| This story is based on
material from Patricia Raub Dehart of West Chester, PA,
the grand-daughter of Patrick and Martha. Pat writes that she was born at home
in Mildred, PA in the same house where her mother and most of her brothers were born,
five miles from Dushore. Says Pat, "My childhood memories revolve around Sullivan County
Those mountains are in my blood". The home of her cousins, the children of JOHN DALY and PRUDENCE
MCDONALD were "just up the road from my grandparents. Of course, in Mildred, everything is just up the
road. I used to love to visit them in their big beautiful home in Mildred. That home no longer stands."
Pat DeHart can be reached at
PRAUBK@aol.com. The Sullivan
County Settlers Web Page is grateful to
Pat for her contribution of information and pictures.
Historical Context:In 1998, PBS ran a series of historical programs entitled The Irish in America.
The series told the story of the downcast and persecuted Irish countrymen who came to North
America to escape religious discrimination, disease, famine and death. Three brothers, John, Patrick and James Daly, were
such. Like many other Irish immigrants who took on the tasks others could not or would not perform, the Daly brothers worked
hard in the face of adversity. James Daly ended up in the steel mills in Pittsburgh. It is difficult nowadays
for us to imagine the risks of injury and disease that faced the steel workers in turn-of-the-century
factories. Imagine a soot-laden sky dark at noon and filled with the exhaust particles of the blast furnaces. Think
of the sweating workers surrounded by machinery capable of mangling, molten metal, hot coal and slag,
long hours and all with modest wages at best and little or no insurance or disability coverage. This is where our story begins.
Patrick Daly's Saloon and Restaurant
Railroad Street
Dushore, PA About 1910
Read more about Patrick Daly below. He may be the man in this photo.
Click on photo for a more focused image.
Photo Contributed by Scott W. Tilden
Original Old Postcard Auctioned on eBay in
February 2013
TThe ORPHANS of PITTSBURGH
NOTE: What little we know of the Daly family,
their children and their wanderings comes to us from Anne Daly Redmond, the daughter of John Daly and Prudence
McDonald. As such, Anne grew up in the family headed by the brother (John) of the Daly uncle (Patrick) who raised Pat Dehart's grandmother Martha. In 1992, Anne wrote down her recollections and gave them to Pat, our historical guide
for this Page.
PETER DALY was born in Longford County, Ireland in 1833 and subsequently
married BRIDGET CONDRON, born in 1837 most likely in the same county of Ireland. At some point, the family
relocated to Dunferline in Scotland. In fact, both PETER (d. September 27, 1905) and BRIDGET (d. February 14, 1913) are buried there. The father PETER and
his four oldest sons--JOHN, PATRICK, THOMAS and JAMES--landed in New York about 1881-2 at Castle Gardens (before there was an
Ellis Island). PETER did not stay although he later made another trip to visit the boys. PETER preferred Scotland. They ended up working in the mines at Bernice, PA.
JAMES went on to the steel mills in Pittsburgh. JOHN worked in a coal mine in Long Valley, PA just outside the town of Powell from 1882-3. Then he
went silver-mining in Colorado for a year before returning to Bernice. The youngest son WILLIAM came over in 1898-9 and landed in
Philadelphia. It is unknown where he went to next but, after marrying, he later moved to Elmira, NY.
The family eventually had eight children:
THOMAS DALY, born October 1855; d. January 19, 1892 from a back injury received a year earlier in the Bernice mines when a timber or heavy
rock fell on him.
JAMES DALY, emigrated and became a steelworker in Pittsburgh, d. 1894 in Pittsburgh, married ROSEANNE CARR, d. 1896 in Pittsburgh.
WILLIAM DALY, m. ELIZABETH BOUSE; they had four children.
PATRICK DALY, born February 29, 1860; d. June 19, 194(7?) had a twin stillborn at birth; m. BRIDGET CARROLL. Patrick and Bridget ran the restaurant and saloon on Railroad Street in Dushore, PA picutred above.
KATHRYN DALY, married MICK MCGARRITY in Scotland; later ran a hotel in Southern Rhodesia before returning to Scotland; they had five children.
ANNA DALY
ELIZABETH DALY, married ? YOUNG.
