The Last Word on John Cronin

Note:  This is the 4th post in a series of posts about John Cronin, the husband of my g-grandmother, Lucy.

The first place I traveled to in search of John Cronin was the town of Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky based an a newspaper article I had discovered in the Kentuckiana Digital Library.  A visit to the Paris-Bourbon Co. library revealed a second article that gave several more clues as to the "real" John Cronin.
Here is a transcription:

True Kentuckian, Paris, Kentucky, April 5, 1882

John Cronin, who committed suicide at Mt. Sterling last Saturday night by morphine, was buried in the Catholic cemetery here on Monday.  His father owns a lot in the cemetery, but it being contrary to rules of that church to inter a suicide in consecrated ground, he was buried in the strangers' lot.  He was born and raised in Cynthiana, having been here three or four years ago exhibiting the two Elam children, or "Scaly Brothers," human curiosities from one of the mountain counties.  Three or four weeks ago, while acting as Marshal of Mt. Sterling, he shot and wounded a Mr. Conner, for which he was under bond.  He left a wife and 5 small children.  His widow is a daughter of Thomas Probert, deceased, formerly of this city, she being the offspring of Mr. Proberts first marriage,  Mr. P.'s second wife being a sister of Thomas Richardson, Sr., of this place.

Finally, the Mt. Sterling Sentinel Democrat, 4-14-1882, p. 2 reports the following:

"The body was buried and reburied until Father Barry told Mr. Cronin, the brother, that he could either take the body from the cemetery or leave it where it lay, in unconsecrated ground, or take all the bodies from the Cronin lot and the money that was paid for it would be refunded.  Cronin cursed the entire congregation, and defied any man to step from the crowd, numbering 80 or 90 men, to stand before him, which polite invitation was, as a matter of course, declined.  It was thought that the body will be brought here (Mt. Sterling)".

I've yet to find out where he is buried -- if moved again, it would mean four burials for poor John Cronin.

John Cronin was the husband of my great-grandmother, Lucy Probert Cronin.  Lucy later had one more child, my grandmother, with William Dailey of Mt. Sterling.  All six children were eventually raised in orphanages.  I can't even imagine the difficult life Lucy had, nor can I imagine having to give up all six children.  I wish Lucy could have been blessed with an easier life, but it is testimony to Roman Catholic nuns that all six children went on to lead productive lives.

The Romanticization of John Cronin

I wanted SO much to believe that John Cronin was a good guy -- and maybe he was.  But the evidence isn't pointing in that direction. 

Two days ago I got to live the dream of every family historian and travel to the places in Kentucky I knew John Cronin had lived -- Paris, Bourbon Co., Mt. Sterling, Montgomery Co., and Cynthiana, Harrison Co.  Armed with the approximate date of John Cronin's suicide and the shooting of Richard O'Connor that may have led to this decision, my goal was to check any local newspapers to see if I could get a more complete picture.  What a day it was!

I decided to create a timeline of the events culled from several articles:

3-10-1882 - The Democrat - Mt. Sterling, p.2.

• John Cronin and Richard O'Connor "collided on the street and both turned and began an angry altercation."
• John Cronin "drew a pistol and fired at O'Connor five times, one ball taking effect in O'Connor's left side, in the abdomen."
• The statements of the participants were "so divergent" that the newspaper could not "attempt to give any further particulars."
• The trial was set for Thursday morning. 

3-14-1882 - The Democrat - Mt. Sterling, p.2.

• "The attention of the Police Court was occupied all day Monday with the trial of John Cronin for wounding Richard O'Connor with intent to kill."
• "Quite a number of witnesses were examined on both sides, but on account of the absence of several important witnesses the trial was adjourned."
• "The Court adjourned to the house where the wounded man is staying.  He was very feeble and could scarcely give his testimony."

3-17-1882 - The Democrat - Mt. Sterling, p.2.

• The trial was concluded in City Court.  "The Judge then delivered his opinion which was that the defendant had acted too hastily and that there were good reasons for holding him over to the grand jury."
• The Judge "softened the charge" since he did not believe " there was any malice aforethought proven in the case."  Cronin was to be held over under the charge of "unlawfully shooting."
• His bail was fixed at $800, which he gave.  Patsy McNamara was his bondsman.

4-4-1882 - The Democrat - Mt. Sterling, p.2.

• The paper reported on the death of John Cronin by suicide on April 1, 1882.  (Note:  This is my birthday as well as April Fool's Day).
• He took his life by overdosing on morphine.
• He was described as handsome and about 33 years old. 

