The Condons from County Waterford, Ireland

Redmond Condon and his brother Robert left from the small town of Knockaneris, Ireland and came to the big city of Chicago in the late 1880s. If you look on the map below you will see that Waterford is separated into West & East. The lower left corner of the map (southwest County Waterford) is where you will find the parish of Clashmore and the small town of Knockaneris.



Redmond Condon married Mary Quinlan in Chicago on Nov 17, 1889 at St. Bridget Church in the Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago. Originally situated at the corners of Arch & Archer, St. Bridget's was torn down a few years ago. Mary Quinlan was also born in Clashmore Parish, in a small town called Ballanamultina. They must have known each other when they lived there, although notes from Aunt Mae Condon indicate that they met at a boarding house here in Chicago.

In 1900, they lived at 2929 Lyman Street in Chicago, not far from St. Bridget's. You can click here to see what that very house looks like today. It is still standing. You can also read the 1900 Census Sheet for the Condon family.

BIOGRAPHICAL STATS:
REDMOND CONDON
b. Aug 13, 1859 - Knockaneris, Clashmore, Waterford, Ireland
d. Nov 10, 1932 - Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA

MARY QUINLAN CONDON
b. Dec 26, 1864 - Ballanamultina, Clashmore, Waterford, Ireland
d. Jul 4, 1949 - Chicago, Cook, Illlinois, USA

To read more about the demolition of St. Bridget's, click here:
http://www.bc.edu/publications/bcm/spring_2005/c21_chicago.html

For a view of where St. Bridget's used to be, check out this map.

For more information on churches in Bridgeport in the early 1900s, check out the
Detail from Map of Chicago Showing Location of All Catholic Churches, 1926

And finally, you can learn more about Clashmore Parish by clicking here.

More Madrzjewski Info

When I was a teenager, Nana Condon told my mom and I about her brother JOHN MADRZJEWSKI who had been born in Poland and came to America with their parents. John had two daughters and had caught his wife with another man and shot her to death. When we asked Aunt Carrie about it, she told us that the family "does not talk about that." But in the following years she did confirm the story.

Click here to read the details from Chicago's Historical Homicide Database.

We had been told that he shot both her and the man she was with, but I cannot find any record of a man being killed, just John's wife Mary. Aunt Carrie said John lived the rest of his life on a work farm at Stateville Prison in Joliet.

John Madrzjewski was born about 1880 in Poland and died on Jan. 21, 1924. He and Mary were married in about 1904 and had two daughters, Mammie (b1906) and Irene (b1908).

In the 1910 census he is listed as living at 1050 W. 32st Place, which is right around the corner from St. Mary of Perpetual Help Church. He shot Mary to death at 3117 S. Normal in Bridgeport.

His death certificate lists him as living with his brother Joseph at the time of his death, which is odd because that would mean he was already out of prison. Perhaps they simply listed that as his address? Joseph was also listed as the 'informant' on the death certificate, I am working to track more info down on that. Four years seems too short of a sentence for murder, and Aunt Carrie said he lived 'at the work farm' the rest of his life. She was 24 years old when he died, and she was living nearby in Bridgeport so she would certainly have known.

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Meet the Madrzjewski Family!

Our Polish ancestors came here from Poland in 1881. Led by Jakob Madrzjewski who was born in Poland about 1854, the family came and settled in Chicago.

Back row, second from left is Josephine Madrzjewski; fourth from left is her daughter Tillie (Theodosia) Madrzjewska Lasin; middle row in center with the face scratched out is Carrie (Kasmira) Madrzjewska Stube; front row center is Verna (Veronica) Madrzjewska Condon. I think that to the right of Veronica is Steve Madrzjewski but I am not sure. And it's probable that the man in the back row is Jakob but I do not know for sure.

According to Aunt Carrie, every year more of their Polish family members would arrive from Poland, and they would go to meet them as they came across Lake Michigan from Grand Rapids, MI. They would take them into their own home for a year or so until they could afford their own place, and then they began all over again with more relatives the next year.