JOHN DALY, born June 16, 1863 in Cross Gates, Dunferline, Scotland, m. PRUDENCE MCDONALD, born January 1, 1867 in LaPorte, PA, the daughter of
JOHN MCDONALD and JULIA ANN SHERIDAN. They married on October 9, 1888 at St. Basil's RC Church in Dushore, PA. John died February 10, 1948 in Mildred, PA and Prudence died November 23, 1948 in Mildred as well;they had eleven
children, including one who died at 18 months.
Here is a photograph of James Daly taken some time before his death in 1894 in Pittsburgh.
James Daly pre-1894
Father of Laura and Martha Daly
Let Pat Dehart tell the tale in her own words: "Martha E. Daly McDonald, my grandmother, was 8 years old when orphaned. Her sister Laura Daly Donahue was 10.
The story goes that their father, James, died in a steel mill accident in Pittsburgh. Shortly after that, their brother (Joseph)
died in the same way, and within a year or two the mother died of a broken heart, leaving these two little girls orphaned. The other Dalys who
had come to America, John and Patrick, had settled in Sullivan County. The girls were taken to a Catholic orphanage, run by the Sisters of
Charity in the Braddock area, until the uncles came to claim them. The two uncles came from Sullivan County, but there was also still one in Ireland who also came
and wanted to take both of the girls back with him. How the decision was made is unknown. However, Laura was taken to live with John and Prudence Daly in Mildred. They owned the Daly Hotel in
Mildred and had a large family. My grandmother, Martha, was taken to live with Patrick and Bridget Daly in Dushore where they owned the Daly Cafe. That is all my grandmother
and her sister Laura remembered. Neither of them ever knew what happened to their home, their parents' belongings etc. I do know that their father is buried in Braddock, PA. They knew that their mother and brother
were buried there, but the cemetery could not find them."
The following picture of Laura and Martha Daly must have been taken around 1895-6 just about when their mother died and they were orphaned, since they were known to
be ten and eight years, respectively, at that time. The card reads "Stanton", presumably the name of the photo studio, and gives what appears to be the studio address: "516 Market St. and
2205 Forbes St". I thought at first that this must be one address at an intersection. However, I called up some detailed maps on Yahoo and found that each of these addresses is actually about
1.9 miles apart in the old downtown area of Pittsburgh. Theefore, it seems that Stanton studios had two locations and we do not know at which one this picture was taken.
Laura and Martha Daly About 1895
Children of James and Roseanne Carr Daly
PATRICK FRANCIS MCDONALD was the grandson of the immigrant couple PATRICK MCDONALD and CATHERINE BURNS (see separate Settlers Page VIII on this couple), who had settled originally in
Sullivan County perhaps in the 1840s. However, many of the McDonald children had migrated west into the Reynoldsville and surrounding areas of Clearfield and Jefferson Counties. One son of the emigrants was
named GEORGE L. MCDONALD, and he married ALICE FARRELL. ALICE in turn was the daughter of yet another immigrant family featured on this Web Page: JAMES FARRELL and
CATHERINE O'FARRELL (see separate Settlers Page V on this couple). Their children in turn included PATRICK FRANCIS, who would become the husband of the orphan MARTHA DALY. In so doing, he would "link up" two of the major old
McDonald family lines from Sullivan County via the Daly relationships. To be specific, MARTHA DALY would marry into one McDonald family and LAURA DALY would be raised by an uncle married into the other.
Here is a picture of Alice Farrell McDonald, Patrick's mother, taken later in life:
Alice Farrell McDonald
Mother of Patrick Francis McDonald
PATRICK FRANCIS was born on August 31, 1887 in Dushore and married MARTHA on February 10, 1908 at St. Basil's in Dushore. He died in September 1958 and she followed him to the grave, both at the St. Basil's cemetery, in August 1960.
