Birth
Mary Finan [DS.4.5S₁] was about the seventh child of Mike Finan and Mary McParland. Her daughter, Nellie [DS.4.5.9], reported her date of birth as 18 Mar 1871. My sister Loretta, however, reported hearing that Mary was born on "the day after the fire". That would be circa 9 Oct 1871. The date of 18 Mar 1871 is consistent with Mary's death certificate and the census of 1910. The census of 1900, however, give the date of her birth as Mar 1872, which is consistent with our oral history stating that she was married at the age of 15. I think that my sister (as a very young child) misunderstood. She may have heard that Mollie was born the year after the fire. My search for a record of birth or baptism has been unsuccessful to date.

Childhood
Mollie told her children: "I never had a chance to learn to be a child." She was determined that her children would have that chance.

Mollie was sent out to be a hired girl at an early age. My mother said the age was nine. From my cousin [DS.4.5.6.1], I heard that the age was eleven. Since Mollie was apparently not living at home at the time of the census enumeration on 1 Jun 1880, it seems that she left home at the age of nine. Mollie worked for Mrs. Varley as a maid in a boarding house on 21^st Street in the 1600 block between Ashland and Paulina. Mollie’s brother, Jack Finan, lived in the same boarding house. Mollie worked at the boarding house until she got married six years later at the age of 15.

Mollie’s First Communion Day was after she went to work as a hired girl. The woman she worked for made her a dress from white dotted Swiss curtain material.

Marriage
When she was 15 years old, Mollie married Thomas Curran [DS.4.5]. Tom borrowed $20 to get married and Mollie borrowed a dress from Tom’s sister Sarah.

My maternal grandmother received the unqualified love of her entire family. I never heard any hint of irritation about anything she ever said or did. I think it remarkable that each of her three daughters named their first daughter "Mary". Ed Healey [DS.4.5.6S] described her as "a grand woman".

Ed Healey [DS.4.5.6S] remembered that he and Mae [DS.4.5.6] once took Mollie to the hospital via the Racine Avenue streetcar. Ed didn’t have a car until after World War I. Then he bought an old one from his new father-in law [DS.4.5].

My mother [DS.4.5.7] mentioned Mollie’s determination to protect her children from any family strife. Whenever she and Tom disagreed about anything, they would not discuss it until they thought their children were all asleep.

Nellie [DS.4.5.9], when asked to describe her mother [DS.4.5S₁], said: "An angel. She never got mad and she was always so grateful for all that he [Tom] had given her.

I suspect that the major factor in transforming Tom [DS.4.5] from an uneducated, brawling box-maker to a successful father, student, businessman, and politician was his wife, gentle Mollie [DS.4.5S₁]. Of course, she needed good material to work with.

Mollie loved to play Whist and played every Friday night. She and some other women, including Aunt Minnie (the wife of Jim Curran [DS.4.7]) and some Harpers, took turns playing at each others house. Mollie had a collection of cut glass that she had won in Whist contests.

Mollie went to the Thalia to see silent movies plus a five-act show.

I have heard that Laura looked more like Mollie than did any of the other children. Laura at age 70, however, could have been a twin to Nellie at age 77, especially when seen in profile.

Loretta McGrath described Mollie [DS.4.5S₁] as "a very quiet type". "Laura [DS.4.5.7] was much like her mother, very mild spoken person".

Malinda Harper (Curran) [DS.4.7S] was about eight years younger than her sister-in-law, Mollie Finan (Curran) [DS.4.5S₁]. Yet they were close friends. "They went everywhere together". In funeral processions, the two of them always hired a horse-drawn carriage for the all-day round trip to the cemetery (usually Mount Carmel). "They played cards all the way out and back." Malinda often said that she "lost her pal" when Mollie died.

Death
Mollie [DS.4.5S₁] was in great pain at Christmas 1917. A hysterectomy was prescribed. Her good friend and neighbor, Mrs. Monaghan, said that if God had wanted those things removed, He would not have put them there. Finally, Mollie decided to have the operation. Her daughter, Mae [DS.4.5.6], got a surgeon (Dr. Larkin or Larson). The operation was performed in Jefferson Park Hospital at Munroe and Loomis Streets. After the operation, Mollie went into shock and died at 11:30 am, 14 Feb 1918. The surgeon was emotionally unsettled by Mollie’s death and could not go back to surgery for three or four weeks thereafter.

Mollie’s death created a financial crisis since Tom [DS.4.5] had placed all cash funds in her name at the Kaspar Bank at 19^th Street and Blue Island Avenue. According to Loretta McGrath, the Kaspar Bank owed Tom [DS.4.5] a favor. He had lent $125,000 to the bank to enable it to stay open. The bank returned the favor and transferred all funds from Mollie’s account to Tom’s account with an appropriate date assigned to the transaction so that there would be no problems for Tom.

Obituary

Chicago Daily News, Friday, February 15, 1918, page 19

DEATHS

CURRAN — Mary (nee Finan), devoted wife of Representative Thomas Curran, fond mother of Walter, George, Raymond, James, Mae, Loretta, Nellie, Harold, Charles and Thomas, Jr., sister of Mrs. Frank Grothy, Mrs. Thomas Loftus, Michael Finan and the late John Finan. Funeral Monday, February 18, 1918, from her late residence, 2023 S. Racine-av., to Sacred Heart Church where solemn high mass will be celebrated, autos to Mount Carmel. For seats, call Canal 1344.

FUNERAL STORY

Mollie's daughter, Mae (Curran) Healey once told her daughter, Sister Mary Healey, that Mayor William H. Thompson, a family friend, had been in Springfield and returned barely in time for the funeral.  He got into the wrong kind of cab at the train station and the other cabs followed with their horns blowing.  Then the Chicago Police joined with sirens.

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