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Imagine being born right after the Civil War and living to see the Space Age.  Imagine growing up with the Brooklyn Bridge being built right in your neighborhood.  Imagine traveling first on foot and  horse drawn vehicles, then subways, buses and automobiles.  Imagine going from newspapers to television.

My maternal great grandmother, Margaret Ryan Brennan, was born in 1867 and lived 91 years.  When she died in 1958 she had witnessed what were arguably the most rapid changes in history.  But what was really amazing about Grandma Brennan’s life were the number of challenges she faced head on. There were no “safe spaces” for Grandma Brennan.  And throughout all those challenges, she was beloved by her family.

Margaret gave birth to seven children and lost three in infancy and childhood.  When her surviving children were grown, she raised two grandchildren from early childhood.  All  were devoted to her.  One of her grandchildren told me that if she was playing with her friends and saw her grandmother walking down the street, she ran from her friends to be with her grandmother.

The few photos of Margaret show a very formidable looking woman.  In her older years she secured her long gray hair in a bun or a braid.  But the photos do not tell the real story.  She had a very big heart.

Margaret grew up in Five Points, a neighborhood in lower Manhattan, known as one of the worst slums in the western world in the 1800s. Five Points was densely populated, disease ridden, and had sky high infant and child mortality rates.  Unemployment, prostitution, and violent crime were constants in Five Points.  The 2002 movie, Gangs of New York, based on the book of the same name, was set in Five Points roughly a decade before Margaret was born. (*See below)

Margaret Donahue and Michael Ryan, Margaret’s parents, were born in Ireland and came to this country no doubt to escape the horrific conditions in Ireland during the Potato Famine.  They had at least 8 children of whom 7 survived.  

When Margaret was 10, her infant brother, William Antony, died.  His twin, James Henry, survived.  In 1880 when she was 13,  her youngest sister,  Tessie, was born.  Less than one month later, their father died under very suspicious circumstances.

Michael Ryan, a porter on the docks, had been given a promotion.   The family had moved to what were probably better living quarters and definitely in a better location, New-Chambers Street.  But co-workers were envious of Michael’s new position.  The coroner’s report did not resolve whether Michael  jumped or fell.   There were those who questioned whether he had been pushed.

 So at age 13, Margaret found herself with the responsibilities of an adult which she had  probably already had.  She and her 16 year old brother, John, and 14 year old sister, Mary Agnes, either had to work or help care for sister Delia, 10, brothers, Michael, 5, and James Henry, 3 and infant Tessie. 

In those days there was no such thing as social security or welfare.  It must not have been easy for the Ryan family to earn enough money just to survive.   Michael’s supervisor was so disturbed by Michael’s death that he invested in a candy shop for Margaret’s mother to operate.  But she was unable to make a success of the shop.  Life must have been very difficult for the family.

The good news for the Ryans was that it was a period of great economic growth in this country.  The year Michael died telephones were introduced in New York City.  There were many new inventions and discoveries.  One was the incandescent light bulb invented by Thomas Edison.  In 1882, Edison opened the first central power station in the United States on the very same block, Pearl Street, where the Ryan family had been living two years earlier.  

This undated photo shows Margaret, 6th from right, when she was a “career girl”.  We can only assume she was employed by Z. Siebert, the printer, who was located on 7th Avenue in the 1890s.

Unusual for that day and time, Margaret was 27 when she married 32 year old Thomas Joseph Brennan in 1894.  The average age for women to marry then was 22.  Thomas had lost his father around the same time as Margaret had lost her father so perhaps they both remained at home to help their widowed mothers.

Margaret and Thomas were married in St. Brigid’s Church located in the East Village, a few blocks from Margaret’s residence on 5th Street.  St. Brigid’s is also known as the Famine Church as it was organized to serve the influx of Irish immigrants escaping the Great Famine and working on the nearby docks—just like Margaret’s family.

Thomas had a good job as a dock builder.   New York City was one of the busiest harbors in the world.  Dock-builders were skilled tradesmen and much in demand.  The newlyweds moved an hour north of Five Points to an area called Morningside Heights.  Surely, it was like heaven to Margaret.  

Morningside Heights is on the West Side of Upper Manhattan. When Margaret and Thomas moved there it was just beginning to be transformed into an academic, religious and cultural  center.  Columbia University moved its campus there.  The Cathedral of St. John the Divine was built along with several other notable churches.  It was an exciting place.

