Prompt: FAMILY LORE                                                                                          JAN 5, 2024

Little Vincent Huneke born Dec 3, 1901, in Brooklyn, New York, loved playing with his grandfather, Anthony Rush born Nov 16, 1835 in Roscommon, Ireland. Vincent was living at 334 39^th Street, Brooklyn, New York with his father, George Huneke, his mother, Margaret, his siblings, Helen, Bernadette, Lillian, and George C and his grandfather, Anthony Rush and his uncle Patrick J. Rush.

They were getting ready for winter and Vincent was out with his granda chopping wood.  At 75, Anthony had a little loss of hearing and a touch of senility. That didn’t stop him from telling his grandsire stories of his antics in the Civil War.  With his strong Irish brogue, he told Vincent of the various battles that Company C of the 78^th New York Regiment Infantry engaged in.  I Imagine it went something like this:

Aye, the memories of war, lad, they cling to you like the scent of gunpowder and sweat.

I remember it like it was yesterday. It was a hot day that August of 1862. We were at Cedar Mountain in Culpepper County, Virginia. There were rolling hills that reminded me of my home in Ireland.  But the forest was thick and that helped us battle those confederates.  So many were wounded and died, but I survived.

Just a month later, on an early September morning, the battle of Antietam occurred in Maryland. Now that was a battle to end all battles, but it didn’t! The air was thick with smoke and the sounds of canons. We were able to push those confederates back. But that damn Lee refused to retreat, and the battle continued into the evening. We were all exhausted!!

Aye, then there was that Battle at Chancellorsville. That was three days of hell in May 1863.  We marched in with numbers on our side, a tide of blue against the rebel gray. Yet, Lee, the old fox, outsmarted us. He slithered through the thickets, flanking us with whispers of steel and smoke. The union was outsmarted, and we had to retreat. 

Aye, this damn lumbago!! It’s a brutal beast that has caused me so many problems since that bullet caught me. I was shot by some johnny reb in Chancellorsville.

Vincent, a rambunctious little boy, rolled his eyes at the blarney his granda was giving him. He had heard the stories before, and the ailments Anthony complained about. Finally, after hearing enough, Vincent says, “Well, you wouldn’t have been shot in the back if you weren’t runnin’ away!” At that, Anthony picked up his axe and hurled it at Vincent missing him by a hair.

This family story led to years of research and the truth.  Anthony was in those battles, and he was shot at the Battle of Chancellorsville on May 2, 1863.  His left hand near his index finger had a bullet through it. Per his deposition to the special counsel regarding pension Anthony says, “…he looked at my hand; three or four other doctors were busy amputating and the hospital steward – don’t know his name – washed my hand. The doctor bound up my hand and I remained about two days around camp when we got (unable to read) away. Doctor took out splinters of bone; I didn’t go to hospital; the troops fell back about the 5^th of May and I joined the regiment….”

It always made the family proud that their ancestor was fighting for the union army and they would chuckle to think he was running away when he got shot.  He wasn’t running – he was fighting!!

 

Prompt: “Should have been a movie”                                                               May 4, 2023

The Case of the “Hobby Horse” was a real whodunnit what should have been a movie.

https://www.heartofconeyisland.com/steeplechase-park-coney-island.html

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s Coney Island, New York offered much fun and relaxation for the rich and poor alike.  The beaches, the delicious new Coney Island Hot Dog, and the Steeplechase ride! This ride was invented by George C. Tilyou who was looking for ways for people to have fun.  He had started with the Ferris Wheel and then built this magnificent structure in 1897.   The ride was gravity-powered, and the six horses made of steel, wood, and wheels could go up to 25 miles per hour on six parallel rails.

Each horse held 2 people.

 https://www.heartofconeyisland.com/steeplechase-park-coney-island.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steeplechase_Park

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRiwXzgCaVQ -video of the Steeplechase Ride at Coney Island

On a sunny day in August 1897¹ the amusement park was packed with people. George Huneke and his friend John Walters wanted to experience a thrill-seeking adventure on the Steeplechase. They probably stopped for a hot dog and maybe a beer and got on the ride.  John and George paid the 25 cents and John sat on the front of the horse and George on the back. On the horse next to John and George was a young woman.

