Thomas and Agnes Cleary
Thomas William Cleary was born in Winnebago, Illinois on March 28th, 1853 to Patrick and Mollie Cleary. The ancestry on Thomas’ paternal side is unable to be traced because his mother’s maiden name is unknown. The field for this information was left blank on all of the family’s available vital records, including Thomas' death record. Only St. James Cemetery where the family is buried had her first name which was found in their records from the time.
Patrick's parents Thomas Cleary and Sarah (Kennedy) Cleary lived in County Wicklow, Ireland at the time of his birth. There is nothing more known about the ancestry of the Cleary or Kennedy families.
Patrick and Mollie came to the United States in 1846, living outside of Rockford where Patrick worked as a day laborer on the Saunders’ farm, saving up money to buy his own farm. Prior to leaving Ireland, Patrick was a butcher. They had a total of five children, three of whom did not reach adulthood. A second son, Charles, eventually left Guilford, spending his remaining years in California. Although Charles fought in the Civil War, in 1851, at the start, Patrick, who was eager to enlist, was already 50 which made him too old to fight.
In April 1865, when Thomas was 12 and Patrick was 64, the family purchased an 80 acre homestead in Guilford Township, just east of Rockford, Illinois. At the time of purchase, it was described as being lot 13, 15, 16, 17, 30, 31, 32 and 33. Over the years, additional neighboring lots were purchased as they were offered for sale. It wasn’t until 1929 that Rockford and Guilford would be united into a single town. A year after Patrick and Mollie had become farmers, his wife, Mollie died.
In March of 1886, Patrick was run over by a stampede of cattle and was said to have been badly injured. In April of 1888, Patrick was fined $8 by the Rockford Humane Society after losing a court case filed against him. The case had accused him of mistreating his horses and cattle by underfeeding them and not providing them with proper shelter. Witnesses described only small sheds, with incomplete enclosures, and no floors or beds for the animals to lay down on. Although there was sufficient lumber available on the property, there was also no barn. Several animals had not survived the Winter. An observer spotted Patrick paying his fine without a murmur and buying several bales of hay immediately upon leaving court.
Although Patrick kept the memory of his homeland and journey to America even late in life, he began to suffer from poor vision about 4 years before he died. Around this time, he started to rely on others to read for him. Patrick had a life span of 110 years, from 1801 until 1911. At the time of his death, he was the oldest person in the county. He attributed his long life and strength to the use of Tobacco products all his life. Patrick was a member of St. James Catholic Church and was buried in St. James Cemetery with Mollie in lot 530. There are no grave markers for either of them.
At the time Patrick left the farm to Thomas in his Will, the farm was 104 acres and valued at $15,000.
Bridget Agnes Coffey was born in Tipperary, Ireland on March 14th, 1861 to Edward Coffey and Ellen (Callahan) Coffey. Throughout her life, she preferred the use of her middle name, Agnes instead of Bridgette. When Agnes was 14, her father, Edward, was killed when he attempted to examine explosives that had failed to ignite at Carrico’s Stone Quarry in Rockford where he worked when the explosives suddenly detonated. Agnes and her 5 siblings, ranging in age from less than a year old to 19, were left without a father. Agnes’ mother, Ellen, had never worked outside of keeping house for the family and so she never did. The children supported her the rest of her life. Nothing is known about the Callahan family lineage in Ireland prior to Ellen. The only information about the Coffey family prior to Edward is that his mother’s name was Julia.
Thomas learned the trade of brick making while still just a boy, working at the Brown Brick Mill for 7 years. He then moved to Chicago, Illinois for a time to learn more about the brick industry. In 1877, at age 24, he returned to his father’s farm in Guilford Township and opened his own brickyard. The brickyard may have closed at some point and then reopened in 1906 when Thomas purchased a new automated brick-making machine.
The brickyard was on Guilford Road about one mile east of Cedar Bluff Cemetery. An advertisement for his bricks in the Rockford newspaper promised to sell a “good article at a moderate figure”. They had multiple kilns that were used to dry the bricks after they were made on-site.
Thomas, age 25, married Agnes, age 18, in Rockford, Illinois on July 14th, 1879.
Their first child, Mayme Carolyn was born on June 1st, 1880. No birth record has been located for her and various birth years from 1880 to 1883 appear on her grave marker, census records, and newspaper death notices. In addition to the confusion over her birth year, Mayme is often referred to in documents as Mary or May, including Thomas’ Will. It is likely that her given name is Mary but she went by the name Mayme, which is the name on her grave marker.
