John Slattery of New York

The Immigrant
John Slattery, a son of Patrick and Bridget Slattery, emigrated to the United States from Ireland. The earliest US record reviewed to date is the 1900 census of New York city. It reveals that John was born in Ireland in 1843. It was shown in Table 1 that he was the youngest of the documented children of Patrick and Bridget.

By the time of the 1900 census, John had been married for some time but as yet a marriage date has not been found. His wife was Mary. Her maiden name is also unknown. She was born in Ireland in 1862, and therefore was 19 years younger than John. In a later US census it is recorded that Mary was naturalized in 1888 whereas John was a US citizen at that time. In 1900, John and family were living at #317 West 80th Street, Manhattan. The census lists four children, John Jr. age 13, Hannah age 10, Patrick age 8, and Francis age 5. All were born in New York. There were also four unrelated persons in the house.

John must have emigrated to the United States well before 1888, as the census records indicate that their first child was born in May 1887 in New York, suggesting marriage not later than 1885 or 1886. It is likely that he emigrated at the same times as the others in Patrick's family, but at present we have no record of a date.

I have been told that John at one time had a large restaurant on lower Broadway. The 1881 Manhattan city Directory lists about ten John Slattery's. One had an "eating house" at 62E 14th Street and lived at 17 Beach St. this could be "our" John.

John founded Slattery Construction Company and became prominent in subway construction in New York, and notably the subway to New Jersey. However his son John Jr. Must have been involved also, because the New Jersey subway was not completed until 1930, well after the father's death.

John Sr. died November 19, 1912, at 79 years of age. The New York Times reported that a solemn requiem mass would be celebrated for him in St. Patrick's Cathedral on November 21, with interment at St. Raymond's Cemetery, Westchester. John must have been a prominent Catholic to be honoured in this manner.

In the 1920 census, Mary, then a widow, was listed as the householder of the West 80th St. home. John Jr. was no longer listed at the family home. By this date he was over 30, was married and living in his own house. Hannah, now age 28, was also married but she and her husband, Anthony Daino, age 30, and their two children were living at her mother's home. The children were John A. age 3, and Richard, age 1. Anthony Daino was listed in a 1915 City Directory as a civil engineer living in the Bronx. Mary's sons Patrick, now 27, and Francis, now 25, were still single and living at home. In the house also were three women who had been born in Ireland and whose relationship to Mary is shown as "sl". Perhaps this meant sister-in-law? The women's names were Mary Long age 38, Katherine Coughlin age 29 and Mary McCormick age 24.

My uncle, Dr. "Vet" Grimes, while completing his medical education, lived with the Slattery family in 1929 to 1933 period. Other Grimes and Slattery visitors from Ottawa probably were also welcomed at the Slattery home on 80th St.

When Mary died has not yet been found, but in March 1937 she wrote to Joan Denault's (daughter of Gerald Wall and Margery Slattery; granddaughter of Bernard Slattery) mother from Chatsworth Gardens, Larchmont, New York. This is in Westchester County close to the ocean. The Larchmont Historical Society has told me that Chatsworth Gardens is an attractive apartment complex that was built in the late 1920's or early 1930's. Evidently Mary moved there before 1837. Joan Denault remembers visiting there by train from Ottawa several times when she was young. She was born in 1927. There is no present information as to whether the house in Manhattan was still in the family at that time.

John J Slattery
The 1920 census revealed that John Jr. was living on California Road, Mount Vernon, in Westchester County. He was listed as 31 years of age. His wife was Agnes, age 28 born in New York as was John. Two children were listed, John Jr. age 4 and Mary A., just under 2 years. According to Joan Denault, the girl was called "Babs". The Westchester County address appears to be fairly prestigious, and the live-in servants strongly suggests that John and Agnes were living very well indeed.

John and Agnes were married on Riverside Drive in Manhattan (Joan Denault). I have not located the Slattery family church which should contain many relevant statistics.

I have been told (Joan Denault) that there was a Slattery & Daino Construction Company in New York which was still in business in the late 1950's. This was evidently the original construction company renamed to include Anthony Daino. John Slattery Jr. and Anthony Daino were brothers-in-law and about the same ame age. The Company worked on the subway to New Jersey which was completed in 1930.

Joan Denault has inherited a barometer that belonged to John Jr. It was evidently a presentation gift on some special occasion. On a plaque is inscribed: "John J. Slattery, Point Comfort 1916". As Point Comfort was the name of Bernard's McGregor Lake summer home, perhaps John J. was visiting there, and the plague was a remembrance?

From his will and other documents obtained from the Westchester County archives, John Jr. died July 30, 1938 in Westchester County just short of his 50th birthday. Like his father, John's death notice was in the New York Times. From information obtained in March 1998 from the undertaker F.H. McGrath of Bronxville, John's residence was 25 Parkview Ave., Bronxville, New York. He died at his summer home in Saybrook, Connecticut of a hear attack. The funeral mass was in St. Joseph's Church, Bronxville and he was buried in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York. At the time of his death he was a member of the New York Stock Exchange.

John's wife Agnes was executrix of his will, which he had made in 1936. An appraisal document of John's estate, if I interpret it correctly, says that he owned no real estate at the time of his death. The address on Parkview Ave. in the will, is shown also as Haddon Hall which may indicate that it was an apartment building. The only estate assets listed were:

Accrued interest in securities held in Patrick Slattery Trust u/w for John J. Slattery and paid to Estate of John J Slattery: $1414.92

Proceeds of Estate of Francis V. Slattery due to John J. Slattery, deceased, and paid to Estate of John J. Slattery: $1335.78

The significance of these assets eludes me at this time. Patrick and Francis were almost certainly the younger brothers of John. Francis must have been deceased and the $1335.78 must have been John's share of Francis' estate. It is probable that the Patrick Slattery Trust implies that Patrick too was deceased. I have been told that Patrick never married and died of a heart attack on the golf course in New York, about 1933. There was no mention of Francis. In John's will there is a clause which directs his executrix "to pay any and all debts which I may owe to my mother, Mary Slattery, at the time of my death". The significance of this escapes me.

I have been told that Patrick left $100,000 to John 3 and Babs, also that John 3 was in the US Navy, that he graduated from Columbia University, and was a journalist.

In her mother's papers, Joan Denault found three prayer cards for deceased persons. One was for Hannah Daino who died in 1933, at only 40 years of age. One was for Agnes, wife of John Jr. who died in 1964, about 72 years of age. She was interred at Gate of Heaven Cemetery with her husband. The remaining prayer card was for Mary Battle ter Meer, who died in 1938. She lived in New Jersey. She is believed to have been a close relative of Bernard Slattery. This requires further investigation. (There was a Bunny Battle who was a sponsor at the baptism of Bernard's son Charles, in 1889).