Not much is known of Euphemia or her family’s early days, or how she met her husband, Hamilton Duggan. The Letterkenny Central Library has been very helpful in assisting me with historical information, but no luck yet. Gotta love the Irish! I know I do! They are such friendly people.
So as I mentioned earlier, Ancestry.com provided me with the two index documents (can be seen under Civil War Papers) that led me to finding the Civil War Widow Pension records at the National Archives. These documents have all been posted under the Civil War Documents tab. Let me tell you, finding these records was truly incredible. They provided so much information, but more importantly it gave me a sense of who they were and what life might have been like for them. I felt I had tapped into knowing them a little personally. I could visualize Euphemia and her daughter Sarah sitting in this lawyers office trying to get the pension she was entitled to and so desperately needed. What was tragic is that she did finally succeed, but it was too late. Euphemia died on Dec. 29th, 1891 in Newark, New Jersey and two days later a pension check was mailed out to her.
Of course everything can’t go that smoothly. There was some confusion on where they were actually married and by whom. Letterkenny, Ireland or Aberdeen, Scotland? Rev. Joseph Ligel or Rev. William Lillie? At least the marriage date was consistent on these documents. They married on September 18, 1836. Again, the Letterkenny Central Library confirmed that there was a Rev. Joseph Lyttle (which sounds an awful like Ligel or Lillie to me), of the Presbyterian Church who was active during 1836. However her search did not bring up any records for Hamilton and Euphemia. She thought it strange that there is no record. Well let’s not get all down about it. At least I eliminated something.
So you don’t think I am desperate to make any connection, I wanted to explain what “Soundex” is. It should help explain why I was associating the name Lyttle with Lillie and Ligel. Soundex is a system that is used when researching a person’s last name. If you are not familiar with this term it is simply a way of identifying all the different ways a surname could be spelled based on the sound of it. As an example soundex D250 is for Duggan, Dugan, Doogan, Dugen, Dugin, etc. Get the idea.
From what I can gather from those records, it would seem that Euphemia did not have any formal education. She signed her name with an “X”. Knowing that, it’s hard to tell if the error was due to Euphemia not understanding the question right at the time, the lawyer not understanding her brogue Maybe Euphemia confused where she was born with where she was married. However, one document said the marriage took place in Aberdeen, Scotland and another Letterkenny, Ireland.
From passenger records found on Ancestry.com, Hamilton Duggan arrived in New York City in April 1836, but it did not show Euphemia with him. Either it was an error or she arrived separately.
My Uncle John who was a great grandchild of Hamilton and Euphemia remembers being told that Hamilton and Euphemia settled in Oyster Bay, Queens County, New York (later it became part of Nassau county). They had all their children there.
Children's names and years of birth are: Matthew - 1836, William - 1840, Howard - 1842, Margaret - 1843, Elizabeth - 1844, Fannie - 1846, Sarah - 1847, Euphemia "Effie" - 1848.
Tracking Euphemia and her daughters Sarah, Elizabeth “Lizzie” and Euphemia “Effie” was relatively easy now that Ancestry.com and Footnote.com have invested heavily in scanning and posting city directories. A lot have been done on Newark, NJ, where the resided for most of the time.
With Hamilton being in the military, everything indicates that Euphemia was the primary care giver. She lived with her daughters, and even after her separation from Hamilton, she continued to live with her daughter Sarah and her husband Edmund Wright, and her sisters Elizabeth and Effie.
Euphemia died in Newark, New Jersey, on December 29, 1891, and is buried in Fairmont Cemetery, Newark, New Jersey.
So as I mentioned earlier, Ancestry.com provided me with the two index documents (can be seen under Civil War Papers) that led me to finding the Civil War Widow Pension records at the National Archives. These documents have all been posted under the Civil War Documents tab. Let me tell you, finding these records was truly incredible. They provided so much information, but more importantly it gave me a sense of who they were and what life might have been like for them. I felt I had tapped into knowing them a little personally. I could visualize Euphemia and her daughter Sarah sitting in this lawyers office trying to get the pension she was entitled to and so desperately needed. What was tragic is that she did finally succeed, but it was too late. Euphemia died on Dec. 29th, 1891 in Newark, New Jersey and two days later a pension check was mailed out to her.
