Coming to colorado

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a lot

Coming to ColoradoJourney of a PioneerEmily Lennon Summer 2014

Copyright © 2012 by Emily Lennon

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Massachusetts

James Peter McConaty (Mac) was born September 15th 1880 in Quincy, Massachusetts to Irish immigrant parents, Peter McConarty and Mary J. Coleman McConarty. Throughout the 19th century, Massachusetts became a haven for Irish Catholic immigrants, especially following the potato famine of 1845 to 1849. Massachusetts’ Irish faced harsh religious discrimination. The area retained much of its distinctive Anglo-Saxon Protestant heritage. Protestants feared that the Roman Catholic Church instead of the United States, would govern the Irish Catholic immigrants and they persecuted

the Catholics on this belief. This was a powerful theme that followed Mac all throughout his life. Not much is known about Mac’s childhood in Massachusetts. His father Peter married three times with a total of thirteen children, two who died in infancy. Peter had immigrated in 1864 at age 19 to New York City (NYC). Between several US census’, Peter’s profession changed from Boot Crimper, Wood Dealer, Manure Dealer and Milkman. Less is known about Mac’s mother Mary; she died when

James Peter McConaty

Mac was only five years old.In the 1900 census, Mac’s profession was listed as “driver.” Around the turn of the century, wealthy Americans would hire chauffeurs to drive and care for their automobiles. Mac quickly realized that working as a chauffeur was not his true calling and he packed up his life and moved to NYC.

Massachusetts

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Renouard School of Embalming

Dr. Auguste Renouard pioneered the now modern form of embalming during the American Civil War (1861–1865). Dr. Renouard used his techniques to preserve fallen soldiers’ bodies for an easy, safe trip home. That way, despite the distance, awaiting friends and family could see their soldier one final time. As a result of his success and fame, Dr. Renouard founded the “Denver Embalming Seminary” in 1872. In 1895, he opened a second more famous seminary in NYC. Soon thereafter, Dr. Renouard’s students found themselves and their new skills

Embalming class at the Denver Embalming Seminary

in high demand. It was not uncommon for the seminary’s graduates to travel to different parts of the globe to promote Dr. Renouard’s embalming method and processes.In 1902, Mac’s Aunt Helen (last name lost to time) gave him the money to move to NYC and attend the “Renouard School of Embalming.” By 1903, he had left for Havana, Cuba to teach Dr. Renouard’s embalming methods.

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Moving to Colorado

By 1910, Mac left the East Coast in search of prosperity and a bright future in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. By 1915, Mac found himself working in both the funeral industry and as a ranch man for the Litmer Hay Ranch in South Park, Colorado. A family legend recounts that Mac was not strong,

and that he had “soft, city hands” but he was hard working and a valuable addition to the ranch. To his benefit, Mac had an amazing sense of humor and an incredible ability to tell magnificent

stories. Mac’s niece, Barbara Foley Zirkelbach remembers Mac reminiscing of his days working on the hay ranch and how he would sing old Irish hymns and dirty street songs to the amusement of the ranch hands. They enjoyed having him around on long days working the fields. While entertaining his fellow ranch hands, Mac caught the eye of the ranch owner’s eldest daughter, Clara Apollonia Litmer. Their budding romance was captured in The Fairplay Flume, the official newspaper of Park County Colorado since 1879.

Men working the Hay on the Litmer ranch.

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“The misses Josephine Junke, Clara and Grace Litmer and Mssrs. Arch Head, James McConaty and Frank Lilley made merry in a ride across the park Monday evening. Four horses laden with all the available bells disturbed the quiet of the night as they dashed by.” - 3/1/1912

Moving to Colorado

Denver

In 1915, Mac and Clara wed at St. Philomena’s Catholic Church in Denver, Colorado. By 1917, Mac became both a funeral director and a partner in “Hartford & McConaty Funeral Home” with Dennis M. Hartford. Mac purchased the establishment in 1919 from Mr. Hartford and the funeral home became “Boulevard Mortuary.” His established

business trademark was “Serving Denver’s Catholic Community.” Denver in the early 1920s was truly a melting pot. There were large communities of German, Polish, Serbian, Irish and Italian immigrants who flocked to Colorado in

search of the pioneer business promise, the gold rush of 1860, and Denver’s thin, clean air. The air in Colorado was especially beneficial to those European immigrant groups who had contracted Tuberculosis; referred to as “The White Plague” or “Consumption.” A common disease at the time. Most of these immigrant groups shared a common binding faith: Catholicism.