 After being on the ride for about 30-40 feet, George says, “(I) experienced a sudden jar which threw (me) violently forward and to one side and then off the horse. The horse proceeded and (my) leg was mangled”.² George went right to the hospital and that night had his left leg³ amputated from above the knee. (The 12 Mar 1903 newspaper article “Mounted Horse in Court” says it was his right leg that was crushed-we cannot be sure which leg was injured,)

Having only one leg must have caused hardship for George, his wife Margaret (nee Rush) and their children: Marguerite, Helen, Bernadette, Ester (who died at 2 weeks of age) and their newest child, Vincent born 1901. As a Mercantile clerk, he couldn’t earn much to support his family. George likely used a prosthetic leg such as the one in the picture.

In March of 1902, George decided to sue the West Brighton Amusement Company, who owned Steeplechase, and George C. Tilyou, one of the directors, for $30,000 .  It became known as the “hobby horse case” because the steeplechase horse stood in the middle of the courtroom during the trial.   After a week and a half of testimony, Justice Betts awarded George $25,429.24. WOW!! This was one of the “heaviest verdicts ever rendered by a jury in Kings County”. That was a lot of money in 1902!! This much money could have offered the Huneke family a nicer home, clothing and maybe a better prosthetic leg!

By July 1902, the West Brighton Amusement Company still had not paid a cent and George started another judgement against the Company, In February 1903 the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court reversed the earlier judgement and the case was sent back for another trial. According to The Brooklyn Daily Times⁴, during the first trial, the jury was instructed to “Infer from the accident having occurred that the defendant (West Brighton Amusement Company) was negligent”. Justice Bartlett, who was now proceeding with the current judgement said,

“It seems quite clear to my mind that in a case like this, where there is a square issue upon the proof, as to which of two actors, the plaintiff or the defendant, caused the fall which injured the plaintiff, it is error to tell the jury that they many infer that the defendant is the party responsible therefor simply from the fact that the accident occurred.”

The defense, West Brighton Amusement Company, gave up interest in the steeplechase ride in April 1902 and  the property now belonged to George C. Tilyou.  Tilyou says that all the equipment on the Steeplechase was working well on that summer day in 1897 but George was “skylarking” (horsing around – no pun intended).  They say he was leaning over to interact with the woman on the next horse trying to grab her reins when his leg got caught under the hind leg of his horse and his leg was mangled. 

In trying to prove a point, Stephen C. Baldwin, George’s attorney, mounted one of the steeplechase horses that was in the courtroom and per the Brooklyn Daily Times and said:

“Gentlemen of the jury,….you notice that my legs are long. The defense set up is that Huneke was skylarking and leaning over to catch the bridle of another horse ridden by a young woman, and that his leg went under the body of the horse and was caught by the horse’s hind leg and a stanchion.  Gentlemen of the jury, I am now leaning over.  As I said, I have long legs, yet you see that it would be impossible for even my long legs to go under the horse and be broken and torn as was the leg of Huneke”.⁵

The jury could not agree on a verdict. There was talk of another trial, but I was unable to get any court documents regarding any of the trials .  One can only imagine what really happened on that day on the steeplechase ride. 

 

1. “Verdict of $25,000 For Loss of a Leg”, The Brooklyn Citizen 14 Mar 1902 page 11

2.  “25,000 Verdict Set Aside” Brooklyn Times, Brooklyn, New York,  Friday February 13, 1903,  page 1, column 2.

3.  “Verdict for $25,000.” The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, New York, Friday March 14, 1902 page 12.

4. ”$25,000 Verdict Set Aside” The Brooklyn Daily Times: Brooklyn, New York, Friday, February 13, 1903 page 1.

