The Mingey side of my family will be much easier to write about.
For one thing, there are fewer of them.
For another, they were
not nearly as clannish as the Sullivans.
On the other hand,
we do know for sure where they came from, and we have nothing
definitive about the Sullivans.
Thomas Mingey, Dad's father, came over to the United States
in 1873. He probably came in through Ellis Island, by way of
England.
He was born in 1841 in Tara, County Meath, Ireland.
Tara is twenty or thirty miles north of Dublin. Thomas's father
was named Patrick.
Thomas had several brothers: Laurence, who
emigrated to New York State, probably Middletown, a brother
John, who emigrated to Chicago, another brother who lived in
California, and a sister Rose, who married a man named Cardon.
Thomas as a boy worked for a gardener on a local estate known
as Corbalton Hall.
He had saved his letters of reference at
the time, so I am including them in this brief history.
The
estate is now owned by a German lady named Vicky von Schmieder,
who is interested in the history of the house and its occupants.
Thomas went to England in 1864 to study horticulture at Kew
Gardens, which is a large botanical garden on the outskirts
of London.
He worked for a while for the Royal Vinyard Nursery
in Hammersmith, and then for some Jesuit priests in a London
parish, before emigrating to the United States in 1973.
He came to Philadelphia in 1876 to work at Fairmount Park preparing
for the Sesquicentennial celebration.
He laid out the landscaping
for the Girard Estates, and for Merion Mercy Academy.
He was
employed at Fairmount Park for a large part of his life.
All
of his olde~ grandchildren remember visiting Horticultural Hall.
In 1877 Thomas married Kathryn Beatty, who was an orphan raised
by her aunt, Sarah Devine. Kathryn's mother was a McConaghy.
She was born in 1853 to Ellen McConaghey and Christopher Beatty,
in Ireland.
Ellen had three sisters, Sarah, Mary and Margaret.
When Ellen died, Ellen's sister Sarah, now married to a man
named Divine, took Kathryn into her home and raised her.
Kathryn's
father married again, and the second marriage produced George,
Ann and Louisa.
George married Sarah Ralston (Ralston Avenue
in Havertown?). They produced Will, the Ardmore undertaker,
John, Mary, young George who was a carpenter.
The McConaghys
had a farm in Oakmont.
The property was on the left side of
Darby Road and south of Eagle Road, very near where young Jim
Hughes lives on Ralston Avenue.
It would be fun to find out
if Jim is living on his cousins' land.
I dont know where in Ireland the McConaghys came from.
I see
the name spelled both with an e and without.
Nor do I know
when they emigrated to this country.
I do know that the Mingey
family and the McConaghy family maintained a very close relation-
Letters of Thomas J. Mingey
Corbalton Garden
Tara les Meath
9th April, 1864
Sir
As I understand from the head gardener here that it is requisite for
young gardeners seeking employment in the Royal Gardens at Kew to
make application in their own handwwiting, I now humbly beg leave to
do so, sincerely trusting that it may be successful.
I am sorry for the delay which has occurred in returning the printed
papers. This was on account of my employer, Mr. Corbally, being in
London attending to his duties in the House of Commons, and I was
anxious to get a recommendation from him. I now enclose a copy of it.
and from the gardeners I have served under here, and also the Roman
Catholic clergy of the parish. The originals I will send on the hour
I am requested.
I can o~ly say for myself, if an earnest desire to get a good knowledge of plants and botany, and respect and obedience to my masters
with an earnest desire to discharge whatever duties assigned to me to
the best of my ability are recommendations, I trust you will not find
me wanting in any of them. And if you will admit me to the Gardens
under your control I shall ever feel most grateful to you, and to the
authorities of Kew Gardens.
I am, Sir, your humble and obedient servant, Thomas Mingey
To: I. Smith, Esq.
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England
Thomas Mingey has been employed in this Garden as Foreman Gardener for
the last two years. I have proved him to be a good experienced and
tasty workman. He has a very fair knowledge of practical gardening
in all departments. He is perfectly honest, sober and quiet and of
a most inquiring form of mind. T am vP.rv cP.r+.~in hP. will ~ivP. s~+.i~­
f'~.~ti on to whom~oP.ver mR.v emplov him.
nswR.ln M~r.,_o~kiP., r..R.rdP.ner to
W E Corbally~ Esq. M.P.
Corbalton Hall, Tara
April 8, 1964
I certify that Thomas Mingey has been in the pleasure grounds and conservatories here since his boyhood, and has always been quick, intelligent and of commendably good conduct.
w. E. Corbally, M.P. Meath
March 5, 1867
The bearer, Thomas Mingey, is a native of this parish, is unmarried,
a young man of excellent character, sober, honest, well conducted
and attentive to his religious duties. I am sure he will give the
utmost satisfaction in any situation he may be appointed to.
John Kelly, P.P.
SKeyne, Tara
ship.
