This is my maternal grandmother, Nora Marie (Kieron) Blacker. She was born 7 September 1900 in Butte, Montana. First generation Irish, her parents, Joseph Kieron and Kate Myers, both having been born in Ireland.

The first two namesakes

Two of her granddaughters were named after her. One carries her first and middle name, and I am honored to carry her middle name.

A little about my grandmother Nora

In August of 1970, on one of our many summer visits to my Mom’s home town of Helena, Montana, we made a trip over to Butte one afternoon. I remember driving around while Mom tried to remember where her Irish grandparents lived. Not an easy thing to do because her mother died when she was only 8 years old, and they didn’t visit Butte very often after that.

Nora’s Certificate of Baptism

One stop we made that day was St. Patrick’s Church on Washington Street. Mom wanted to see if we could get a copy of her mother’s baptismal certificate.

The Certificate of Baptism we obtained that day turned out to be one of the first records we obtained after we began actively researching our family, way back in 1970.

At the time, the only new piece of information we gained from this record was the birth year of 1900. We had always believed Nora was born in 1902.

But as I reviewed this record again while preparing this post, I noticed two more bits of information that we didn’t pay much attention to in 1970.

Who is Helen Cotter?

First, one of the sponsors, Helen Cotter, seemed a very familiar name to me. It took me a few minutes to realize I had seen the Cotter surname before . . . maybe Nora’s parent’s wedding certificate?

Sure enough. There she was . . . “Mrs. J. J. Cotter” listed as a witness. The woman who was a witness to their marriage was also listed as a sponsor for their daughter. Interesting. So, of course, I spent a good deal of yesterday researching her.

I was hoping to learn that Mrs. Cotter was perhaps a cousin to either Joseph or Kate. And while it appears that she is of Irish descent, she was born in New York and at this time I don’t think their paths crossed until they all ended up in Butte.

But I did learn one interesting thing about her.

In 1900, Mrs. Cotter lived with her husband at 507 Colorado in Butte. Again, I recognized that address. After a little poking around, I located the May 1900 ship record of Kate’s brother Thomas, as well as the May 1901 ship record of her brothers Michael and Patrick. And the 507 Colorado address is referenced in all three ship records.

And I noticed another bit of information on the baptism certificate. Nora was baptized five days after she was born, which is a bit unusual because most Catholic babies are baptized several weeks after they are born.

We knew Nora was born a twin. And we knew her brother Peter died several days after they were born.

Nora’s Church record

Many years later, we obtained a copy of the actual Church record, which states Peter died on September 11th, four days after the twins were born.

The record below is the entry for my grandmother Nora. The record, written in latin, indicates Nora was also very ill. She received an emergency baptism on September 12th, one day after Peter died and the same day he was buried. Also, note Helen Cotter named as the godmother in the bottom left-hand corner.

Another namesake?

According to Irish naming tradition, Joseph’s first born son was named after his own father Peter.

That story will have to wait for another day.

The record that knocked a hole in our Irish brick wall

In the summer of 2011, my Mom decided we should pay a visit to the diocese office in Helena to see if there might be a record of the marriage of Nora’s parents, Joseph Kieron and Catherine Myers.

This record turned out to be the one that knocked a hole in our very large Irish brick wall. And that’s because it gave us the names of Kate’s parents, John Myers and Nora Henally [sic]. That was a bit of information we’d never had before. In addition, it also confirmed the names of Joseph’s parents, Peter Kearon [sic] and Jane Martin.

Subsequent civil documents revealed that Joseph was born in Drumgoosatt Townland, County Monaghan, Ireland, and Kate was born in Ower Townland, County Galway, Ireland.

Armed with the names and specific locations of our Irish ancestors, that Irish brick wall finally came tumbling down.

A little about Nora Hennelly

If you have an Irish line in your family, you know how difficult Irish research can be. But I’ve learned a little about her.

