaughnessy r. 917 Wyoming.

1892-3 Hoyes Directory for Kansas City, KS shows John A. Shaunessy, real estate. at 16 N. 8th.
1895 city directory: John Shaughnessy lived at 16 N. 8th with his wife and their daughters Nellie 4, Ruth 2.
1900 US census shows John A. Shannessy 52, sculptor, living at 16 S. 8th St., KC,KS with his wife Rose T. 34, their daughters Nellie D 9 (b. Mar 1891), Ruth A 7 (b. Mar 1893), their son Joseph J (should be B) 3 (b. August 1897), and Marguerite 1 (b. Sept 1899).
A few houses away at 10 S. 8th lived Joseph A. Butler 30, journeyman cooper (b. 1869 in Ohio) with his wife Mary E. 28 (b. Mar 1871) their children Loretta 6 (b. Jan 1894), Marie E. 4 (b. Dec. 1895) and Joseph A. 1 (b. June 1898)

Admiral Schley

Butler Family

Jeremiah Butler (1827- 1895) "Jerry" for short


Rose T. Butler (1865-1920)

Joseph B. Shaughnessy (infant)

Joseph B. Shaughnessy
(at his Confirmation-age 12)


Rose Shaughnessy and Wm. J. Sullivan--1905


Joseph B. Shaughnessy Sr.(college graduation?)

I continue the story of Dad's life in Memories of my Father

Joe Shaughnessy 16? at Conception Abbey

Malachy Sullivan, OSB

The O'Shaughnessy monument in Calvary Cemetery, Chicago

The Shaughnessy monument in Old St. John's Cemetery, KCKS,
for the family of Thomas, one of the sons of Thomas and Bridget.

Dad went to work for Bob Gornall and continued living 928 Tenney Ave in Kansas City, Kansas with his stepfather. After their meeting at the Halloween party, he and mother began dating regularly on Wednesday nights. He had graduated from Notre Dame in 1922, . The courtship went on and on.

In 1925, not long after they met, he left her for 4 months of European travel, aboard Italian ships, to Italy, Greece, Turkey and Egypt, with an architect friend who just graduated from the University of Illinois, Homer Pfeiffer. Joe wrote his "Frankie" faithfully at the auto agency where she worked, telling her of the wonders he was seeing. Would she give his greetings to her mother. (Where was Mother living? With her family? Was Helen permanently back from Texas by then?) These 16 letters and 3 cards were written from places that must have sounded so romantic to her sitting at home on Wednesday nights. Dad's letters to Mother from his European grand tour reveal someone who didn’t want to miss anything great and famous in the way of world art or architecture. He must have known she was thinking of him every minute, but great architecture came first. Mother must have longed to be with him seeing all. Perhaps that was the foundation of their traveling later, which she always said was at her urging. In his letters, he imagined her enjoying herself, going about her activities--swimming, working-but said he knew she was missing him. He told her to hang on for just a short time until he would return home, which he did in late September of 1925, (but not until he had stopped by Washington DC to see the monuments there and in Alexandria, Virginia).

Mother might have hoped that after being separated from her and expressing longing to see her, he would have gotten around to proposing marriage, but no, the courtship went on for three more years. Dad set about getting started in his career, joining the firm of Robert Gornall in 1925. In 1927 Dad was again writing her at 1235 E. 84th St. in Cleveland where she had gone to visit her relatives, probably Agnes and Mary Poelking. I wonder if she made that visit--which he teases her that he hopes she doesn't enjoy, especially if there are young men present-- to prod him into proposing,
Although he mentioned missing her when she was in Cleveland, he went right on to tell her what he and Andrew (or Marguerite, or Nell Shaughnessy or Nell Sullivan Spellman and husband Leonard Spellman, or Ruth) were up to. There was always someone dropping by in a car for him. Companionship (including hers) he took for granted, but Mother didn’t. No wonder he wasn’t as eager to get married as she was. He had a large family around him. He was gregarious and enjoyed being around people and didn’t favor some over others. He held his friends lightly and didn't cling to them. Mother was more particular and exclusive—her family or her friends were best. I never heard Dad criticize any of my friends or anyone, but Mother was particular and occasionally criticized people, including his family members. She let us know which of our friends she approved of and which she didn't.