According to his Winnebago County birth record, Edward Thomas was their second child and he was born on December 5th, 1881 in Guilford. His name is missing from the birth record because he had not yet been named. Based on this information, given that Mayme was their first child she would have been born prior to April 1881, so the year on her grave marker of 1880 appears to be the most accurate.
The third child, Nellie Gertrude’s Winnebago County birth record confirms that she was born in Rockford on October 1st, 1883. As was the case with her sister, Mayme, Nellie was often referred to as another name, either Ellie or Ellen.
Child number four, Sadie Irene, was born in Guilford on March 4th, 1886. No birth record has been located for her and like her other two sisters, various records refer to her under another name, Sarah, which may be her given name.
Patrick Henry, the fifth and final child was born to the couple on February 3rd, 1888 in Guilford according to his Winnebago County birth record.
In 1910, Thomas was diagnosed as having a mitral heart valve that did not seal properly allowing blood to flow through the heart in the wrong direction.
By 1912, he had retired from working at the brickyard due to his failing health. He was also suffering from rheumatoid arthritis.
He was remembered by his friends for knowing “more about Rockford in its younger days than any other man who lived here”. He had confidence that Rockford would one day be “on the map” and was excited to see his prediction come true. He thought that the Rock River would one day be able to provide enough power to light the city streets and supply enough for every factory in the city. He loved to tell stories about the arrival of the first streetcar, and the year that it was so cold that there was skating on the river for 5 months and there was so much extra ice cut from the river that they just gave it away.
Thomas died on Thursday, January, 29th 1914 at 9 am
The cause of his death at age 61 was reported as mitral valvular heart disease. His obituary called him “one of the best known men in Winnebago County”.
In the year that followed, a family dispute over Thomas’ Will divided the family. Mayme, Ellie, and Sadie sued their brother Edward, the executor of the estate, because they believed that he had influenced Thomas' decision to leave the homestead and all of his personal property to Agnes. When Agnes either passed away or remarried, only the sons would inherit any of the farmland. Furthermore, the daughters felt that their father was not of sound mind and lacked the capacity to make legal decisions at the time that the Will was drafted. The land was valued at between $10,000 to $30,000 and his personal property at $1,000. The Will specified that each daughter was to receive $1,000 within 2 years of his wife’s death. Edward was to receive 40 acres of the farm due to his remaining at home and working the farm all his life and the remaining 20 acres would go to Patrick.
The case was brought before a grand jury where as many as 15 witnesses were interviewed over the course of two days, including daughter, Sadie, and son, Edward. On the evening of the second day, the jury of 12 men submitted their sealed decision which was read on the morning of the third day. On the 25th of February, 1915, the jury returned a unanimous verdict that Thomas was of sound mind and that the Will was valid. The lawyer for the daughters immediately made a motion for a new trial which doesn’t appear to have ever taken place.
After the Will was settled, Agnes moved into her daughter Mayme’s home on Cunningham road, Rural Route 7, where she spent the next 15 years living with Mayme, Mayme’s husband John Garrette, and their daughter Alice. Interestingly, John’s sister, Luella was married to Max Sadewater, brother of Minnie (Sadewater) Maffioli.
Sometime prior to 1917, although Agnes was still alive, Patrick and Edward received ownership of the homestead. It appeared in the newspaper in February 1917, that Edward had sold Sec 18 and Sec 19-44-2 to Patrick for $1.
On Monday November 25th, 1918 at 1 pm, Edward along with Burt Harr auctioned off the 61 acre farm. Items up for sale also included 3 cows, 1 heifer, 7 horses, as well as a long list of other farming equipment, seeds and miscellaneous items. Burt was Edward’s wife’s brother-in-law.
In March 1919, Patrick sold his 20 acres to Fred L. Burr.
On March 31st, 1929, it was determined by X-ray that Agnes had stomach cancer. Three and a half weeks later, on Saturday, April 27th, 1929, Agnes died at the age of 68. In her will, she left only $5 to sons, Patrick and Edward, as well as daughter, Nellie. Daughter Mayme received the balance of the estate, with Sadie receiving $3,000. Granddaughter Alice received $500 immediately, while a trust was set up for grandson’s Willard Olson and Thomas Cleary, each receiving $500 upon turning 25.
Thomas was buried in St. James Cemetery on January 31st 1914 at 10:30 am. Agnes was buried beside him in lot 530 on April 29th, 1929 at 9:30 am.
After all of the fighting in the family about who would inherit the estate, Thomas and Agnes lie in unmarked graves to this day. Sadly, none of their children ever purchased a grave marker for either of them.
Written by Jeff Nuckles, 2022