She was born in about 1833, either in County Galway or County Mayo. She married John Myers of Ower Townland, County Galway, in about 1858 or 1859. The couple had nine children between about 1860 and 1879.

Nora’s oldest daughter Julia stayed in Ireland, as did her oldest son John who inherited the family’s small farm. The remaining seven children, two daughters and five sons, all were forced to leave in order to have some chance for a better life elsewhere.

Both daughters ended up in America. My great grandmother Kate in Butte, Montana, and her sister Delia in Helena.

One of the five sons ended up in England and the other four joined their sisters in Montana.

A big family mystery

What happened to four of Nora’s sons?

Possibly the biggest mystery in our family involves Nora’s sons, Denis, Thomas, Michael and Patrick.

As stated above, all four immigrated to America in 1900 and 1901, and immediately made their way to Butte, Montana where they found work in the copper mines.

Shortly after the deaths of their sisters Kate in 1902 and Delia in 1903, the brothers slowly disappeared in the records.

I have spent many hours trying to track them down but to no avail. And I keep hoping some of their descendants will show up in our DNA matches . . . but nothing so far.

I’ll keep looking.

As for now . . .

Full circle

My blog post has come full circle . . .

Because as it turns out, the Certificate of Marriage we obtained in 2011 revealed that my grandmother Nora was likely named for her maternal grandmother Nora (Hennelly) Myers.

Since her mother died when she was only two years old, she may not have been aware of that. I hope I’m wrong.

One more woman named Nora

Armed with all that great information I mentioned above, and many hours of research, we’ve made several contacts with cousins we never knew we had.

We made one particularly significant discovery early on when we found out my grandmother Nora had two maternal first cousins who immigrated to America from County Galway.

And the best part? We’ve since connected with many of their descendants, one of whom gave me a lovely picture of one of those cousins . . . and her name is also Nora.

• 

• 

Is it just me? Or do you also think these two cousins look like they could be sisters?

I can’t help but wonder what their grandmother Nora looked like.

Nina Jean Dalin, formerly of Helena, Montana, passed away September 10, 2020 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she has resided for the past 63 years. She was preceded in death by her parents, John David Blacker and Nora Marie (Kieron) Blacker; four siblings, John Dean Blacker, Mary Margaret Williams, Katherine Helen Heaney, and David Lewis Blacker; one son, Randy Carter Dalin; and one granddaughter, Leanne Michelle Lucero.

Nina was born in Oakland, California on March 11, 1929. By October 1935, the family had moved back to Helena when the family’s brick home on 7th Avenue was destroyed in an earthquake. The entire family, as well as Nina’s grandmother and two aunts, moved in with Tom and Babe Hauser on Floweree. By late 1936, the family moved into the house built by Nina’s father located at the corner of 7th and Davis. Sadly, tragedy struck again only a few months later when Nina’s mother Nora died in May of 1937. 

Nina began working as a long distance operator for “Ma Bell” in about 1945 when she was 16 years old. While working the night shift several years later, she met Cid (“Buddy”) Dalin who drove her home in his cab every night. The couple soon married, then moved to Great Falls for a short while, eventually moving to Albuquerque in 1956, where Nina continued working for Ma Bell for another 46 years, retiring in December of 1990.

While still living in Helena, Nina was on the switchboard the night of the Mann Gulch Fire in August 1949, and also remembers putting through a few long distance phone calls for Gary Cooper when he visited Helena in 1949. In Albuquerque, she was one of the first 911 operators and because of her training, was able to save the life of a child after instructing the child’s mother, over the phone, on how to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Nina received a commendation and write-up in the local paper.

Although she lived most of her 91 years in New Mexico, Nina’s heart was always in Montana (or “God’s Country”, as she called it). She travelled there to visit family and friends nearly every summer, where many happy memories were made on the deck of her sister Katherine’s house, located near downtown on Clarke Street.

