The Hogan Family

Michael Hogan came with his wife, Bridget (McCarty) Hogan from Mullugh Parish, County Clare Ireland. We found that Michael and Bridget emigrated from Ireland as a result of the potato famine. According to the passenger lists we located,the Hogans sailed from Dublin and arrived in New York City on July 2, 1847. We discovered the ship they traveled on was the Warren. This would mean that the Hogans had to journeyfrom the west coast of Ireland to the eastern port of Dublin to begin their trek to America.They, along with a few other Irish families, created the community of New Ireland in Cattaraugus county. Michael and Bridget had several children: Mary, Daniel, Margaret (Margie), Michael, and Cornelius (Con). Mary Hogan wed James Townsendbefore they emigrated to New Ireland. The Hogans, along with most of the other families in the settlement, were farmers. Michael Hogan died at the age of 63, on January 19, 1872. Margaret became a servant of a local Catholic priest, native frenchmen George Zurcher. This was a strange occurence for the time, as parish priests were generally the same nationality as the majority of their congregation. Con and Michael remained home with their mother Bridget.

Con married Ellen Keough on November 25, 1885 in St. Patrick's Church in Limestone.They had eight children, six of which survived their first year of life. Marrium (Mary), Nellie, Anna(Annie), John, Cornelius Francis, and Joseph were the fortunate six. Teresa, who was born in 1899, and Grace, who was born in 1906, are classic examples of the shocking child mortality rate of the period.

The Hogan girls,Mary and Ann,became teachers at the school in New Ireland. The tiny school consisted of one room, which held children ingrades one through eight. In my interview with John Walker, who was born in 1894, he mentions being taught by Mary. John vividly recalls the Hogan girls as being "real lookers"! Ann taught inboth the New Ireland school and also in the France Brook school, after which she moved to the Oklahoma/Texas area in pursuit of the oil industry.

Following the example of many women of the early ninteenth century, Nellie Hogan joined the work force. She worked in various jobs such as a stenographer in about 1910, and a hotel waitress in about 1915. During this time period women began to leave their conventional domestic jobs of the past and pursue various modern careers established during the Industrial Revolution. A few of the newemploymentopportunities created by the revolution were stenographer, and telephone operator. Though these jobs seem menial by today's standards, they were a great step toward liberation for women of this era. Unexpectedly, this brought about many other changes to American society. Women married at a later age, and subsequently there was a significant reduction in family size.

More Hogan family information can be found on my Hogan library page!

Ms. Gretchen Szymanski, who did the research on the Hogan family, graduated from Canisius College in 2002 earning a Baccalaureate in Science with a major in psychology. She is presently a counselor working within the Social Services system.