FLANAGAN FAMILY IN ASTORIA, QUEENS
Biographical Sketch - Andrew FLANAGAN, Sr. - part 2
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Part 2 |
Part 3 |
Sarah A. (Matthews) Flanagan
1840 map of Hallets Cove.
The unlabeled block at the corner of Third Avenue and Third Street marks the site
of Andrew and Sarah Flanagan's first property.
Andrew's plot eventually measured 126' on Woolsey and 132'9" on Hoyt (then Linden)
The Easterly side was 92'9" and the Southerly side 106'.
Click to see extension of map.
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ASTORIA
Newsday's LI History site has a brief history of the
village of Astoria,
which was founded in 1839.
Also see this page on the Astoria Historical Society Web site
The Flanagans didn't remain Brooklynites for long.
20 months after arrival in the States, Andrew and Sarah surfaced in Hallets Cove,
(the coastal section of the not-yet-named Astoria).
On Apr 16, 1836 a deed was drafted by which "Andrew Flanagan of Hallets Cove"
purchased two lots on "3rd Street" in Hallets Cove for $250 from
Robert and Matilda Anderson of the City of Brooklyn.
(3rd Street, the only street named named, became Woolsey Street, and is now 14th Street in Astoria).
The deed, which was filed at the registry on May 30, does not mention
what structures existed on the parcels
of land, so we don't know anything about their early living conditions.
Nonetheless, the Flanagans joined this agrarian Hallets Cove community,
and in quick succession had three more babies:
John on Dec. 23, 1837, Andrew Jr. on June 15, 1839 and Catherine BUTLER on Sept. 17, 1840.
These were dates as recorded by the family.
In 1840, for census purposes, Andrew and Sarah were residents of the town of Newtown,
and presumably in their own house on Woolsey Street in Hallets Cove.
This census, taken some time after September 17, 1840,
named only heads of household, and counted people within age ranges.
We find Andrew Flanagan's family listed in this way:
Two males under age 5 [John and Andrew, Jr]
One male age 5-10 [James, just five in January]
One male age 20-30 [unknown--perhaps a younger brother]
One male age 30-40 [Andrew, Sr.]
One female under age 5 [Catherine, born in September 1840]
One female age 30-40 [Sarah]
The employment section lists one male [presumably Andrew] as being employed in manufacturing and trade.
Their neighbors were Joseph Bounty (navigator of rivers and lakes) whose riverfront land can be see
on the map, James Boston (agriculture),
John Laurance (agriculture), John Mason (no occ),
Jacob Chain (no occ), James O'Donniah? (manufacturing and trade),
[Andrew here],
John Rooney (no occ), James Smith (agriculture), Terence Dolan (agriculture),
John Halpin (agriculture), John Toban (manufacturing and trade),
Matthew Hand (agriculture), John Roberson (agriculture),
Wm McBain (manufacturing and trade), John Macys (agriculture),
Isaac Areson (manufacturing and trade), Michael Quincy (manufacturing and trade),
John Scott (manufacturing and trade).
After the 1840 census the Flanagans added to their brood at the rate of (roughly) one
baby every two years.
Bridgett (aka Ameila JONES, Dec 27, 1842), William (Aug 14, 1844),
Henry (Mar 11, 1846), Peter (Mar 14, 1847) and Edward (May 09, 1849)
Leonard Fliedner writes that the children attended Protestant Sunday Schools
until Our Lady of Mt. Carmel was founded.
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ca. 1890 map.
The orange dot marks the site of Andrew and Sarah Flanagan's first property,
on Woolsey Street in Astoria.
The red dot was the original site of Our Lady of Mt Carmel Church and cemetery.
Click to see extension of map.
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Nov 11, 1841. For $270, Andrew bought two more lots adjoining his first two,
again from real estate agents Robert & Matilda Anderson of NYC and Brooklyn.
Slightly off track, I paged past the above deed, and directly after Andrew's
I found another one of interest. The same agent, Robert Anderson, sold a lot
for $21 to a "St. John's Church" on the corner of Emerald (Van Alst) and 2nd Ave
(later N. Washington St) in Astoria.
This was part of the first incarnation of St. Mary's/Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.
The OLMC anniversary article says the first church was built on Emerald and Trowbridge,
on 2 lots donated by James Shea and a
lot donated by Mr. Anderson, a prominent Episcopalian.
Another lot was subsequently donated by the Riker family and was used for burial purposes.
(It was Riker who would sell Andrew and Charles Exertier their lands on 2nd Avenue in 1850.)
According to the St. John's deed, the actual owner of the Emerald Street lot (using the Andersons as an agent) was Edwin Hoyt, who owned land directly north of the original OLMC. The southern boundary of the old Mount Carmel graveyard was once called St. John's Place.
Part 3 - 1850 Purchase of the Old Homestead
An aside:
It is important to note that the early years of the Flanagan family
in Queens were poorly recorded.
Vital records only date from the early 1870s;
the earliest Astoria city directory was published in 1864
and appeared only infrequently after that;
the 1880 census was the first to provide streets or addresses.
Many houses were unnumbered until the late 1880s, and all streets were
renamed and renumbered during the late 1920s, rendering modern maps useless.
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