It took some doing to find the actual building where Margaret and Thomas lived because Columbus Avenue becomes Morningside Drive on maps above 110th Street.  Those knowledgeable believe the Brennan apartment building, 1291 Columbus Avenue, was at the intersection of 124th Street and Hancock Place.  The really exciting find was an advertisement for a 5 room apartment in their very building two months before they married!  It may have been their apartment—5 rooms for $18 a month.

In all likelihood the rooms were all purpose, except for the kitchen.  Rooms were not designated as bedrooms or parlor as there were seldom closets. Typically, you walked through one room to get to the next without a hallway.   The bath was actually in the hall. The kitchen would have had a tub which doubled as a counter when covered and not in use as a bath.  Water was heated on a range and used to fill the tub as the apartments only had cold water.  But my guess is that this would have been Margaret’s first encounter with indoor plumbing.

Within a year of their marriage, Margaret and Thomas had twins.  Thomas and Catherine (Katie) were born prematurely on 18 July 1895.  Within seven hours of birth, Thomas died of acute bronchitis.  Thomas was buried in St. Michael’s Cemetery in Queens on July 20th, the second hottest day of that year with temperatures reaching 93 degrees.  

One year later and off by only one day, 19 July 1896, the Brennans had a second set of twins, William (Willie) and Ellen (Nellie). The odds of giving birth to two consecutive sets of twins are 1 in 700,000.  Margaret beat those odds and reportedly advised against having twins!

 

In 1896, the Brennans had three children under the age of two.  Margaret later expressed the wish that pablum had been introduced decades earlier as she had to get up at 3 am in order to prepare enough food for all her babies.

During that summer of 1896 New York City experienced a heat wave that killed nearly 1,500 people.  There were 10 consecutive days with temperatures reaching 90 degrees at street level with 90 percent humidity.  Temperatures did not even drop at night.  There was no relief.  In those days fans were only available to  the very wealthy.  It must have been difficult to keep those babies comfortable in such heat.

Two years after Willie and Nellie were born, Sophia was born.  By then, the young family had moved to 1299 Eighth Avenue, on the southern end of Columbus Circle and a walk across the street to Central Park. 

A year later, May 28, 1899, sadness struck again.  Katie died of acute double pneumonia.  She was three years, 10 months and 10 days old.  In all probability, antibiotics would have saved Katie’s life just as they might have saved her twin brother.

In 1902 the Ryans welcomed another daughter into the family.  Marguerite  was born at home on February 8.  The family was then living at 2754 Eighth Avenue.  

While still living in the same apartment in 1905, the Brennans had their last child, a daughter, Mary.  Mary, the baby of the family had older sisters, Nellie, 9, Sophia, 7, and Margaret, 3, and an older brother, Willie, 9.

The Brennans endured still another blow…in 1906 Marguerite died of acute nephritis, inflammation of the kidneys probably caused by an infection such as strep throat.  She was four years, five months and one day old.  Now quite familiar with serious illness, Margaret and Thomas had taken steps to obtain what they believed to be quality medical care. They had admitted their daughter to the Laura Franklin Free Hospital for Children.   

But did Margaret and Thomas know that the Laura Franklin Hospital practiced homeopathic medicine? Homeopathy, a medical system based on the belief that the body can cure itself,  uses tiny amounts of natural substances, like plants and minerals, to treat patients.  Nephritis was among the top ten leading causes of death in this country during most of the 20th century.  Sadly, it was unlikely to respond to homeopathic care. 

Little is recorded of the life of the Brennan family for the next decade.  The family moved frequently roughly within the same neighborhood Eighth Avenue and West 145 or West 146 Street.  Margaret lived in more than a dozen different places during her adult life—all within Manhattan.  Half was lived in Harlem and the rest in the Washington Heights neighborhood.

In New York City “Moving Day” was a tradition that began in colonial times and lasted until after World War II.  Tenants were given notice on February 1, Rent Day, of what the new rent would be at the end of the quarter.  Tenants would spend early spring looking for new apartments and the best deals.  On May 1 at 9 am, all leases expired and thousands of people would change their residence at the same time. 

The Brennans were certainly part of that Moving Day excitement!

In 1917 Nellie, who had married the year before, gave birth to a daughter, Evelyn.  Margaret and Thomas became grandparents for the first time.   Also that year the United States entered World War I.  Willie was sent to fight in Europe the following year.  One can only guess how many prayers Margaret said while her only son served in that awful war in Europe. 

