Nolan Family Obituaries

▲ This obituary is that of Edward Nolan, the Irish immigrant in our ancestral Nolan line, who is not to be confused with his son, Edward Francis Nolan, whose obituaries are shown below. Some odd things about this very sparse article:

■ It doesn't mention his occupation;

■ It names no survivors, not even his wife. I was hoping to learn about siblings and/or other relatives;

■ It fails to mention his being born in Ireland;

■ It says he left five daughters and four sons, but other records say he and his wife (Mary) Ellen had only eight kids. Her obituary (see it below) says eight, and so do both the 1880 and 1900 censuses;

■ It says he was 61 when he died. That would make his birth year 1843. His gravestone says 1832 and census records have it at about 1835, so that's confusing.

The obituary above was provided by a very kind lady by the name of Sally. She’s the same person who provided photos of Ed’s gravestone, which can be seen on another page of this blog.

▲The obituary above appeared in the Joliet Herald News (Illinois) on 22 May 1955, and refers to him being the husband of the former Margaret O'Neil (click on it to enlarge it).

▲This one also appeared in the Joliet Herald News on 22 May 1955, and also refers to Margaret O'Neil (click to enlarge).

▲The obituary above appeared in the Joliet Herald News, 14 Jan 1935, and is that of Margaret O'Neil Nolan, the third of his wives to predecease Edward Francis Nolan. It's interesting to note that neither her first name nor her maiden name were used in the article, only her identity as "Mrs. Edward Nolan" (click to enlarge).

The obituaries above were provided by Molly Kennedy, a genealogist whose help has been most valuable in documenting various elements of our Family History.

▲This obituary, undated and without a source noted, was provided by Mary Jo Nolan Tongue, granddaughter of Francis Edward Nolan, aka Edward Francis Nolan, with the able assistance of Daniel Nolan and his wife Jennifer. Dan is the great grandson of Ed, as he was was known while he was alive.

Note that this obituary refers to him being the husband of Johanna, his second wife - which was a source of confusion since he was last married to Margaret O'Neil Nolan. However, Molly, the genealogist, provided insight into the likelihood that the info for this one was provided by one of Johanna's children and published in a small local publication in Roseland, Illinois, where Johanna's name would be known.


▲This obituary, undated and without a reference to the source, is that of Ellen Kavanaugh Nolan (her brother's name being spelled Cavabaugh reflects the fact that her name was often recorded with an initial letter "K" as well as a "C") and she was Ed's mother. The article was provided by a friend named Kate to Dan and Jen Nolan, who made it available for inclusion in this blog.

I'm very thankful for the generous and valuable assistance of each of the people named above who provided these documents!

- PWD
Last updated 3/18/2010