Grannan Family History; Patrick D. Grannan Family

Patrick D. Grannan, 1880-1914

Patrick D. Grannan (son of James Grannan and Catherin Murphy) was born Jan 4^th 1880 in Daviess County, Indiana. He married Elizabeth M. Ginder on 15 May 1900. (His brother John A. Grannan married Elizabeth's cousin, Teresia Ginder, on 4 Oct 1910). You can read about John and Teresia here.

Elizabeth Ginder was born approximately April of 1876 to F.X. and Teresia Ginder. Patrick D. was 20 and Elizabeth was 24 when they married. I have a hard copy of Patrick and Elizabeth's marriage announcement in the 19 May 1900 Daviess County Democrat that reads:

Patrick Grannan and Miss Lizzie Ginder were married Tuesday morning at St. Patrick's church at 9 o'clock. Rev. Chas. Carran officiated. The attendants were George Ginder, brother of the bride, and Miss Mary Clark, cousin of the groom. The bride is the organist at St. Patrick's church. May they live long and happily.

Also, below is a copy of their marriage certificate from the Daviess County courthouse.

Patrick and Elizabeth had six children:

Helenn Grannan was born approx 1903. She would marry Anthony Steinmetz.

Joseph Grannan was born 4 Apr 1907 and was listed as a survivor in his father's obituary.

Catherine, Elizabeth, and Teresia all died at birth or as an infant. Catherine was born and died on November 7, 1905, Elizabeth and Teresia (twins) were born and died January 1911 (no date given),

Gertrude Grannan was born Jan 1914 and died at six months of age on June 25, 1914.

Patrick worked for the railroad as a car foreman in Washington from 1895-97, then in Bedford IL from 1897-99, then Odin, IL in 1899 until his death 1914. Just a few weeks after his daughter Gertrude’s death, Patrick D. died on August 11, 1914, at the age of 34 from typhoid fever. Elizabeth then passed away 6 months later at the age of 38 on February 23, 1915 from pneumonia.

Elizabeth’s death is one of the few deaths officially recorded from this time period. According to the state index of Death Records, her death is recorded in Book H-21, page 16. However, while in Indiana researching, I could not locate her death record.

Elizabeth's death left 12 year old Helenn and her 7 year old brother Joseph as the only survivors, along with their grandmother Catherine and Uncle John and his family. I originally didn't know what became of the children but, according to Patrick's obituary, the grandmother Catherine was already living with John so I assumed the children must have done that also. However, I could find no record of it.

While researching in Indiana, I found the estate record of Elizabeth Grannan. It stated that “Lizzie” M. Grannan died Feb 1915 and left an estate valued at approximately $3,000, plus real estate valued at $600.00. It further listed her "sole and only heirs" as Helena Grannan age 12 and Joseph Grannan age 7. Their address is listed as Loogootee Indiana. George Ginder was granted Administrator of the Estate. George Ginder was Elizabeth's brother.

Many thanks to Tanya Peak, who sent me the following wedding announcement on Helena Grannan, year unknown. It says that she graduated from St. Joseph's academy in Clyde, MS, and the Etna School of Commerce in Indianapolis, where she then taught. Note that it also says that John Grannan (her uncle mentioned above and married to her mother's cousin) also attended the wedding.

Also, while researching in Indiana, I found the grave of Joseph E. Grannan in Loogootee IN. It is in St. John's cemetery there.

Apparently, he married Esther W. and he died in 1991. Next step in this family: What happened to Helen and Joseph Grannan? I also located a 1966 Township Plat Map of Daviess County in the Daviess County courthouse that shows "Jos. Grannon" was once the owner of a 49-acre parcel of land. This appears to be a portion of the land that once belonged to James Grannan, and Patrick Grannan before that.