rooneys-minnesota.com
man‎John James "John H, born in Minesota 1871 (1895 census)" Brown‏‎
Born ‎10 Apr 1868 Derryheagh, County Mayo, Ireland, died ‎24 Feb 1937 Kirkland, King County, Washington Event Description: Kirkland Cemetery, Kirkland, WA‎, age 68 years
"Johnny Martin married Mary Brown and Mary Martin married Johnny Brown."

John worked for the railroad, which may explain why they ended up in Massachusetts as newly weds. He probably continued with the railroad after his wife's death. Lyle Martin says that he suffered some kind of accident, no doubt on the job, which resulted in a plate being placed inside his head. Eventually he retired - or was possibly disabled since he received a pension for a number of years.

On October 12, 1921 his daughter Margaret married Joseph Wirtzfeld in Villard, with the reception at the home of the William E. Martin family there. Lyle Martin, age nearly 13, remembers Margaret Brown Wirtzfeld saying she had reached her father who was working in North Dakota at the time, but that he was unable to come for the wedding.

Rena Martin Jenson says, "Ann [daughter of John Francis Martin] died in 1898 same time as Mary [Ann Martin] Brown and Franklin Brown of typhoid fever."

Ed L. Martin is buried in the Kirkland Cemetery next to Peter J. Brown, a brother of his sister Mary's husband John J. Brown, I presume. Peter had bought 20 acres of land in Kirkland and John J. Brown lived there until he died; John J. Brown is also buried in this cemetery. John Henry Martin is also buried here.
Frank C. Martin and John Francis Martin are buried in the Greenwood Cemetery, Bend, Oregon.
Mayme Wolfe Martin and Elmer H. Jensen are buried in Sunset Hills Memorial Park, Bellevue, Washington.

Married ‎16 Nov 1892 Padua, Stearns County, Minnesota, age 24 years
probably St. Anthony of Padua
(married 5 years) to:

womanMary Ann "Maggie" Martin‏, age by marriage 22 years, daughter of William Joseph Martin and Catherine Bridget Rooney‏.
Born ‎24 Dec 1869 Saint Anthony, Hennepin County, Minnesota, died ‎12 Oct 1898 Bangor Township, Pope County, Minnesota Event Description: Padua Cemetery, Stearns, Minnesota‎, age 28 years, buried Padua, Stearns County, Minnesota
Mary Ann Martin was baptized at St. Anthony of Padua Church in northeast Minneapolis on Christmas day, 1869, the day after her birthday. She is 5/12 years old in the July 1, 1870 census of St. Anthony, Minnesota.

"Johnny Martin married Mary Brown and Mary Martin married Johnny Brown."

John Brown was born in Derryheagh, County Mayo, Ireland in 1868 and was 11 years old when the family came to the U.S. [Today – 2015 - Derryheagh is perhaps a small area near the town of Newport, County Mayo. There's a Killeen Cemetery 6 miles west of town overlooking Clew Bay in which one couple's gravestone says they're from Derryheagh.]

Mary Ann Martin and John Brown met in Sedan and were married in Villard (or in a double-wedding ceremony with their siblings, John F. Martin and Mary Brown, on November 16, 1892 in Padua). Afterwards they made their home in Hammer, South Dakota for a while, then Massachusetts. Two of the "Canada" letters included letters from Mary Martin Brown to her sister Katie Martin in Brooten, Minnesota. In the first in 1894, from South Bridge, Massachusetts she talks of dancing with her son "Petie." In the second in April 1898 from Clinton, Massachusetts, Mary talks of her baby (Maggie) having two teeth now. "Petie is now going to school(!), and the house is quiet since he has gone."

Maggie and Frankie were born in Massachusetts. In 1898, the family and their three children were returning to Minnesota by train, and on that journey they were exposed to typhoid fever. Soon after their arrival in Minnesota, Mary and her young son Frankie died of the disease. After Mary died, Maggie was raised by her grandmother, Catherine Rooney, at their home in Sedan. Julia Rooney was about the same age. Ambrose Gaffaney knew Maggie because he and his brother Harold hitched a ride on a freight train up to Standish, North Dakota to see the Wirtzfelds, and the Wirtzfelds used to come down and visit.