From the earliest days in Lansdowne, the Mingeys would
very frequently hitch up the buggy on a Sunday, go to Mass at
St. Denis's church in Ardmore, and continue on to the McConaghy's
home. Kathryn's cousin Will McConaghy became an undertaker,
with an establishment on Lancaster Avenue in Ardmore. I remember
sitting on Uncle Will's front porch.
He had a shock of snowwhite hair, and was a very handsome gentleman.
The funeral
business is in a red brick building now, but I believe the original house, and porch, are still there.
When Dad went out to Notre Dame, he said he could count on
receiving two cakes a week - one from his mother, the other
from Cousin Louisa, who had married a man named Smith and lived
in Wilmington.
I can also remember going down to Wilmington
on the Wilson Line, with Dad and Deedie, when Dad had to settle
Cousin Louisa's estate.
Kathryn and Thomas first lived at 5216 Master Street.
They
moved out to Lansdowne about 1896. Their first home, Deedie
tells me, was a small stone house on the grounds of Holy Cross
Cemetery, and then in a large frame house at the corner of
Wycombe and Baily Roads, on the south west corner.
Thomas became
superintendent of the Holy Cross cemetery.
His own yard held
fruit trees and grape arbors.
He made his own wine.
Grandmother Mingey was possessed of an angelic disposition,
according to all reports.
Dad was her first child, born in
1878 in Philadelphia. Aunt Kathryn was born in 1881.
She had
a twin brother who died in infancy.
Another daughter, Nellie,
died at the age of twelve.
Aunt Kathryn said that her father
never smiled again after Nellie's death, and that her mother
stopped playing the piano entirely.
It must have been a sad
homelife for the two children who were left. Both Dad and Aunt
Kathryn idolized their mother.
Dad had promised his mother
on her deathbed that he would go to Mass and receive communion
on the first Friday of every month, and he kept his word till
he was too old to go to church at all.
(The First Fridays were
a pi~s practice, of which there were many, which were popular
in t~ose days.
Grandmother Mingey died in 1909.
I have only one memory of Grandfather Mingey.
I recall a rather
tall, thin, stoop-shouldered man with a long gray beard, standing
in the library at 44 Fairview - I believe he had just returned
from a trip and had come to visit us in our new house.
This
was probably about 1927. Aunt Alice told me that he could be
very charming. He traveled a great deal after he retired.
He spent several winters at the Congress Hall Hotel in Cape
May. He went out to California to visit a brother who lived
there. Dad said he was planning a trip to the Holy Land when
he developed pneumonia and died, in 1928. The last couple of
years of his life he had lived with Aunt Kathryn in the apartment
at Rigby and Baltimore Avenues. He died ill
When Grandmother Mingey died, back in 1909, Dad and Aunt Kathryn
were young adults living at home. Aunt Kathryn had been educated
at the Sacred Heart Academy.
Dad had graduated from Roman Catholic
High School, and then, at the age of sixteen, out to Notre Dame
University, where he had always said he had obtained two degrees.
None of us children ever believed the story, but young Tommy
Mingey verified it when he went out to Notre Dame himself.
Dad did say that the authorities rewrote the charter to prevent
any~~lse from taking advantage of them.
Dad's parting advice
from his father was: "Son, if you're going to drink, do it in
your own room, like a gentleman.
Don't frequent taprooms or
saloons"! This to a sixteen-year-old!
Besides collecting two degrees and a couple of gold medals,
Dad also got vaguely involved in the Spanish-American War.
War broke out while he was at Notre Dame.
Someone's wealthy
father provided a group of the boys with a private, well stocked
railroad car, but by the time the train got to the East coast,
the patriotic fervor had dissipated, and the boys were persuaded
to finish school and grow up. Dad graduated, came home to Philadelphia and clerked in a law office while taking some law courses
at Penn.
In those days this was the custom.
You studied and
acquired experience clerking. When you thought you knew enough,
you took the Bar exams.
Dad passed the exams and became a lawyer,
sharing offices in a law firm without ever joining it. The
firm was Biddle Paul Dawson and Yocum, with offices at 505 Chestnut
Street. One of his early clients was a man we will call Jones,
who was referred to Dad by another lawyer we will call Smith.
After Dad had committed himself to the client, Jones asked Dad
if there was more than one family named Mingey in town.
Dad
replied that he knew only one.
Jones said, Then your father
is Thomas M~ngey? Dad said he was indeed.
Jones said, Then
why in the world did your father not recommend you in the first
place? He is the one who recommended Smith!" It was obvious
that Dad had been very hurt by the incident.
Even without his father's help, Dad prospered as a lawyer.
In those days lawyers were allowed to practise both in Philadelphia
and in Media, and Dad did both.
He said that he would handle
anything but patents and crime.
