The Birth of Mary Hannigan — Concord, New Hampshire

On October 14, 1919, Mary Hannigan—my mother—was born in Concord, New Hampshire. Her birth certificate is a simple official document, yet the information it preserves provides a meaningful glimpse into the family and circumstances that welcomed her into the world.

Mary was the first child of James J. Hannigan and Margaret M. Dawson Hannigan. Both of her parents had been born in Ireland and had come to the United States before beginning their family. At the time of Mary’s birth, James was forty-one years old and Margaret was thirty-four. The family lived on Granite Avenue in Concord.

James’s occupation was recorded as an employee of the B. & M., almost certainly the Boston and Maine Railroad, an important employer throughout New England. The railroad connected cities, towns and industries across the region, and employment there offered immigrant families a measure of stability as they established new lives in America. Margaret’s occupation was listed as housewife, reflecting both the language and the social conventions used on official records of the period.

Mary’s birth was reported by Dr. E. Sullivan and officially recorded by the Concord city clerk on November 7, 1919. The certificate identifies her as a living female child and, significantly, as her parents’ first child. That small notation marks the beginning of a new generation of the Hannigan family in America.

The certificate is especially meaningful because it connects several parts of the family’s story. Mary was born in New Hampshire, but both of her parents carried their Irish origins with them. Their daughter’s birth represented more than the arrival of a child. It reflected the transition from one country to another and the beginning of a family whose story would now continue in the United States.