Elizabeth Brady was the first wife of Charles Alexander McNeil. She was the mother to my grandfather, Henry Herbertson McNeill, and died when he was very young. The oral family history had her dying giving birth to him but that appears to be untrue. She did however die when he was 2 or 3 years old. My side of the family did not know her name. On my grandfather’s social security application his mother is listed as unknown and his daughter listed on Henry’s death certificate that his mother was Jane Jamison. Mary Jamison is the last name of the mother that is listed on Charles Alexander McNeil’s death certificate.
The first clue to the identity of Henry’s mother comes from the death certificate of his brother, John Jack McNeill. There it is clearly stated that his mother, and presumably Henry’s, is Elizabeth Brady. In my search for Henry’s mother, I preformed searches of the New York City death index for an Elizabeth McNeil. For the time frame 1892 to 1898 there is only one. This Elizabeth’s death certificate has her father listed as Patrick Brady. The death certificate does state that she was married but does not list the name of her husband. It does give her address as Dart St, Kings Bridge, NYC. Charles’s address for 1895 is listed as Heath Ave & N. Boston Ave. This was a change from his 1894 address, which was in Manhattan, and his 1899 address, which is in the Bronx (he is not listed from 1896 to 1898). Heath Ave is in Kings Bridge although I cannot find Dart St or Boston Ave.
Elizabeth is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY. I contacted Evergreen Cemetery about Elizabeth and she is indeed buried there. They have no record on who purchased the plot. But a curious fact is that on 2/8/1915 a 11 month old child was also buried in the same plot (the plot can hold 4). The name of this child is Tillie Crawford and if she is any relation to Elizabeth I do not know what it is. Tillie’s death certificate does not shed any light on this subject.
Information gleaned from Elizabeth’s death certificate is that she immigrated to this USA in 1885. She was born in County Antrin, Ireland and her parents were Patrick Brady and Rosie Haggerty. Her death certificate also state that she was 29 years old 0 months and 0 days at the time of her death. Not sure to take that literally and assume that she was born on September 5, 1866 or not. The cause of her death was Malignant Sarcoma, Multiple.
Elizabeth’s children are
No other information about Elizabeth’s life is known at this time.
For more information contact:
Steve McNeill
update: Jan 11, 2004
