Meghan’s grandparents and the ancestors the records confirm so far. On her father’s side, Frank McCauley of Bay Ridge and Diane Byrnes, with a mail-carrier McCauley and a Herbert–Boyle line in Brooklyn and an elevator-operator Byrnes father with an Irish-born Rooney mother. On her mother’s side, Michael F. Kelly, Sr., a Westbury horse groom whose father came from County Roscommon and whose mother was a Froehlich, and Agnes M. Kelly of Northport, very likely a daughter of Joseph Healy and Louise Boehm of Hicksville. Only facts found in records are shown, and each card says how firm the link is. Living family members are kept private.
Switch between Meghan’s father’s and mother’s sides above the chart. Select anyone to see their dates, places, family and the records behind them.
Frank’s place in the Frank L. and Helen McCauley household rests on a close fit: name, age, Brooklyn, and two family memories (the postal-worker father and the Boyle name). Three documents would settle it. His full 1956 New York City marriage certificate names both sets of parents; the City Clerk’s office issues genealogy copies of marriages more than 50 years old. His Social Security application (form SS-5) also names his parents; the Social Security Administration releases it to anyone for a deceased person. His military file, from the National Personnel Records Center, would also work. Any of these also confirms his birth date.
The family remembers Frank serving in California in something like codebreaking, without seeing combat. Born in 1930, he’d have served in the early 1950s, around the Korean War. Army signals intelligence of that era was the Army Security Agency. No service record is online yet. As next of kin, his children can request his personnel file and DD-214 from the National Personnel Records Center at archives.gov. Frank Sr.’s World War I file (corporal, U.S. Army) is public now and can be ordered from the same place.
Frank Sr.’s 1921 marriage record names all four of his and Helen’s parents. In 1905 a John J. and Margaret McCauley in Brooklyn had a son Francis, born about 1895, with siblings Grace and Hugh. That fits, but it isn’t tied to Frank Sr. yet. The full marriage certificate image, on FamilySearch’s film 1653131, would also give Frank’s and Helen’s birthplaces and addresses. Thomas Boyle (born about 1882) and Francis Herbert (born about 1872), the “uncles” in the 1940 and 1950 households, are the way back on the Boyle and Herbert lines.
Elizabeth B. Rooney was born in Ireland about 1908–09. Her arrival record (late 1920s, probably at New York) or her naturalization would name her home town. So would her marriage to James Byrnes, about 1930, which should be in the New York City marriage index. Her own death record hasn’t been found yet.
A Daniel and Margaret Byrnes household in New York City (1915) and Brooklyn (1920) includes a son James, born about 1907 in New Jersey, which fits James Edward exactly. Margaret was born in Ireland and came over in 1903; a James McPhillips, listed as Daniel’s brother-in-law, points to her maiden name. James’s own Social Security application, or his 1907 Jersey City birth record, would confirm it.
The family names Agnes’s parents as Joseph Healy and Louise Boehm. The records fit: an Agnes Healy of the right age lived with them in 1930, 1940 and 1950. Her sisters Augusta and Florence are buried at St. Philip Neri, the same cemetery as Agnes, and Augusta lived in Northport. What’s missing is one document that uses both names. The best is Michael and Agnes’s marriage record. They married after April 1950, probably in Nassau or Suffolk County; the town clerk where the license was issued can supply a copy, and the New York State marriage index (free through Reclaim the Records, and on Ancestry) gives the town and certificate number. Agnes’s Social Security application (form SS-5, available for a deceased person from the Social Security Administration) would also name her parents. So would the obituary of her sister Marion (1925–2010) or Doris Martens (1913–2004), if it lists a sister Agnes Kelly.
Joseph Rudolph Healy and Louise Marie Boehm’s 1909 marriage record names their parents: Joseph Healy and Mary Cashman, and Rudolph Boehm and Augusta Menz. In 1910 the young couple lived in Oyster Bay with the Boehms. The 1900 and 1910 censuses of Oyster Bay and Hicksville should show where Rudolph and Augusta were born, probably in Germany, and the Cashman name points to Irish roots for the Healys.
His Find a Grave memorial, kept by a relative, gives his birth as 24 September 1881 in Carrigeenagappul, near Tulsk, County Roscommon, and names his parents as Thomas Kelly (1843–1915) and Elizabeth Beirne (1843–1900). The Irish civil birth register for 1881 (free at irishgenealogy.ie, Strokestown or Castlerea district) and the Ogulla and Baslick Catholic parish register would confirm it. His arrival in New York and his 1922 marriage to Mary Froehlich are the American records to find next.
Mary was born on 3 June 1895 in the U.S., and her brother John Froehlich, born about 1915, lived with her in Westbury in 1950. Her 1922 marriage record would name her parents. Her obituary in February 1980 (probably in Newsday, Westbury) would list her family too. This is likely the German line on the Kelly side.
In 1950 Michael was still grooming horses in Westbury; his Grumman years came later. His 2018 obituary hasn’t turned up online. Newsday’s death notices for February 2018, or the funeral home that buried him at St. Philip Neri, would have it, and would likely mention Grumman and any military service.