Lost Pearl

There were no Corinthian columns in here when my great-great-grandfather James O’Day and his wife, Ellen Shea, lived here on Pearl Street in lower Manhattan. They lived on the street for decades—from around 1875 to 1910, and at 497 Pearl Street from 1884 until around 1910. I believe the house was small, as there were

Old Church, New Church

The Church of St. Andrew in Lower Manhattan has changed dramatically over the years. It was originally built in 1818 as a Unitarian Church. In 1842, it was converted to a Catholic church. The ceiling collapsed in 1875 during a Lenten service when a storm caused the building next door to come crashing down. Many

Old Guard

The second oldest Catholic Church in Manhattan is where my earliest Irish immigrant ancestors were married in 1866. Ellen Shea, who had escaped the Irish Potato Famine in Kilgarvan, Kerry, with her mother and sister, arrived in 1851 with many of her extended family and neighbors. James O’Dea came around 1865, but I’m not able