#Cardiff #NewYork #USA #Wales #WWI
Gerard was the third of four children born to Bernard Henry VRAIN (1847 – 1896) and Ellen Alicia GAVIN (1849 – 1881). He seems to drop the Ignatius and just known as Gerard Paul VRAIN later in life.
His father’s early life is fairly unknown [see his record for more information] but he ends up in Cardiff, via Italy, after being born in Canada. He meets and marries Ellen on 01 August 1874 at St Peters Roman Catholic Church, Cardiff.
She was born in Ireland and moved in the 1850s with her family as her father, Daniel O’Brien GAVIN (1822 – 1873), came out of the army and took up position as Superintendent of the Dock Police.
Gerard has a half-brother, Gordon Bedford GAVIN (1870 – 1950) via Ellen of whom his side of the family are most likely completely unaware. She’d given birth to him in Kent and left with distant family members on her mother’s side there to bring up.
He had two full brothers – Eugene Aloytius Valentine VRAIN (1877 – 1904) and Hyacinth Bernard Gavin VRAIN (1878 – 1924) and a sister Ursula Mary Bernadette Soubirous VRAIN (1880 – 1881) who died at eight months old.
His father is deemed a ‘Gentleman’ and appears to have been involved in Cardiff politics and religion when he moved there at some point after the 1871 Census. Ellen at this point, aged 21, is living with her parents and seven siblings at Park Lodge, Park Place, Cardiff.
Eugene was born a couple of years after Bernard and Ellen married on 14 February 1876 which is presumably how he gained the middle name Valentine. Birth registered Q1 1876 in Cardiff District. Less than a year later Hyacinth joins the family. Just under two years after that Gerard is born on 16 December 1878 and birth registered Q1 1879 in Cardiff District.
His father worked out of the Cardiff Docks office as a clerk and they would probably have spent time with some of Ellen’s siblings who were still living and remained local. His sister Ursula was born on 26 December 1880 and given as 4 months old per the 1881 Census.
They are living at Richmond Road, Cardiff which is in the Roath area and have a Domestic Servant. Depending on which end of the road this is they are either on the doorstep of the church or less than a mile to it. Sadly just a few months later his sister dies and then his mother. She can’t have been well as died of Tuberculosis or similar wasting disease and had apparently been ill for 9 months with it.
He wasn’t even three so doubtful retained many, if any, memories of his mother. Not sure where care would have been provided from since Ellen only had three young unmarried brothers still in the vicinity at that period and there were now only four of the ten siblings remaining in total. His remaining maternal aunt was on the Isle of Wight with four young children of her own so would not have been in a position to help out.
We don’t have any more records for the three boys until 1891 but can surmise their time over the next decade. Bernard seems to remain around Cardiff until circa 1890 as found in newspaper articles up to that date. He hasn’t taken the option of remarrying and if he employed a housekeeper / nanny this arrangement would presumably only have lasted a short time.
In the 1891 Census Gerard and his siblings are boarders at Stonyhurst College 1 which is based in Clitheroe, Lancashire. It is still going as a Roman Catholic school and was founded in 1593 and they have been based at that location since 1794.
Sir Arthur Conan DOYLE 2 (1859 – 1930) attended the Jesuit preparatory school Hodder Place, Stonyhurst (aged nine) in 1868 and then attended Stonyhurst college until 1875. He must have had a similar experience to the boys just circa 18 years before.
Not sure how young they’d have taken the children in but he could have been there for all his childhood if they accepted them at five. How much interaction they had with Bernard is unknown but it’s quite likely he went to visit them.
Later research thanks to the archive team at Stonyhurst College indicates that the boys were in boarding school in Bath before joining them but not sure how long they spent there.
What seems to happen is that their father has gone over to New York to prepare a home for his sons and on 06 March 1894 the three boys, now aged 18, 17 and 15, are found onboard a ship from Swansea to New York. The voyage will take 25 days. They seem to be the only three passengers so perhaps it’s more of a cargo ship and using his contacts to get them over the sea.
Sadly, the next record is Bernard’s death on 31 December 1896. This was in Manhattan, New York and he wasn’t even 50 years of age. He apparently died from Bright’s Disease. He is buried in Saint Michaels Cemetery, East Elmhurst, New York 3.
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His eldest brother seems to settle down and married in 1899 going on to have five children – four whom survived childhood. He seems to have been known as Valentine in a lot of records and about 1910 changed surname to ST VRAIN for unknown reasons.
Sadly, Hyacinth passed away on 08 October 1904 in Kings, New York aged just 27. It’s possible he had been living with Gerard but didn’t find either of them in 1900 Census to know more.
In the Brooklyn City Directory of 1901, it appears Gerard is now living with his eldest brother at 193 Ralph Avenue, Brooklyn Ward 25, Kings, New York or just using his address. Six years later the directory has him as a clerk living 1232 Sterling Place, Brooklyn, New York.
He had married Mary Francis POWELL (1880 – 1968) on 15 November 1905 in New York City. They do not appear to have any offspring and travelled around a bit and not always together it appears.
The 1914 Orange City Directory for New Jersey has him as a Clerk at 65 State E O. In 1915 he is Head of household, by himself, at 415 St Johns Place, Kings, New York and employed as a bookkeeper. He is 36 and has been in the United States for 25 years.
Towards the end of WWI he has signed up to fight, paperwork dated 1917-1918, and wife is listed as next of kin. Address given as 794 St Johns Place. He is aged 39 and working for the American Telephone and Telegraph Company. His brother and nephew also join up at a similar time.
In the 1920 Census he and Mary are Boarders with a family at Clifton Avenue, Kingston, Ulster, New York. Gerard is 42 and his wife is described as 40. He is working as a Clerk.
He died on 10 May 1924 at Saranac Lake, New York. This is a village area which included a sanatorium 4 for tuberculosis sufferers. It is possible he was there for this reason.
No further information on his widow has been identified apart from date of death. In some records it seems her surname was put as POWERS instead of POWELL which made tracing more complicated.
His remaining brother Eugene lived for another 28 years dying in 1952. At least two of his four surviving children have continued families. There are therefore still some relations from this branch over in the USA although unfortunately not in touch with any of the descendants.
Gerard Ignatius Paul VRAIN was a 3x Great Uncle on his mother’s side with her being our shared ancestor. Ellen Alicia GAVIN (1849 – 1881) is my 3x Great Grandmother.
Footnotes –
Most research undertaken using Ancestry, FreeBMD and Google Maps. Additional resources listed below if utilised.
- Wikipedia, Stonyhurst College – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonyhurst_College ↩︎
- Wikipedia, Arthur Conan Doyle – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Conan_Doyle ↩︎
- Find A Grave – https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/206452818/bernard-vrain ↩︎
- Wikipedia, Saranac Lake, New York – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saranac_Lake,_New_York ↩︎