Mary Ellen Langin McAndrew Geraty (Abt 1820-1868)
August 6, 2014Mary Ellen Langin McAndrew Geraty was the mother of Sarah Theresa McAndrew Armstrong, the wife of John Francis Armstrong.
Born in Ireland around 1818, Mary Ellen and her husband Patrick owned a grocery store in Charleston, South Carolina. Patrick died in the yellow fever epidemic of 1849 and was survived by Mary Ellen and their four young children.
According to the 1850 federal census, Mary Ellen and her children, Mary Ann, seven, Sarah, five, and twins James and John, two, were living in Charleston with Patrick’s brother James.
Mary Ellen Langin McAndrew Geraty was the mother of Sarah Theresa McAndrew Armstrong, the wife of John Francis Armstrong
In the 1860 census, Mary Ellen was still living in Charleston and was remarried to a grocer named Bernard Geraty. They moved to Augusta, Georgia some time in 1863, the year Union forces began the bombardment of Charleston that destroyed parts of the city.
Mary Ellen died of “disability” at the age of forty-nine May 3, 1868 and was buried in Magnolia Cemetery in Augusta.
Her daughters, Mary Ann and Sarah, married Patrick Armstrong and John Francis Armstrong, first cousins from County Sligo, Ireland. Mary Ann married Patrick on August 1st, 1864. Sarah married John Francis on August 25th, 1868, four months after her mother’s death.
Image
This image of Mary Ellen was scanned from a photograph obtained from Mary Van Sant Wheeler, who inherited it from her aunt, Frances Armstrong Casey. A copy of this photograph used to hang on the wall of Aunt Frankie’s apartment in Augusta. Mary Ellen probably sat for this portrait not long before her death in 1868.
References
Hudson, Marie Van Sant. “Van Sant-Hudson Family Tree.” Compilation of genealogical research including historical photographs, U.S. Census data, newspaper articles, and other records. Ancestry.com. March 20th, 2013. http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/63557738/family (accessed 9 July 2014).
U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current. “Ellen Langin Geraty.” Accessed in March 2017 at Ancestry.com.