Marriage

They finally did marry September 11 of 1928 when she was 24 and Dad was 31. She used to tell us that it was the unhappiest day of her life, that none of his sisters had come to the wedding. We wondered why. Later we discovered that the wedding had taken place at St. Benedict's Abbey in Atchison, Kansas, so that Malachy could marry them. Atchison was a good drive from Kansas City. In 1928 people might be excused from making the effort to drive "all that way." And why were there no pictures of the wedding? Who let her down there? Her mother? Her mother's only gift was a silver-plated pitcher. Perhaps she should have taken consolation in the large family that she was joining--the Butler-Sullivan-Shaughnessy clan. (Someone sent her $5 at 5746 Harrison--Aunt Hannah's--signing it only "Butler"-- Harry T. Burns?-- welcoming his new niece into the family.)

Frances's Engagement

The Shaughnessy Family

It was fortunate for Mother that she was married and was looking forward to her own family by the late twenties, for her exclusive circle of important people began thinning out. In 1929 her grandmother Frances Regenauer died (at 76). Mother was no doubt envious when "Uncle" Leo Garies (only a few years her senior) and his wife Marie (Kellerman) had a daughter Mary in 1928 (delivered by Frank Cave). Finally I was born in 1931. Kathleen was born in 1932, Joe in 1934 and Carol in 1936.

Where did they live in these first years of marriage? It appears they moved around a lot. Mail sent to Dad's old address at the Sullivan's address, 928 Tenney Ave where he had lived for years, .was redirected to Bob Gornall's office at 3619 Broadway. By 1928 when they were married, Dad was a partner in the firm of "Gornall and Shaughnessy." In October of 1928, right after they were married they were living at 4925 Troost, Apt 15. In 1929 they lived briefly in an apartment at 319 E. 48th. In 1930, a letter from the War Department to Dad at 319 East 48th Street (from which his query must have originated) was forwarded to 5632 Kenwood. (The letter informed him that Army Serial No. 5,302,143 did not warrent compensation for military service as a member of the Students' Army Training Corps.) By 1935 they had three children and lived at 5928 Rockhill Road, right around the corner from Aunt Hannah on 5746 Harrison. By that time Dad had gone into business for himself and opened an office at 216 E. 10th St. Rm. 416.

Mother's Family--our extended family

The 1930's were bad times to be born. Not only was the world in a depression, but we four Shaughnessy children seemed to be forever going to funerals. In 1933 Cleo, who had rheumatic fever in childhood, died of a heart attack. Mother said, "Kathleen was born by then." (Replacements were arriving.) Then William, who had periodic weak spells and was in the hospital from his childhood meningitis, died in 1937, at 35. Joe-the "Baby Jesus" had been born several years before. (No wonder Mother doted on him, and was devastated at his early death as well.) I remember talking with William in Aunt Hannah's basement when I was perhaps five, and feeling helpless and awkward because of his deafness. Cliff Shepherd, her father--an unseen figure in our lives--died in 1937.

There were happy times in the family. The big stone house on Harrison that was Hannah's and became Amelia's in 1941 was the focus of family activities. There was an ample dining room table for all the aunts and uncles and us children. The living room was panelled in dark mahogany. A piano was draped in a fringed shawl. A stone fireplace was along the south wall. Heavy dark needlepointed Victorian furniture made one sit stiffly. A large silk allegator lay on the radiator. All the aunts must have been into fancy needlework. I would sneak a look through the books behind the in the glass-fronted bookcase. (I remember a treatise by Benjamin Franklin on candles and electricity)Mother helped her aunts (and no doubt her mother occasionally) prepare dinners in that kitchen, and I helped carry food to the table--a roast or turkey, cranberries, casserole of french bean, mashed potatoes, a bowl of gravy. Helping in the kitchen was a relief from sitting in the sunroom, where the men--especially Uncle Fred and Frank Cave, or occasionly Uncles Frank and George, Herb and Leo--sat smoking their cigars. We children were not allowed to sit in the large living room (there were not enough chairs) but sat on folding chairs in the sunroom. I would look up at the oil painting on the east wall showing a woman clinging to a stone cross on a rock in the middle of a stormy sea, her eyes turned up toward heaven. "Hope of ages" was the caption.

