Isabel Mary McNerney [13448] ^6076,6077

   Et andet navn for Isabel var Baby Girl Moriarty.¹⁹

  Notater:

Babygirl Moriaty skifter navn til Isabelle McNerney.

Slægtskabet er fundet via DNA math på Myherritage


Biografi

Our (Eric and Dara) grandmother Isabels origins is a story that has eluded our family all of our lives. Isabel has no idea who her biological parents were, nor does she have any indications of her origins, or her short life before she was adopted in Chicago Illinois in late 1916. She also had no idea where she was "actually born" ( it was always assumed Chicago ) or, her actual birth date, often using different birth dates in June or July of 1915 throughout her life. The story, according to one of our aunts who was very close to Isabel before she died, (and our late father) was that she was abandoned as an infant with no trace of her past. Isabels adopted parents told her that she was left abandoned as an infant on the steps to the entrance of a Chicago Police Department police station who then took Isabelle to the "Little Sisters Of the Poor" convent in Chicago Illinois sometime in late 1915 or 1916.
According to our (Eric and Dara) Aunt, she was found, in a basket with just her clothes under a blanket, possibly a handkerchief with two initials on it and a short note. The note stated that the "mother" was unable to care for her and that her name was "Isabella." We know that her adopted parents later wanted to rename her "Mary" but for whatever reason, lost now to time, decided to remain with her original name "Isabel." Apparently, Isabel's only link to her biological parents is her actual name which stayed with her through her life.
Isabelle was adopted in November of 1916 by a wealthy couple named John & Mary "Maimee" Roe McNerney of Peoria Illinois. John McNerney was the owner and founder of the "Sinclair Oil Co" which no longer exists as a corporate entity. The McNerney's, for unknown reasons unable to have children of their own, came to Chicago looking for a child to adopt, and visited the "St Vincent's Infant Asylum", where Isabelle was currently staying." This is where they met baby Isabel and must have fell in love with her blonde curls and Hazel eyes. The McNerneys then soon after hired a lawyer to legally adopt Isabelle. In November of 1916 there was a court hearing and an add was placed in a Chicago paper stating the intention of the McNerneys to adopt Isabel. It stated that if the biological parents of the child did not come and claim her by a certain date, the adoption proceedings would move forward. No one showed up to claim Isabel, and she was adopted in Nov 1916. Her age at the time of her adoption was estimated at "one year, five months" of age, placing her birth date somewhere from Mid June to late July of 1915.
Isabel was raised a devout Catholic by the McNerneys and developed a close relationship with her adopted mother "Maimee" that stayed with her throughout her life.
In the early 40's she married Robert Gilmartin, himself an adopted child, and had our (Eric and Dara) late father "Frank Michael Pfeiffer" and our (Eric and Dara) uncle "John Francis Pfeiffer" who were both born in Fort Wayne Indiana. Later, Isabel married George Julian Pfeiffer and they had a son, our (Eric and Dara) fathers youngest brother, "Dennis Allen Pfeiffer."
Isabel later divorced George and remained single throughout the rest of her life. Isabel was a loving but very intense and complicated women. She was very extroverted and never met a stranger, often the life of any get together with a great sense of humor. We remain committed to finding our grandmothers biological family and hopefully making contact with them. Isabelle always felt a "hole" as did my father and oftened wondered the true circumstances around why her parents decided not to keep her. We would like to meet her biological family to understand them and know their stories to be able to finally place Isabel in the family where she belongs.

Recent compelling autosomnal DNA evidence has come to light linking Isabels origins to Chicago's immigrant Danish and Irish communities. We (Eric and Dara) continue pursuing more evidence and discoveries along those lines.

https://www.myheritage.dk/person-3500006_511628651_511628651/isabel-mary-mcnerny-born-moriarty
Isabel's story is a very intriguing one from the start. According to our family "lore" Isabel was found as an infant on the steps of a local Chicago Police Station in some sort of basket with a simple note from the birth mother that read "This is baby Isabella, we are unable to care for her." She was taken from the Police station and temporarily housed with the "Little Sister's of the Poor" who then managed to transfer her to the care of "St Vincent's Infant Asylum" in Chicago, Illinois. It was then that John & Mary "Mamie" Roe McNerny adopted Isabel on November 14th of 1916. Isabel had known for quite some time that she was adopted and made some attempts a bit later in her life to find her real parents but only got so far as to discover that the "St Vicent's Infant Asylum" had long since burned down and she could find no record. Her story was related to her by the McNerny's who must've learned the story of her origins from the orphanage as to how she ended up there as an orphan. Her estimated age in November 1916 at the time of adoption was "15 months."

Since then, through the wonders of DNA technology and autosomnal testing the mystery as to her origins and real parents has been solved and we finally know more about who she really is. Her mother was "Elsie Nielsen", daughter of Danish immigrants "Niels & Christina Nielsen" who immigrated from the "Thy" district of NW Jutland, Denmark in 1892. Niels was born in Hurup Thy and Christina in the small village of "Lyngholm" (now Svankaer) in the Thy district of NW Jutland. Elsie, Isabel's mother was born to the parents in June of 1894 in Chicago. She had at least one known sister Clara Terese Nielsen and a brother that remained in Denmark named "Niels Marinus Nielsen" whom she never met. Her father was "Francis Frank James Moriarty" born in Sept of 1893 in Chicago Illinois. Frank is the son of immigrants from SW Ireland Patrick & Katie Drislane Moriarty. The Moriarty's hail from County Kerry, mainly Mao Cordal, Castleisland and "Doona" on the Dingle Peninsula in Kerry. Kate Drislane hails from Barnahown, Araglin, County Tiperrary, also in SW Ireland.

Some family members in Chicago and Denmark have agreed to DNA test and helped us solve the mystery of her origins and we are very thankful for the family members in agreeing to help us solve this. We are awaiting the possibility of more information hopefully to come forward as time allows and possibly even more family members to DNA test, further confirming our discoveries about Isabel's origins.

  Om Isabel

1. Adoption: Adopteret, Nov. 1916, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States. She was left as an infant with the "Little Sisters Of the Poor" convent in Chicago Illinois sometime in late 1915 or 1916.
She was found, in a basket with just her clothes under a blanket and with a towel or handkerchief with two initials on it. We are not sure, but we believe the nuns may have named her "Isabel" or "Isabella Thomas". Where, "who" or "how" she got that name remains unknown. We know that her adopted parents wanted to rename her "Mary" but for whatever reason, lost now to time, decided to remain with her name "Isabel".

Isabel blev gift med Robert Joseph Gilmartin [43588] [MRIN: 16299], søn af Owen B. Straight [48220] og Mae Fleming [48221], den 11 Jun. 1937 i Indiana, United States. Ægteskabet endte med skilsmisse. (Robert Joseph Gilmartin [43588] blev født den 22 Mar. 1913 i Fort Wayne, Allen, Indiana, USA og døde den 25 Feb. 1972 i Toledo, Lucas, Ohio, USA.)

Isabel blev derefter gift med George Julian Pfeiffer [43603] [MRIN: 16305], søn af Arnold Edward Pfeiffer [43611] og Gertrude Agnes Moormann [43612]. Ægteskabet endte med skilsmisse. (George Julian Pfeiffer [43603] blev født den 18 Nov. 1911 i Richmond, Wayne County, Indiana, USA og døde i Sep. 1986 i Indianapolis, Marion, Indiana, United States.)