Week 20: Travel #52Ancestors

My husband and I are currently scheduled to travel to Dublin in August and then on to Scotland. I am certain we all know what will happen to that plan. Crud. On the bright-side, if we all continue to wear our masks, keep-up with social distancing, and give our brilliant scientists a chance to develop an effective vaccine, we will get through this together!

I have been fortunate-enough to do a little traveling in search of ancestors: cemeteries in New Jersey, Kansas, and Missouri and courthouses in Kansas and Missouri. Not big trips and nothing over-seas (yet). For those I use Google Earth which is a miracle. I’ve seen churches in Ireland and Germany where my ancestors were baptized and married. I’ve seen an ancestral home in London and family farm in Ireland. If you haven’t tried it, I highly recommend it but be prepared for a big time-suck!

On June 9, 1931, Nell (Quinlan) Donnelly and her niece, Kathryn (McCormick) Baty left New York for a three to four-month tour of Europe. The Kansas City Star reported that Nell left on May 15th for New York City, a few weeks ahead of the sailing.[1] It is possible that they stayed at the Hotel Biltmore while in the city. I haven’t (yet) found the ship’s manifest for their trip so I don’t (yet) know to what port they arrived. At that time, a trip from New York to Europe would have taken about six days.[2]

On July 2, Kate Baty sent a postcard from Dublin to her sister Bee (Mary Beatrice McCormick) back in Parsons, Kansas.[3] I know that they also traveled to County Cork in Ireland because Kate brought home with her a Certificate of Baptism (“Copied from the Parochial Register”) for John Quinlan from St. Martin’s Parish of Kilworth, County Cork.[4] John was Nell’s father and Kate’s grandfather. I wonder if either Kate or Nell noticed that woman named as John’s mother, Margaret Roche, was incorrect. If you look at the original church register it names Margaret Roche as both his mother and godmother.[5] While there well could have been two women of the same name, other evidence proves that his mother was actually Johanna Roche.[6]

 I don’t know where else Kate and Nell may have traveled in Europe, but they did not stay for three or four months. Instead, they boarded the ocean liner R.M.S Empress of Britain in Cherbourg, France, on July 8, 1931 for the voyage back. I assume Kate and Nell must have done some “touristy” things in France between their time in Dublin and departure. 

 This particular voyage on the Empress of Britain was only its fourth trip across the Atlantic after its maiden voyage on May 27, 1931.[7] The Britain carried about 1,200 passengers with only first class and two tourist-class (i.e. third-class) accommodations. Its Spring-Fall route was Quebec-Southampton-Cherbourg-Quebec. The idea behind this was by leaving from Quebec via the sheltered St. Lawrence seaway, the ship avoided the ice-infested waters off Newfoundland and spent less time on the open waters.[8]

 During her time as a commercial ocean liner, the Britain was one of the fastest and most luxurious ship traveling the Atlantic. Even the third/tourist-class cabins were apparently well-appointed with “full length mirrors, hot and cold running water, … electric heaters, steam heaters, wide corridors … and even a gymnasium.”[9] The first-class accommodations included an “Olympian Pool,” Turkish Bath, playgrounds and toys for children, and “tennis courts, complete with umpire’s high-stooled chair, spectators’ gallery and a private café.”[10] The author of the article I am quoting called it “Babylon afloat.” The cost for first-class accommodations was $292.50 per person each way.[11] I am not surprised Nell and Kate would travel in such luxury. In 1931, Nell’s company, “Nelly Don” was worth over $3.5 million.[12]

Perhaps faithful readers of this blog will remember why Nell and Kate took this trip and came back to the U.S. after only a month? Notice I said that they came back to the U.S. and not “home.” Where did they go? I have no idea. The family story was that Nell and Kate stayed in Europe for the three months and when they came back to Kansas City, Nell brought with her a one-month baby boy she had “adopted” from somewhere in Europe. A long-long-held family secret, only recently did it become common knowledge that the little baby was actually Nell and Senator James A. Reed’s love-child. Nell and Paul Donnelly divorced in November 1932 and she and Reed married the following year.[13]

 Nell and James lived happily until his death in 1944. Nell continued to run her company until 1956 and died in 1991 at the age of 102.[14] One of her many lasting legacies is the James A. Reed Memorial Wildlife Area in Jackson County that she started with a donation of 731 acres to the Missouri Department of Conservation in memory of her husband.[15] Additional tracts of land have been purchased over the years and the area currently consists of 3,084 acres where you can camp, hike, fish, hunt, among other activities.[16]

