Unknown Origins

In this post I would like to summarize what is known about the life and ancestry of my great-grandfather, Richard Thomas O'Hagan, who was born March 28, 1882, in Dickerson, Montgomery Co., Maryland, to Clarence O'Hagan and Margaret Sullivan, both of Ireland.  Nothing is known about the first twenty four years of Richard's life, except for the fact (told by various O'Hagan family members) that he had an unknown number of sisters and left home at a young age.  No record of baptism for Richard exists in any of the oldest Catholic parishes in either Montgomery or neighboring Frederick county, including: St. Mary's in Barnesville (Diocese of Washington D.C.), St. John's in Frederick, St. Joseph's-on-Carrollton-Manor in Buckeystown, or St. Mary's in Petersville (the latter all of the Diocese of Baltimore).  No Clarence O'Hagan is recorded in the indices to the 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930 or 1940 Censuses, and the O'Hagans closest to Dickerson in 1880 and 1900, the most relevant Census years for Richard's early life, are resident only in Washington D.C. and Baltimore (almost all of the 1890 Census, including the portion covering the area in and around Dickerson, was destroyed in a fire at the Commerce Department in 1922).

There are no records of a Clarence O'Hagan or Margaret Sullivan (O'Hagan) in Montgomery County marriage records (no O'Hagans whatsoever, although many Sullivans with first names other than Margaret); there is no record of either parent in Montgomery County Sentinel (newspaper) Abstracts, 1900-1935; nor in unpublished index card records for tombstones in Montgomery County; nor in Names in Stone, a publication of tombstones in Frederick County (Pat Anderson, Montgomery County Historical Society, personal communication).  There are also no death records for either party in index cards cataloguing death records in Maryland from 1898-1944, available via the Maryland State Archives.  I have been unable to locate any information on possible sisters, given the dearth of family knowledge about them and extant records.  Work in Irish records is useless without more details from American records.

The town of Dickerson was officially founded in 1871, and had mainly gotten its start when the B&O Railroad line first was run through there, and it is possible that immigrant communities, including Irish immigrants, were attracted to the area because of work available on the railroad.  Unfortunately, employment records (mainly in the form of detailed payroll records) for the B&O Railroad in this area preceding 1905 were destroyed in the Baltimore fire of 1904 (John Maranto, Hays T. Watkins Research Library, personal communication), so there is no hope of tracing possible early employment records for a Clarence O'Hagan.

Richard O'Hagan first appears in written records on March 26, 1906, when he enlists under Major William R. Hamilton in the United States Army in St. Louis, MO.  In these enlistment papers, copies of which I obtained from the National Archives, he lists his residence as Dickerson, MD, his nearest of kin as his mother Marguerite (note, not Margaret) O'Hagan, also of Dickerson and his trade as blacksmith.  On April 11, 1906, he was received into the 2nd Cavalry Regiment at Fort Riley, Kansas, at which time he was under the command of Major Herbert J. Slocum.  In 1907 the 2nd Cavalry was re-stationed at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, where Richard was discharged on March 25, 1909, after three years of service.  One family story (from daughter-in-law Delores) holds that Richard partook in the Spanish American War, although this conflict took place in 1898.  Yet another story (from daughter Dolores) holds that he went to the Philippines, presumably as part of the Philippine-American War, but this conflict lasted from 1899 to 1902.  Neither story seems credible in light of extant military records.

Richard next appears on April 22, 1910, resident in Seattle, WA, at which time he worked as a motorman for the street railway, although no O'Hagan is listed in a Seattle City Directory for 1908, 1909, 1910 or 1911 (Kathryn Devine, Washington State Archives).  There in Seattle, on June 6, 1910, at the age of 28, Richard married Mary Corona, aged 21, from Spain, daughter of Atanacio Corona and Caledonia Bardonado.  Witnesses were Nellie Bagsley and Helen Walsh.  At this time, Mary's residence is listed as Los Angeles, although I have been unable to find any record of her or her parents in immigration records, or the 1900 or 1910 Censuses.  Richard lists his parents as Clarence O'Hagan and Margaret Sullivan, both of Ireland.  There is no record of divorce between Richard & Mary in King Co., WA through 1916 (Phil Stairs, Puget Sound Regional Archives).  However, by November, 1912 Richard had moved to Dixieland, Imperial Co., CA, near the Mexican border.  There is no record of death for either a Mary Corona or a Mary O'Hagan between 1907 and 1926 in King Co., WA (Rebecca Pixler, King County Archives), nor in the statewide death index spanning 1910 to 1919 (Kathryn Devine, ibid.).  There is no record in California death indices ranging from 1905 to 1929 for a Mary O'Hagan of anywhere near the expected age.    Whether a child was born to this first marriage is unknown, as is the fate of Mary Corona.

In 1915 or early 1916 (or possibly earlier), Richard met Aurora Moya, who then went by the surname Enríquez, presumably in and around Santa Paula, CA, where Aurora had grown up since 1901, when she emigrated from Mexico to Ventura Co. in the company of her maternal aunt and grandmother.  (The history of Aurora's early life warrants a blog post in its own right, but suffice it to mention here that she was born February 3, 1896 in Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico, to Mauro Moya (1871-1955) and Maria Praxedis Ramírez (1879-1904).)  The couple had their first child, Richard Theodore ("Ted") O'Hagan on December 16, 1916 in Glendale, Maricopa Co., Arizona, on the outskirts of Phoenix.