Of course everything can’t go that smoothly. There was some confusion on where they were actually married and by whom. Letterkenny, Ireland or Aberdeen, Scotland? Rev. Joseph Ligel or Rev. William Lillie? At least the marriage date was consistent on these documents. They married on September 18, 1836. Again, the Letterkenny Central Library confirmed that there was a Rev. Joseph Lyttle (which sounds an awful like Ligel or Lillie to me), of the Presbyterian Church who was active during 1836. However her search did not bring up any records for Hamilton and Euphemia. She thought it strange that there is no record. Well let’s not get all down about it. At least I eliminated something.
So you don’t think I am desperate to make any connection, I wanted to explain what “Soundex” is. It should help explain why I was associating the name Lyttle with Lillie and Ligel. Soundex is a system that is used when researching a person’s last name. If you are not familiar with this term it is simply a way of identifying all the different ways a surname could be spelled based on the sound of it. As an example soundex D250 is for Duggan, Dugan, Doogan, Dugen, Dugin, etc. Get the idea.
From what I can gather from those records, it would seem that Euphemia did not have any formal education. She signed her name with an “X”. Knowing that, it’s hard to tell if the error was due to Euphemia not understanding the question right at the time, the lawyer not understanding her brogue Maybe Euphemia confused where she was born with where she was married. However, one document said the marriage took place in Aberdeen, Scotland and another Letterkenny, Ireland.
From passenger records found on Ancestry.com, Hamilton Duggan arrived in New York City in April 1836, but it did not show Euphemia with him. Either it was an error or she arrived separately.
My Uncle John who was a great grandchild of Hamilton and Euphemia remembers being told that Hamilton and Euphemia settled in Oyster Bay, Queens County, New York (later it became part of Nassau county). They had all their children there.
Children's names and years of birth are: Matthew - 1836, William - 1840, Howard - 1842, Margaret - 1843, Elizabeth - 1844, Fannie - 1846, Sarah - 1847, Euphemia "Effie" - 1848.
Tracking Euphemia and her daughters Sarah, Elizabeth “Lizzie” and Euphemia “Effie” was relatively easy now that Ancestry.com and Footnote.com have invested heavily in scanning and posting city directories. A lot have been done on Newark, NJ, where the resided for most of the time.
With Hamilton being in the military, everything indicates that Euphemia was the primary care giver. She lived with her daughters, and even after her separation from Hamilton, she continued to live with her daughter Sarah and her husband Edmund Wright, and her sisters Elizabeth and Effie.
Euphemia died in Newark, New Jersey, on December 29, 1891, and is buried in Fairmont Cemetery, Newark, New Jersey.
Euphemia Kennedy was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, about 1814. Her parents were John and Margaret Kennedy. I doubt that I am connected to “The Kennedys”, but hey you never know. Wouldn’t that be unbelievable if I was!
Finding John and Margaret Kennedy’s names on Euphemia’s death certificate was a fantastic find (shown below). Death certificates can vary depending on the city, state, time period they died, etc. So I was keeping my fingers crossed that I would get lucky and I did. Of course the name Kennedy was pretty popular back then, as was John and Margaret. I knew it was going to be a challenge finding anything on them.
Finding John and Margaret Kennedy’s names on Euphemia’s death certificate was a fantastic find (shown below). Death certificates can vary depending on the city, state, time period they died, etc. So I was keeping my fingers crossed that I would get lucky and I did. Of course the name Kennedy was pretty popular back then, as was John and Margaret. I knew it was going to be a challenge finding anything on them.
http://clickserve.cc-dt.com/link/tplclick?lid=41000000029953452&pubid=21000000000250976
EUPHEMIA DUGGAN