5. “Mounted Horse in Court”, The Brooklyn Daily Times; Brooklyn, New York; Thursday, March 12, 1903 page 4.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I Can Identify”                                                                                        February 16, 2023

 As I embarked on my genealogical journey for both Mark and me, it was important to know who came to the United States and when.  Who was the FIRST to arrive?

For my side of the family I identified the following:

• ·       Andrea Titone arrived 1899 – Santa Margarita, Sicily, Italy
• ·       Carlo Beccherini arrived 1903 – Borghetto, Lodigiano, Italy
• ·       Angelina Maria Bianchi arrived 1904 – Treviglio, Italy
• ·       Philip Vampatella arrived 1913 – Vittoria, Sicily, Italy
• ·       Sebastiano Rapuano arrived 1889 – Benevento, Italy
• ·       Mariella Fazio arrived 1897 – San Valentino, Italy

For Mark’s side of the family I still struggle.  So far I have identified the following:

• ·       Charles Francis Gallagher arrived 1908 – Ballyshannon, Donegal, Ireland
• ·       Edward Duffy arrived about 1890 – somewhere in Ireland
• ·       Katherine McMahon arrived about 1895 – somewhere in Ireland
• ·       George Huneke unknown arrival but likely from Germany
• ·       George Huneke’s wife???
• ·       Anthony Rush arrived 1853 – ROSCOMMON, Ireland
• ·       Ellen McLaughlin arrived about 1860 – somewhere in Ireland
• ·       Leo Mendus arrived 1878 – probably from Lipiniak, Galicia, Poland
• ·       Pauline Kreher arrived 1897 – possibly from Austria or Poland Przemysl (pronounced Shemmish) in Galicia Poland

 

When doing any kind of genealogical research it is very important to find the country, the county and then the town the ancestor came from.  At this moment, Anthony Rush won the prize for being the first of our ancestors to arrive in the United States!! Yay, Anthony!! But Anthony does not say where he came from in Ireland. I know, you see Roscommon next to his name---read on.

 an Gorta Mór – The Great Hunger

Anthony was born 16 November 1835 or that’s what he always claimed.  Birth dates were not always accurate.  Nonetheless, he was probably a happy little boy playing on the farm with his parents and siblings (I do not know of any siblings at this time). The fields were lush, lots of rocks, and the sun shone through from time to time.  In 1845 a fungus caused the potatoes, a main staple of the Irish farmer, to turn black and inedible. They could not eat them nor sell them causing a great deal of starvation and homelessness.  This blight ended about 1852. What did he endure during those years? Did he lose his parents? Siblings? Did he have to stay in a workhouse? What we do know is that he came to the US in 1853. Did he go to England then to the US? Or just come to the US directly?

 Here is a wonderful article regarding the potato famine: https://tinyurl.com/d68ek76h

 

Civil War

Details about where Anthony was and what he was doing in the United States after he arrived is unclear, but we do know he entered the Civil war 31 March 1862.  He volunteered for the 78^th NY Infantry company C.  He was in the war until the end, mustering out on 21 July 1865.  Usually, military documents are a wealth of information, but Anthony was less than forthcoming regarding where he came from in Ireland.

I decided to obtain his complete pension files and Compiled Military Records from National Archives and Record Administration (NARA). Hundreds of pages to read through and I found out where and when he was married and the name of the priest who married them, where he was living, who his wife and children were, how tall he was and how much money he was receiving from his pension, but still no location in Ireland, Listing only the country and not the county, as the Irish normally would.

Anthony was requesting an increase in pension for the gun shot wound he got to his left index finger during the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863. (Mark and I visited the battle site and were able to track his unit’s moves on preserved and marked maps.)  He was deposed many times, but on the 3^rd of March 1905 in the state of Tennessee at the Mountain Branch National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, he finally says he was born in Roscommon, Ireland!!  

After many years of searching, I finally was able to Identify the county in Ireland from which he came! Now to identify a town in Roscommon!! Sigh……