A place to honour my ancestors: Moynahan, Coughlin, Broderick, Annal, Brennan, Hussey, Hess and Duffy. (Essex & Kent County Ontario, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, Ireland, Scotland); and Creighton, Moreland, (Nova Scotia, England and Scotland); and Foreman (Ireland, Scotland and Norway)
I honour my ancestors with my daily practice of reviewing their birth, deaths and marriages using my "On This Day" (OTD) calendar.
According to my Family Tree Maker (FTM) calendar, my second cousin (1R) Margot Wheeler should be celebrating her 82nd birthday today but the only concrete information that I have about Margot was the photograph pictured below of Margot with her sister Patti and her uncle Bernard Broderick taken in 1943.
1943 photograph of Marg and Patti Wheeler with their Uncle Bernard of Ontario (Source: Bernard Broderick photograph archive)
Sometimes when I do genealogical research online I find myself taking wild tangents that are quite fun!
I have researched the Colorado Moynahans before and never come across a story about a John J. Moynahan (an artist/cartoonist) who married one of the most scandalous and notorious women of the early twentieth century, Mary Louise Cecilia "Texas" Guinan (January 12, 1884 – November 5, 1933). "The robust entertainer sent the phrases "Hello, Sucker" and "Give The Little Girl A Great Big Hand", virtually around the world."
Guinan was one of seven siblings born in Waco, Texas, to Irish-Canadian immigrants Michael and Bessie (née Duffy) Guinan. She attended parochial school at the Loretta Convent in Waco. When she was 16 years old, her family moved to Denver, Colorado, where she was in amateur stage productions and played the organ in church.
Guinan married John Moynahan, a cartoonist for the Rocky Mountain News, on December 2, 1904. The union was childless. Moynahan's career took them to Chicago, where Guinan studied music before divorcing him and starting her career as a professional singer. She toured regional vaudeville with some success, but became known less for her singing than for her entertaining "Wild West"-related patter.
Some accounts say that Texas met her first husband, newspaper cartoonist for Rocky Mountain News John J. Moynahan, at the home of her cousin, Katie Hoban, in Idaho Springs, Colorado. Here's a completely different account that has John Moynahan rescuing her from a marriage she did not want:
John Moynahan was described as quiet and Texas as noisy and there is no doubt that the marriage was brief, but this is the only reference to the marriage being unhappy.
Texas preferred to forget all of her three husbands except "Jack" Moynahan, who she would occassionally speak about.
I did locate information that when Texas moved to New York, John J. Moynahan (who was living in Chicago) was worried about her and would send her money.
She was one of the first female emcees. Upon the introduction of Prohibition, she opened a speakeasy called the 300 Club at 151 W. 54th Street in New York City (1920). The club became famous for its troupe of 40 scantily clad fan dancers and for Guinan's distinctive aplomb, which made her a celebrity. Arrested several times for serving alcohol and providing entertainment, she always claimed that the patrons had brought the liquor in with them, and the club was so small that the girls had to dance close to the customers. Guinan maintained that she had never sold an alcoholic drink in her life.[2] (Source: Wikipedia)
Texas Funeral - Manhattan 1933Twelve thousand turned out for a final viewing. Show business buddies filled Frank Campbell's Funeral Chapel in New York with flowers. Movie cameras recorded it all.
She was survived by both of her parents. Her mother died at age 101 in 1959 and her father was 79 years old at his death in 1935. Her family donated a tabernacle in her name to St. Patrick's Church in Vancouver in recognition of Father Louis Forget's attentions during her last hours. When the original church was demolished in 2004, the tabernacle was preserved for the new church built on the site. Guinan is interred in the Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York. (Source: Wikipedia)
The movie "Incendiary Blonde" starring Betty Hutton was based on the life of Texas Guinan but as you can see from the newsclipping below, it was 90% fiction and 10% fact! Still, I loved the few clips that I could find online. She was remembered and portrayed as quite the character!
I was shocked to read that he made it to New York City (where Texas was) in the 1920s! I wonder? Did they know of each other? Did they meet?
After he and Texas parted ways in 1907 he remained single until at 58 years og age, two years after Texas died (1933), in 1935 he married widow Lydia Maude (Searle) Wurderman.
1939
1939
This cartoon, from the archives of the Scituate Historical Society, was drawn, it is believed, by Jack Moynahan, cartoonist for the Rocky Mountain News.
