Frederick J. Mulligan of Utica, New York
Jan 8, 2021 7:10:29 GMT -8
Post by Uncle Buddy on Jan 8, 2021 7:10:29 GMT -8
This week's air engine inventor is a man named Frederick J. Mulligan who was born in Sherburne, Chenango County, New York about September 1871. He worked for the Ontario & Western Railroad, then moved to New York City where he worked on engines at New York Harbor. In 1892 he moved to Utica, Oneida County, New York. Five years later he announced his invention in a newspaper article. In 1904 when he received a patent for a steam engine he was still living in Utica.
City directories from Utica inform us that Fred was an "operative" which means he made things rather than supervising people who made things. Since one directory says he was a weaver, maybe he was operating a loom. In 1904, the year he received his patent, he is listed as an engineer, then he disappears from Utica. During his time in Utica he lived in boarding houses and there is no mention of a wife.
In 1910 a Frederick Mulligan lived in Whitestown, which borders on Utica, where he was a shipping clerk for a yarn mill. He was single and lived in a boarding house. His birth year was about 1874. In 1915 he lived in Rome, New York, which borders on Whitestown. He was single, lived in a boarding house, and worked as an engineer. His birth year would have been about 1875. I'm sure this is our Frederick but I have no proof. After this there's no sign of him.
The 1875 New York census shows Frederick (no doubt the inventor) living with his parents, Irish immigrants Patrick and Elizabeth Mulligan in Shenango. His birth age is 1871. His siblings are John, born about July 1872, and Mary E., born about November 1874. The three children were born in Chenango County. The 1870 census for Sherburne shows Patrick and Elizabeth living together with no children.
It seems that online trees might have combined Patrick Mulligan, who was born about 1845, with another Patrick Mulligan, born about 1831, who appears in Sherburne in the 1880 census with a different wife and several children, none of whom are Fred, John, or Mary E. This second (older) Patrick's family is the same age as the first (younger) Patricks's family so I doubt they are the same Patrick Mulligan, but it's possible. The 1880 Patrick could have got a whole set of children from a second wife, or something like that. I've seen cases where, if a man's wife died, he farmed his children out to relatives or even put them in an orphanage, married someone else and basically abandoned his first set of children. This is possible but apart from some family trees that have combined the two Patricks I haven't seem much evidence of it. The main evidence so far (since the two Patricks are 13 years apart in age) is that they both lived in Sherburne and lived next door to some Fagans. Because the Mulligan-Fagan connection is evident in two completely different towns in this part of New York, it's possible that combining the two Patricks is correct. I hope to figure it out one way or the other. The genealogist who has this tree on ancestry.com has obviously done a lot of research.
But if these two Patricks were the same person, then the two sets of children were not half-siblings but step-siblings. Unless Patrick had two wives and two families at the same time.
The Fagans were a constant in the Mulligan's lives. The inventor's father had a brother-in-law and neighbors named Fagan. Now it's time to introduce Peter Mulligan.
Peter was born in 1836 in New York City. That's the town where all these Irish Mulligans probably first touched American soil. He was nine years older than the inventor's father Patrick. In 1880 Frederick (without his siblings) has apparently been adopted or fostered by Peter Mulligan in Binghamton, Broome County, New York. I believe this Peter could be Patrick's brother, although the online trees don't show him. His wife was named Anna. They didn't have any children as far as I know. After Anna died, Peter lived with a brother-in-law, another Fagan.
Patrick--which one I don't know yet--had a sister named Mary A Fagan according to an online tree.
In 1886 a Patrick Mulligan took refuge in a poorhouse due to insanity. He came there from Utica. Nothing else is known about him. In 1893 our Peter Mulligan tried to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge, but some people went out of their way to keep him alive. 1893 was also around the time Frederick moved to Utica. Peter died in 1920.
A Peter Mulligan the same age entered a New York veterans home briefly in 1896. This Peter did in fact have a brother named Patrick.
I have a few obituaries, some gravesites, and a lot more research to do before this will all be straightened out. I would especially like to find out what happened to Frederick J. Mulligan, the inventor, and I hope to learn where he's buried and find more pictures of him.
There is a stationary engineer named Frederick Mulligan in New York City married to someone named Laura (?Barnes). I used to think this was the right man, but now I doubt it since his census records overlap with the ones mentioned above for a Fred Mulligan who was in the weaving business in Oneida County. But it's possible they are the same person. It's possible the weaver-turned-engineer moved to New York City to be with his wife and family once he got his work credentials in order. In the 1900 census our inventor in Utica is listed as a stationary engineer. In Kings County, New York (in or near Brooklyn which is part of New York City), a Frederick Mulligan the right age died on 30 Jul 1946. Proving that the engineer in New York City is not the inventor is one of the goals of this research. Or proving that he is the inventor would be fine but that's harder.