Here is a picture of Martha Elizabeth Daly taken in 1908 at the time of her wedding:
Martha Elizabeth Daly 1908
They had ten children:
ROSE MCDONALD, born July 3, 1909, died October 14, 1975
GEORGE PATRICK MCDONALD, born July 22, 1911 in Bloomsburg, Columbia County, PA, died February 18, 1998
LEO F. MCDONALD, born September 23, 1911, died June 19, 1967, married Ella Mae Mergo (1913-1999); both buried at St. Francis of Assisi Cemetery in Mildred, PA
JAMES A. MCDONALD, born March 3, 1913, died January 4, 1966, buried Arlington National Cemetery
JOSEPH A. MCDONALD, born July 14, 1914, died October 17, 1956, buried Arlington National Cemetery
MARY ALICE MCDONALD, born February 3, 1916, died July 26, 1992 (named for Alice Farrell, her grandmother), mother of Pat DeHart
BERNARD J. MCDONALD, born March 25, 1918, died June 8, 1990
EUGENE F. MCDONALD, born October 3, 1919, died August 8, 1989
GERALD W. MCDONALD, born June 9, 1921, died October 25, 1974
PAUL L. MCDONALD, born November 19, 1923, died December 24, 1996
Shown here is an old picture taken of PATRICK FRANCIS and MARTHA surrounded by their ten children.
In order, the children are: Top Row: Rose, George, Leo, James, Joseph. Bottom Row: Alice, Bernard,
Eugene, Gerald, Paul. MARY ALICE MCDONALD originally had this picture made for each of her siblings.
Here is a separate picture of Mary Alice McDonald taken about 1933 when she was 17 years old.
Mary Alice McDonald
The McDonald boys of Mildred hold a special place in the "hearts and minds" of all of us old enough to remember the
great struggle against Hitler, Tojo and the forces of hatred and evil in World War Two. Below is inscribed a letter written by
Henry L. Stimson, Secretary of War, dated April 19, 1944:
It is a privilege for me to take official cognizance of the fact that you have eight
sons as members of the nation's armed forces, carried on the records of the War and Navy Departments as follows:
Bernard J. McDonald, AUS
Joseph A. McDonald, AUS
Leo F. McDonald, USN
Paul L. McDonald, USN
George P. McDonald, USN
Gerald W. McDonald, USN
James A. McDonald, USN
Eugene F. McDonald, USN
Loyalty and patriotism essential to a good soldier or sailor have their foundation in early training received in the
home. The fact that your sons are all establishing worthy service records speaks well for the wholesome Americanism
which must have surrounded them in their home environment.
Please accept my congratulations on the unusual contribution you are making to the success of our common cause.
Very sincerely yours,
Henry L. Stimson
In fact, EUGENE was the first Sullivan County casualty of the Second World War; he was seriously wounded while serving
on the battleship CALIFORNIA in the attack on Pearl Harbor that brought the United States into the conflict. Another son, BERNARD, was cited for "Magnificent courage
and unflinching devotion to duty" on February 20, 1945 in an engagement with German infantry in France. He was responsible for
covering the withdrawal of his unit under fire until all men had been moved out, at great personal risk to himself. Yet another son,
GEORGE, a seabee, was totally disabled while on duty in New Guinea. The attached poor-quality
picture shows the McDonald boys at the time they were on duty collectively. The picture is taken from the Towanda Daily Review for February
24, 1944.
In addition to the eight brothers in the service, the husband of their sister MARY ALICE MCDONALD, CHARLES S. RAUB (born 09-26-1911, died 11-06-1976)
also served as a combat engineer in Europe. Charles S. was the son of CHARLES A. RAUB and BERTHA ELLEN BOVEE (born 03-20-1891, died 01-1958), and was the father of PATRICIA RAUB DEHART, our contributor for this Page.
Grandfather Raub lived to be 98 years old and died in the 1980's. He and Bertha married March 25, 1910. His son, Charles S., was employed at the Glen Mills quarries near the family home in West Chester, PA, just outside of Philadelphia,
and returned to work there after his discharge from duty on Christmas Day, 1945. Pat's father was particularly enchanted with the terrain along the Luzerne-Sullivan County line that he grew up in. As Pat describes it: My father LOVED Dutch
Mountain with a passion. He hunted there, walked there, just went there to commune with nature, and many a time I went there with him. He used to love
to take my daughter CHARLENE DEHART there too because he wanted her to know and feel the beauty of that mountain. ( Note: she was 13 when he died )
Here is Charles S. Raub as a one-year old and his father Charles A. Raub as the mailman at Bella Sylva in Luzerne County, PA, just east of Ricketts. The caption, written in the handwriting of
Grandmother Bertha, his wife, reads: City people getting their mail. and is dated 1908.
Charles S. Raub as an Infant
Charles A. Raub Delivering the Mail
Bella Sylva, PA 1908
Second from right in white cap
|
