Sisters of Charity Archives - Church Record Sunday

I posted earlier about the will of Patrick Creedan of Clinton County, Ohio and my hopes that it would provide enough information to determine if he was the father of my great-great-grandfather Timothy Creeden. The will was probated after Patrick's death in 1883.

There was some unexpected information about his daughter Julia Creeden in this provision from Patrick's will: "Two portions shall be paid to my son Timothy. One of which is his own legal right, and the other being the legal right of my daughter Julia, (who is now a religious in the Convent of the Sisters of Charity) but if my said daughter Julia should demure to this transfer of her right in favor of her full brother Timothy, then she shall have full control over her legal portion." 

Julia was in Clinton County, Ohio in the 1860 census, so Cincinnati would have been the closest place for her to join the Sisters of Charity. I contacted the Sisters of Charity Archives and received some interesting information about Julia's life. She came to the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati in 1870 and took her vows in 1872 when she received the name of Sister Mary Felix. The Sisters told me that she worked at St. Mary's Hospital in Pueblo, CO from 1888-1902 and St. Vincent's Hospital in Santa Fe, NM starting in 1905. She returned to the Motherhouse in Cincinnati at some point and she died on February 22, 1918. She is buried in the Sisters of Charity Cemetery in Mount St. Joseph, Ohio.

In addition to the information, the Sisters sent a picture of Julia! I wasn't expecting that and hadn't even thought to ask for one. With the information on the name she took and her date and place of death, I found Julia's death certificate listed under "Sister Mary Felix or Creedon". It said she was born in Ireland on July 1, 1842 and her parents were Patrick Creedon and Mary Coakley. This information was a match for a baptism record on the RootsIreland site. According to the baptism record, Julia was baptized as a Roman Catholic on July 3, 1842 in Carricapooka in the parish of Clondrohid, Ireland. Parents were Patrick Creeden and Mary Cokley and sponsors were Daniel Cokley and Honora Creeden.

I'll follow up with some additional posts on Patrick's will and the probate records in Ohio that lead me to believe that my Timothy is Julia's brother. Thanks so much  to the Sisters that work in the Sisters of Charity Archives for providing the information on Julia! With this information, I finally have some good leads on the origins of my Creeden family.

The Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati have a very interesting history including their work as nurses during the Civil War. Additional resources are available here, including a list of publications about the Sisters.