Mother Cadmus or Caddan

Patrick McCabe (1845-1912) and Ann Somers (1845-1904) were born in Ireland. In 1867 they married at Saint Peter's Catholic Church in Jersey City, Hudson County New Jersey. The buildings were reconstructed and expanded over time and are now part of Saint Peter's Preparatory School.

Three questions arise when first encountering an immigrant couple:

Where were they from?

Who were their parents?

Who are their relatives in their new home? 

This information can be found on marriage and death records, when the creator of the record writes down such information. Spoiler alert- nothing more than "Ireland" was on these records for Patrick and Ann.

Marriage records filed with the State of New Jersey for the years 1848 through 1878 are in the form of ledger books and can be (mostly) found on Ancestry. 

Ledger entry for marriage of Patrick McCabe and Ann Somers.
Married July 28, 1867 in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey.
Acces through Ancestry.com collection

Close up of the names of the parents of Patrick McCabe and Ann Somers.
Surnames of mothers were omitted.

The marriage record at the State level gave the names of Patrick McCabe's parents as Ed and Elizabeth. Ann Somers' parents were Patrick and Julia. We need surnames for the mothers.

The records of Saint Peter's Church were copied to microfilm and then digitized; however, you cannot view the images at home. You can view the index- not the images- from home at FamilySearch.org.

Indexed entry for Saint Patrick's Church, Jersey City.
Patrick McCabe and Ann Somers married July 28, 1867.
Film number 1403371.

 

Location and availability of images of Saint Peter's Church records
via FamilySearch

Unlike the record filed with the State, the church record contains the names of the parents- according to this index. A trip to the nearest Family History Center enabled access to the image.

Ledger book of marriages at Saint Peter's Church in Jersey City.
The entry for Patrick McCabe and Ann Somers is on the left page, middle.

Close up of marriage entry for Patrick McCabe and Ann Somers, July 28, 1867.
See below for text.

The text appears to be:

July 28, 1867 

McCabe Patrick, aged 23, son of Edward McCabe and Elizabeth Caddmus,

to Ann Somers, aged 26, daughter of Patrick Somers and Julia Reilly.

Witnesses: Michael Welsh and Delia Rafferty.

Patrick Cody

 

I wrote "appears" because I am unsure of the name of Patrick's mother. The indexer typed "Caddan," but when viewing the entry, the handwriting looks like "Caddmus." Both are Irish surnames.

The added bonus of viewing the church record is the entry for witnesses. Presumably Michael Welsh and Delia Rafferty could have a relationship to either the groom or bride. At this point, I do not know their relationships, but at least the names are not terribly common.

The next source to view names of parents is the death certificate. Ann died in Jersey City in 1904 from apoplexy (most likely a stroke). I copied her death certificate from the Archives in Trenton. (New Jersey death certificates are not online.) Her parents match on both documents: Patrick Somers and Julia Reilly.

Death certificate of Ann McCabe.
Died July 18, 1904 in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Copied at New Jersey State Archives.

In 1912 Patrick died in New York City from chronic interstitial nephritis. I do not know why he moved there. Vital records for New York City are online at the website of the Department of Records and Information Services, but with clarification: 77% of the records are digitized. Deaths in Manhattan 1876-1919 have not been posted to the website as of this writing.

Screenshot of website of New York City Department of Records and Information Services.
77% of historical vital records have been digitized as of January 2025.

Patrick's death certificate is viewable at the Family History Center. It's a poor image. I hope that a cleaner image makes its way online.

Death certificate of Patrick McCabe.
Died August 18, 1912 in Manhattan.

The name of Patrick's mother on the death certificate could be Caddan, but I think it looks more like Cadmus.

Names and places of birth of Patrick McCabe's parents, as written on his death certificate.
Father- Patrick McCabe. Mother- Elizabeth Cadmus?
Both born in Ireland.

