Mother Shares Her Family History

John SJ would interview Mother when he came to visit during the summer. Over the course of a few years, Mother shared the following family history. This is a wonderful history of the family. It is a bit lengthy but it is wonderful to read.  Enjoy!   Thanks John and Fred for sharing.

 

Relationships Among Mary M. Piderit’s Relatives

 

The parents of Mary M. Piderit were John Joseph McGinty (b. 10/09/1876, d. 09/18/1958) and Kathleen Cecilia Menahan (b. 04/22/1886, d. 08/14/64).

 

The McGintys:

James McGinty, born in Manhattan, and Bessie Barry, born in Wexford, Ireland, were married in lower Manhattan in ??.  He was an engineer on ships, but not much more is known about him.  Bessie Barry’s father was a carpenter, and their house in Ireland was the only house on the block that had a staircase in it.  (When Juleen and Raymond Flanagan visited the Irish town, they saw the staircase.)  Bessie’s mother died and the father put Bessie on a ship to come to relatives in New York.  The father told the young girl to wear a sign around her neck which he gave her; it read: “Do not give Bessie everything she wants to eat.”  Jim and Bessie McGinty had thirteen children, but only seven reached maturity.

 

There were three brothers, in age order: John J. (the husband of Kay Menahan), James [Jim] (b. 11/14/1880, d. 12/20/57), and Joe.  Jim married Edith Wright (b. , d. 02/19/1946) and they had two boys, Gerard and Aloysius.  (Al married Eleanor; they met each other at a Catholic Club in New York City).  Another brother–a twin–might have died in infancy.

 

One little child had died while John J.’s father was away on a trip, and his wife wanted to keep the baby until the father returned before the child was buried.

 

John J. had four sisters who lived to maturity.  Anne, who later became a Sister of Charity and was known to the family as Sister Patricia (b. , d. 02/18/1969), was the oldest and her formal name in religion was Sister Miriam Patricia, S.C.  The next in line was Mary, who married John J. (Jack) Donohue (d. 08/08/1949).  She was followed by Josephine (b. , d. 10/05/1959) and Agnes (b. , d. 04/26/1965), neither of whom married.  There was one girl twin who died in infancy.

         Sister Miriam Patricia and her sister Agnes

 

Anne (Sister Patricia) was the oldest child.  When her father had died, she went to work to provide for her mother.  She did this until her mother died and she was about 30.  It was the custom that, if a young woman were older than 30, she could not be admitted into the Sisters of Charity.

 

Aunt Mary, who was also the godmother of Mary M, was the next oldest, and she married Jack Donohue.  Aunt Mary taught in the Maxwell Training School in Brooklyn, which was a teacher training school.  Aunt Mary never liked the dark.  Nonetheless, Mary and Jack had a summer house in Carmel, New York.  Located out in the country, the area was very dark at night, and this made Aunt Mary uncomfortable.   She would occasionally go with all the other relatives to visit the house, but she did not like spending time up there unless there were a lot of people around.

Aunt Mary Donohue, Fr. Jack SJ, maybe Josphine or Agnes McGinty and

Mother ( Mary McGinty Piderit)

Frequently, the relatives did gather in numbers at Carmel.  After Sunday Mass, everyone would get breakfast from the farm (?).  Breakfast was followed by a work period, during which everyone had a chore to do.

 

Fear of the dark also created a special relationship between Aunt Mary and her sister, Agnes.   Because Aunt Mary did not like the dark, her sister Agnes would sleep in Aunt Mary’s apartment each night, then in the morning return to Agnes’ own apartment on Lexington and 87th Street and prepare for teaching her classes.

 

Aunt Josephine was a high school teacher of mathematics at Hamilton Jefferson (?) High School on Halsey Street in Brooklyn.  She never married.

 

Aunt Agnes was the youngest of the family and she taught in Harlem.  A spinster, she was very fond of the young black children and they were fond of her.  She was always ready to spend time after school helping any child who needed assistance. As a tribute to her after her death, the library in the Harlem school where she taught was named after her.

 

The Menahans

John Menahan married Ann Kelly and they had four children: Johnny , Mary A [Maymie] (b. , d.  ), Kathleen C [Kay] (b. 04/22/??, d. 08/14/64), and Ann [Foxy] (  ), who married Peter Fuchs.

 

Kathleen Cecilia (Kay) Menahan

Early Generations of the Menahans:

As a young girl, Kathleen (Kay Menahan) McGinty (mother of Mary M. Piderit) visited the grave of her grandmother.   She drew a sketch of the stone and she remembered that the name Kelly, her grandmother’s name, was on the stone.  The grandmother, Kelly, married a British officer named Cavanaugh.  At some point, Grandma Kelly came to the United States and, upon entry, gave her name as Kelly and used that name in the United States.  (When she changed her name is unclear, but it is “fairly clear” that she did change her name.)  Using the description that Kay McGinty had given, David Fuchs later found the gravestone which Kathleen Menahan McGinty had visited as a child. It is in the old section of Calvary Cemetery. (There is a Menahan Mausoleum; Arthur Cavanaugh’s ashes were recently (June 2008?) entered there.

 

The Menahans and McGintys

There were three Menahan brothers: Patrick J (PJ), Edward, and John.  PJ owned the lace, ribbons, and corset factory.  Edward owned a car, which was most unusual in those days, and John built houses in Bushwick.  They had two sisters Bridget (Aunt Bee) and Kate.  John the builder would take in Irish immigrants and provide them with housing.  He would wrote home to their families to let them known their children had arrived safely.  He also hired them and under some circumstances gave them graves in his own mausoleum.

 

John Menahan did not give the immigrants (whom he helped) graves in the mausoleum, but he did give them graves in front of the Menahan mausoleum.  The spots in the mausoleum were occupied by family members, among them, a priest (perhaps Fr. Mahoney).  The last spot in the mausoleum was reserved for Maymie (Mary Agnes Menahan).

 

John Joseph McGinty was one of between ten and thirteen children.  (John’s mother, Bessie Barry, came over on the boat from Ireland to New York.)  The oldest was Patricia (later Sister Patricia).  Then there was John, Mary (married to Jack Donohue), Joseph (he never married), James (married to Edith), then Josephine (she never married), and finally Agnes (she never married).  James was a twin and his twin sister, Jane, died at birth.

 

James and Edith had two sons, Aloysius and Gerard.

 

Aloysius lived in Albany and married Alice Bray, who came from California and was an accomplished pianist.  He met her through the Newman Club at New York University.  Aloysius and Alice had several children: Molly (she now lives in California), Michael (he lives in Boston), Kathleen (she lives down South), Theresa (Tisi), and Sarah.  Sarah lived in Las Vegas at one of the casinos.

 

Gerard married Eleanor and they lived in the Bronx and had several children: John (Jack), James (Jim), Jane, and Patricia.  Patricia went to Spain to study Spanish, because she wanted to become a Spanish teacher.  Jane married an army pilot, who eventually became a pilot for a commercial airline.  They now live in California.  Jim married Barbara ?? and they had a child Kathleen, who became an accomplished Irish step dancer.  She won many medals, and she is now married.  Jim made the family tree of the McGintys.

 

Many graves were given away by John Menahan.  The result was that the family did not know the names of the persons buried there.  And some of their relatives were also buried there.  To this day, the McGinty and Piderit families who these people are.

 

In fact, when the cemetery decided to remove the coping from the grave plots in order to make it easier to trim the grass and bushes, it was an immigrant plot owner who gave the permission to remove the coping because they were the latest to bury someone there.

 

John J. (Father Jack) was born in December 7, 1913, in a rented house on President Street, near Eastern Parkway and Troy Avenue in Brooklyn, not far away from where Brooklyn Prep High School was located. Jerome F. and Edward B. were also born in the home on President Street.)  The house in which John and Kay McGinty lived was a two family home.  At that time, the McGinty’s and their child lived on the first floor and Anne and Maymi Menahan lived on the second floor.