Living at home as he did, he
had a free and easy life. Will Hughes said once that he and
his friend Dawson knew every barmaid between here and the Delaware
Water Gap. They would go off on horseback rides for the weekend.
They also had a memorable tour of Europe which lasted several
weeks.
Europe before the first World War, before income taxes
I drool at the thought of it.
In those days Dad had cars.
You would take off for Atlantic City with two extra tires strapped
on to the roof of the car, and might find yourself hol~ up in
Pleasantville for two days having burst all your tires, waiting
for replacements.
I suppose that added to the excitement and
the fun.
The only other story Dad told about his younger days shows
the usual father-son difficulty.
It bothered Dad's father
that Ed enjoyed the privileges of his home without taking
part in the maintenance.
He told Dad that from that time on
he would be responsible for taking care of the lawn.
Dad
agreed, and promptly hired a gardener to do the work.
Dad
continued to sit on the porch and read, and watch the gardener,
and his father fumed.
After Grandmother Mingey died, Aunt Kathryn took over the housekeeping.
It was the unfortunate custom in those days for unmarried
women to live at home and step into their mothers' shoes if
the need arose.
Aunt Kathryn was at that time being courted
Uncle Charlie. Her father simply refused to think of marriage
for her.
She was his daughter - he needed her - she should
see her duty and do it.
He certainly had no complaints about
Uncle Charlie as a prospective husband.
He was a very fine
man, a gentleman.
He could provide for her.
The Hugheses were
family friends.
But Grandfather Mingey was adamant.
Finally
Aunt Kathryn and Uncle Charlie simply went up to church and
got married, and went back home to announce the fact to her
father.
Aunt Alice tells me that, confronted by a done deed,
he became very gracious, and gave them a lovely reception.
I find myself wondering how much Charlie and Kathryn enjoyed
it. The Hugheses lived in the apartment house at the corn~r
of Rigby and Baltimore Pike. /iley ha,d t'wo ~ol\:5, C hMI~ s .. E dwa.f'd
Grandfather Mingey, while superintending Holy Cross Cemetery,
persuaded Archbishop Prendergast to purchase Uncle Ed Mullids'
farm on Sproul Road.
Ed was married to Poppop's sister Mary,
and the Mullins kept open house for the Sullivan children through
the summer. They would spend weeks at a time at the farm, riding
horses and enjoying the country atmosphere.
That land is now
the site of Sts. Peter and Paul Cemetery and Cardinal O'Hara
High School.
It was quite a coincidence that the first shovelfull of ground-breaking soil was dug by Ed Hughes as Superintendent
of Schools - quite a family link.
I have only one other story to tell about the early days of
the Mingeys.
Dad told this one on himself.
As he told it,
he went out to Lansdowne with his family when they were making
the move from West Philadelphia.
Later in the day he walked
up to the train station and took the train in town to his office.
He worked late that evening, and got the last train out of town
to Lansdowne, fell asleep and woke up just as the train was
getting in to Clifton, the trainstop past Lansdowne.
The conductor
told Dad that there would be no more trains that evening, that
he should walk up to Baltimore Pike and go back to Lansdowne
on foot.
This would have been a matter of a mile or more. After
the train left the station, Dad decided that he would save time
by walking back along the tracks, and so he did.
The next morning
he was up at the train station bright and early to get back
to the office. A friend of his was also waiting for the train,
and dad described how foolish he had been to oversleep the evening
before, and that he had had to walk back along the tracks to
get home.
His friend said, " You're a braver man than I am,
Ed. I wouldn't walk along that trestle in broad daylight, let
alone at night." Dad said, "What trestle?" Any Mingey who
drives down Scottdale Road and follows the curve which takes
you to Baltimore Pike can look up at the curve and realize how
close we all came to not being here at all.
This is as much Mingey history as I can come up with now.
I
feel sure that there are many stories about the older generation
that I have missed.
I just wish they had told their story themselves. With that thought in mind, I hope soon to write about
life at 44 Fairview. We are down to four out of the nine kids,
and I will count heavily on info from the other three to verify
my own memories.
I have noticed in digging out information from my siblings that
one incident can be described in various ways, as each individual
saw it.
For instance, I barely knew Ganny, and would have
described her as being not involved with her grandchildren.
Deedie and Kate Haldeman have both made me realize that the
truth of the matter was that I was not involved with her.
Deedie,
as oldest daughter and first granddaughter, knew all the Sullivans
in a way I never did.
It seems as if the younger members of
the Sullivan family treated her almost as a little sister, and
she had many.more memories than I of trips she took with them,
and various outings. On the other hand, as adults, the younger
Mingeys had a great time socially with Nan and Joe, especially.
Madalyn has some wonderful stories to tell of Uncle Joe helping
her run a Cub Scout group.
I'll let her tell them.
I apologize here and now for any and all discrepancies, errors
and omissions, and realize that the literary content leaves
much to be desired.
All I can say is - It's better than nothing!