I haven’t found any naturalization index cards for William Carrigans in CT – yet. I did find two for William Corrigans – but didn’t feel confident with either of them. They will be in the ‘possibility file’ for now.
I did find William’s obituary in the Hartford Courant, printed 10 December 1920. I've marked new information in red:
“William Carrigan, for many years a resident of Hartford, died at his home, No. 29 Sherman street, last evening. He was born in Ireland and came to this country and settled in Hartford in 1854. Since making his home here he was engaged in the grocery business, retiring about twenty years ago. He leaves a son, Edward T. Carrigan and four daughters, Mrs. Mary C. Berry, Mrs. Christina Wilkinson, Mrs. James Freney and Miss Anna Carrigan, all of this city. He was a charter member of Green Cross Council, Knights of Columbus. The funeral will be held tomorrow morning at [9:30?] o’clock at his home and at 10 o’clock at St. Joseph’s Cathedral. Burial will be in St. Patrick’s Cemetery.”
While it didn’t give me the name of a county in Ireland, I decided to check on the Knights of Columbus membership.
I emailed the Archivist of the Knight’s library/museum in New Haven, CT. She responded by quoting from old insurance records that said William was born in Ireland, but there was no mention of a county. I am drafting a letter to the Archivist hoping she will send me photocopies of these records.
What I found most interesting in her response was a portion of text she sent from an article on the Green Cross Council in the book The History of the Knights of Columbus by William H. O'Neill (1897).
It said the council was organized in October 1884 and gave a list of the 40 charter members who signed the charter list. William's name was not on it. His insurance records stated that he wasn’t initiated until December 1884. This information is interesting to me because it confirms that one should always verify information they find in an obituary.
Next step: get those insurance records.
The archivist also forwarded my email to the photo-archives in response to my asking if they had any photographs of William. The multi-media archivist emailed to say none was found, but that I would be sent what they had if anything was found in the future.
Nice.