 

Across the street from the Menahans lived the Fuchs family.  While Peter Fuchs was in the First World War, serving as an interpreter, his family lived on President Street.  One day, Peter’s mother saw Anne Menahan pushing a baby carriage with one of the McGinty children, probably John J. in it.  Mrs. Fuchs (nee ??) knew that Anne was single and she was impressed with Anne’s (later known as Foxy’s) blond hair.  She and her husband thought that Anne would make a suitable wife for their son Peter, once he returned from the war.  Peter and Anne were married in 1921.

 

John J. McGinty (b. 10/09/1874, d. 09/18/58) married Kathleen Cecilia Menahan on November 24, 1911.  The marriage took place in Town Hill, Connecticut, a property owned by Patrick Menahan.  The reason the Kathleen Cecilia was married in Connecticut was because her father had died a few months before the wedding.  At that time, mourning customs did not allow one to get married so close to the death of the father.  The marriage was in the Immaculate Conception Church in Torrington, and the reception was at PJ Menahan’s estate in nearby Town Hill. Using Patrick J. Menahan’s car, extra chairs were brought to the reception.

The estate was later given to the Missionary Servants of the Blessed Trinity, known as Trinitarians, who still own the estate and still use it for vacations and retreats for lower income families and their friends.  (The Trinitarians were considered the sister group to the Vincentians.)  They also give courses in religion, hold retreats and other religious gatherings.  The property is large, rural and very beautiful.

 

The name of the camp is Camp Trinitá.  Mary M. Piderit and Kathleen M. McGinty visited the camp in later years and were cordially entertained. Francis Piderit also visited Triníta when he, El, and Michael were on their way to vacation in Massachusetts, to attend the music festival at Tanglewood.

 

John J. was ten years older than Kay and had a good bank account.  He purchased a house on Hancock Street, near Patchen Avenue and Ralph Avenue.  John J. had big plans for his family.  He purchased lots on Long Island.  He thought that they would bring in money for the family.  He also wanted to purchase a macaroni factory, but Kay did not think it was a good idea, and so he never did purchase the factory.  He held onto the Long Island lots for a long time, even though they did not appear to bring in much extra revenue.

 

Mary M’s grandfather, John Menahan, died in June 1911, the same year John McGinty and Kay Menahan were married. John’s wife, Anne Fulton, had predeceased him at the age of 40 from pernicious anemia.  She left three daughters and a son: Maymi, Kate, Anne, and John (called Johnny).  Johnny’s mother Anne (Fulton) was still alive when, at the age of nine, Johnny died.  Johnny, because he was the only boy, was the apple of the eye of the parents and grandparents.  He had a pony and stable, and the stable was attached to the house on the corner of Bleecker and Evergreen (33 Bleecker).  Johnny contracted diphtheria and died.  Kay Menahan vividly remembered the winter after Johnny died.  On the first day it snowed, Anne Fulton Menahan said to her daughter Kate (Kay), “That’s the first snow on Johnny’s grave.”  Kate felt that her mother never recovered from the loss of her only son.

 

After the death of his wife, John Menahan felt that the best training for his three daughters would be as teachers.  They went to Maxwell training school for teachers.  Maymie had a specialty in art.  Foxy (Anne) taught the slower children.  Kate only taught for two years, and Mary M does not recall any specialty area that her mother had.

 

During the years when he was raising the three daughters John Menahan made several trips to Europe without the daughters.  But he would bring gifts back from Europe, which included long white kid gloves and some form of jewelry.

 

Keenie remembers going to visit Aunt Mary and Uncle Jack, They serve ice cream from Louis Sherry in different shapes.

 

Sometime between 1917 and 1919 John and Kay McGinty moved from Hancock Street (Mary M recalls this, but Keenie heard nothing about Hancock Street) into 25 Bleecker Street.  The move from 25 Bleecker Street to Putnam Avenue occurred in about 1927, when Mary was in third grade, aged 8.  (Gates, Monroe, Madison, Putnam, Jefferson, Hancock)

 

Sometime after John Menahan died (perhaps six or seven years later), the two Menahan aunts, Bridget and Kate, moved to 31 Bleecker Street, where their bachelor brother Ed lived.  That move made 25 Bleecker Street available for John and Kay McGinty.

 

Perhaps about the year 1918, the McGintys moved from their house on Hancock Street to the house at 25 Bleecker Street, where Mary M. and Kathleen M. were born.  33 Bleecker was the house where Mary M’s great maternal grandparents lived. Next to that house was 31 Bleecker Street, where her maternal grandfather’s two sisters, Aunt Bee (Bridget) and Aunt Kate, and his brother, Uncle Ed, lived.  Mary M’s maternal grandfather was John Menahan. There were two houses at, 27 and 29 Bleecker Street, but Mary M. does not know who lived there.  On Bushwick, between Bleecker and Menahan, was P.J. Menahan’s house.  (Mayor Highland, mayor of New York City, lived on Bushwick Avenue next to PJ with his wife and one daughter, Mae, an only child.  (Mae Menahan eventually married Will Drennen, who was Mary M’s godfather.)

 

Mother recalls being walked from Bleecker Street to Our Lady of Good Counsel School by her brothers.  Mother attended kindergarten at a public school.  After kindergarten or the first grade, she switched to Our Lady of Good Counsel School.  Her brothers were frisky and willing to take some chances.  In particular, on the ten-block walk from Bleecker Street to Our Lady of Good Counsel, they regularly passed a Bohack’s grocery store, which was located at the corner of Broadway and another street.  It was possible to enter the store one way, exit the other, and still make progress toward Our Lady of Good Counsel.  Mary’s brothers–Jack, Jerome, and Edward–would run through the store, past a donut maker that automatically turned out donuts.  It was possible to grab a donut or a piece of a donut and keep walking.  Jack, Jerome, and Edward occasionally would take a donut, with Mary trailing behind them.

 

When they moved from Bleecker Street to Putnam Avenue, all the coal was put in burlap bags and the McGinty boys pulled the coal from Bleecker Street to Putnam Avenue.

 

In 1925, John and Kay McGinty moved to 875 Putnam Avenue, the house originally owned by John McGinty.  The children continued to go to Our Lady of Good Counsel School where, it happened, that Aunt Agnes McGinty was one of the teachers. Mother recalls eating a large sandwich, made and packed by her mother, to the amusement of Aunt Agnes and one of the sisters in Our Lady of Good Counsel.  The Aunties (Aunt Agnes, Aunt Josephine [good at math, she taught at Bushwick?? High School], Aunt Mary, and Uncle Joe) had been living in 875 Putnam with their mother.  The mother and some of the children occasionally made a trip to Ireland, and there is a photo of them in Ireland riding in a horse-drawn carriage in Keenie’s photo album.  John McGinty’s mother died in 1918, and sometime in the early 1920s Aunt Mary married Jack Donohue.  As a result of these changes, the Aunties moved to an apartment on Clark Street in Brooklyn Heights, and John moved with his family into the house which he owned and had made available to his siblings.  Aunt Mary and Uncle Jack had a swanky apartment on Montague Street.

 

Sometime in the mid-1930s, the aunties moved to the upper east side of Manhattan.  At that time it was called Yorkville.  When the aunties moved to the city, Aunt Agnes taught in a public school in the Bronx, and the library in the school was named for her.  Aunties were on Lexington Avenue and 87h (Agnes, Josephine, and Joe) and Aunt Mary and Uncle Jack moved into their apartment on 86^th Street, between Madison and Park, close to Park Avenue on the south side of the street.   They lived on the second floor.

 

Mary (Agnes or Anne) Menahan, known as Maymie, never married.  She was a school teacher and, when the family was at 875 Putnam Avenue, she lived upstairs in a room of her own.  In 1953, the year Francis Xavier was born, John and Kay McGinty and Keenie moved from 875 Putnam Avenue to 86-27 112 Street where a new apartment complex had been built.  (This is the same one in which Keenie now lives.)  At the same time, Maymi also moved into the same complex, but her apartment was at 86-21, the first entryway, on the third floor, while John and Kay were in the fourth entryway, on the first floor.

