Margaret (Maggie) Callaghan and Patrick Welsh
No photos available
Birth: May 1877, Minnesota
Death: 10 Jan 1945, Los Angeles
Burial: Unknown
Spouse: Patrick Welsh
Birth: 17 Match 1872, Ireland
Death: 6 APR 1914, Conrad, Pondera, Montana
Married: 4 Jun 1908, Ramsey, Dakota, Minnesota
No children.
Margaret Callaghan was born in May of 1875 in Empire Township, Minnesota. She was the eighth child of William Callaghan and Mary Condon. Like her siblings, she did not leave much of a footprint behind. Unlike her siblings, she actually did marry, though she never had any children.
Margaret, who was known as Maggie, most likely had a typical, late 19th Century farm childhood. She was raised with farm and household chores. She went to school in a one-room schoolhouse for primary school and continued to high school. Like her sisters, she went on to become a teacher by 1900, a career she continued most of her life.
Patrick Welsh was born on March 14, either 1868 or 1872, probably in Mayo. He was the eighth child of Thomas (or Patrick) Welsh and Barbara Collins. They came to America on the Java, arriving in New York Harbor on May 9, 1874, and settled in Collis, Minnesota. Thomas died two years later, and the family moved to Barbara’s brother’s farm in Brockway, Stearns, Minnesota, northwest of Minneapolis. In December of 1902, Uncle John Collins died, leaving the farm to his sister. She did not survive a full year before dying in October of 1903, leaving the farm to Patrick, his older brothers already having passed.
Patrick and Maggie married on June 9, 1908, in Maples, Dakota County, by Catholic priest Fr. Michael Hanley. He was 36 and she was 33. The witnesses were Frank and Julia Twomey. Maggie moved to his farm in Brockway where she continued to teach, though traditionally, women who married usually were no longer allowed to teach anymore in many parts of the country.
The farm, unfortunately, was mortgaged and after three of years, the Welshes decided to make a new start in Montana. Patrick homesteaded in a 320-acre ranch about 40 miles east of Conrad, county Teton, near the Selma post office. The ranch was about 60 miles north of Great Falls. Their bad luck continues in 1914, though, when Patrick had to go into the hospital to have gall stones removed. A week later, he came down with lobar pneumonia. On April 6, 1914, Patrick died. He was 42 years old. After a funeral mass was held in the Conrad Catholic Church by Fr. Hunner, Patrick was laid to rest in Hillside Cemetery, Conrad, Montana.
After Patrick’s death, Maggie did not move back to the family farm in Empire as one might expect. Instead, she stayed in Montana and, on August 4, 1915, she filed a land patent with the General Land Office.
That did not work out in the long run either, though. By the 1920 US Census, Maggie was renting space on the Donnelly farm in Collins, about 20 miles south of Conrad. Joe and Matilda Donnelly were an Irish-German couple (though Joe was actually born in Michigan) with four children. Maggie was still teaching school, but her employer was the one of the railroads.
Maggie was difficult to find over the next 20 years. The job with the Railroad may have allowed her to relocate several times. In 1930, the Donnellys were still on their ranch in Collins, but Maggie was no longer there. By 1935, Maggie had made her way to Los Angeles, California. She had a government job in 1940 as an attendant at a county welfare office. She was renting the house at 2140 ½ Vallejo Street, and four of her siblings had moved in with her. That living arrangement seems to have been somewhat short-lived. By 1942, James was back in Oregon, and Nellie, Kate, and Mary were back in Minnesota.
Maggie, the only married Minnesota Callaghan, died on January 10, 1945, in Los Angeles. She was 68 years old. Beyond naming her surviving siblings and the facts of the rosary at Wentz Chapel and a funeral mass at Sacred Heart Church, nothing else was said in the obituary. Even where she was buried is unmentioned and unknown. She had completely disappeared.
Maggie was difficult to find over the next 20 years. The job with the Railroad may have allowed her to relocate several times. In 1930, the Donnellys were still on their ranch in Collins, but Maggie was no longer there. By 1935, Maggie had made her way to Los Angeles, California. She had a government job in 1940 as an attendant at a county welfare office. She was renting the house at 2140 ½ Vallejo Street, and four of her siblings had moved in with her. That living arrangement seems to have been somewhat short-lived. By 1942, James was back in Oregon, and Nellie, Kate, and Mary were back in Minnesota.
Maggie, the only married Minnesota Callaghan, died on January 10, 1945, in Los Angeles. She was 68 years old. Beyond naming her surviving siblings and the facts of the rosary at Wentz Chapel and a funeral mass at Sacred Heart Church, nothing else was said in the obituary. Even where she was buried is unmentioned and unknown. She had completely disappeared.