But what of the Britain? One of her crowning achievements was to take King George VI and Queen Elizabeth back to England in 1939 after their goodwill-tour of North America.[17] However, later that year as World War II approached, the Britain was requisitioned for use as a troop transport. In 1940, while off the west coast of Ireland, she was attacked by German aircraft. Most of the crew made it safely to shore and she was being towed to safety when torpedoes from a German U-boat sunk her. “She was the greatest passenger ship lost by the Allied forces during the entire war.”[18]

Stay safe, my lovelies! 

[1] “Mrs. P.F. Donnelly left Friday,” The Kansas City (Missouri) Star, 17 May 1931, p. 26, col. 4.

[2] Jean-Paul Rodrigue, “Liner Transatlantic Crossing Times, 1833-1952 (in days),” The Geography of Transport Systems, 5th ed. (New York: Routledge, 2020); digital image (https://transportgeography.org/?page_id=2135 : accessed 20 May 2020).

[3] Postcard in family collection.

[4] Certificate in family collection.

[5] St. Martin’s, Kilworth Parish, Cloyne Diocese, Cork, Ireland, Registry of Baptisms, 1829-1876, John Quinlan, 8 November 1835; digital image, National Library of Ireland, “Catholic Parish Registers,” microfilm 04996/03, p. 30 (http://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000634524#page/30/mode/1up : accessed 20 My 2020). 

[6] For example, the 1851 Irish census shows Johanna, a widow, as head of house with her sixteen-year-old son John. 

[7] Wikipedia.org, “RMS Empress of Britain (1930),” rev. 17:52, 12 May 2020. “Pamphlet listing Atlantic sailings for 1931, No. 99,” Canadian Pacific Steamships, 20 February 1931; digital images, University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection (http://www.open.library.ubc.ca : accessed 20 May 2020). 

[8] Wikipedia, “RMS Empress of Britain (1930),” rev. 17:52, 12 May 2020.

[9] Leslie Roberts, The Empress of Britain, MacLean’s (1 August 1931); digital image, Macleans (https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1931/8/1/the-empress-of-britain : accessed 20 May 2020) 

[10] Ibid.

[11] “Pamphlet,” Canadian Pacific Steamships, 20 February 1931.

[12] “Nell Donnelly Reed is dead at age 102,” The Kansas City (Missouri) Star, 9 September 1991.

[13] “The Romance of Nell Donnelly and Paul F. Donnelly Ends with a Divorce Action in Judge Brown Harris’s Court,” The Kansas City (Missouri) Times, 16 November 1932, p. 5, col. 1-2. Jackson County, Missouri, Recorder of Deeds, James A. Reed-Nell Quinlan Donnelly, License No. A53496, 13 December 1933; digital image, Jackson County, Missouri, Recorder of Deeds Web Access (http://aumentumweb.jacksongov.org/Marriage/SearchEntry.aspx : accessed 20 May 2020). My husband suspects that Paul knew what was going on and acquiesced to the façade. 

[14] “Nell Donnelly Reed is dead at age 102,” The Kansas City (Missouri) Star, 9 September 1991. 

[15] “Reed (James A) Mem Wa,” Missouri Department of Conservation (https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/places/reed-james-mem-wa : accessed 20 May 2020)

[16] Ibid. From Lee's Summit, take Highway 50 east 1 mile, then SE Ranson Road (Route RA) south 0.75 mile to the area entrance.

[17] Henrik Ljungström, “Empress of Britain (II),” The Great Ocean Liners (http://thegreatoceanliners.com/articles/empress-of-britain-ii/ : accessed 20 May 2020).

[18] Ibid.

Nell (Quinlan) Reed, her son David Quinlan Reed, Mary Kathryn Baty and Kate (McCormick) Baty

R.M.S. Empress of Britain, 2 June 1931. Photographer unknown. University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection (http://www.open.library.ubc.ca : accessed 20 May 2020). 

First-class lounge on the R.M.S. Empress of Britain, 1931. Photographer unknown. University of British Columbia, Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection (http://www.open.library.ubc.ca : accessed 20 May 2020).