 

Rockaway Point

Jack McGinty was an infant in arms when John and Kay McGinty came by boat to look at the property at Rockaway Point.  So it must have been in the spring of 1914.  John had heard about a beautiful summer place from a fellow in the office.  They spoke with the realtor or contractor who was putting up these houses.  Kay had seen the ones on Rockaway Point, facing the ocean.  The contractor said that the coming place was Breezy Point.  Kay was not even interested.  At Rockaway Point she saw the location with the sand dunes and the dusty miller on them, and she loved the place.  So they hired the builder.  The cost of the basic house was $800 for a one bedroom house, and $1,000 for a one bedroom with a deck and porch.  At that time, the windows did not have sashes, but rather one put a stick out and the window swung out from the bottom.  There was an outhouse, no inside bathrooms.  Outside the bedroom on the front was a screened-in porch. The house was originally set on the ground; later it was put up on stilts so that if there was a high tide, the water would go under the house, not in the house.

(The addition to the bungalow at 271 Oceanside was constructed 1957 ??.)

 

 

John J. loved ice cream.  Among his favorite jokes were: (as the children were eating ice cream) “Children, be careful of the bones” and (when it was raining at Rockaway Point)  “I hope the rain keeps up.”  He did not like the lovers who planted themselves on the beach.  He would throw a shell right near them.  The sand would fly on the lovers.  He would continue this until they got up and left.  The walks and steps had to be swept every Saturday in preparation for Sunday.

 

John J. had cirrhosis of the liver.  Earlier in his life, he had anemia.  Keenie would take him to the doctor and also hand in the blood reports to the doctor.

 

In September 1960, Mary M received a call from her mother, who said that John J. had taken a turn for the worse.  Mary M went over to the apartment on 112th Street, and her brother Jack was already there.  Jack went to make a telephone call.  When Jack returned, he said that he had spoken with a Jesuit on the phone, and he said there is nothing else to be done for John J.  So, the family continued saying the rosary.  In holding his hand, one could see that John J was still aware of people around him.  Mary M had started saying the Hail Mary’s louder and louder.  Jack later told Mary that this was a good thing to do, since the hearing is the last capacity to go.

 

Earlier in the year of his death, after a visit to Dr. Adam, the doctor said to Kay, “You know, your husband is a very sick man.  He has cirrhosis of the liver.”  After the visit, Mary M said that she never saw her mother so unsettled.  After that, John J went to the beach as normal, but people knew he was sick.  The aunties were pushing to get him to get a better doctor, but Dr. Adam said that nothing could be done.  At the beach, he was on diuretics, and he had to be weighed regularly.

 

Dr. McVeigh would come to 271 Oceanside on his motorcycle.  He would stick a needle in John J.’s side to remove fluid which was accumulating in his system.

 

Mary Menahan [Mary M] McGinty

1. Memories of The Cenacle

In 1925 Mary made her First Communion at St. Regis, which is the Cenacle House at 140th Street and Riverside Drive.  Her preparation for First Communion was under the direction of Mother Clarke, a Religious of the Cenacle.  Her instruction consisted of individual lessons, perhaps three or four in all.  One of the Aunties, most likely Aunt Josephine, took Mary M up to 140th Street some time during the week.  The reason why Aunt Josephine was the likely chaperone was that Josephine’s very close friend was Mother Ann Mallon.  They had been friends for many years, perhaps dating back to going to high school or even grade school.   Mother Clarke would meet Aunt Josephine and Mary M at the front door and then take Mary M out to a gazebo on the grounds.  Mother Clarke as a very tall, good looking woman, and, of course, she wore the pleated coif of the Cenacle habit.  Mary M said that she was never aware that Mother Mallon was formally teaching her, and, for this reason, instruction in First Communion was a very pleasant experience.  It was just talking about God and relating to communion.  Mother Mallon had written a book (entitled I Belong to God), a copy of which she gave to Mary M.  In their sessions together Mother Mallon must have taken the same approach she described in her book.

 

In the main house, when on their way to the gazebo with Mother Mallon we would pass through the pantry, which was always filled with lots of cookies.  Mary M and Mother Mallon would pick up a few cookies on the way, and then go to the gazebo.   Once on the Cenacle grounds, one was not aware of anything else outside the grounds, even though the house was in the center of Harlem.  The house was set on a steep hill, extending from Broadway down to Riverside Drive and the Hudson River.  When Mary M went there, Aunt Josephine and she always approached the house from Broadway.  We would walk down the block, and the Cenacle occupied the western half of the block, between 140th and 141st Street.  As one came to the front door, one was walking down a steeply sloped sidewalk.  Of course, on the way home, one had to walk up the hill, and this was more difficult.

 

Mary M does not ever recall going to the Cenacle by car, so she and Aunt Josephine must have taken the famous IRT line, which passes by Columbia University (at 116th Street and Broadway).  The aunties were the ones who arranged to have Mary M’s First Communion at the Cenacle.  They chose the day of June 29, the birthday of Bessie Barry McGinty, their mother, who had died many years earlier.  Mary M was called little Mary at that time, because there was also Aunt Mary, who was my godmother.

 

At the time of the First Communion the McGintys were living at 875 Putnam Avenue in the Bushwick (near the Bedford-Stuyvesant) section of Brooklyn.  On the block with us was a seamstress who made the First Communion dress.  For the dress, Mary M’s mother (Kay Menahan McGinty) brought embroidered material and Irish lace for the yoke of the dress.  These were given to the seamstress, who then made a beautiful dress.  Mary M recalls that there were long sleeves to the wrist.  There was a veil, though she does not recall whether the veil had been worn by someone else special in the family.  Lace also bordered the hemline.  Mary M also had white linen shoes with a pearl button; they looked like a Mary Jane pump.

 

The night before the First Communion, Mary M made her First Confession in the chapel of the Cenacle.  For her it was a wonderful experience.  Sister Mallon was very kind and she instructed Mary M just to tell Father (Mary M does  not recall who he was) the things Mary M wished she had not done.  In confession, since telling the priest the things she should not have done only took a minute or two, Mary then explained to the priest about her family.  Mary M must have been going on at some length talking to the priest because, after a few minutes, Father opened the door to the Confession and motioned to Sister Mallon to come fetch her.  Mary M was in the middle of a story about my brothers, but Father felt that he had heard enough!

 

During the First Communion Mass Father Jack (the oldest of Remare’s brothers and sisters) was the altar boy.  Father Jack would have been twelve at that time.  The Mass was a special one for the McGintys.  Mary M recalls that Keenie, the youngest McGinty, was not adjusting well to the situation.  Mother Mallon had been put in charge of Keenie, to keep her quiet.  Mother Mallon’s approach was pacification.  Any time Keenie was about to cry, Mother Mallon would pop a huge chocolate candy in her mouth.  Keenie quickly realized the situation, and, as soon as she finished one candy, she would start to cry, at which point Mother Mallon would pop another chocolate in Keenie’s mouth.  After the ceremony was over, the adults kidded Mother Mallon about how easily she was taken in by Keenie.

 

After Mass was finished, the aunties had arranged to have a breakfast in the main dining room of the main house.  The original building at the Cenacle was a private house, overlooking the Hudson.  In particular, the dining room looked out on the Hudson River, and this is where we had the breakfast following the First Communion Mass.  The whole table was set up as at a wedding.   During the breakfast, many nuns would come in for a few minutes, congratulate the First Communication, present her with some gifts, such as a holy card with some calligraphy on it.   (The Religious of the Cenacle are known for their calligraphy; even to this day, one can send to the Cenacle for Mass and prayer cards with lovely calligraphy on them.)  The nuns would ask me to say a prayer for them, give me their present, and then leave.

