Bernice Hurley, 1922, Newburgh, Cleveland

Bernice
Hurley,
1922

This website includes a picture of the 1922 second grade class at Holy Name Parish on Broadway on the southeast side of Cleveland. My mother was in that class and identified most of the children in the picture. She identified the third young lady from our left in the back row as Bernice Hurley. There was a Bernice Hurley living in the area, described below, who is probably her.

Bernice was born July 22, 1914, in Cleveland, the daughter of Edward Hurley and Catherine Sadler. In 1920 she was living at 9408 Cassius Avenue with her parents and her maternal grandparents, William and Anna (Heffernan) Sadler. Also in the household were three of her mother's brothers, and Bernice's sister Edna May. She was still at home with her parents in 1930, at 9337 Harvard Avenue.

On July 22, 1938, Bernice was living at 4234 East 116th when she married Stanley J Mack. They were at 3311 Archwood in 1940. She died March 13, 2002, at a long term care facility in Westlake. Her home address at the time was 3078 W 137th St, Cleveland. She is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, Brook Park, along with her husband who died in November of that year. From the records it looked to me like they had at least two daughters, evidently born after the 1940 census.

The Sadlers

Bernice Hurley's first cousin, Peter Bolan, was also in this second grade class. His mother, Elizabeth Sadler, was Bernice's mother's sister. So for what I know about the Sadlers, which isn't much, you can see his article, Peter Bolan, 1922, Newburgh, Cleveland, or the database Trees > Ohio Families on this site.

The Hurleys

That leaves Bernice's father, Edward Hurley's, side of the family. He was born January 30, 1892, in Cleveland, the son of Michael Hurley and Anna Durkin. And that is about the end of the story for the Hurleys. Michael Hurley's death record didn't include his parents' names or birthplaces, and his death notice didn't mention brothers or sisters. If I had access to more of the Cleveland City Directories, I might have been able to spot a possible brother or cousin living at the same address as Michael, but I only had the 1916 edition.

One thing I did come across, though, is that the Hurleys were from County Mayo. That information was in a Wikipedia article about Edward Hurley's son Joseph Patrick who became the Catholic Archbishop of St. Augustine, Florida.

The Durkins

I did a little better with the Durkin family. That same Wikipedia article, Joseph Patrick Hurley, said that Anna Durkin was from County Sligo. Her death record said her parents were Peter Durkin, Anna McCafferty, which turned out to be "close, but no cigar." I looked for people who died in Cleveland with parents that matched "Durkin, McCafferty" and found her brother Peter. His death notice mentioned Anna and a brother John. And Peter's death record said their parents' names were Patrick Durkin and Bridget McCafferty.

With that information I was able to find Peter Durkin's probably birth record on August 8, 1864, in Mintiagh [old spelling: Montiagh], Achonry, Sligo, son of Patrick and Bridget. And a birth for John not far away in Sargard, Aclare, County Sligo, on February 20, 1867. [I'm thinking the family didn't actually move, but registered the births in different places. I might be wrong.]

Ann Durkin always seemed to be the oldest of the three when looking at the records, so she was probably born before the civil registration of births began in 1864. I wasn't sure enough of her brothers' records to include them as their actual birthdates in the database, but they are in their notes.

If anyone has even a clue where Sargard is, please let me know. I didn't find a trace of it.

There is also a likely naturalization record for John Durkin in March 1893, which says he was born in Curry, Ireland. Curry is not far from Aclare and Mintiagh. The baptism records for the Catholic parish of Curry are not available before 1867, which could explain why none of the three children could be found in the baptism indexes online.

Conclusion

So there you have it. For the details and the sources, see Trees > Ohio Families mentioned above.

If anyone knows where exactly in Mayo the Hurleys were from, I would like to know. And I would especially be interested in any information about the Sadlers and Heffernans. I've struck out twice on them.