There is no way I can do this part of the story justice without including the actual article.  Since it is difficult to read, here is the transcription:

In the Jaws of Death

An occurrence, as startling as it was sad, shocked the entire community Saturday night.  This was none other than the suicidal death of John Cronin.  Cronin lived on Maysville street with his family and worked hard all day Saturday.  He appeared light-hearted and good-humored and not a breath of suspicion was held by any of the dreadful resolve centered in his mind.  After supper he said to his wife that he had the blues and was going up town and get drunk.  She begged him not to do so, and he replied that if she would send up and get him some morphine he would stay at home and go to sleep.  She sent up and got him two grains of this narcotic which he took after he had washed and dressed himself.  He then lay down on the bed.  Calling his little son to him he said "come lay on the bed here, for it is the last time you will ever sleep with your father."  They nestled up together and lay there for about five minutes, when Cronin petulantly observed that the morphine was "no account" and that he would have to get more before he could sleep.  He then got six grains more which he took, this being the fatal dose.  This was at a few minutes after nine.  He fell over on the bed and his wife suspecting he had taken an overdose sent immediately for Drs. Thornley and Glover, who labored with him faithfully but to no avail, for he died at 25 minutes past 10 o'clock.  His father lives in Cynthiana, and John King and John Feehan drove over there to summon him.  He arrived here Sunday afternoon.  The remains will be taken to Paris for burial.  Cronin was a handsome man, about 33 years old.  He was a tinner by trade, although he had not worked at it since he returned from Kansas.  His career had been a checkered one and numerous incidents are now related of his lawless life.  About a month ago he shot a man here in a street broil and this man is still stretched upon his bed.  Many are the motives assigned for the suicide, but the immediate cause will always be shrouded in mystery.  Sunday afternoon John McGilaway, Pat Sammons and Will Bradshaw went around and collected $35 for the family, which is in indigent circumstances.

As this post is getting to be quite lengthy, I will reveal the rest of my findings in the next post.  I'd love to hear your opinion of John.  Leave a comment.

John Cronin -- Buried Three Times - At Least!

Note:  Click here for a link to Part I of this story.

As I write this, I have such a jumble of emotions.  From what I can tell, John Cronin was probably a fine, upstanding member of the Mt. Sterling community.  He married Lucy Probert and together they had five children:  Joseph, Albert, Charley, Annie, and Addie.  He was respected enough to be a "Deputy Marshall."  So how could everything go so badly so quickly?*

I have to believe that the shooting of Richard O'Conner had something to do with pushing John over the edge -- but at what a cost to his wife and children.  I wonder if he would have acted differently if he would have seen how desperate the situation would become for his widow.  Within a year and a half, all five children were placed in an orphanage.  Lucy would feel compelled to leave town.  Perhaps there is more to the story than I know and John anticipated a trial that would not go well for him.  At any rate, he took his own life.

This caused a real dilemma for the burial of John Cronin because suicide prevented the Catholic Church of the time from allowing the body to be buried in "consecrated" ground.  I found this article that described the problem.

Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky, Tuesday, 4-11-1882, Vol. 1, p. 1.

To summarize, John Cronin's body was buried in the Stranger's Section (unconsecrated ground) due to his suicide.  This infuriated John's younger brother, who together with the help of a brother-in-law, disinterred John's body and moved it to a plot owned by his father (consecrated ground).  The local priest telegraphed the Bishop of Covington for advice and was told that he would have to exhume the body and move it back.  John's brother returned from Cynthiana to confront the priest.  The article implies that they were working on a solution, but gives no indication of the final outcome.

So on this day, 129 years later, I hope John is at peace -- regardless of resting place.

* Additional research proved that it was Richard O'Conner who worked in the grocery store -- not John Cronin.  Perhaps his job at the time of his death was serving as a "Deputy Marshall".  He had once worked as a tinner (tinsmith).

The Elusive John Cronin - Part I

For ten years I have been trying to find out what happened to John Cronin -- husband of Lucy Probert and father of her first five children.  He is listed in the Mt. Sterling, Montgomery County, Kentucky 1880 Census with Lucy and the first four children.  Addie was born later on that year.

I knew that all five children were placed in an orphanage in northern Kentucky in 1884.  On the intake record for the boys, the father was listed as "dead."  That gave me a narrow window to search -- 1880 to 1884.  How hard could it be?