 

Sister Patricia, John McGinty’s oldest sister who was a Sister of Charity, gave me a special gift for my First Communion.  It was a large gold medal with the image of Christ holding the host on it.  Apparently someone asked me, “Mary, where did you get this beautiful medal?”  I replied, “From Sister Patricia.”  Then the person said, “How would Sister Patricia be able to afford that for you?”  I replied, “I guess all the nuns chipped in.”  The adults roared when they heard my reply, knowing that the nuns had no spending money at all.

 

After the breakfast, which included a big round pound cake, we went out to the garden, where pictures were taken.  The group then returned to our house on Putnam Avenue.  But this was not the end to the celebration of the event.  In the afternoon, my mother, Father Jack, and I traveled back up to the Cenacle for benediction on Sunday afternoon.

 

This celebration of my First Communion was yet another very special privilege in my life.  It was all given to me, arranged by the aunties.

 

1. Regular Visits to the Cenacle

There was a group of girls called the Little Children of Mary of the Cenacle, which met every third Saturday of each month at the Cenacle.  My mother would put me on the Gates avenue trolley car at Patchen Avenue, which I would take to the last stop, Park Row, where Aunt Josephine would meet me.  Then we would go down into the subway, which would take us up to 136th Street stop on the IRT.  Aunt Josephine would leave me with the group of girls, while she visited with Mother Mallon.  About fifty girls attended these gatherings.   There was one session in the morning, during which everyone sat in little circles.  Perhaps there would be six or eight in a circle, with one nun for each group.  (Later in my life when I attended college at Manhattanville, I would occasionally meet former members of the Little Children of Mary of the Cenacle.  Although we Manhattanville girls would not remember the individuals who participated in the Little Children of Mary of the Cenacle, we loved telling the stories about those sessions. Many of the girls who attended Manhattanville lived in the area of Manhattanville, which was about eight or nine blocks away from the Cenacle.)

 

After the first morning session, we would go down the hill to a building called Nazareth House for lunch.  There we sat at the long tables, and at each place was a little bread plate with a ball of butter.  The butter had been patted into a little ball with lines on it.  It make a big impression on all the girls.  Both Keenie and Mother remember them very clearly.  Lunch was followed by some play time.  During play time we were allowed to wander around the property, and I liked to follow the different paths to see where they led.

 

In the afternoon Aunt Josephine and I would return by subway to Park Row.  At this point, Gerry McGinty, who would have been about twenty years old during those years, would accompany me on the trolley car to Putnam Avenue.

 

Dad’s (John J. McGinty”s) brother Jim married Aunt Edith.  Jim worked for newspapers, as did my father and his brother Joe.  But since Jim was not a consistent a worker, his wife Edith got a job at the telephone company to help support the family.  Often while we were growing up, Aunt Edith would babysit Keenie and me.  Jim and Edith had two boys, Aloysius and Gerard.  Edith was not a Catholic when the boys were young.  So the aunties assumed financial responsibility for the Catholic education of the boys.  Aloysius and Gerard attended Our Lady of Good Counsel grammar school and Brooklyn Prep, the costs of which were covered by the aunties.  Later, Gerard went to NYU and got a degree in accounting.  (Jack Donohue was a certified public accountant; he was on the Cardinal’s Committee for the Laity and was well respected in New York Catholic circles.)

 

Some people in the family said that the aunties were controlling the McGinty boys as well as little Mary.  But Keenie was loathe to let anyone control her.  Keenie only went once to a retreat at the Cenacle in Ronkonkoma.  During this retreat, Keenie said that she was scared out of her mind when she stayed in Maude Adam’s house, where retreatants stayed.  The house was all dark wood; the bathtubs were up on legs; you had to pull a chain for the light and for the toilette.  It was too strange for Keenie.

 

Once I got to high school, I discontinued going to these meetings of the Little Mary of the Cenacle, though I made annual retreats at the Cenacle in Ronkonkama.  During these retreats, I experienced homesickness for the first time.  I was perhaps 13 or 14.  Aunt Josephine took me, and, as usual, Aunt Josephine visited with Mother Mallon, who was now stationed at Ronkonkoma.  During the retreat, which only lasted for a weekend, I was happy to see any familiar face.  I recall being delighted to see Aunt Josephine pass by.  We stayed in the original house, left by Maude Adams to the Cenacle.  In the afternoon, the girls making the retreat would gather in circles for discussions.  We would also have gouté, i.e., sweets.  On at least one occasion, gouté consisted of thin white bread with homemade jam, which the sisters made from berries that grew on the grounds.  Each of the girls took an initial bite, but we did not like it.  Everyone was trying to figure out what to do with the sandwiches after the first bite.  We would have thrown them out, but Sister was there with us.  We certainly were not going to eat them.

 

Keenie’s Recollection of Shopping from 875 Putnam Avenue

Grocery shopping.  Jurgen Hennings, who owned the store on the corner of Patchen and Putnam, big, tall chubby German.  He would come to the house, wearing his white store apron.  He would come with pad and pencil.  He would bring a wicker basket with a handle.  He would take Kay’s order.  She would give him a list and he would take it back to his store.  In those days there were no supermarkets.  (They went to six different stores.)  He would come back immediately with the order.  Keenie’s dog Mitty would let Jurgen Hennings in.  In his store was a butter tub, made out of wood.  However much you wanted, you would take it out and he would weigh it for you.  He had great pickles.  Jurgen did not have meat, fish, cakes, but he did have some vegetables.  No fresh baked goods.

 

They went to Gates Avenue and Patchen for bakery (rolls, bread, and [especially on Saturday, they would stop and get fresh rolls for Saturday evening hamburgers, in the big Kaiser rolls].   Kay would put the roll in the pan to absorb the fat from the hamburgers.  After seeing the movies, they would come towards Putnam and stop at the butcher’s.  Father and son, with white aprons.  Jack had the list and the man would give him the bag, and the man would give each child a thick piece of bologna or liverwurst.  They ate it on the way home.  Sawdust on the floor.

 

Another trip was to go to Broadway for seafood (near Monroe).  Maymi used to have take them to the fish store because she had to cross several streets.  The children were fascinated by the big stuffed fish on the wall.    The man had a white apron and he wore a straw hat.  He also had false cuffs. His name Semen (also German).  They would get codfish, and on Friday night they had codfish cakes and spaghetti.  On the floor was sawdust.  They would also buy filet of sole and tuna.  Her mother would make creamed tuna on toast.  The fish person never gave the children a piece of fish.

 

On the way home from Monroe, they passed Madison.  They used to pass an ice cream parlor.  They had a wonderful case of candies.  One penny, two penny; with a quarter you were wealthy.  He had a box of chocolate covered candies and they chose one.  One more block to Putnam Avenue.  If you got a special candy, you got a special prize, which was a candy bar.  In that store, you could get wonderful ice cream cones (the waffle cone).  You would pick a candy from the box.  The owner would have written the winning piece of candy on a piece of paper.

 

Maymi used to take Keenie to Atlantic City, with running salt water.  Heated salt water.  Keenie had to get up at 7 pm to ride her bike.  Keenie was ten, eleven or twelve.  They went on the train.  The train had benches with wicker weave.  (No bike riding after 9 pm).

 

The next chapter of the Cenacle was First Communion by John Piderit, Connie McGinty, and Mary Alanah Piderit at the Cenacle.

 

III.       Manhattanville

I would take the subway to 125th Street which, at that time, was heavily Black.  I would walk up the avenue to 133rd street, where the entrance to the campus was.

 

I recall one incident involving possible prejudice which happened at Manhattanville.  Mother Grace Damman was president, and a black girl had been accepted into the incoming freshman class.  The word got around, with much talk among the students.  A general assembly was called.  Mother Dammon stood up and said, “I understand that some of you are upset that we have accepted a black girl.  If you are upset, go up to your rooms, take your drapes down, pack your trunks, and leave.”  No one left, and that black girl later became a Religious of the Sacred Heart.

 

In the fall of 1934 when we started as freshmen, my class was the largest class that Manhattanville had ever had.  As freshmen, we were about 100 girls, of whom about 35 percent were dayhops.

