Upon coming to the United States circa 1850, Denis [D] and Sarah [S] settled firstly in Chicago, which was still often called Fort Dearborn even though the fort was no longer in use. The population of Chicago in 1850 was 29,963. Moving to Chicago must have seemed like an attractive option. The recurring potato blight of the 1840's in Ireland and adjacent areas had a strong negative economic impact on small businesses in Ireland and Scotland. In addition, there were already many Scottish and Irish immigrants in Chicago.

On 26 June 1833, the Rev. Jeremiah Porter and pharmacist Philo Carpenter organized the First Presbyterian Church in Chicago.³ There were 25 charter members in this city of 200 to 300 people. On 1 June 1842, 26 members of the First Church withdrew to form Second Presbyterian Church. It was explained that members of the Second Church were anti-slavery but adverse to revolutionary action on that matter. In 1847, Third Presbyterian Church was established and Philo Carpenter moved his followers from First to Third. At the same time, he became part of the underground railroad. About 200 slaves escaped through his station.

Thus, when Denis Curran and his family arrived in Chicago circa 1851, they found all three Presbyterian churches favoring the abolition of slavery, with Third Church being the most militant. When the oldest son, George Curran [DS.1], enlisted in the Twenty-Third Illinois Infantry immediately after the fall of Fort Sumter, his action was consistent with the views of his church as well as with the views of his peers. The fact that the three oldest sons returned to Chicago from St. Louis about the time that the war started suggests that all three were loyal to their new country.

While in Chicago, Denis [D] and Sarah [S] had at least four more children:

DS.7	Thomas Curran: Born in Chicago circa March 1851. Married Minnie Humka in St. Louis on 10 Aug 1881. Died in St. Louis area at the age of 84.
DS.8	James Curran: Born in Chicago 7 Oct, probably in 1852. Married Martha Froelke in St. Louis circa 1889. Died in St. Louis 30 Jun 1926.
DS.9	Mary Curran (Seddon): Born in Chicago in January, probably 1857. Married Harry G. Seddon in St. Louis on 1 Nov 1883. Died in St. Louis area after 1 June 1900.
DS.10	Joseph Curran: Born in Chicago, probably in December 1858.  I have found no memory or confirmed record of Joseph except the census of 1860.

The listing for 1861 that says "jug store" should probably say "junk store". In that era, the word "junk" did not have the same negative connotation that it has today.

Our oral history suggests that Denis [D] lived in St. Louis during 1861 and 1862. I suspect that the listings for those years refer to Denis Jr./Douglas J. [DS.5].

Census Data

Our oral family history gave me enough clues so that I was able to find a record of our branch of the Curran family in the Census of 1860. The census record contradicts some of our oral history and poses several new questions (as expected). Most of the record is given in the table above. The census record of 1860 (NARA film roll 168) is garbled but it has so much redundancy that some facts are clear:

1. The entire family of Denis Curran (12 people) is listed twice, firstly on lines 14 through 25 on page 518 and secondly on lines 35 through 40 on page 518 and lines 1 through 6 on page 519. Some of the information must have been provided to the census taker by neighbors and children. Although errors in spelling and tabulation of estimated ages were common in this census, the amount of contradictory information suggests that the family moved to St. Louis after the census date of 1 June 1860 but before the census enumerator arrived on 30 June 1860.
    
2. Denis Curran and Sarah McKinley (Curran) were both born in Ireland. Their children born in Europe were all born in Scotland. Since George and William were both born in Scotland, the family must have lived there for at least 10 years. The children born in the United States were all born in Chicago.
    
3. Since William was born in Scotland and Thomas was born in Chicago, the family must have emigrated to the United States circa 1850. Since they were still in Chicago on 1 June 1860 but moved to St. Louis before George returned to Chicago and enlisted in the United States Army in April 1861, they must have stayed in Chicago for about ten years.
    
4. Since George enlisted in the Irish Brigade in Chicago in April 1861, it appears that the three boys spent not more than nine months in St. Louis (assuming that they returned to Chicago together). While the decision of Denis to move to St. Louis was probably due to an error in business judgment, the decision of the three boys to move back to Chicago was probably due to the war that they could see coming and to their loyalty to the part of the country where they had spent 10 years growing up. Daniel must have discussed this decision with his descendants. If only somebody had recorded his comments!
    
5. Daniel's wife (age 17 or 18) was apparently living with the family. At various times, she was known as Ellen, Elizabeth, and Liza. I suspect that her name at Baptism was Ellen Elizabeth since that was the name given to her second surviving daughter and to one of her granddaughters (Nellie Curran Cahill). The fact that Ellen was born in New York may not have been known to the neighbors and younger children. Alternatively, the Ellen living with the family could have been another daughter of whom there is now no memory. Confirmation of one theory or the other may be in a marriage certificate or in the passenger list of the ship in which the family arrived in the United States.
    
6. The son that we call Douglas in our oral history was probably named Denis Douglas Curran. He was listed as Dennis (age 11 and 13) in the census of 1860 but was later called Douglas to avoid confusion with his father.
    
7. Denis and Sarah apparently had a son named Joseph (one year old in June 1860) of whom there is now no memory. Alternatively, Joseph could have been one of the eight children of Daniel and Elizabeth Curran who died as a baby. Although the timing is right, I am skeptical of that possibility since Liza was a devout Catholic and I did not find a record of Joseph's Baptism at either Old St. Patrick's or Holy Family Church.