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Note: th his parents and brothers in Pittsburgh. By 1880, at age 14, his occupation in the census is shown as "messenger." He is listed in the 1885 Pittsburgh Directory as John C. Gallagher, clerk, CD & PT Co., living at 104 Webster St., Pittsburgh. Living at the same address were his brothers, James and Henry, and father, Charles. In 1890 he's listed as a clerk, living at 386 Webster Ave; he'd been married 3 years by this time. In 1895, the Directory lists him as a clerk, living on Hartior (sp?) near Wylie Ave. I located John Gallagher and Ella Kinlen in the Pittsburgh Marriage License Registry Index in 1887, volume 5, page 40, series A5156. At the time of the 1900 census, he was married and living with wife Ella A. at 2625 Webster Ave., Pittsburgh in a home they owned under a mortgage. His occupation was listed as "clerk - telephone co." His birth date is given as January, 1867, but 1865 is more consistent with earlier census information. According to Mary Ethel O'Keefe Rafferty, he was a bookkeeper in Pittsburgh. He was the only child of Charles and Catherine Gallagher who married. Grandson Francis X. Houlihan tells the following story about his grandfather: "To the best of my recall, John C. Gallagher left my grandmother, Ella Alice, around 1898-1900 and went to England. He died there, supposedly of pneumonia. His brother, Bernard, sailed to England and brought the body home. That's when Grandmother Gallagher bought a cemetery plot and buried him in November, 1901. In 1902 she had my mother's baby brother and sister re-buried in the same plot. They'd died earlier of scarlet fever. Daughters Kathryn and Ella were sent to stay with Mary Alice and John Keefe when the babies were sick and died. I don't know the years and dates." According to Mary Ethel O'Keefe Rafferty, John Gallagher "took off," headed for Ireland. He was allegedly depressed and wanted Ella and the kids to go with him, but Ella refused. From NY, before he got on the ship, he phoned the corner store, "Phillip's," asking someone to get Ella to come to the phone. She allegedly sent back word that "He knows where he left me and, if he cares to talk, then he can come and do so." He got pneumonia aboard ship and was put off at Liverpool and sent to a hospital. Mary Ethel recalls that, while in the hospital, he called out for "Ellie" in his delirium and that's how his wife was identified by the chaplain there. He died in the hospital and was buried in Liverpool. She recalls that his wife asked John's best friend, John Brickley, an undertaker and funeral director, to bring him home since he would be able to handle all the details of disinterrment, shipping and re-burial. (The 1896 Pittsburgh Directory does list a John Brickley, undertaker, at 20 Crawford Ave., Pittsburgh.) She gave him the insurance money to pay all costs. Her mother told Mary Ethel that he was returned by ship in an "iron casket" that had to be taken into the house through the living room window. Ella, his wife, was allowed to look into the casket, otherwise, she said, she'd never have a minute's peace the rest of her life. He was buried from St. Bridget's Church, Pittsburgh, where he'd been an usher; they may have been married there. She also recalls that the 2 girls went to stay with their Grandmother Kinlen for awhile after their father left, before moving with their mother to Holy Rosary parish, Homewood, Pittsburgh, PA. Based on census information, John Gallagher either 1) left his wife and family after about mid-year of 1900 when the census was done, or 2) wife Ella didn't tell the census taker that he wasn't living there. Whatever the true story, John C. Gallagher had had a difficult time of things during the 1890's - his younger brother James died in 1894, his father and grandmother in 1895, his younger brother Henry in 1898 and three children of his own, 2 from scarlet fever and an infant. Why he left and where he intended to go, we will likely never know. There is no record of his death in Reports of Deaths of American Citizens Abroad, 1835-1974 at ancestry.com. His obituary in the "Pittsburgh Press," 24 Nov. 1901 reports his death in Liverpool, England on 12 October. He was a member of Branch 36, C.M.B.A. (Christian Mens' Benevolent Association) and Court 760, Order of Foresters. The funeral was held from his residence at 2013 Webster Ave., Pittsburgh on Monday, 25 November 1901 at 9 am; a solemn high mass was held at St. Brigid's Church at 9:30. He was buried Section E, lot 157, grave 2, at Calvary Cemetery, Pittsburgh, PA; his wife was later buried there, as were his daughter, Kathryn, grandson John J. Houlihan, Jr. Previous burials in this lot included a stillborn infant and 2 of John's young children. He was 34 years old at his death. On 19 April 1998 I visited his grave and found only one marker at the site, that of daughter Kathryn (Gallagher) Houlihan. A large, pale gray stone cemetery marker, level with the ground, marks the ownership of the entire plot and is engraved "John C. Gallagher."
Note: According to his daughter's husband, J.J. Houlihan, John Gallagher was was born in Butler Co., PA, but this information has yet to be proved. As a 5 year old he's listed in the 1870 census, living wi
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