Church Record Sunday - Baptism of Patrick William Creedan

Patrick William Creedan was born on May 16, 1864 to parents Patrick and Hannah Hoover Creedan. The family lived in Clinton County, Ohio, but Patrick was baptized in St. Andrew's parish in Milford, Clermont County, Ohio. Construction of the Catholic church in Clinton County wasn't completed until 1868 so the family had children baptized in the nearby parishes before the new church opened.

Baptism record for Patrick William Creedan, May 29, 1864

The image above is the entry for the baptism of Patrick William Creedan. The baptism was recorded in Latin and the year 1864 was written on the top of this page. On the left of the record, the baptism date was given as May 29 and the date of birth as May 16. The entry roughly translates to "I baptized Patrick G. son Patrick Credin and Hannah Hoover, sponsors Timothy Kiefe and Margarita Calahan". The priest's name was abbreviated to J. B. OD.

Patrick's name is given as Patrick William in his father's will in 1883, so I believe the initial G in the baptism record stands for Gulielmus, the Latin version of William.

A transcription of the record was made for the diocese of Cincinnati. The name of the priest is spelled out as J. B. O'Donoghue. The number 23 on the left is the entry number for Patrick's record in the ledger. There are a couple of mistakes in this transcription. Patrick's mother is given as Anna instead of Hannah and Patrick's middle initial is given as J instead of G.

At some point, Patrick started using his middle name William instead of Patrick. Patrick was listed as Patrick in the 1870 census and Patrick W. in the 1880 census for Clinton County, Ohio. His father Patrick's will left a share of the estate to his son Patrick William in 1883. In the distributions from the estate in 1884, Patrick is named as Patrick W. Creeden, minor. In the final account of the estate in 1885, Patrick's name is given as Wm. P. Creeden.

Wm P Creeden named in final account of estate in 1885

In 1885, W. P. Creedan marries Mary C. Snyder in Clinton County, Ohio. Quaker records in Clinton County from 1887 and 1889 mention a John and William Creeden. John's wife and children are listed in the records and they are match for Patrick William's brother John. The William in the records is most likely Patrick William.

In 1886 or 1887, the birth of Minnie Creeden was registered in Greene County, Ohio to parents Wm. Creeden and Mary Snyder. They are living in Bowersville in Greene County. The date of the birth was given as May 11, 1886 and the location of the birth was Sabina, Clinton County, Ohio. Sabina was also the location in the 1870 census for Patrick and Hannah Creedan.

 

In 1900, John and William Creedan are listed next to each other in the census for Darke County, Ohio along with their wives and children. Note that Williams birth month and year are given as May 1864.

By 1905, William Patrick Creeden and his family were living in Kansas and appeared in the 1905 state census for Kansas. William's age was given as 42 and Mary's as 43. William died in 1909 and is buried in Kansas. His tombstone in Kansas gives his year of birth as 1862. I have a few cases in my family tree where the wrong year appears on a tombstone, so it's possible that a family member gave the wrong information.

My conclusion is that Patrick William and William P. or W. P. Creeden are most likely the same person. Most of the records indicate that he was born in 1864 with the exception of his tombstone. That discrepancy leaves some room for doubt, but all of the other records with a date seem to indicate that he was born after 1862. Mary's tombstone also gives her year of birth as 1862 and this is more consistent with the census records which indicated she was a year or two older than her husband.

A final note is that my sister and I have several DNA matches to descendants of William and Mary Creeden. They are similar in size to our matches from the other children of Patrick and Hannah Hoover Creedan. The matches form a cluster where we are all sharing the same matches, so that indicates there is a relation between the Kansas and Clinton County Creeden families.

Sources: The Roman Catholic baptism registers for the diocese of Cincinnati are available on FindMyPast.com. The Quaker index is available on Ancestry.com. The other images in this post are available from FamilySearch.org.