But it was Willie’s marriage in the early 1920s which profoundly changed what would have been “retirement years” for Margaret and Thomas.  Willie and his wife had a son and a daughter.  They soon separated and Willie was given custody of the two very young children.  There are several variations on how this event unfolded but one fact is a constant—Margaret’s willingness to care for her grandchildren.  Willie had to work—Margaret and Thomas were “parents” again.  Margaret was around 60 years old and Thomas in his mid 60s.  

Within a few years, the United States was in the midst of the Great Depression…one in four Americans had no work.  It would only get worse.  Margaret and Thomas had to provide not only for themselves but to help Willie with two young children.  Evidence suggests the way they did this was to move to 559 West 182nd Street in the Washington Heights neighborhood.  Thomas became the “Caretaker” of the building.  In those days the “Caretaker Manager” was created to collect the rent and maintain the building.

The 1930 census reveals that there were 7 “tenants” in the apartment building in addition to Margaret and Thomas, son, Willie, daughter, Mary, and two grandchildren.  The rent was $100 a month, which in today’s dollars would be $1,599.  Thomas was the only resident paying rent so the tenants obviously sublet rooms from Thomas.  It worked and provided for the family.  It would be interesting to know how the space in the building was used.

The tenants, all but one, were Irish, most born in Ireland.The lone non-Irishman was a Rumanian musician.The Brennans had a radio so life may have been quite a bit of fun on West 182nd Street.

By 1935 the family had moved to 394 Audubon Avenue, only a few blocks away.  This was a smaller home and easier to maintain.  Margaret reportedly delighted in sitting on the front porch there and chatting with the neighbors.

Three years later, Thomas died suddenly.  Thomas suffered from chronic nephritis but his death certificate indicates that he had fallen off a chair and fractured his leg a few weeks earlier and this had contributed to his death.  Margaret and Thomas had been married for 43 years.

The first two television stations aired in New York City in 1941.  At some point Margaret acquired a television set and became a big fan of Arthur Godfrey.  No doubt she had listened to him on the radio.  It is amazing to think that a television brought Queen Elizabeth’s coronation right into Margaret’s living room.

But also in 1941 the United States entered World War II.  My mother told me many times that her cousins, Margaret’s grandsons, went to Mass every day to pray that they would be drafted into service.  In 1943 first Edward and then Thomas signed up for the Marines.  They served in the South Pacific and saw some of the very worst battles of the war.  Once again Margaret was left to pray and to worry.  Her prayers were answered as both returned home, though Edward had suffered serious injuries.

By 1945 Margaret had moved to 187th Street where she lived with her daughter, Nellie.  There is no record of Margaret ever living without one or more of her children around her.

My mother explained that every morning Margaret walked around the block followed by her cat in order to buy fresh rolls from the bakery.  The significance of this walk is that Margaret did not wear a hat.  My mother was certain that this is why Margaret developed tic douloureux.

Tic douloureux or trigeminal neuralgia is a severe, stabbing pain to  one side of the face.  It is considered one of the most painful conditions to affect people.  There were no really effective medications when Margaret suffered from this condition.  Episodes could last weeks or months.  The only available option to minimize the pain Margaret was an injection administered between her eyes.  The doctor, evidently, was unwilling to perform this procedure if his hand was not completely steady.  But other than this painful condition, Margaret must have enjoyed good health.

In June of 1958 Margaret celebrated her 91st birthday.  Six months later she passed away of natural causes.  She lived longer than any of her siblings except the “baby” of the family, Tessie.  As in life, Margaret had her children and many of her grandchildren close by.  A life truly well lived…

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**When Europeans first settled in Manhattan there was  a 48 acre fresh water pond known as Collect Pond.  Businesses took advantage of the pond water and eventually polluted it.  It became a serious health threat.  The decision was made to fill in the pond, but  the project was badly engineered.  Middle class homes were built on the land, but the homes began to shift.  The unpaved streets were frequently a foot deep in mud and sewage.  The middle class moved out just in time for the waves of immigrants arriving from Europe.  

In 1880, Margaret’s family lived at 515 Pearl Street, which appears to be on land reclaimed from Collect Pond or very close to it.   Their building was about two blocks from the intersection after which Five Points was named.