The attached article with photo of Frederick J. Mulligan was found at a website I'd been forgetting to try. I need to return to that website to search for more information about Fred. I've found very little about his family and so far nothing else about him, in old newspapers. I worked on this research all day before I remembered to look at the metadata in the pdf to see where I got the article from. No one else has the Utica Globe as far as I know, so maybe I'll get lucky tomorrow.
City directories from Utica inform us that Fred was an "operative" which means he made things rather than supervising people who made things. Since one directory says he was a weaver, maybe he was operating a loom. In 1904, the year he received his patent, he is listed as an engineer, then he disappears from Utica. During his time in Utica he lived in boarding houses and there is no mention of a wife.
In 1910 a Frederick Mulligan lived in Whitestown, which borders on Utica, where he was a shipping clerk for a yarn mill. He was single and lived in a boarding house. His birth year was about 1874. In 1915 he lived in Rome, New York, which borders on Whitestown. He was single, lived in a boarding house, and worked as an engineer. His birth year would have been about 1875. I'm sure this is our Frederick but I have no proof. After this there's no sign of him.
The 1875 New York census shows Frederick (no doubt the inventor) living with his parents, Irish immigrants Patrick and Elizabeth Mulligan in Shenango. His birth age is 1871. His siblings are John, born about July 1872, and Mary E., born about November 1874. The three children were born in Chenango County. The 1870 census for Sherburne shows Patrick and Elizabeth living together with no children.
It seems that online trees might have combined Patrick Mulligan, who was born about 1845, with another Patrick Mulligan, born about 1831, who appears in Sherburne in the 1880 census with a different wife and several children, none of whom are Fred, John, or Mary E. This second (older) Patrick's family is the same age as the first (younger) Patricks's family so I doubt they are the same Patrick Mulligan, but it's possible. The 1880 Patrick could have got a whole set of children from a second wife, or something like that. I've seen cases where, if a man's wife died, he farmed his children out to relatives or even put them in an orphanage, married someone else and basically abandoned his first set of children. This is possible but apart from some family trees that have combined the two Patricks I haven't seem much evidence of it. The main evidence so far (since the two Patricks are 13 years apart in age) is that they both lived in Sherburne and lived next door to some Fagans. Because the Mulligan-Fagan connection is evident in two completely different towns in this part of New York, it's possible that combining the two Patricks is correct. I hope to figure it out one way or the other. The genealogist who has this tree on ancestry.com has obviously done a lot of research.
But if these two Patricks were the same person, then the two sets of children were not half-siblings but step-siblings. Unless Patrick had two wives and two families at the same time.
The Fagans were a constant in the Mulligan's lives. The inventor's father had a brother-in-law and neighbors named Fagan. Now it's time to introduce Peter Mulligan.
Peter was born in 1836 in New York City. That's the town where all these Irish Mulligans probably first touched American soil. He was nine years older than the inventor's father Patrick. In 1880 Frederick (without his siblings) has apparently been adopted or fostered by Peter Mulligan in Binghamton, Broome County, New York. I believe this Peter could be Patrick's brother, although the online trees don't show him. His wife was named Anna. They didn't have any children as far as I know. After Anna died, Peter lived with a brother-in-law, another Fagan.
Patrick--which one I don't know yet--had a sister named Mary A Fagan according to an online tree.
In 1886 a Patrick Mulligan took refuge in a poorhouse due to insanity. He came there from Utica. Nothing else is known about him. In 1893 our Peter Mulligan tried to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge, but some people went out of their way to keep him alive. 1893 was also around the time Frederick moved to Utica. Peter died in 1920.
A Peter Mulligan the same age entered a New York veterans home briefly in 1896. This Peter did in fact have a brother named Patrick.
I have a few obituaries, some gravesites, and a lot more research to do before this will all be straightened out. I would especially like to find out what happened to Frederick J. Mulligan, the inventor, and I hope to learn where he's buried and find more pictures of him.
There is a stationary engineer named Frederick Mulligan in New York City married to someone named Laura (?Barnes). I used to think this was the right man, but now I doubt it since his census records overlap with the ones mentioned above for a Fred Mulligan who was in the weaving business in Oneida County. But it's possible they are the same person. It's possible the weaver-turned-engineer moved to New York City to be with his wife and family once he got his work credentials in order. In the 1900 census our inventor in Utica is listed as a stationary engineer. In Kings County, New York (in or near Brooklyn which is part of New York City), a Frederick Mulligan the right age died on 30 Jul 1946. Proving that the engineer in New York City is not the inventor is one of the goals of this research. Or proving that he is the inventor would be fine but that's harder.
The attached article with photo of Frederick J. Mulligan was found at a website I'd been forgetting to try. I need to return to that website to search for more information about Fred. I've found very little about his family and so far nothing else about him, in old newspapers. I worked on this research all day before I remembered to look at the metadata in the pdf to see where I got the article from. No one else has the Utica Globe as far as I know, so maybe I'll get lucky tomorrow.
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