The Moynahan Postcards

Family historians regularly use the popular internet auction website eBay as a source for genealogical records and books and many years ago I set up an eBay alert for "Moynahan -Bridget". (I had to put "-Bridget because I wanted to avoid being notified every time a Bridget Moynahan poster or movie went on sale!)

I was delighted when I was alerted that this group of "Cecelia Moynahan" postcards (below) were for sale!

eBay Photo: Antique & Vintage Postcards Lot Panama Quebec Kenilworth Moynahan

I received a notification of "eBay Photo: Antique & Vintage Postcards Lot Panama Quebec Kenilworth Moynahan " which contained postcards addressed to a Cecilia M. Moynahan, 309 Broadway, Cambridge Massachusetts.

eBay Photo: Antique & Vintage Postcards Lot
Panama Quebec Kenilworth
Moynahan

Some of the postcards were addressed to a Jer. Moynahan at the same address and I did some quick queries on ancestry. ca and found out a little bit about Cecilia. She was the only child of Jeremiah and Cecilia (Rafferty) Moynahan and she never married. She loved to travel and made many trips to Ireland!

eBay Photo: Antique & Vintage Postcards Lot Panama Quebec Kenilworth Moynahan

My curiosity got the best of me so I purchased the cards and here is what I learned about the Moynahans of Massachusetts.. Jeremiah Moynahan (1849-1922) was Cecilia's father.

I was able to build the Massachusetts Moynahan Family Tree from the time of their arrival in the United States between 1846 and 1849. (Jeremiah being born in 1849 Sterling, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA and his older brother Michael being born in 1846 in Ireland)

The Massachusetts Moynahan Family Tree

Mary Cecelia continued to live in the family home until the time of her death. She hosted the funerals of many cousins. When Cecelia died in 1956, the contents of the family home were placed for auction - how I suspect that these postcards made their way eventually to eBay.

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) · 8 Sep 1957, Sun · Page 116

Mary Cecilia loved to travel with her father when he was alive (in 1905: seven weeks to California and many cities in between), with her cousins to the United Kingdom and sometimes alone (as in 1937)

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) · 14 Apr 1905, Fri · Page 7

Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) · 14 Jul 1936, Tue · Page 13

1937 record of Mary Cecilia Moynahan aboard the ship "Scythia" arriving at Boston from Dublin

As mentioned above, after her father;s death in 1922, Mary Cecilia continued to live in the family home at 309 Broadway until her own death in 1956. She hosted the funerals of her cousins Thomas Moynahan in 1934 and  Mary G. Moynahan at 309 Broadway in 1942.

Thomas Moynahan 1877-1933
(Source: Passport photo:
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA);
Washington D.C.;
Roll #: 314; Volume #: Roll 0314 Certificates: 28701-29300, 07 Jul 1916-14 Jul 1916

The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) · 28 Jun 1934, Thu · Page 27

Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) · 12 Dec 1942, Sat · Page 4

Her cousin Frank J. Moynahan died in 1893 (when their parents were still living) and his funeral was held at the home of his parents at 27 Norfolk.

I love the description of the arrangement that was given by Jeremiah and Cecilia Moynahan to their nephew, " a lyre with one string broken, representing the first break in the family by death"

Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) · 6 Mar 1893, Mon · Page 5

There is no connection (presently) with the Massachusetts Moynahans and our Moynahan ancestors but this family does share our unusual spelling and connections in Ireland are still being researched.

I am sharing the 13 postcards that received from eBay labelled by the seller as "Moynahan" and starting with this card

The fist two cards are addressed to Mary Cecilia's father Jeremiah Moynahan (1849-1922)

The following postcards were all addressed to Mary Cecilia Moynahan and I have put them in chronological order from 1909-1939

Postcard dated 12-14-09 with text below

This postcard has no postage and is the only postcard that was typed upon.

1910

May 1911

July 1911

July 1911

1912

April 1913

May 1913

August 1913

Postcard dated 1924 (text below)

1924

Postcard dated 1939 (text below)

1939

Undated postcard

After reading all of Cecilia's postcards, I remain curious about John who sent postcards from Panama for several decades. That mystery, if solved, will be featured in a future blog post!