 

While at Manhattanville, I recall that we were encouraged to get involved in social service activities.  Father Ford was a forward thinking priest, and the girls from Manhattanville went to that Church to teach catechism to the children.  His Church was at about 110th Street and Broadway.  He was very innovative.  The RSCJs wanted the students to work with the poor and uneducated.  I went to the Barat settlement at 53rd on the East Side, which at that time was not a good neighborhood.

 

The Piderits

Fred W. Piderit, Sr.

Fred W. Piderit, Sr., married Julia Houghton in and they had two children: Jewel (b. 10/09/14??, d. 02/11/67)

Fred W. Piderit, Sr., finished high school and then went to work.  By attending night school he obtained a baccalaureate degree from Columbia University.  He continued to take correspondence courses, and he was an adjunct instructor in accounting for a while at New York University.  (His daughter, Jewel (Auntie Jewel), received her baccalaureate degree from New York University.)

Fred W. Piderit, Jr. with his father Fred W. Piderit Sr. 

Fred W. Piderit, Jr., was born on September 13, 1916.  He attended grade school at St. Thomas the Apostle and the family resided at 88-22 87th Street in Woodhaven.  After grade school he went to Brooklyn Prep, beginning in the fall of 1930.  He took the Long Island Railroad, which ran along the surface level of Atlantic Avenue, to Nostrand Avenue.  From there he took a trolley to Brooklyn Prep.  He was in the same class as Ed McGinty.  He got good grades and was a conscientious student.  While at Brooklyn Prep, he took riding lessons at a riding academy locaed at the southwestern corner of Prospect Park.  The riding britches were retained in the family for years.

 

In Woodhaven Fred W. Jr. he had a couple of close friends, one of whom, Doug Campbell, was the best man at his wedding.  Doug lived on 85th Street above Jamaica Avenue.  He later became a pilot in World War II, where he was killed.

 

In 1934 Fred W. was a senior at Brooklyn Prep.  The classes were not so large, and so he probably knew Ed McGinty.  One time, Ed hit a baseball on the baseball field at Brooklyn Prep and he hit Fred W.  Ed liked to tell this story later on.  Fred W’s mother, Julia Houghton Piderit, had a very good friend, Mrs. Foley.  Mr’s Foley’s son, Bill, and Jack McGinty were great friends.  So, the Piderit family was invited to a combined celebration for Jack McGinty and Bill Foley, held on the occasion of their graduation from Fordham University on the roof garden of the Hotel St. George in Downtown Brooklyn. There were two places vacant near the places where Mary M was seated.  There was insufficient room for the Foleys and Piderits at their tables.  So, Fred W and Kay (Bill’s sister, who, like Mary M, also attended St. Francis Xavier Academy, which was located between Carroll Street and President Street, right next to the Church of St. Francis Xavier) Foley were sent to the table where Mary M was sitting.  These were long narrow tables.  It happened that Fred sat directly opposite Mary M. And this was their first meeting, ever!  Kay was not a stranger to Mary M.  The dinner was served, and there was a mushroom on the dinner plate.  Mary M, the chatterbox, said, “Oh, I love mushrooms; aren’t these great!”  Fred W responded, “Perhaps you would like mine?”  With that, he passed the plate to Mary M and she took the mushroom.  Mary M kept chatting, and at the end of the meal everything was wonderful.  Mary M, at the age of 15, then said “I am going out on the roof to see the moon; would anyone else like to come?”  Fred W. said “I’ll join you.”  Mary M was unaware that the parents thought that Kay would be a good date for Fred.  (Later on, Julia Houghton Piderit said that Mrs. Foley had commented after the dinner at the Hotel St. George that “Mary McGinty will not be left standing behind the door when the boys are being given out!”)

 

Out on the roof looking at the moon, Fred and Mary talked.  Among other things Fred said that he lived in Woodhaven.  Mary replied that her cousin, Edwin Fuchs, would be graduating from St. Thomas the Apostle the following Sunday.  Somehow, Fred W said, that Mary and Fred could speak at that graduation.  Uncle Peter and Foxy lived on Forest Parkway, and they planned to meet.

 

On the rooftop Fred W then gave Mary a kiss, to which Mary did not pay much attention.  In the morning, Mary M had a feeling of guilt.  Mary M said that she never felt like this.  This is when the love affair began.  Mary M was a sophomore at St. Francis Xavier Academy and Fred W. was graduating from Brooklyn Prep in a few days.

 

Prior to meeting Fred W, Mary M had been to many parties and had played the regular kissing games, such as Post Office.  She liked being invited and being with the others, though the games did not mean much to her.  After meeting Fred and the incident on the roof, Mary M realized that she never felt like this before.  She was very attracted to Fred.

 

Ed McGinty and Fred W. graduated from Brooklyn Prep a few nights later and the ceremony was held at the Academy of Music.  By this time, Mary M was anxious to meet Fred again.  She can remember exactly what she wore.  She had a peach dress and large legcorn hat with a black velvet streamers on the hat, reaching the hem of the skirt.  She only saw Fred from a distance, but did not speak with him.  The Foley’s were also there for Fred W’s graduation.

 

After his graduate from Brooklyn Prep, Fred went back to Woodhaven.  With Mary M in white linen suit and a big white hat, Fred W and Mary M walked down 87th Street, hand in hand, and they approach the Piderit residence, where stately Julia Houghton Piderit and Jewel observed Mary McGinty holding the hand of Sonny, as his mother called him.  Mary M did not realize that, from their screened porches, all the other people on the block were witnessing the hand holding.

 

That summer Julia Houghton Piderit, Jewel, and Fred went on a trip to Reno.  In the fall, Fred was at Dartmouth.  Mary M was going to Mary M’s junior prom in high school, and Mary M asked Fred W whether he wanted to attend.  (They must have been communicating by letter.)  When Fred W came home at Thanksgiving, Fred W and Mary M went out on their first date.  He arrives at Putnam Avenue in Jewel’s Dodge roadster, and Fred W is wearing a chesterfield coat and a derby.  They went out to Regents Row in Brooklyn Heights, and Mary M said that she must have talked constantly.  Mary M kept on lighting matches while she was talking.  Then at Christmas went to the prom together.

 

The dress for the prom had been picked out.  Mary M and her mother had planned that Mary M would sit on the piano bench, with spread out skirt, and be that way when Fred walks in the room.  The bell rang, and Mary was not in her position because she had gone to answer the door.  Instead, Keenie had slipped onto the piano bench at the baby grand piano for the entrance into the room.  Also, Mary M had asked her mother what she should say to Fred W.  But because Keenie had gotten everyone confused, Kay wound up saying the exact same thing that Mary M had said, i.e., the words which she had received from her mother.

 

Mary M’s father liked Fred W right away.  Shebbie would be in the basement and would see Fred W drive up, and always go to the second floor.  Shebbie said to Mary M, “He’s the right one.”

 

When Fred was seeing Mary, Fred W and his mother went to Wise in Brooklyn and picked out an aquamarine ring.  But his father thought Fred W was much too young to be giving a ring to anybody.  Nonetheless, Fred W gave her the ring, which was followed by a bracelet which Fred gave to her when Mary M visited Dartmouth.

 

Dad was not acceptable to be inducted into the war because of his rapid heartbeat.

 

In those years parents determined where the children went to school.  Fred’s father was a banker and thought that Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Banking would be most suitable for Fred.

 

John and Kay McGinty’s 25th wedding anniversary was celebrated in 1936 at the Bosset Hotel in Downtown Brooklyn (the same place where Father Jack’s reception after his ordination was held).  Mary M, who then was attending Manhattanville, came to the reception and was thrilled because Fred Jr had already given Mary his fraternity pin.  The aunties had frozen faces when the they heard that it was from Fred, the young man with a German name and attending a non-Catholic university.  Aunt Josephine thought that Mary was much too young for a fraternity pin.

