October 25: Edward and Bridget

They are the liars. Illiterate Irish famine refugees, they met in KC, married, had children, and then left the boys there with her sister to move to East St. Louis, which was an industrial complex. They ran a saloon. At some point their daughter dies, but Molly comes to live with them, a niece. Maybe Bridget has relatives there, Dwynes or Tooheys, or maybe everyone is lying. In the Catholic church funeral record, during a cholera epidemic, one entry is just listed as “Mrs. Blake’s mother”, but I think there might be lies in that claim, too. I think people became relatives out of survival. I can’t imagine the exhaustion, so many burials every day that year.

Photo: Edward Blake, his wife Bridgett Kidney/Dwyne, and their son Edward, who married Jenny.