I believe Mary's gravestone says her day of death was the 18th, though a number of family trees have the 12th and another sources says the 17th. Rena Martin Jensen says, "Ann [daughter of John Francis Martin] died in 1898 same time as Mary [Ann Martin] Brown and Franklin Brown of typhoid fever." I don't know who Franklin Brown is.

[Catherine E. Martin ( Jr.) from sister Mary Martin Brown]
South Bridge [Massachusetts]
Jan 15, 1894
Miss Katie Martin
Dear Sister
I received your letter, was very glad to here from you. I am told you are going to school at Uncle Hughes this winter. How long a term is it? How do you like the teacher? Did "Dulie Egan" get a school last fall?
I suppose I will soon here that you will be looking for a school.
Is Maggie home this winter? Was aunt Ellie's folks up to see her this winter? Was Aunt Mary Ann in Bangor [Township] this winter? How is Aunt Eliza & the little ones? Tell Lillie she is the best little girl in Bangor, she wrote me two letters. You said you would like to see Petie now. Well I wish I could show him to you he is a great big boy now. I do play with him mostly all the time. I do dance with him and I used [to] with Lill. He does laugh very hearty sometimes. I have the piece of lace you started for him nearly made. I made a piece of narrow lace for shirt for him. I got a calico and a gingham dress for myself this winter.
We have very nice weather down here. there was only two or three cold days.
Write soon and often. No more this time from Your sis
Mary A. Brown

[Catherine E. Martin (Jr.) from sister Mary Martin]
Clinton, Massachusetts
April 3, 1898
Miss Katie Martin
Dear Katie:
I received your letter some time ago, and was glad to here [sic] from you. We have had a siege of the grip since I got your letter, are better now. When I saw the grip coming I thought I would be ready for it, so these are a few of the medicines I had, two qts. Flaxseed &c., one bottle of cough syrup, one bottle whiskey, bot pills, bottle Hoods sarsaparilla, bottle of borax and Honey, sugar and butter, white of egg and vinegar and I don't know what I didn't have. Oh it was the goose oil! I did not have that, but I guess I drank so much of the goose oil when I had the grip at home that I did not need any this time.
The baby has two teeth. The grip went hard with him. You wish I would tell you all about the kids, well if I told you the half about them when they were sick you would not want to here [sic] it twice. They are as bold as pet pigs and that is putting it mild. Petie is going to school! We have a quiet house since he started. They are out on vacation now until after Easter.
You wanted to know who they looked like, and the color of their eyes and hair. Well, Petie looks like Charley when Charley was his age and Maggie looks like Tommy. John O'Malley always calls Maggie Tommy Martin. I will send you a wisp of their hair. As for the baby he looks like Maggie only he is bald headed. Petie's eyes are about as big as Charley's only they seem darker. Maggie's are [?]. Petie's curl is the long one. They used to be yellow but they will soon be black.
I suppose your home now anyway. I will send this letter to Brooten and you will get it some time. How are Pa and Ma and all the rest of the folks. Write as soon as you get around and I will answer some time. Give my love to all. No more this time from Your sister,
Mary, address as before

Children:

1.
man‎Peter Joseph Brown‏‎
Born ‎19 Sep 1893 Bangor Township, Pope County, Minnesota, died ‎9 Feb 1950 Seattle, King County, Washington Event Description: Kirkland Cemetery, Kirkland, WA‎, age 56 years, buried Kirkland, King County, Washington
Peter and his sister Margaret were with his grandparents, the William and Catherine Martin family, in the 1900 census in Bangor Township, Pope County. Their mother had died two years earlier. They are still with them in the 1910 census, but in Sedan, Pope County.

