Week 3 - 2020: Long Line

Have I regaled you of my love for my hometown of Maplewood, New Jersey? I know I’ve mentioned it before, but I want to do a deeper dive in this post.

In researching my family tree, I’ve learned that in the “old” country, our ancestors didn’t move around much. How would they? Why would they? It’s not like they had available long-distance transportation or that they had any reason to move away from their family and the community they grew up in. When searching for the illusive wife in an ancestral couple, it’s important to remember that she probably didn’t live far from her husband before they were married. You may not yet know her maiden name, but you can narrow the list of potentials by searching in the same small area as the husband.[1] However, when our ancestors immigrated, they seem to have hit the U.S. shores and kept going west. Not so for my McDonough/Dunigan family.

My second great-grandfather, Michael McDonough, immigrated to the U.S. in about 1846. Sadly, I haven’t been able to determine precisely when he came or what county in Ireland he came from. Sometime before August of 1850, he met and married my second great-grandmother, Bridget Dunigan.[2] In 1851, Michael acquired ten acres of land in Clinton from Eleazer and Mary Porter for $1,225. Although deed is dated 13 October 1851, it’s likely he was working on this property earlier as the 1850 census identifies him as a farmer.

Michael acquired a fair amount of property in Clinton over many years. Fromed from Newark Township in 1834, portions of Clinton Township became South Orange Township in 1861.[3] South Orange Township changed its name of Maplewood in 1922.[4] Got that?

To make matters worse, the area in Clinton/South Orange Township/Maplewood where the McDonoughs settled had other names such as Newark Farms, North Farms, Middleville, Camptown, and Hilton.[5] My great-grandfather’s birth record says he was born in Middleville, but his youngest brother was born in Hilton.[6] It took me quite a while to figure out that ALL of these names referred to the same place. 

Beginning in 1851, Michael and his sons acquired farm property in Maplewood.[7] On several census records and city directories, Michael is described as a “horticulturist.” I assume he adopted this highfaluting name because he was relatively famous for growing “Hilton strawberries.” Seth Boyden, the American inventor, is credited with developing this version of luscious strawberry, but evidently, Michael was also well-known for growing them.[8] Michael’s third child, Michael Sarsfield McDonough, followed in his father’s footsteps as a farmer/gardener in Maplewood until his sixties. His oldest daughter, my grandmother, lived with her parents until she married in 1915. Living for a time in other towns in the area, she returned to Maplewood after her husband died in 1927. She continued to live there until her death in 1975 at the age of ninety-one.

From at least 1850 until today, descendants of Michael McDonough have lived in Maplewood.[9] My parents moved out in 1979, although my sister moved back there in 1980 for about a year. An idyllic place to grow up, Maplewood had/has beautiful parks, an outstanding school system, a completely “walkable” community, and two fabulous libraries.[10]

My favorite Maplewood memory is the Fourth of July. The most important thing you needed for this day was a ticket to get you into all of the events. Red and in the shape of a firecracker, it had a string at the top to tie onto your shirt. The day would start at 7:00 am with a twenty-one-gun salute and foot races for the elementary kids at Maplewood Memorial Park. My sister regularly won her age-group. The next thing up was a parade at noon and then circus acts at the park. While various vendors sold food in the park, I recall that we always went home to eat. A beauty contest (ugh) and the high school jazz band started the evening activities. Just as it was getting dark, the aerial act from the circus would perform again under the lights. Then we would have the most wonderful display of fireworks I’ve ever seen.[11] In addition to the usual bombs bursting in air, two firework-illuminated battle ships on either side of the field in front would shoot fireworks at each other. All during this a man could be seen walking back and forth behind the display, presumably on the watch for any problems. I’ve read that 2020 will be the 118th fireworks display in Maplewood. My second great-grandfather died in 1903. I can only image that Michael loved fireworks as much as I do.

[1] Usually.

[2] Ditto with regards her immigration information.

[3] Not to be confused with the Village of South Orange. John O. Raum, The History of New Jersey: From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, Vol. 1(Philadelphia: John E. Potter and Co., 1877), 242, 246; digital images, Google Books (http://books.Google.com : accessed 21 January 2020).

[4] John P. Snyder, The Story of New Jersey’s Civil Boundaries: 1605-1968 (Trenton: Bureau of Geology and Topography, 1969), 128; digital images, New Jersey, Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Water Supply and Geoscience (https://www.state.nj.us/dep/njgs/enviroed/oldpubs/bulletin67.pdf: accessed 21 January 2020).

[5] “The Hilton Section: Many Names, One Identity,” Durand-Hedden House & Garden Association (https://www.durandhedden.org/archives/articles/the_hilton_section_many_names_one_identity : accessed 21 January 2020.

[6] New Jersey, Essex County, Births, Vol. I, 1848-1867, p. 168, McDonough (July 1854); digital image FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org : accessed 25 July 2018), FHL microfilm 495696, image 233 of 533.

[7] Calling it Maplewood for ease of reference.

[8] Wikipedia (http://wikipedia.org), “Seth Boyden,” rev. 15:09, 10 November 2019. G. Clifford Jones, “Hilton Boy,” Helen B. Bates, ed., Maplewood Past and Present: A Miscellany (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,1948), 131.

[9] A quick check of Anywho.com shows two McDonough families in Maplewood today. I assume they are decendants.

[10] I mention the libraries because it is such a small community (24,000 residents in 1960 and about the same now) and the librarians are fantastic. Wikipedia (http://wikipedia.org), “Maplewood, New Jersey,” rev. 02:28, 16 January 2020.

[11] Granted, this is my memory.

1859 map of Middleville. Misidentifies M. McDonough as “M. Donehue.” Map of Essex County, New Jersey (New York: Baker & Tilden, 1859). digital image, Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/item/2012593674 : accessed 22 January 2020).