Aurora Moya O'Hagan with son Ted
Near Flagstaff, AZ, circa 1918
(courtesy of Marco Aurelio Moya Reyes, Chihuahua, Mexico)

They went on to have the following twelve children:

-unnamed: April 6, 1918 - April 6, 1918
-Vernon Fremont: August 7, 1919 - March 29, 1963
-Flavius Calvert: May 16, 1922 - October 9, 1968
-Aurora Irene: September 13, 1923 - May 20, 1924
-Mary Elizabeth ("Isabelle"): May 23, 1925 - December 9, 1964
-Lawrence Patrick ("Pat"): July 9, 1926 - November 1983
-Soledad Dolores: May 5, 1928 - (living)
-Robert Paul: September 9, 1929 - July 4, 2007
-Ralph James: January 6, 1931 - March 2, 1981
-Mildred Anna ("Ann"): October 11, 1932 - February 4, 1990
-Mark Twain: January 26, 1934 - December 8, 1965
-George Curry: August 9, 1936 - August 10, 1973

O'Hagan children at Richard's funeral
San Luis Obispo, CA, 1956
top l to r: Bob, Mark, Ann, Pat, Flave, Ted, Vernon, George
bottom l to r: Isabelle, Ralph, Dolores
(courtesy of Neal O'Hagan, Arroyo Grande, CA)

I have been unable to locate a marriage record for Richard & Aurora in San Luis Obispo, Ventura or Los Angeles counties from 1913 to 1919, or in Maricopa and Pinal counties, Arizona for any year.  The family lived in Glendale at least through April 1918, when the second child was born and where Richard operated an auto business, as he would generally do throughout the remainder of his life.  (In a later post I will summarize a self-written work history of Richard's, courtesy of Jeannine O'Hagan.)

Richard O'Hagan's business
Glendale, AZ, circa 1920
(courtesy of Marco Aurelio Moya Reyes, Chihuahua, Mexico)

By January 1920 they had settled in Florence, Pinal Co., AZ, where they remained through May 1922, when son Flave was born, but in September 1923 they were back in Phoenix, where Irene was born, remaining there through May 1925, when Isabelle was born.  In July 1926 they lived in Los Angeles Co. (possibly Alhambra), but by May 1928 had moved to San Diego, where Dolores was born.

O'Hagan family, circa 1927
l to r: Isabelle, Flave, Pat (seated), Vernon, Ted, Aurora, Richard
(courtesy of Marco Aurelio Moya Reyes, Chihuahua, Mexico)

From at least September 1929 until January 1931, the family lived in El Paso, TX, where sons Bob and Ralph were born.  The move to El Paso may have been at the suggestion of Richard's father-in-law, Mauro Moya, with whom Aurora had recently regained contact in 1927, contact which is documented in a series of letters in Spanish that I soon aim to translate and document in a separate post.  However, they were back in Glendale in October 1932, at Ann's birth, and remained in Arizona through 1935, only to relocate to Camp Baldy, CA by August 1936, when George was born.

Richard & Aurora
Camp Baldy, CA, January 15, 1929
(courtesy of Marco Aurelio Moya Reyes, Chihuahua, Mexico)

By 1938 the family had settled in San Luis Obispo, CA, at which time they resided at 915 Branch Street -- by 1944 they lived at 871 Chorro Street.  Aurora died at General Hospital on September 11, 1947, at the age of 51, although Richard lived on in San Luis Obispo until at least 1953, when California Voter Registrations list him as resident at 875 Chorro, next door.

Aurora & Richard, mid-1940s
(location unknown)

Following Aurora's death, Richard (and possibly some of his older sons) journeyed to Chihuahua, Mexico to meet his father-in-law, Mauro Moya, who was by then in his mid-70s, only 11 years older than Richard.  Mauro's son (and Aurora's 31-year-younger half-brother), Marco Aurelio Moya (b. 1927), has sent me many photographs and letters that the O'Hagan family had sent his father during the period beginning in 1927 and lasting until Aurora's death.  Although the length and details of Richard's trip are unknown, he met Marco Aurelio at this time, as well as his third wife, Rosario.  I have not located a marriage record for Richard & Rosario in California from 1949 to 1955, or at the Sagrario Cathedral in Chihuahua from September 1947 through 1950.  I still need to do more research on Rosario's Mexican routes in the state of Chihuahua.  She died on May 21, 1978 in Los Angeles County, at the age of 74, being 21 years younger than Richard.

I have heard that in his last years, Richard & Rosario lived with Richard's eldest son Ted, although I have not confirmed this with Ted's surviving child, Ann (b. 1942).  At the time of his death, Richard lived in Woodbridge, CA (San Joaquin Co.), passing away in the hospital in Lodi on January 24, 1956, at the age of 73.  Son Ted was the informant on the death certificate, and he appears to have known the details of Richard's early life summarized here, providing the correct date and place of birth, dates of military service and names of parents.