Catherine Flavelle 1858-1936

Judith writes about Catherine Flavelle née Bradley:

Catherine Bradley was born in Dublin in 1858 and baptised in St Peter’s Church in July 1863.  She was Dora Bradley’s youngest sister and the second last child of Owen Bradley and Mary Lowthion. 

A young Catherine Bradley

 

Like her sister Dora, Catherine attended classes at the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin. One of the other pupils in Catherine’s Class at the MSA, was a Grace Flavelle of Leeson Park Avenue.  In 1882 she married Thomas Lindsay Flavelle who lived in Leeson Park Avenue, a short stroll from the Bradley family residence in Sallymount Terrace, Ranelagh. Thomas was Grace Flavelle’s brother. 

Catherine’s first child Francis Owen Flavelle was born on 3^rd July 1883 and baptised in Sandford Church.  A second son George Frederick Flavelle arrived in 1884 and he too was baptised in Sandford Church in Ranelagh, Dublin, Ireland.  Sadly George Frederick died in 1885. Very soon after George’s death, his parents and his brother Francis Owen left Dublin for the United States.

a sketch by Dora of Catherine in 1906

Catherine Flavelle and her husband Thomas Lindsay Flavelle and son Francis Owen are listed in the 1900 United States Census as living in Ridgeway Township, Bergen New Jersey. Catherine does not appear on the 1901 census of Ireland but is listed on the 1911 returns, and was almost certainly the model in a sketch drawn by her sister in Dublin in 1906.   A Thomas Flavelle is listed on the list of deaths for 1905 in Dublin South, so it seems likely that she returned home with Thomas when he fell ill and was then widowed.  Catherine moved in with her sister Dora and brother in law Bernard and their family in No.1 Sallymount Terrace.  Catherine had been left the house next door in her father’s will, so I am assuming that she lived on the rental income from her inheritance.   




Catherine, or Auntie Cattie as my father called her, Auntie Granny as her young relatives who lived next door Dora and Bobby called her, was an important member of her extended family. She would have given valuable assistance to her sister Dora, who was the principle breadwinner of the household, in looking after the home. 

Catherine lived on until 1936 when she died at the age of 78. Catherine in her later years would have been cared for by niece May, who had taken on the role of head of the household on her mother Dora Barden’s death in 1913.

Catherine Flavelle, front left  about ten years before her death photographed in the garden in Sallymount Terrace after the wedding of her nephew William Barden to Elizabeth Watson.

 Francis Owen, or Frank as he was known, is given as sponsor at the baptism of Dora Barden’s youngest son Bryan John in 1898 and later in 1898 Frank’s name appears on the list of passengers who came into Ellis Island  from Dublin on 26 Sept.

A young Frank Flavelle

                                                                                                                 

Catherine Flavelle’s sister Dora Barden with her youngest son Brian (Bryan) John, Frank’s godson shortly after Frank returned to the United States in 1898.