1 June 1880 Census: Roll 727, E.D. 77, 1417 Broadway, St. Louis, Missouri

According to our oral history, the three oldest boys in the family, (George [DS.1], Daniel [DS.4], and Douglas [DS.5]) moved back to Chicago. If that story is true and if all three returned together, then the three boys must have returned to Chicago within nine months after leaving since George Curran [DS.1], the eldest son of Sarah and Denis, enlisted in Chicago on 22 April 1861, in the 23rd Illinois Infantry which was known as the Mulligan Irish Brigade. Daniel [DS.4] married Elizabeth Payne circa 1861 in Chicago. They had 17 children, the first of whom was born 23 July 1862. George William Curran [DS.8.3] told me that Douglas [DS.5] later moved back to St. Louis.

The lives of Sarah [S] and Denis [D] were tragically disrupted by the Civil War ("as it is called by people living north of the Ohio River"¹). Although the St. Louis area was divided between Confederate and Union sympathizers, the city was held for the Union by Captain Nathaniel Lyon of the United States Army. Outside of St. Louis, much of the populace of Missouri sympathized with the Confederacy. In 1861, the Governor of Missouri was Claiborne F. Jackson, who favored secession.⁴ Denis Curran [D] himself was remembered as supporting the Confederacy and was said to have been angry with his son George [DS.1] for having enlisted in the Union army. Elizabeth Harper Nicks [DS.4.2.1], a great grand daughter of Denis [D], said that he would sit upstairs and sing Dixie out the window — agitating some of the neighbors.

More than 1100 battles were fought in Missouri, many of them involving irregular forces which did not observe the normal humanitarian rules of warfare. After allegations of barbarous misconduct, six members of Gen. Sterling Price's Trans-Mississippi Army (which fought in Missouri for the Confederacy) were selected at random from Gratiot Street Prison in St. Louis and executed on October 29, 1864.

Daniel Curran [DS.4], in Chicago, told his children that his father Denis [D] had been wealthy but that after the war, the Union Army would not redeem Confederate money and he was left with a trunk full of currency, later called Shin Plasters. Sarah Curran (McClevey) [DS.4.1], the oldest child of Daniel [DS.4], told her children that when she visited her grandmother Sarah [S] in St. Louis, the children in the family played with the money. When I visited George Michael Curran [DS.8.3.1] in St. Louis in 1981, he generously gave me some Confederate paper money, probably the last remains of the "trunk full" of Shin Plasters.

From 1879 until their deaths, Denis [D] and Sarah [S] resided at 1417 Broadway, St. Louis, Missouri. That area was destroyed circa 1965 to make way for new construction. George William Curran [DS.9.3] told me that he didn't know whether the building occupied by Denis Curran [D] still existed in 1965.

Denis [D] and his wife Sarah [S] apparently both died in St. Louis, Missouri. Since Denis's name does not appear in the City Directory of St. Louis after 1882 (although son James continued to live at 1415 Broadway at least until 1886) it seems probable that Denis died circa 1883. George William Curran [DS.8.3] (born 6 Apr 1895) spoke of conversations with Sarah [S] but my notes do not specifically say whether he was referring to his Aunt Sarah or to his grandmother Sarah.