Charles Finan Curran [DS.4.5.11]

Charles Finan Curran [DS.4.5.11]
(22 Nov 1906 — 25 Dec 1927)

Record of Baptism

Registrum Baptizatorum in Ecclesia SS. Cordis Jesu

Diœcesis Chicagiensis

Nomen Familiæ	A. D. Die Mensis	REGISTRUM BAPTISMORUM	OBSERVANTA
Curran Chas. Finan	Nov 29^u	Ego infrascriptus baptizavi ...Charles Finan Curran…nat…November 22^nd…1906.. ex………Thomas…Curran………………… ex loco………Chicago………………………… et…………Mary…Finan………………………. ex loco………Chicago………………………… Patrini fuerunt……William…Curran………. ………………Malinda…Curran… ……………H. J. Pickert S.J.…	682 Center Ave
Source: Mormon film 1612364, Item 2: Sacred Heart Church, Chicago IL, Baptisms 1904-1908, p. 76
The godfather was probably Charley’s uncle [DS.4.4] (age 39). The godmother was Charley’s aunt [DS.4.5.7S] (age 27).

Charles [DS.4.5.11] is one of only two Currans that I know of who had a family name as a middle name. (The other person was George McKinley Curran [DS.4.3.5] who died as a child.) "Finan", however, was not always a family name. In Ireland, the name was Ó Fionnáin, meaning "descended from Fionnain. The name came from fionn (pronounced as "fin") which means "fair". The name is common in the U.S. today only in the hybrid feminine form as "Fiona".

Charles [DS.4.5.11] never married.

CENSUS DATA

15 April 1910: 0 2023 South Center Avenue, Chicago, Cook Co., Illinois
(Census roll 251, E.D. 534, sheet 4(?) A, line 30, family 215, dwelling 64;
no age listed.)

1 January 1920: 2023 Racine Avenue, Ward 10, Chicago, Cook Co., Illinois (Same building as in 1910. Name of street was changed circa 1914.)
(Census roll 318, E.D. 620, sheet 4A, line 18; age 13)

STORIES
An article in the Chicago Tribune of 8 September 1922 contains the statement: "Curran’s son Charles, arrested a number of times on robbery charges and facing commitment to the St. Charles reformatory, escaped on Wednesday from the juvenile detention home." Charles [DS.4.5.11] was then 16 years old. According to our oral history, the escape was made possible by a girlfriend who smuggled in a saw to cut the bars. As children, we imagined that the saw was in a cake, but my mother said it was not.

My father [DS.4.5.7S] told me that Charley drove the getaway car when he was involved in a robbery.

DEATH
Charley [DS.4.5.11] died in an automobile accident at the age of 21. While he was stopped at a traffic light on Christmas Day 1927 (and not involved in any crime), his car was hit by another car being chased by the police. Because of Tom’s political position, he had many friends in the judiciary and in law enforcement. One of them said (concerning the surviving driver): "Don’t worry Tom. We’ll hang him." To which Tom [DS.4.5] replied, "No! I want him treated the same as anyone else."

Hyperlinks

Next child: Thomas Roy Curran, Jr. [DS.4.5.12]

Curran Table of Contents

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