 

In her freshman year, Mary M had written a good paper on Plato, and Mother O’Byrne was pleased and gave her a good mark.  So, Mary M had sufficiently good grades to allow her to cut a certain number of classes.  (Freshmen at Manhattanville had classes on Saturday morning.)  That is, she was allowed to miss a certain number of classes each semester.  This was important since in order to visit Fred W. at Dartmouth in Hanover, she had to leave from Penn Station on Friday morning, returning Sunday. The trip each way on the train lasted seven hours.  By this time, Fred was a junior, and so he had a fraternity pin. It was a big thing for any young woman to go to Dartmouth or any other college to visit.  One was able to visit three times a year: once in the fall semester, once at Carnival in February, and once in the spring semester.  Mary M only went once to Carnival, probably in 1938, the year Fred W. graduated.

 

After graduation from the Tuck School and receiving his masters degree there, Fred W and his roommate at Dartmouth, Harvey Barker, took a trip across the United States, a trip they had been talking about for some time.  In the meantime, Mary M had met a medical student, Jack Hamilton (the Hamiltons were friends of Kay McGinty), who was at Mt. Sinai Hospital.  While Fred was still at Dartmouth, Mary started to date Jack Hamilton and told Fred this because Mary was furious when she learned that Fred and Harvey were going across country.  Mary told Fred that, fine, he should go with Harvey Barker, but Mary did not want to hear from Fred.  She occasionally received postcards from Fred, saying, “Do you remember me?”

 

The night before Mary M’s graduation from Manhatttanville, Mary M already had received her engagement ring from Fred.   She kept the ring under her pillow, and she did not let it be known immediately that she was engaged.  The formal engagement date that Mary and Fred agreed upon was May 18.

 

At Manhattanville it was a tradition that Ma Mere, who was in charge of the French Department, would go to the dinner and at dessert time, she would leave the ice cream wedding bells at the place of those young women who would be married the soonest.  Ma Mere placed weddings bells at Mary M’s table, and that was the sign that Mary was soon to be married.

 

The year following Mary M’s graduation she worked as a receptionist in Permuta, a water purification company.  The Permuta offices were on 5^th Avenue and 23^rd Street.  It was just north of 23^rd Street, on the west side of 5^th Avenue, where Broadway and 5^th intersect.  She liked the job and they liked Mary very much.

 

The following appeared in the New York Times on November 30, 1979:

 

Fred W. Piderit, Jr., a senior vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, died Tuesday at Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica, Queens, after a long illness.  He was 63 years old and lived in Richmond Hill, Queens.

 

Mr. Piderit joined the bank in 1941 and was named an officer in 1955.  He became an assistant vice president of bank supervision and relations in 1960 and vice president in 1965.

 

He received B.A. and M.S. degrees from Dartmouth.   He also studied at the Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers and later taught there.

 

Mr. Piderit is survived by his wife, Mary; seven daughters, Mary of Malverne, L.I.; Juleen O’Callaghan of Bethel, Conn.; Cecily Brancaccio of Breezy Point, Queens; Ann Gibbs of Salisbury, MD; Celeste Murphy of Brooklyn, and Clare and Joie de Marie of Richmond Hill; five sons, Fred W. 3^rd of Bethel, Conn.; the Rev. John J. Piderit, S.J., of New York City; Francis of Brooklyn Heights, and Edward and Thomas of Richmond Hill, and 13 grandchildren.

 

[End of article.  Ann Gibbs was out of age order in the article in the Times.]

 

 

The Fuchs

 

Edith Fuchs Ebel died in August 1998 at the age of 101.  She was the last child in the Fuchs’s family of four children: Mae, Peter, Will (the dentist), and Edith. Will, the oldest, married Irene ?? and had twin boys–William and Adrian– who were pampered in their youth.  For example, the boys went to Xavier (because their mother Irene liked uniforms) and on a number of times they were dropped off at Xavier by a chauffeur. At a number of Xavier events, the boys were known to have worn tuxedos. The twins died in the 1980s.

 

Mae never married but was thought of as the most gracious and easy person to be with, very attentive to others. Mae was an elementary school principal in Ridgewood and was a cherished and most capable administrator. Mae died in the late 50’s or 60’s.

 

Peter was born in 1888. He went to Boys High in Brooklyn, a handsome building at the intersection of Marcy and Halsey.  This was a fine public high school, and upon graduation Peter was granted a full scholarship to Yale, whence he graduated in 1909.

 

Peter Fuchs married Ann Menahan in 1921.  They had four children: Edwin (b. September 1922), Arthur (b. April 1924), Peter Cavanaugh (b. 1926 , d. 09/28/77), and David (b. July or August 1930).

 

Foxy died on September 12, 1964, just a month after Grandma McGinty died (on August 14, 1964), and Grandpa McGinty died on September 18, 1958.  Maymi died on September 20, 1959.  Peter Fuchs died in 1983, at the age of 95.

 

Kay Menahan took over raising some of the Menahan girls because John Menahan’s wife Anne died early.  Kay became a surrogate mother for Anne.

 

 

 

The McGinty Uncles (John McGinty was the oldest boy):

Uncle Joe was a bachelor.

 

Uncle Jim was married to Aunt Edith.  Jim was a twin, but his twin sister died as an infant, before she was a year old.

 

 

The Menahan Aunties:

 

Maymi (Father Jack was probably the one who made this up because he could not pronounce the name.)   Maymi went to Europe each summer and spent a number of weeks traveling around.  She returned when her money ran out.  She always went on ocean liners.

 

Kathleen Menahan. After Keenie was born Kay developed appendicitis and peritonitis.  As a result, Kay could not take care of Keenie, or the other children.  Thus, Keenie was the only one of the five McGintys who was bottle fed.  Maymi took care of Keenie, and little Mary (Remare) went to live with Foxie and Uncle Peter and their newborn son, Edwin.  At that time, the Fuchs were living on Jamaica Avenue, close to East New York.

 

Kay was very sick, and she could not eat or drink.  At one point, someone said, “Give her some champagne.”  Kay was given the champagne in the hospital and that settled her stomach.  Mary stayed with the Fuchs for about six months.  Remare remembers the laundry done for Edwin, the baby. The baby’s laundry was always on a pulley line.  When the laundry came in, there was a freshness about it.

 

It took a long period of time for Kay to recover.  Kay later developed a hernia, which was probably connected with her surgery for appendicitis.

 

In the early 1950s (?–possibly late 1940s), Kay was coming up the steps on 84th Avenue and 112th Street and fell.  They took her to Dr. Wolfe in Richmond Hill.  He said that she should have this fixed.  She went into Booth Memorial Hospital for the necessary surgery.

 

In the early 1950s, coming home from a visit to the Piderits with her sister Kay, Foxie was driving on Bushwick Avenue on Halloween evening and was involved in an accident.  On impact, Kay was jolted forward and she hit her head on the seat of the car.  Kay had to receive sixteen stitches.  Foxie stood outside the hospital when Kay received the stitches.  Remare does not recall that Foxie ever drove again.  Instead, she was reduced to being anxious about the driving of Uncle Peter.

 

As newlyweds, John and Kay McGinty lived in a two family house on President’s Street.  Maymi, who was the oldest Menahan girl, and Anne, who was the youngest, lived on the second floor of the two flat.  Remare remembers hearing that Foxie would push the carriage with the first McGinty child, Jack.  The carriage was adorned with bows.  Across the street, lived Grandpa and Grandma Fuchs.  Their son Peter was in Europe at the time of the First World War, where he served as an interpreter, because of his expertise in German and French.  His marriage with Anne Menahan was arranged by his parents.  The Fuchs grandparents saw Foxie pushing her nephew Jack in the baby carriage, and they decided that she, who had beautiful, blond hair, would be a suitable fit for their Peter, when he returned from Europe.  They were married around 1922.  Their first child, Edwin, was born a month before Keenie in October 1922.