For ten years I have visited the Montgomery County Court House, visited the Kentucky Room at the Mt. Sterling library, searched online and searched digitized historical newspapers.  To make matters worse, there was another John Cronin married to Armilda Hubbard living in Mt. Sterling at the time.  Why couldn't I find my guy?

Last night I was searching through the Kentuckiana Digital Library for the umpteenth time looking for John Cronin.  I know from experience that it can be a tricky thing and that you must try every possible spelling and variation imaginable.  This time I hit pay dirt!

Semi-Weekly Interior Journal, Stanford, KY    4-21-1882

Committed suicide?  Why?  Why in Paris, Kentucky* if he was living in Mt. Sterling? Continued searching gave me more clues.  Apparently Richard O'Connor worked in a grocery.  John Cronin was a "Deputy Marshall."  According to a second article, John Cronin had had an altercation with one Richard O'Conner.  As Richard threw "weights" at John, John unloaded his revolver into Richard, hitting his left side and arm. I've not been able to discover any basis for the "bad blood" between them.

Bourbon news (Millersburg, Kentucky): 1881, p.4.

I don't know what Richard O'Conner's beef was, but he lived to die another day -- literally.

Evening Bulletin, Maysville, Kentucky, 3-8-1882.

The article makes it appear as if John Cronin succeeded in actually killing him this time, but I have my doubts.  I came across a marriage record in the Kentucky Marriage Index for a Richard O'Conner of Mt. Sterling, Kentucky in 1883.

 And then there is this notice in the newspaper . . .

Semi-Weekly Bourbon News, September 14, 1883, p. 1.

The article about the shooting does not say why Richard was shot, whether or not John Cronin was arrested, and whether or not there was a trial.  BUT WAIT -- THERE'S MORE!!!  The story takes yet another interesting twist. Be sure to read the next post.  John Cronin - Buried Three Times - At Least!

Note:  If you want to know what happened to John's widow, Lucy, go to this link.
*Additional research proved that John Cronin committed suicide in Mt. Sterling -- not Paris.

When Irish Eyes Are Smiling . . .

In an earlier post, I discussed what I knew about Norine (Jan) in the early years. I'm told that she followed what was described as a "southern tradition" in not believing that it was anyone's business how old she was, when her anniversary was, etc.

As someone interested in my family's history, it is important to me to document every generation in my tree with as many sources as possible. It soon became apparent that this was not going to be easy when it came to Norine.

She was born on March 27, 1884 in Mt. Sterling, KY. My mother's notes say that her mother, Lucy, was not well and that Jan went to school in Lexington as a young girl. Her notes also say she had a "mammy" at some point. As fate would have it, Kentucky did not mandate birth records until 1911. The first census in which Norine would have appeared was the 1890 Census which was destroyed. Despite years of searching I have not been able to find a death record for either Lucy Probert Cronin or John Cronin. I have been able to substantiate through other records that John and Lucy were the parents of the first five children. I also know that a young, married black couple was living in the Cronin's home in the 1880 Census, and perhaps this young woman was the "mammy" referred to in my mother's notes.

The records to the right and below are part of the admission record for the first five children. They were brought to a Catholic orphanage in Covington, KY months before Jan is born. Boys and girls were placed in separate facilities at the time and in a record they found for Joseph and Charles Cronin (spelled three different ways) it notes that their "father dead." This lends credence to the idea that Norine had a father different from the father of the first five.



The family was of Irish descent. Mt. Sterling, at the time, had quite a bit of animosity toward "foreigners" including the Irish who made up 10% of the population. I have read through several of the local newspapers of the time and there are several articles that discuss limiting the political influence of the Irish and trying to deny them a vote.

Here is where the history gets cloudy, however. When I try to submit our family lines for recognition through the Hamilton County Genealogical Society, every generation must be fully-documented with reliable source documents. I recently submitted our Jones/Wainright family for recognition as one of the First Families of Cincinnati because I could prove that Britton was born here in 1819. I'm actually scheduled to get the award in a few weeks at a luncheon. When it comes to Jan, however, I am not without documentation. In fact, I have a fair amount of documentation. Unfortunately, there is no agreement.

Norine is the daughter of either Lucy Probert Cronin and John Cronin or Lucy Probert Cronin and William Dailey. Let me present the evidence for each, and you can be the judge.

I personally believe that Jan's father was a man named William Dailey. He lived in Mt. Sterling close to where the Cronin's lived. He, too, is of Irish descent. He is living with his sister, Ellen, in the 1880 Census. The Cronins and Daileys were friends. Evidence of this is the fact that I have a copy of the baptismal record for Jan's brother, Charles. Ellen Dailey is the Godmother.

