When deciding what to write about for this week’s prompt, I chose to steer clear of examining sibling relationships and instead look a little deeper into the life of my Great-Great Aunt Rose Anna Kerrin (1861-1949).
There are two reasons behind this choice; firstly
when I originally added Rose on to my family tree it was early on in my genealogy
journey and I was concentrating more on my direct line than on the overall
history of my family; and secondly, once my attention shifted to the wider
picture I have been able to find out quite a lot of interesting detail about
her brother Daniel Kerrin (1859-1941) and nephew Richard Elual Kerrin (1898-1988)
and their working relationship within the Anglo-Catholic Church but
surprisingly little about Rose’s work with the Franciscan Sisters Of Mill Hill.
As I intend to write Daniel and Richard for a
later prompt, Road Trip, I will not say much about them now, instead turning
back to Rose.
The first I learnt of Rose was finding her alongside my maternal
Great-Grandfather Francis Kerrin on the 18711 and 18812 Scottish Census records,
and then once added into my family tree Ancestry.com gave me a suggested record
hint of a 1920 US Census3. I checked the record and noted that the year and
place of birth were correct for the entry but the name on the record was Mother
M Leonard Kerrin, and the role given was both Head and Mother Superior. I
carried on to verify that Rose had been naturalised to the US in 19094 and also
found some passport application forms5, confirming her parents to be my 2xG
Grandparents, but for some reason I was not sufficiently intrigued by her life
to look any further at that time. I think it was most likely because I was
trying to trace my direct lines and relying on the free trial weekend offers
that appear from time to time, but after working through the Curious Descendants 'Reclaim Jane' prompts about forgotten women, I confess to feeling a bit disappointed with
myself now, especially as I think she has a fascinating tale to
tell.
Rose Anna Kerrin 1861-1949 taken from 1923 US Passport Application
Decision made, I re-examined the existing sources of information I had for my 2xG Aunt, in addition to the three Census records and Naturalisation papers, the passport application which included the above photograph, together with record of her back in England on the 1939 England & Wales Register6. As I currently have a paid membership to Ancestry.co.uk and some credits for Find My Past I decided to carry out fresh searches and was able to find Rose on some passenger lists travelling from England to the US in both 19197 and 19238 (on the White Star Majestic no less), and a record of Rose’s death on both the English Register9 and a report of Death of an American Citizen Abroad document10. Frustratingly I am still unable to find Rose on any UK Census entries for 1891, 1901 or 1911 or in the US, so despite knowing that she first arrived in the US in 1885 and was naturalised in 1909 I can’t be certain about her movements in between..jpg)
Looking back at the 1920 US Census3, I realised that Rose, or now Mother Mary Leonard, was residing as the Head of Saint Elizabeth Home for
Colored Children, an Orphanage in Baltimore, Maryland. I have to admit I took
an inwards breath at that realisation; despite having learnt about the American
Civil War as a child during my time as a student at the American Embassy, Prague; and studying the work of Martin Luther King in order to create an
in-depth report as part of my O-level Religious Studies, as a white English
woman I cannot claim to have any true understanding of the realities and
intricacies of race relations within the United States.
Reading up about the Orphanage I found an interesting academic
essay, ‘The Good Work- The Franciscan Sisters of Saint Mary, Mill Hill, and the
African American Mission in Baltimore’ by Amy Rosenkranz11 which discusses some
of the history behind there being separate schools and churches for African
Americans, the belief being that they would be neglected by the priest if they
were in a mixed congregation.
The essay states:
‘The origins
of Saint Elizabeth's begin with Mary Herbert, an African American Catholic and
member of Saint Francis Xavier Church. In 1871, Mrs. Herbert's husband
abandoned her and her disabled daughter. In order to support herself and her
child, she began caring for the children of working friends and neighbors. The
nursery located in her home, quickly developed into an orphanage when some of
those parents failed to return for their children. Eventually, with more than
thirty children in her care, she turned to Father John Slattery for help. While
Slattery praised her work, his church was impoverished and he could not give
her any financial assistance. He did, however, give her permission to go
door-to-door asking for financial help. With that permission, Herbert
approached Josephine Etting, a member of a prominent local Jewish family, for
assistance.’
Mrs Etting’s help led to a building being acquired to house the
Orphanage. Over time disagreements developed between Father John Slattery and
Mary Herbert, and the Father resigned his post as spiritual director,
necessitating another religious order having to take over that role. This led
to the recently formed Franciscan Sisters Of Mill Hill being invited to oversee
the role; and four sisters, Sisters Winifred Phillips (Superior), Rose
Mitchell, Teresa Bartram, and Augustine Royston (lay sister) travelled to
Baltimore in December 1881, just four years before Rose.
It appears from reading the history of the Sisters of Francis12,
that the Orphanage continued to grow, moving in 1889 to the Hiss Mansion, Maryland
Avenue in Baltimore; and when that property was sadly hit by fire in 1914 it
resulted in almost 300 children being displaced and homed in alternative accommodation
until the replacement building was finished in 1917. I realised that this time period is whilst Rose would have been the Superintendent at the Home, and wondered what her feelings were at the time, there would surely have been a great deal of extra work to be carried out. The new St Elizabeth was located at 3725
Ellersie Avenue, and continued as an orphanage until 1960, at which point it became
a school for children with special needs and a residential high school. Reading through some of the former resident’s
memories from the 100 year celebratory mass13, it seems that the home was a happy
place and despite the constraints of the segregation system which were out of their hands it appears the Nuns
themselves did all in their power to provide the utmost care to the children.
In writing this, I realise I still have more to learn about Rose, or
Mother Mary Leonard as she became known, I want to understand more of her early
experiences within the order, what led her to go overseas and what experiences
she had whilst at the Orphanage in Baltimore; I also wonder about her return to
England after being Nationalised as an American citizen. Having been able to get in touch with the
Sisters of Mill Hill who have confirmed knowledge of Rose, I am now waiting to
see what other information they are able to provide to me.
I hope to be able to write a follow up piece in due course as and when I learn more
12. Sisters of Francis of Assisi (2022) History: Franciscan Sisters of Baltimore Available at https://www.lakeosfs.org/who-we-are/history/ accessed 30/03/2022
13. Catholic Review (2017) Ellerslie Avenue building has been a center of ministry for 100 years Available at
https://catholicreview.org/ellerslie-avenue-building-center-ministry-100-years/
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