 

Peter was unusual; he existed in a different world.  Once when he was driving in northern Westchester, he was going down a steep hill.  He was going too fast, and had to turn at the last moment.  Peter commented to Anne, “Psahw, Anne, we almost went into Valhalla.”  Peter was left handed, and perhaps this made him less dexterous.  Remare remembers the times when Anne would be in the car with Peter driving.  Completely exasperated by his driving, she would finally shout, “Peter, Peter, Peter, let me out here; I want to get out right now.”

 

David Fuchs said that he only wishes that he knew at the time of her death what he now knows about what his mother was suffering.  For a few years prior to her death she was in a deep depression.  Anne Gibbs remembers visiting Foxie in their apartment on Forest Parkway, a few months before Foxie died.  (Perhaps towards the end of her life) Foxie was in the hospital at Union Turnpike and Queens Boulevard.  Foxie died about two months after her sister Kay died, on September, 1964. Anne (Foxie) would come to 84th Avenue just to get away from the apartment with Uncle Peter.  Uncle Peter never understood this.

 

Kay had almost reared Anne, since their mother had died young.  Peter resented the relationship between Anne and Kay.  Foxie was famous for announcing “Happy Friday” when Friday finally arrived.  Remare remembers seeing her collection of pearl necklaces and earrings.

 

The last part of Anne’s life was difficult for Uncle Peter.  Foxie had a mink cape, and everyone admired it.  Foxie brought it to Richmond Hill and wanted Remare to have it, though Remare did not want to take it.  Remare put it in the closet and left it there.  After Foxie died, Peter asked, “Where is the mink cape?” and came to take it.

 

Peter was never able to communicate the way in which Foxie was able to explain and articulate things.  Many human relationships eluded Uncle Peter.  He simply operated on a different level.  Many times, he would say things that were somewhat gauche.  For Peter to have acknowledged that Foxie was depressed meant that something was lacking in him, and Peter could not admit that.  Foxie loved her sister Kay.  The Fuchs boys also did not understand the situation at the time.  Medical science did not know how to handle depression.  Even if it did, it is not clear that Peter would have cooperated, since Peter had to be in command of everything.

 

In addition to the three Menahan girls, there was a younger boy (Johnny), who died of diphtheria at the age of seven during an epidemic that hit New York City.

 

The Children of John Joseph and Kathleen Cecilia (Menahan) McGinty

 

There were five children: John Joseph [Jack] (b. 12/07/13, d. 09/30/76), Jerome Francis [Jay] (b. 07/22/15, d. 05/10/97), Edward Barry (b. 06/16/17, d. 01/01/45), Mary Menahan (b. 05/11/19), and Kathleen Menahan (b. 11/30/22)

 

Rev. John J. McGinty, S.J.

Jack was born when his parents were living at President Street and baptized at St. Matthew’s Church on Eastern Parkway near Utica.  The family then moved to another house for a brief period of time, after which they moved into a Menahan house, located at 25 Bleeker Street, where Edward, Mary, and Kathleen were born.  Even though the house was located in St. Barbara’s parish, St. Barbara’s was a German speaking parish.  The McGintys went to Our Lady of Good Counsel, where Edward, Mary, and Kathleen were baptized.

 

Jack attended grade school at Our Lady of Good Counsel, and he always had a lot of friends. Two of his closest friends also became priests.  Rev. Ken Morgan and Rev. Vinny Powell both became priests of the Diocese of Brooklyn.

 

While in Our Lady of Good Counsel, he told his teacher he wanted to become a priest, which was relayed to his parents.  The McGinty parents approached the pastor at Our Lady of Good Counsel, Msgr. Donohue, and requested his advice regarding Jack.  Msgr. Donohue recommended that they send Jack to the Jesuits, saying, “If he has a vocation, they will find it.”

 

Jack entered Brooklyn Prep, located at Carroll and Nostrand Avenues in the Eastern Parkway section of Brooklyn, in 1926.  Jack was not a perfect child.  Once he got into a fight and he got a black eye and had to have stitches.  All this occurred the day of his graduation from Brooklyn Prep!

 

In the fall of 1930, Jack entered Fordham University, using trust funds left by JP Menahan for the education of Menahan descendants.  At Fordham Jack majored in, probably, philosophy, and Father Liege as one of his teachers.  Prior to his graduation, Jack announces that he will enter the Jesuits.  Unfortunately, after his graduation from Fordham, he was informed that he needed further studies in Latin or Greek.

 

In that year there was intense devotion to the Cure of Ars.  The McGinty Aunties formed a family prayer chain, besieging the Cure of Ars, that John be accepted into the Jesuit seminary.  Jack took additional courses with Father Liege, who tutored him, and eventually Jack passed the necessary exams and was admitted.  During the year he attended to Latin and Greek, he worked on Wall Street as a runner.  He entered the Jesuits in the summer of 1935, traveling to Wernersville, Pennsylvania for his novitiate.  After two years at Wernersville, Jack pronounced his vows in 1937, and was then assigned to study philosophy at the Jesuit house of studies near Seattle, Washington.  After philosophy, he did his regency at St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City from 1940 to 1943.  By co-incidence, when Jack arrived in Jersey City to begin his regency, a local movie theater was showing the film called “The Great McGinty.”

 

For theology, he was assigned to Weston, just outside of Cambridge, and he was there from 1943 until 1947.  He was ordained in June of 1946, and all the McGintys were present for this event at Weston.  They stayed at a prominent hotel in Boston.

 

His first assignment after ordination was to St. Peter’s College in Jersey City where he taught philosophy.  In ?? he was appointed socius (assistant) to the Provincial of the New York Province, a position he held for ?? years.  In 1958, he was appointed Rector of St. Ignatius Parish, Loyola School, and Regis High School.  In 1960, he was appointed Provincial of the New York Province, until 1965.  In 1965 he went back to Jersey City, this time as pastor of St. Peter’s Parish, a position he held until his death in 1976.

 

Jerome [Jay] McGinty

Jay was born in 1917 at the house on Hancock Street.  He attended Our Lady of Good Counsel grammar school.  Either in grade school or high school he was officer in the Brooklyn Boy’s Brigade.  He then entered Brooklyn Prep at the age of 12.  Jay was always organizing the group, indicating what activities the group should undertake.  Upon graduation from Brooklyn Prep, Jay went to Fordham University at the age of 16.  The big social event of the year at Fordham was the Brooklyn-Long Island Dance (known as the BLI dance).  When it was time for Jack McGinty to take someone to the dance, he asked his mother.  This happened a couple of times.  After a few dates, he said to his mother, “Mom, you have to come up with something better, because the boys are saying “McGinty is taking cheese to the dances.”  When Jay got to Fordham, he was in charge of organizing the BLI, and after him Ed took over this responsibility.

 

When Jay was a senior (1935-36) at Fordham, he met Constance [Connie] Donnelly, through Jack Kearney, one of his best friends.  Jack Kearney knew the Donnelly family, who had five daughters: Muffie, Rita, Patsy, Connie, and Tittle.  Jack was close friends with Patsy.  At that time, Connie was a senior at Manhattanville.

 

Jay was in the ROTC at Fordham.  In those days, there was no requirement to serve in the armed forces upon graduation.  Instead, he went to work for Emil Greiner, a chemical corporation, and it was there that he met Bob Milanos, who became a life-long friend.  Both Jay and Bob were drafted into the army around 1940, and both of them went to Washington, D.C., where they served in the unit dealing with chemical warfare.

 

Six months after induction into the Army, Jay became engaged to Connie Donnelly, and they were married in the fall or winter of 1942.  After Jay was released from the service, Jay and Connie came to Putnam Avenue, where they lived with the McGintys until they rented an apartment in Manhattan near Gracie Mansion.  Little EB (Edward Barry), their second child, was born there.  EB died at about the age of three.  After EB died, Greg was born and they then left the apartment in Manhattan and moved to a new housing development in Roslyn, in Nassau County.

 

Edward Barry McGinty

Ed was born on June 16, 1917, when John and Kay were living on Hancock Street.  Ed turned out to be the tallest and most athletic of the McGinty children.