By World War I, Peter was a young man and a private first class in the Quartermaster Corps, stationed in Seattle, Washington. This began the allure of the Pacific Northwest that drew some of the next generation into that area as well. Peter is listed in the 1920 and 1930 censuses in Seattle. It says his father was born in England (incorrectly) that that his mother tongue was English. In the 1940 census he is single and a truck driver.

Peter's WWI draft registration says he was born on the 19th in Sauk Centre. His gravestone also says the 19th. His WWII draft registration says he was born on the 17th in St. Cloud. Person to contact: E. L. Martin, in Kirkland, Washington. That was probably his uncle Edward L. Martin (m. Mayme Wolfe), who died in Seattle in 1947. Peter was employed by the City of Seattle in the Kirkland Sanitarium, and prior to that he was a truck driver.

According to Roy Wirtzfeld, once Peter Brown was out of the service he eventually developed a quite prosperous business as the owner of a fleet of trucks that did contract hauling on construction projects. One project he worked on was the high school that was built in Kirkland, Washington in 1923. Peter contracted tuberculosis in the 1940s and died in 1950 with tuberculosis and later having developed cancer as well.

In a letter from Ed Martin to Julia Ellen Gaffaney on August 23, 1943: "Peter B is confined to the Sanotorium agin. It seems he still has a trace of T B on one lung. It is kind of hard luck after been released for more than a year. He was lucky in not leaving in the meantime. He staid on as a kind of janitor, still its kind of tough to be put back to bed."

Ed L. Martin is buried in the Kirkland Cemetery next to Peter J. Brown, a brother of his sister Mary's husband John J. Brown. Peter had bought 20 acres of land in Kirkland and John J. Brown lived there until he died; John J. Brown is also buried in this cemetery. John Henry Martin is also buried here.
Frank C. Martin and John Francis Martin are buried in the Greenwood Cemetery, Bend, Oregon.
Mayme Wolfe Martin and Elmer H. Jensen are buried in Sunset Hills Memorial Park, Bellevue, Washington.

There's a Bernard J. Shanks, age 22, in the 1930 census of Seattle with his 17-year-old wife Jenny M. (not Alice M?). It says his father was born in Minnesota and mother (incorrectly) in Wisconsin. Bernard was born in Washington and his wife in Oregon. Lodging in the same place, probably coincidently, is Peter J. Brown. Each of these would be a first cousin to Ambrose Gaffaney, one on his father's side, one on his mother's.

2.
womanMargaret Eleanor "Maggie" Brown‏
Born ‎9 Aug 1895 Bangor Township, Pope County, Minnesota, died ‎17 Dec 1973 The Dalles, Wasco County, Oregon Event Description: St. Nicholas Cemetery, Stearns County‎, age 78 years
Peter and his sister Margaret were with his grandparents, the William and Catherine Martin family, in the 1900 census in Bangor Township, Pope County. Their mother had died two years earlier. They are still with them in the 1910 census, but in Sedan, Pope County.

On October 12, 1921 his Margaret married Joseph Wirtzfeld in Villard, with the reception at the home of the William E. Martin family there. Lyle Martin, age nearly 13, remembers Margaret Brown Wirtzfeld saying she had reached her father who was working in North Dakota at the time, but that he was unable to come for the wedding.

In 1930 they're living in Martin, Sheridan, North Dakota with four children.

3.
man‎William Francis "Frankie" Brown‏‎
Born ‎15 Aug 1897 Raymond Township, Stearns County, Minnesota, died ‎12 Sep 1898 Raymond Township, Stearns County, Minnesota Event Description: Padua Cemetery, Stearns, Minnesota‎, age 1 year and 4 weeks, buried Padua, Stearns County, Minnesota
Died with his mother when about a year old.


William F. Brown was born August 15, 1897 in Raymond Township. He was the son of John J. and Mary (Martin) Brown. According to church records William died on September 12, 1898, from typhoid fever. He is buried by his mother and grandparents John and Bridget Brown. His grandparents William and Catherine Martin are also buried in Padua.


rooneys-minnesota.com
2nd marriage
man‎John James "John H, born in Minesota 1871 (1895 census)" Brown‏‎

Married to:

N.N.‎