Hello Bridgebabe,
I stumbled across this quite by accident today. Your husband is my cousin.
Madeline was my paternal great-grandmother, and lived in the Bronx, New York until her death at 96. She had three daughters, including Jane, my grandmother, and her sisters Nora and Madeline (Mickey), and quite a large number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Jane had two children, my father and my Aunt Madeline (Dawn), and Nora and Madeline each had large families.
She was quite remarkable. She and my great-grandfather John Shaughnessy settled in New York City. After my great-grandfather passed away in 1959 she lived alone in a small apartment on Metropolitan Avenue in Parkchester, New York that they had shared. She was very independent, and active in her neighborhood until just before she passed. My dad would bring us in to see Madeline for the holidays every year, and she taught me how to make Yorkshire pudding and would crochet a hat and mittens for me every year. She had an infectious laugh.
Should you wish, I am happy to correspond and send records and photos.
And, to the others on the thread - thank you for the records you've shared. I didn't have some of these.
John McArdle