After Cliff's death in 1937, Helen remarried Eugene Main. He seemed to have been excluded from the family by Uncle George, which might be the reason I don't remember Helen attending family gatherings. Also, she had a goiter, and was perhaps not up to family gatherings. Mary Garies says she was tall and thin like Aunt Hannah (whom I do remember) and pretty, and that Mother looked just like her. Helen died in 1941. Uncle George, her executor, gave "Mr. Main," as he was called him with opprobrium, some land to get rid of him. Uncle Frank Ouker also died in 1941 as did Aunt Hannah! Mother was alone of all the Shepherds and Oukers, except for Aunt Meal (who died of stomach cancer in 1952) and Uncle George (who lived until 1962). There were no Shepherds or Oukers left. If there are any more children born, one should be named Ouker or Shepherd or Christian or for all these vanished names.

440 East 65th, KCMo

In the late 1930's

Recently

Thoughts of building a home were out of the question in the depression, but owning real estate had always been important to the family, from Christian Ouker and Frances Regenauer on, and Mother no doubt lobbied for a house of her own. Helen Shepherd had bought several properties in Missouri and in Texas, which were left Mother in her will. Even Aunt Hannah had bought property in Texas. Uncle George, who never married, and had become the head of the family after Grandmother Garies death, advised his sisters financially, perhaps. Each January he drove Hannah down to Texas in his green Franklin, to look at her property. He was the executor of Helen's estate. From her mother's death, Mother received some rental property, a farm in Clever, Missouri (with a crop of walnuts) and the farm in Texas. Mother claimed she, not Dad, had brought money into the family. In the late thirties we moved into a new Georgian Colonial house on 65th and Cherry, which Dad designed (he had done his thesis at Notre Dame on Colonial Architecture).and which cost all of $13,000. Perhaps Mother contributed to it financially, although she never claimed that, but she was the reason why they had real estate and an apartment building.
Moving into the new house at 440 East 65th meant having new neighbors to play with-- the Schweigers, O'Reilly's, Conways, and Havers. All these families had children who offered us a world of outdoor fun and escapes to their houses and backyards and empty lots where we could play games.

More about Dad's Sisters and our family

Dad's oldest sister, Nell Shaughnessy (1891-1965), married Raymond Neugebauer, (d. 1987. He is buried under the same headstone with John Shaughnessy, in Old St. John’s cemetery in Kansas) Nell had six children: Rosemary Neugebauer (m.Dr. Shy, later m. Mearl Wohlgemuth), Ray Jr., Rita Neugebauer (m. Mr. Savage; m. Mr. Pinkipank), Theresa (died), Eugene Neugebauer (Scotsdale), and Frances Neugebauer (m. Mr. Oshman). We did not know them when we were young. I have only recently gotten in touch with Rosemary (living in St. Louis) and she has given me a number of family pictures and information.

Ruth Shaughnessy (1892- 19?), married C. A. Williams and moved Arizona. She remained close to my dad and they often traveled together when we were grown.

Marguerite Shaughnessy (1899-1981) who married Ray Johnson and had Raymond (“Bud”) Johnson (1927-1999). Marguerite also stayed close to my dad, and we grew up close to Bud our only first cousin. He married Charlotte Baum and together they had Jennifer (m. Hal Wenzel , children, Hannah and Amelia) and Christopher (m. C.C. Spradley, children Charles Edward and Connor). Later Marguerite divorced Ray Sr. and remarried Merle Crabtree. Marguerite and Merle were added into our lives when my parents were older and could afford to take time off to travel. Then the six of them—Ruth and L.A. Williams, Marguerite and Merle Crabtree, and Joe and Frances Shaughnessy went on long trips, driving in Merle’s Cadillac, or visiting Mexico. Bud had a surprise when he was over seventy. A man called identifying himself as Dick Johnson, his half-brother. His father had remarried and had another son, who became a hit with the family.