Below are both versions of Patrick McCabe's mother. Elizabeth's surname differs a little. The marriage record is the earlier record and should be more reliable than the later record. Patrick was alive at the time of making the marriage record. The informant for the death certificate may have had no personal knowledge of Patrick's parents.

Name of Patrick McCabe's mother.
Top image- marriage record from 1867.
Bottom image- death certificate from 1912.

The marriage and death records were necessary to obtain, but they only get us so far. McCabe is a common surname, perhaps too common to chase with this limited information.

Somers was easier. I located three siblings for Ann Somers in New York and New Jersey, thanks to DNA matches and cemetery records. That is for another article.

The next research move is to view the the baptismal records for the children of this couple. The sponsors could be related. Nine children have been identified so far, born from 1868 through 1884.

Discovering More Relatives in Catholic Cemeteries

Holy Name Cemetery is the final resting place for many of my family. The cemetery, also known as the Hudson County Catholic Cemetery, is in Jersey City, New Jersey.

From the New Jersey Records Preservation Group,

"The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark has made a small (but extremely significant!) improvement to their searchable database of burials (www.rcancem.org/find-a-loved-one-search). The database includes burials in some Catholic cemeteries within the Archdiocese of Newark (including Holy Name in Jersey City, Holy Cross in North Arlington, Holy Sepulchre in East Orange, and several other Catholic cemeteries in Essex, Bergen, Morris, and Union counties).

Until recently, a search for an individual in the database brought up the name of the deceased, the burial date, and the plot number. However, there was no way to search by plot number or to see who else was buried in the plot with that individual. The recent addition, a small magnifying glass to the right of an entry, generates a listing of individuals buried in the same plot with the person whose entry is listed. This is an extremely valuable tool for genealogists, who may find parents, children, siblings, and other extended family members buried in the same plot. There are still burials being added to the database, so it is an ongoing project.

This change was implemented following input and a suggestion from the New Jersey Records Preservation Group (www.NJRPG.org), who urged the Archdiocese to come up with a solution to help researchers determine who else is buried in plots with their loved ones."

Below are plot listings of people with no gravestones. Being able to view all the people in the plot is leading to new discoveries.

Edward Preston (1885-1903) and Michael Preston (1882-1918) were grandsons of Michael Preston (1813-1904).

Edward drowned after diving from the pier off 49th Street in Bayonne.

Michael was killed by a train (or murdered) in 1918.

Who is Edna Staley, died 1977? I have no idea.

She may be the Edna Mary Staley who appears in the Social Security Applications and Claims Index, born in 1921 in Schenectady, New York to Harry Staley and Edna Gallagher. I see no obvious connection to these Prestons.

Margaret Donovan (1855-1906), wife of John Coughlin (1854-1906), was a paternal aunt of little William.

William Donovan (1896-1900) was the son of Lawrence (or Laurence) Donovan (1862-1944) and Mary OReilly (1870-1944). Lawrence and Mary are buried in Block V, Section AA (see below).

I had no idea who else was buried with Margaret and William. Now I have two additional names, Eliza OLeary and Patrick Thompson, but I do not know how they relate. I will copy their death certificates on my next trip to the New Jersey State Archives.

As discussed above, Laurence Donovan and Mary OReilly, died 1944, were the parents of William, who died in 1900 and was buried with Laurence's sister Margaret in a separate plot.

William Donovan (1831-1897) and Ann Daly (1838-1893) were the parents of Laurence. They were from Skull East in Cork, Ireland.

Annie Esker, died 1895, was a surprise. Using the indexes of New Jersey marriages and deaths, she may be Mary E Esker, a baby who died in Bayonne a day before burial at Holy Name. Her parents could be William Esker and Margaret Dailey, who married at Saint Mary's Catholic Church in Bayonne in 1894. They could have some relationship to Ann Daly, which would be great, because I have nothing on Ann's ancestors.

Again, I need copy the records for these people to figure out the connections.