Nina’s lifetime hobby was genealogy and she was always ready to share her genealogy “books” which contained years of research on her Montana ancestors. Her paternal grandfather David Lyman Blacker became a successful miner in the Radersburg area, having arrived in Virginia City in the summer of 1864. He went on to achieve success in stock raising, eventually moving the family to Helena in 1883. Her paternal grandmother Ada Cordelia Buchenau was born in 1853 in Kansas and came to the Montana Territory in 1871 as a young bride of 18. Nina’s maternal grandparents, Joseph Kieron of County Monaghan, Ireland, and Catherine Myers of County Galway, Ireland, met and married in Butte in 1899. 

Nina and her sister Katherine shared a love of genealogy, and the two were known as the family storytellers. 

She is survived by two daughters, Lark Marie (Dalin) Robart and Tracey Ann Dalin; two grandchildren, Jacob Dalin Hertz and Lindsay Dalin Hertz; six great grandchildren, including Kara Jane Hertz, Kate Marie Hertz, Jacob Carter Blanton and Wesley James Blanton; numerous nieces and nephews; and many dear friends . . . all of whom remember her fondly, and who will speak her name and tell her stories for generations to come.

The family plans to hold a graveside service in the summer of 2021 at Forestvale Cemetery near where her parents are buried. Details will be shared with family and friends once final arrangements have been made.

© 2020 Copyright by Lark M. Dalin Robart. All rights reserved.

On this day in 1952, at 8:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning, my parents Cid H. Dalin Jr. and Nina Jean Blacker were married at St. Mary’s Church in Helena, Montana.

It was a great day, one that both of them had looked forward to for quite some time.

How do I know? Well, the two of them started a scrapbook several months before they married. And it’s full of all their hopes and wishes for the future.

Lucky me, right?

And I think my favorite part of the scrapbook is all the wonderful ephemera.

Like this Blondie cartoon cut from the August 16, 1952 newspaper . . .

Looks like an inside joke, especially with the reference to “Cabin Cafe”. And of course, I had to look that up. I came across this wonderful picture from 1957 . . .

I can just see my Mom and Dad sitting at a table here, sipping their coffee and laughing about their little joke. If I had to guess, that joke had something to do with my Mom — she drank lots of cream in her coffee, my Dad always had his black.

Next time I’m in Helena, I’ll be sure to locate this building so I can just stand there for a minutes . . . and imagine them going in and out.

Funeral #1

The tone of the happy scrapbook turns a bit sad on the next page, however.

My Dad’s father Cid Dalin Jr. passed away suddenly on July 13, 1952, after having suffered a heart attack only six days earlier. He was only 56 years old.

By all accounts of people that who knew him, he was a fine man. Loving and gentle, with a fun sense of humor. My Mom only knew him for a short while but always told me how sweet he was to her. And my Dad always spoke of his father quite fondly.

You can see in the note my father wrote later that he missed him on the day my parents were married but said he felt his presence.

Back to premarital bliss

A few more pages of sweet greeting cards and love notes . . .

. . . and a month-long trip my Mom made to Las Vegas, Nevada with her friend Blanche, designed, she told me on many occasions, to get my Dad to finally propose to her.

And based on the next few pages in the scrapbook, I guess it worked!

The Wedding

Followed by page after page after page of wedding cards, and two Western Union Telegrams.

Funeral #2

When I was still quite young, I remember the first time I heard the story that is about to follow.

Two days before my parents’ wedding, my Dad’s maternal grandmother, Mary Gertrude (Rumping) Riordan, passed away. She was 74 years old.

She had been ill for quite some time so her passing wasn’t entirely unexpected. But she must have planned to attend her grandson’s wedding. I say this because one of the first “wedding card” postings in the scrapbook are a few items labelled, “Grandma Riordan’s things for our gift from her”, followed by this note written by my Dad . . .

“We love you very much Gram. It was the bunk the way things worked out but we know you would have wanted it this way as well as Nina & I did.”

