Thomas Roy Curran, Jr

Nomen Familiæ	A. D. Die Mensis	REGISTRUM BAPTISMORUM	OBSERVANTA
Curran	Aug 22^d 1909	Ego infrascriptus baptizavi ...Thomas Roy.… ……Curran……….nat……August - 10 - 1909 ex……Thomas Curran……………………… ex loco……Chicago……………………… et……Mary Finan……………………………. ex loco……Chicago…..……………………… Patrini fuerunt…Daniel Curran……………. ……Malinda Curran………………………… …………H. J. Pickert, S.J.	682 Center Ave
Source: Mormon film 1612364, Item 3: Sacred Heart Church, Chicago IL, Baptisms 1908-1915, p. 76
The godmother was an aunt [DS.4.7S] (age 30) of the baby. The godfather was an uncle [DS.4.8] (age 32).

Thomas, Jr. [DS.4.5.12] never married.

Tommy [DS.4.5.12] (b. Aug 1909) was about the same age as his stepsister Margaret [DS.4.5.13] (b. May 1909) who joined he Curran family circa 1923 and Helen Healey (b. Aug 1910), the sister of his brother-in-law, Ed Healey [DS.4.5.6S]. The three spent a good deal of time together. The group sometimes included Charley [DS.4.5.11] (b. Nov 1906) and Ruth Healey (b. Sep 1901)(sister of Helen) both of whom were a little older.

I have no memory of Tommy [DS.4.5.12]. I solicited the following comments from my sister Loretta, who remembered him:

"He never, so far as I know, had any commitment to anything. He certainly wasn’t involved in politics. He dated a girl named Sylvia for 20 some years. Her last name was Bohemian but I don’t know what it was. Sylvia’s mother was one of the early business women. The mother used to work for a railroad assigning available cars for carrying coal and other cargo. Tom [DS.4.5.12] worked with his brother Walter for some unknown time selling liquor to taverns. He lived with his brother Ray (and Ray’s wife Elsie) and worked as a bartender in Ray’s tavern. I also heard that he ran a book from Ray’s tavern."

My cousin, Kyran Cahill (b.c. 1927), told me that he had worked as a bartender in a tavern owned by our Uncle Tommy. It was at the corner of 18^th or 21^st and Ashland in Chicago. They also took bets. Kyran began working there in 1949.

There were many theories as to why Tommy and Sylvia never married. Helena Mattes Healey thought that they were actually secretly married. Helena also though that Sylvia was Jewish.

One of her nieces "had the impression that Sylvia had a pretty good job; she dressed nicely."

DEATH

According to my sister Loretta: "One night after Ray and Elsie heard Tommy coming home from a date, they heard only silence for a long time. When they investigated, they discovered that Tommy had died of a heart attack."

Since tombstone inscriptions and the memory of Tommy’s sister, Nellie Curran (Cahill), indicated that Ray died before Tommy, some details of the story must be inaccurate.

TOMBSTONE INSCRIPTION

Thomas R. Curran Jr.

1909 † 1952

This inscription suggests that his father {DS.4.5] also had "Roy" as a middle name. However, I have found no other evidence of my grandfather [DS.4.5] having the name "Roy".