On Norine's application for a Marriage License, she listed her name as Norine Dailey Cronin. She listed her father as William Dailey and her mother as Lucy Probert. The Church record posted earlier shows that the wedding was between a Jones and a Dailey.

I have a copy of both the Church Wedding Record for Edith Jones Breving and Edith's Baptismal Record. In both cases, the father is listed as Charles F. Jones and the mother as Norine Dailey.

It seems like it should be a "slam dunk" -- yet there are conflicting records. On Norine's Death Certificate, Pop was the "informant". He listed John Cronin as the father. He said the same when he published her Death Notice in the newspaper.

As I type this, I can't help but think that Jan is asking me why I didn't just leave well enough alone. She had five brothers and sisters. As mentioned earlier, she lived with a few of them when she arrived in Cincinnati. They were her family in every way and had the last name of Cronin. Every entry in the City Directory listed her name as Norine Cronin. I think it was just easier.

One of these years I may solve this mystery. It would be easy if I could prove John Cronin was, in fact, dead at least a year before her siblings were placed in an orphanage. I wish I could understand what her mother's illness was and whether or not Jan actually lived in an orphange-type setting as a young girl.

What I know for sure is that she "landed" in Cincinnati. She shared a 59 year marriage to Pop who never got over her loss. Jan was Irish through and through. (Hence I could not be anything but Kathleen as long as she was alive). She was the mother of my father and I wish I could have known her better.

I think both of them would be extremely proud of their descendants -- and I feel strengthened that they preceded me. The river (and their strength) definitely runs through us.

Where I've been . . .

August left me little time to blog. The first week of August I was involved in implementing a new course for teachers -- it was a great success. In addition to this, I didn't know what direction to take next. I'm to the generation of Joneses that includes my grandparents -- Jan and Pop as we knew them. I realized I just didn't know as much about them as I would have liked. I contacted Rosemary Kramer and Fred Breving and will post what I learn in a later post.

Meanwhile, I had the itch to get away and decided to go down to the Kentucky Archives in Frankfort, KY. I've been there before. It's an interesting place. You can pull up original documents, musty and moldy as they are, from Mt. Sterling, KY that were filed by T.H. Probert, Jan's grandfather (and our gg-grandfather). For years I've tried to research both William Dailey and John Cronin to determine who was Jan's father.





I was able to find some tax records from the 1880s, but no answers to my questions. I decided to drive over to Mt. Sterling and take some pictures. In an earlier visit to Mt. Sterling I had found the grave of T.H. (Thomas) Probert at the MacPhelah Cemetery on the outskirts of Mt. Sterling. I had a death record for him. He and his wife, Catherine Richardson, had lost three children as infants. The infants are buried on the same site.

There is one tall monument to the family. It is located in Section 9 and is near the top of a hillside that overlooks the entire town of Mt. Sterling. I always seem to be there just as the "golden hour" is upon us. I was touched by the quotation that was carved into the side of the marker.

My plan was to leave MacPhelah, take pictures in the heart of Mt. Sterling, photograph the grave of William Dailey in St. Thomas Cemetery and head back to Cincinnati. That's where things got really fun. I went to the center of town near the Court House and started taking pictures of the location where I know Thomas Probert had once served as the town jailer. In the 1870 Census, the Probert family is listed along with the names of the prisoners and a cook. Although I know the exact location of the jail, it is now the site of what is now the Historical Society for Mt. Sterling.

When I got there, there was a group of about 100 people attending a pot luck dinner. I found the door was open and went in to photograph a picture of the site when it was used as a fire station and then left. I was followed out by Miles Hoskins who is the president of the society and invited me in. They were having a speaker from the University of Kentucky, Becky Ryder, who was going to pick up originals of the Kentucky Sentinel, a weekly newspaper published in Mt. Sterling. She was going to take the originals, purchased by Miles in an estate sale, and have them digitized at the University of Kentucky. Once this process is completed, the papers will be posted on the web and be fully searchable. As someone who had just spent three hours at the library scanning microfilm of these historic papers, I can't imagine how helpful that will be.







Miles Hoskins is pictured with a copy of the Kentucky Sentinel, soon to be digitized and searchable online.

We all exchanged business cards and it was great fun sharing common history with Mt. Sterling residents. I know this will not be my last visit to Mt. Sterling. In fact I very much look forward to learning what I can and sharing what I have with the members of the Historical Society.