The phrase “we know you would have wanted it this way as well as Nina & I did” is a reference to some difficulties that arose amongst my Grandmother and her sisters.

The details of what happened after Mary’s death between my Grandmother and her sisters is a bit fuzzy. But I can only imagine that it must have been particularly painful for my Dad’s mother. Nonetheless, on Saturday November 15th, she attended her son’s wedding at 8:30 a.m., then hosted the wedding breakfast at her home, then attended her mother’s requiem mass at St. Helena cathedral, followed by the interment at Resurrection Catholic cemetery.

The scrapbook continues on to Christmas, with lots more cards and even a whole page of Christmas gift tags . . .

And then this . . .

Funeral #3

Mom’s older sister Mary was killed in a tragic car accident in California on December 26, 1952. She was only 28 years old.

It was several days before my Mom and her siblings in Montana were notified. The authorities had a difficult time identifying her family until they located my Mom and Dad’s wedding invitation among her belongings. The invitation was mailed to Mary in late October but she never responded.

The young man who was driving the car that night wrote to my Mom. They corresponded several times and she kept those letters. She also kept the last letter Mary wrote to their sister Katherine on December 25th, the day before she died, as well as several letters from the man who owned the store just half a block from where the accident occurred.

In one of his letters, he stated that he had “studied seven years for the Priesthood” and, “Not knowing [Mary] was Catholic I told her to pray and I did also of course . . . I’m sure she had time to make an Act of Contrition which I did also, so I think by the Mercy of God and his justice she made herself right with him.”

Mom spoke often about her older sister Mary . . . about the difficulties in her life, some “bad” decisions she’d made . . . but also about what she loved and missed about her. She often described her as a “lost soul” and prayed for her every night. And she said to me on many occasions that she was worried everyone would forget Mary.

But thanks to my Mom, no one will forget about Mary Williams, Cid Dalin Sr., or Mary Riordan.

Thank you, Mom.

Excerpts from this article published on 11 October 1918 in The Producers News, Plentywood, Montana, sure sound familiar . . .

Emergency regulations providing for . . . the closing of schools, theaters and places of public amusement and prohibiting public gatherings upon the outbreak of influenza in any Montana community, were promulgated Monday afternoon by Secretary W. F. Cogswell of the state board of health. Governor Stewart and Attorney General Ford approved of the regulations and when a quorum of the state board of health is available, the board will approve the new rules, which are as follows:

Spanish Influenza is hereby declared to be infectious, contagious and communicable and dangerous to public health.

Patients suffering from Spanish influenza shall be isolated as completely as possible until after recovery. They shall [be] prohibited from any public gathering and from traveling on any common carrier.

When treated in hospital wards patients recovering from Spanish influenza should be screened from other patients.

All discharge from nose and mouth of patients should be disinfected at once.

The article continues . . .

Influenza is spread from person to person, the germs being expelled by coughing or sneezing, forceful talking and the like . . . A person having a mild attack himself by give a very severe attack to others.

The surgeon general offered the following advice . . .

Persons afflicted should go home at once and go to bed . . . This will help keep dangerous complications away and prevent the disease from being scattered. No one should be allowed in the same room with the patient.

With regard to medicine and general care of the afflicted individual, the surgeon general advised . . .

Only such medicine should be given as is prescribed by the doctor. It is foolish to ask the druggist to prescribe and may be dangerous to take the so-called ‘safe, sure and harmless’ remedies advertised by patent medicine manufacturers.

If the patient is so situated that he can be attended only by someone who must also look after others in the family, it is advisable that such attendant wear a wrapper, apron, or gown over the ordinary house clothes while in the sick room, and slip this off when leaving to look after others.

Nurses and attendants will do well to guard against breathing in dangerous disease germs by wearing a simple fold of gauze while near the patient.

Source: The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.), 11 Oct. 1918. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85053305/1918-10-11/ed-1/seq-6/>