Aunt Carrie often spoke about sleeping 3 people to a bed, and about how their family actually had 2 apartments in their building because there was so many of them. They all attended St. Mary of Perpetual Help Church, which is actually my church now! I have several of the baptismal records etc. from St. Mary's, which is on the corner of 32nd & Aberdeen in Chicago. At the time of the 1900 & 1910 census, they were living a couple of blocks away at 3216 Aberdeen (which was called Mosspratt at the time.) Interestingly, they also owned their home free and clear in 1900 and 1910 as evidenced by the census data. In 1920 & 1930, we find Jacob gone and Josephine living at 3118 Mosspratt renting her apartment and living with some of her children.

Also of interest is that Tillie (Theodosia Madrzjewska) Lasin is living with her husband Harry (Gerome Lasinski) Lasin in the same building as her parents in the 1910 census. We later find some Lasinskis (Leszcynski) living at 3118 Mosspratt with Josephine in 1930.

Jacob (Jakob) Madrzejewski came here with his wife Josephine (Jozefa) and their son John who was born in Poland. They changed their name to MODJESKI at some point, and that is how it has been spelled since about the 1940s. It is also how it was spelled in the 1920 census, but it was spelled Mondrzejewski in the 1930 census. Many names were changed at Ellis Island, but as you can see from the census records here, they were still spelling it Madrzjewski. (Please note that in the Polish language, the woman would use an "A" at the end of the last name and the man would use an "I". So it will be MADRZJEWSKA for women and MADRZJEWSKI for men.) Because of the difficulties with the Polish language, I have found it spelled a variety of ways in various census records, including: Mondrzjewski, Modrzjewski, Madrzjewski and Madrezejewski. The proper pronunciation in English would be "Mown-ja-YEV-ski."(Emphasis in the YEV portion of the name.)

You can click on these links below to view the various census records for the family:
1900 Census
1910 Census
1920 Census
1930 Census

Jakob & Jozefa are both buried in Lot 24, Block J, Section St. Stanislaus of St. Adalbert's Cemetery in Niles, IL. You can CLICK HERE to see the genealogy from Jakob & Jozefa on down.

Please also EMAIL ME, with any additions to the family tree you may have. This is a large project, and I'd like to be as complete as possible, so please email me any info you have.

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Our Ancestors Were British Loyalists

Yep. We can trace back to the revolutionary war, all right -- but on the side of the British. When you trace back the Barker line to Canada, where James Barker married Julia Isabelle Smith - and you trace Smith's line back to their arrival in Canada, you meet WILLIAM TRAVIS (sometimes Travis) - who was our GGGGGGG grandfather. William was born about 1742 near Van Cortlandt Manor in Westchester County, NY. He died in January 1779 in a British garrison in NY. At that time, his wife Elizabeth fled NY for New Brunswick, Canada, along with a lot of other Loyalists who feared for their lives. Canada, being British-controlled, was a safe haven for the Loyalists. Click here to read an excerpt from "Loyalist Settlements 1783-1789: New Evidence of Canadian Loyalist Claims"in the Ontario Archives. This claim was made by Elizabeth Travis to the crown for losses in the states. She lists her youngest children all as "infants" although their ages vary by several years. Click here to read the Calendar of Historical Manuscripts Relating to the War of the Revolution. Vol II page 171-3, which lists the estates of both William and Jeremiah Traviss as having been confiscated because they had both gone to the enemy. Here are several muster rolls showing various Travis family members who served the Loyalist cause: http://www.genealogycanada.ca/newyork/muster/muster2.htm http://www.genealogycanada.ca/newyork/muster/muster1.htm http://www.genealogycanada.ca/newyork/muster/muster3.htm More interesting info on the Traviss family to come!

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Welcome to the Family Geneaology Blog!

As you know, I've been doing genealogy research for some time, and there's a lot to share with all of you! This blog is a great way for me to update you on my findings, and even answer any questions you may have about our ancestors.

UPDATE 2020:
A lot of the links on here go to an old family tree website that is not there anymore since I "cut the cord" with Comcast a few years ago. LOL!  I am working on updating those links this fall. I have been focusing on most of content on ancestry.com and 23andMe.  Please feel free to access either site for more info, or contact me for help!