Malachy Sullivan (21 Aug 1893-24 Jul 1967) we occasionally saw when we were young.

Nell Spellman (1896-1976 to 1981) was always full of fun. She married Leonard C. Spellman in 1921 and had 5 children, a little older than we, whom we enjoyed getting together with: Bill (b. 1922), Jack (b. 1924) , Jim (b. 1925), Tom (b. 1927) and Eileen (b. 1929). Finally, Andrew Michael Sullivan (b. Jan 11, 1899, d. April 25, 1950).
Andrew, (Jan 1899-Apr 1950) was never involved in our family. He married Margaret Wolf and moved to West Coast). William Sullivan was buried with his first wife. Grandmother Rose is buried with Grandfather in St. John's Cemetery.

Our Cousins on Dad's side
Rosemary Neugebauer Wohlgemuth sent me this pictures of her siblings and Bud Johnson around 1935: Raymond T, Jr., Rosemary, Frances Claire, Bud Johnson and Rita Ann at 25 S. Baltimore, KC,KS

We were close to Bud Johnson and did not get to know the Neugebauers for some reason.

Party in our "Rec Room" at 440 East 65th, playing ping pong with our Spellman cousins-Tom, Jack, Bill, Jim Spellman, and Eileen; our neighbors the Schweigers--Bob, Dick and Helen; the four of us; and of course our dog Robin.

No neighbors could compete with my cousins, Jack and Fred Daly, in my opinion. . Jack and Fred had gone off to join the Jesuits about the time we were infants. (Aunt Meal had always been active in the Jesuit Guild at St. Francis parish.) Growing up in this family with two seminarians, we thought there was no one like the Jesuits. When Jack and Fred came home, we would all get together at Meal's, or they would come over to our new house on Cherry, eagerly awaited by all, especially me, and we would all eat, play and take pictures. They seemed to know everything. They inspired my imagination. Fred was more dogmatic. It was he who told me about the glories of the Jesuits-they were the "company of Jesus" i.e., soldiers; their general was Jesus himself, so they reported not to any bishops but directly to the Pope. They had been suppressed in all the European countries, he boasted. How that was a mark of privilege I didn't understand, but it must be so. Jack was the more playful brother. He had been "little Buttercup" in a college production of Pinafore, and would mince about singing "I'm called Little Buttercup." To him life was not a battle, as Fred made me think, but a game, and he was ready to be silly. We have a picture of him running around our front yard with a football, wearing a girl's scarf around his head. The Dalys embodied an attitude to life for me. They were not only fun, they were learned, and they flattered us by treating us as adult.. They asked challenging questions to which I, as the oldest, had to come up with something. There was a tradition of reading in our family; Mother was a reader. She tended to put Dad down, though, saying later that the only book he ever read through was the biography of Theodore Hesburgh.
The Dalys were role models for me. Both were mathematicians and I eventually would minor in math. Dad always looked up to them, especially to Jack, the scholar. They made philosophy and theology and scholarship seem appealing; they, who were so much fun, pursued them. Their ordinations in 1944 and 1948 at St. Mary's and first masses at St. Francis Xavier in Kansas City were occasions for family reunions. Even the Poelkings came from Cleveland. Both distinguished themselves. Fred became an administrator; we heard that he actually saved Regis College in Denver when he was president there in the 1980's. Jack taught at St. Louis University and initiated a project of microfilming the manuscripts in the Vatican library. While involved in the Vatican library project, he found on the verso page of a manuscript an explanation of how the Romans used Roman numerals to multiply and published an article about it.

Go on to Family Matters to hear more.