New Kingston, New York finds: Isabella McGranahan and George Diamond

I first wrote about my Kingston, New York cousin ancestors here, but that was what we could call a high level overview. I'll be the first to admit that I didn't provide a lot of information in that post. While reviewing my research on one of those lines recently, I made an amazing discovery.

My 1st cousin 3x removed, Margaret Dougherty (abt 1819-1893) and her husband James McGranahan (d. 1868) had four daughters and one son. They made their home in Rosendale, Ulster, New York in the early years of their marriage. At some time after James' 1868 death, Margaret re-located to New York City, with her family. Her only son, William, became a lawyer with offices on Lexington Ave in New York City, but died at age 35, unmarried. I researched three of William's sisters, but had found nothing for the fourth sister, Isabella, b abt 1856, after the 1880 census, when at that time, she was an unmarried woman of about 26. Checking through Ancestry's few hints for her, I found another tree, but with the wrong parents (I've sent a message to the owner of that tree to correct their research).

My recent discovery? While reviewing various collateral research, I checked the 1940 census listing for Isabella's sister Rosemary in New York City, which I found a few years ago. How had I missed that Rosemary's sister Isabella was living with her at that time? But wait! Isabella's last name was Diamond and she was a widow.

Census, 1 Apr 1940

After a frenetic online search over a few hours, I had her story. In about 1884, Isabella McGranahan married, according to the 1900 census, a man named George Diamond, who was born in Kingston, near Rosendale, which is where several of my first cousins 3x removed Dougherty cousins settled. Diamond of course is the family name of my second great grandmother, Mary Ann, for whose family I have absolutely no information.

George Diamond (abt 1854-1923) was a grandson of James Diamond (1784-1851) and Jane McEldowney (1786-1866), who settled in Kingston in the 1820s, with what became a family of at least seven children. According to Find a Grave, they were born in Londonderry County, which is where Dungiven is located. Did the Diamonds know my Doughertys in Ireland? James and Jane are buried in St Mary's Cemetery in Kingston, where many of my cousin ancestors are also buried.

Isabella and George had no children, and he died in 1923. In the 1930 census, I found her living with her brother-in-law and his family in Ulster County. That brother-in-law died in 1934, and as it was then extremely rare for women to be able to afford to live alone, Isabella must have then returned to New York City to live with her widowed sister, Rosemary. Isabella died in 1945, the last of her siblings. I haven't found a record of her burial so far. Rosemary died later in 1940, after that census. How lucky I am to have found that 1940 census.

Isabella's nickname, I learned from newspaper and other records, was Dolly. That nickname could also be why I had trouble locating her, I haven't found a record of her burial so far. Is that because Isabella was the last of her immediate family? Unlike her sisters, no death notice appeared in the Kingston Daily Freeman.

Was James Diamond an uncle or cousin or even a brother to my 2nd great grandmother?

The never ending story continues....



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