 

At Brooklyn Prep, in his senior year the football team won their league championship and each player on the team was given a gold football, which Ed gave to his sister Mary.  Ed then went to Fordham University in the fall of 1934.  However, he did not play football there.  He belonged to the Brooklyn Long Island Club (BLI Club).  Jay was in charge of the club.  They had dances, concerts, etc.

 

When Ed was in his senior year (1937-38), his mother asked him what he intended to do when he graduated.  He would reassure his mother that she should not worry because he and a friend were buying a chicken farm in New Jersey.  Then he decided to enter the Jesuits and he became a novice at St. Andrew-on-Hudson, just north of Poughkeepsie, New York.

 

On May 18, 1941, there was a farewell party for Ed McGinty, S.J., at Fordham University.  Ed then left for Manila in the Philippines.  He was an interned civilian at the Ateneo de Manila.  At the age of 27, he died in Manila on January 1, 1945, after an illness.  Some said he had Addison’s disease.  However, they did not want the Japanese to know he was sick, since they might take him away.  He did not receive medical treatment, in part, it would appear, because they did not know to acknowledge his illness.

 

In the summer, each of the boys worked to earn some money.  Jack and Edward worked in the bakery on Market Street in Rockaway Point, and Jay was the cashier in the vegetable store on Market Street.

 

Mary and Fred Begin Married Life

After their marriage at St. Andrew-On-Hudson (now the Culinary Institute of America, just north of Poughkeepsie) on May 3rd, 1941, Fred and Mary went on their honeymoon.  The wedding night was spent in the Catskills, in the Salpaw Hotel.  On the following day, they drove in Jewel=s car down to the west side of Manhattan to take a ship to Sea Island, Georgia.  One miserable night on the ship (because Mother got seasick), and they arrived in Sea Island and stayed at the XXX Hotel.  They stayed there a week, and an excellent photo appeared in the Brooklyn Eagle of Mary and Fred at Sea Island.  From Sea Island they took a hired car to Richmond.  From Richmond they took the train back to New York.  On the same day they arrived in New York, they learned that Mae XXX (Julia O=Rouke=s sister) had died.  But the following day they went to Fordham University to see Ed McGinty off, who was making his way toward the Philippines.

 

They moved into Mrs. Hyer=s house at 84-19 113^th Street.  They lived on the third floor, where they had a single bedroom, a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom.  At that time Fred had switched from working at the Hanover Bank to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.  Mrs. Hyer was charming.  She decided to have the contractor instill a new kitchen sink. The monthly rent was about $15 per month.  Mrs. Hyer daughter was quite dramatic.  They had furnished the entire apartment prior to moving in, partly through recommendations from Uncle Jay.  They also used furniture made by Cappa.

 

Mother suffered two early miscarriages.  In October or November of 1941 Dr. James Tormey informed Mary that she had had a miscarriage.

 

During the summer, Mary would visit her parents at Rockaway Point by taking the LIRR from ?? Manor to Rockaway Park.  She would then take a bus from the Rockaway Park to Ignatz, and walk from there.

 

When Mary became pregnant the second time, in January or February of 1942, she went to stay with her mother.  She had a bedpan and Mary’s mother realized that she had miscarried and that the foetus was there.  The mother called Dr. Tormey and asked him what to do.  He said that he would take care of it.  The mother baptized the foetus and then gave it to Dr. Tormey.  Following the second miscarriage, Dr. Tormey recommended that mother have a dilation and curetage (D and C), which she had in Mary Immaculate Hospital.

 

In May of 1941, Mary became pregnant with Fred. W, III.  In February of 1943, Mary went to St. Cecilia=s on Humboldt Street to give birth to Fred W., III.  At the very same time, Fred Jr. had to report to the draft board in New York City.  He received a physical examination, and it was determined that he had a rapid heartbeat, which they suspected was self-induced.  They kept him there for three or four days.  Ultimately, he received a draft classification which meant that he did not have serve in the military.  Meanwhile, back at the hospital, Fred, who has an unusual shaped head, had his placed on a telephone book.  Fred III had been a forceps delivery and the doctor was concerned about damage to the head.  After Fred was born, Mary did not see him for about a week, until the day they took little Fred home from the hospital.  Little Fred was near a child with impetigo, and therefore was isolated.  It was for this reason, that Mary was unable to see him.  When Mary did see him, little Fred had become jaundiced, which startled Mary.  Dr. Tormey and Dr. Lombard both said that she did not have to pay for the additional hospital care.

 

Dr. Tormey had indicated that, because the baby was very big, Mary could not nurse the child.   With the new baby, Mary and Fred arrive at Mrs. Hyer=s.  Fred was christened at Holy Child Jesus Church, and the reception was at Fred and Mary’s apartment in Mrs. Hyer=s house, up on the third floor.

 

At that time, Fred Jr. was finishing a degree in banking and usually did not arrive home until 10 p.m.  One Sunday they would visit one set of grandparents, and the following Sunday they would go to the other grandparents.  The young couple did some entertaining.  Fred, Jr., invited his boss from the Fed to dinner.  The boss wanted to use the bathroom, but, the boss tried several doors before he actually found the bathroom.  Helen Mannix, a classmate of Mary’s from Manhattanville, visited.  Also, Grandma Piderit brought two friends to see the apartment.  Mary thought that she had cleaned the apartment thoroughly and had prepared all the silverware and china.  But one of the ladies with Grandma Piderit went over to the mirror, ran her finger along the mirror, and saw that there was dust on her finger.  This lady turned up her nose at such an unprepared hostess, though Mary thought everything was perfect.

 

After Mary became pregnant with John, Mary and Fred decided they needed a house.  Mrs. Hyer recommended a house that was owned by Mr. & Mrs. Hill, 112-05 84^th Avenue.  On the same block as 112-05 84^th Ave. was a very large house, which extended from 84^th Avenue back to Park Lane South.  Mary liked the house very much.  But her father said to Mary, AWhy would you want a house like that when Fred is away so many nights?@  So, they decided to purchase 112-05, a house built perhaps in the 1920a, and they moved into the house after John was born.

 

Piderit Children

Fred W. Piderit, III, married Barbara Chudurski August 24, 1968.  They lived in Stamford, Connecticut, for less than a year, and then moved to Darien (5 Brookside Road), Connecticut.  They lived there seven years and in 1975 they purchased a home in Georgetown (186 Mather Street), where they lived until 1978, when they moved to Bethel (31 Ridgedale Road).  They lived there until 1982.  The house was eventually sold in 1998 or 1999.

 

In 1982 Fred made a two-year commitment to teach at the International School in Geneva, Switzerland.  They left for Geneva in August 1982 with Kristin, Lauren, and two golden retrievers.  They had a three bedroom apartment in Versoix (Chemin du Nant-de-Crève Coeur), where they lived for 12 years.  In 1994 they moved to La Jeanne on the Route des Marettes in Givrins.  Nine years later, they moved 100 meters up the road to La Ferne (Route de la Scie 6).

 

Their first child was Kristin Elaine, born on Jan. 10, 1969, followed by Lauren Michelle on April 14, 1971.

 

Every Saturday Fred W remembers getting ten cents.  We would walk over to the church to go to confession.  Afterwards, we went to the candy store.

 

Little banana’s , frozen orange aid ice (a slurrpy).

 

Going to the lumberyard with Dad.  It’s in the same spot.

 

Ignatz.  We would go up to Ignatz to get the daily milk and bread.  The smells: stale beer and cigarettes (threatening) and the hamburgers (great smell).  Dangle feet off the boardwalk.  Cartons of milk.  Had to wait for the truck to deliver the milk to Ignatz.  It was dark inside.  (Keenie—her brothers went over to the Rockaway Point dock to meet their father bringing the groceries from the A&P in Sheepshead Bay.)

 

Every Friday.  Meeting Dad at the circle of the Beach Club.  We would go to the circle with two wagons.  We got more food more than anyone else.