Treasure Chest Tuesday - 1894 Death Notices of John and Catherine (--?--) McCann of San Francisco

This week;'s Tuesday's Treasure is the 1894 death information of John McCann and his wife Catherine (--?--) McCann in the San Francisco newspapers.

John and Catherine (--?--) McCann are the parents of Alice G. McCann (1872-1936), who married Alfred Rodney McKnew (1869-1943), who is a first cousin twice removed to my wife, Linda (Leland) Seaver.

I did not have death dates for John and Catherine (--?--) McCann in my RootsMagic family tree, and had only estimated birth years from the 1880 U.S. census record. I searched Ancestry for Catherine McCann from her profile in my tree, and it uncovered a death record for a Catherine McCann in the San Francisco County vital records in 1894.  Here is that record:

The death date was 5 November 1894, and it says that she was age 46-4-16, born in Ireland, and resided at 7 Douglass Street in San Francisco.

The source citation for this record is:

"California, County Birth, Marriage and Death Records, 1849-1980," indexed database and digital image,  Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 July 2019), San Francisco > Death > 1894 - 1896, page 45 (image 47 of 431), Catherine McCann entry.

I didn't know if this was the right Catherine, so I checked the Newspapers.com files and found that she was the one who was the spouse of John McCann and had Alice McKnew as a daughter.

The source citation for Catherine McCann's death notice is:

"Deaths," The San Francisco Chronicle newspaper, 7 November 1894, page 14, column 4, Catherine McCann death notice, indexed database and digital images,   Newspapers.com   (https://www.newspapers.com, accessed 22 July 2019).

Catherine's age at death on 5 November 1894 was listed as 46 years, 4 months and 16 days in the record, and 26 days in the death notice.  So that calculates to a birth date of either 10 or 20 June 1848.  I think I trust the death record more than the death notice.

I then searched Newspapers.com for John McCann's death notice, and found:

The source citation for John McCann's death notice is:

"Deaths," The San Francisco Call newspaper, 17 February 1894, page 10, column 6, John McCann death notice, indexed database and digital images, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com, accessed 22 July 2019).

This gives John's death date as 15 February 1894, and his age as 51 years, 10 months and 17 days, which works out to a birth date of 29 March 1842.  The death notice says he was born in County Armagh.  Both death notices indicate they lived at 7 Douglass Street in San Francisco.

A search on the Ancestry collection for California County births, marriages and deaths does not find a death entry for John McCann in February 1894, because there is no book available between 1889 and July 1894.

So now I have death dates for John and Catherine, a calculated birth date for both of them, and a birthplace for John.  I don't have a maiden name for Catherine, although I think they were married in about 1868, perhaps in Brooklyn, New York.

This has been another night of researching with Randy, where I take persons with only an estimated birth date from a census record and try to find birth and death dates for them.  It worked well this time!  Now to add them to my Ancestry Member Tree and the FamilySearch Family Tree.  Not even my ancestry!

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