Mac and Clara’s Wedding, 1915

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The Ku Klux Klan in Denver

The hooded nightmare for Colorado began in 1921 when the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) founded their Colorado association. By 1924, membership in Denver had rapidly climbed to an estimated 17,000 and

membership included a Colorado senator, the governor and the mayor of Denver. The Governor made over 300 political appointments, a move that enabled him to pay off political debts and give jobs to unemployed Klansmen. These politicians declared Catholics “public enemy number one” for the Colorado KKK. Klansmen attacked Catholic schools on the belief that they held loyalty to the Pope rather than American patriotism. The Klan was caught attempting to bomb the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception church in Denver. It was commonplace for the Klan to burn 10 – 15 foot crosses on the lawns of Catholic churches, schools and businesses. To raise awareness & influence, Klan businesses sold cigars with a wrapper labeled “CYANA”, an acronym for

The Klan marching in downtown Denver courtesy of the Denver Public Library

“Catholics You Are Not Americans.” The Klan made it very difficult for Mac and other immigrant Catholics to flourish in the expanding Colorado economy during the 1920s.

The Ku Klux Klan in Denver

A Young Mac

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The Boulevard Mortuary & Prejudice

Klan business leaders regulary persecuted and harassed Mac’s customer base: Denver Catholics regularily. Mac, a founding member of the Denver chapter of the Ancient Order of Hibernians (an

Irish men’s social club) drew additional attention from the Klan and it was not uncommon for Mac to find a large burning cross on the front lawn of his funeral home. As remembered by Mac’s grandchildren, in his zealous attempt to fight

against KKK oppression, Mac did not allow “Kaukauna Klub Cheese” to be purchased or kept in his home out of fear that the company was secretly owned by Klansmen. Barbara, Mac’s niece remembers a story that Mac use to tell his friends and clientèle when they needed a lift from the oppression created by the KKK. The story goes: one of Mac’s friends (another name lost to history) was at home when he heard at knock on the door. He found five hooded Klansmen standing on his front porch. “They wanted to talk” and asked him to step outside. The friend responded by saying “Well lets

Mac, Mr. Hartford and an unknown individual in the Hartford & McConaty Funeral Home

The Boulevard Mortuary & Prejudice

talk then” and he proceded to push the front door open so hard and so quickly that he knocked over three of the Klansmen, successfully de-hooding two. As the men gathered themselves, the friend’s child came to the door laughing and pointed out the de-hooded individuals as neighbors. Needless to say, they never messed with Mac’s friend again In addition to the commercial persecution, the

Klan held a protest in an attempt to bar Mac and Clara from purchasing a home in the new East Denver neighborhood of Congress Park. Thankfully, Mac and Clara prevailed because their future neighbors campaigned against the Klan, signing a petition that permitted the McConaty’s to move into the neighborhood. Mac suffered and saw firsthand the discrimination against the Irish as a child in Boston and again as an adult in Denver. He became intolerant of the hatred of bigots and successfully triumphed over their ways of hatred on more than one occasion.

Mac’s children, Betty, Mary, Jim and Joe with neighborhood kids outside the 1325 Milwaukee house.

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The White Plague

Mac, like so many others residing in Colorado, had Tuberculosis. There are two competing stories within the McConaty lineage. One, that Mac came to

Colorado because he had TB and another, that he contracted TB in Denver. Either way the disease ravaged his body and youth. It clearly affected him and his family’s lifestyle. His children, grandchildren and great- grandchildren

inherited several traditions as a result of their parents and grandparents living with a TB patient. One such tradition was the obsession with household cleanliness. TB is extremely contagious, so Clara and her children would spend hours cleaning the house on a regular basis. Ammonia was a favorite instrument in the McConaty household’s cleaning arsenal. All pots, pans, dishes and glassware were spotlessly cleaned. This dedication to cleaning extended beyond Clara and reaches to her living relatives today. Mac and Clara’s daughter, Elizabeth (Betty), cleaned her house

TB patients laid outside to breathe the clean Colorado air. Courtesy National Jewish Library.

The White Plague

windows on a regular basis, exclaiming “Windows are the soul of the home.” All of Mac and Clara’s descendants are famous for their zealous focus on their cleaning activities.

Mac growing older.

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At the time, TB patients had a limited life span. So to help ease Mac’s symptoms, the family vacationed in the Colorado mountain meadows where the crisp, clean air eased his respiratory disease. They loved to include family, friends, priests and nuns on their camping adventures. In 1939, Mac and Clara purchased their own 12-acre mountain meadow retreat, Merrymac Ranch, affectionately called “The Cabin.”

Previously, the cabin had been a lumberjack’s home. The towns of Evergreen, Conifer and the surrounding areas had been forested for lumber and the cabin had been used as a respite for tired lumberjacks. The Cabin soon

became the family’s center for gathering in the summer months. Barbara Foley Zirkelbach has many fond memories of spending time at The Cabin with Mac and Clara. She recalls how Mac would spend much of the day snoozing on the couch, weary from TB, with his hat covering his face. On one occasion, one of the neighbors, Betty Anderson, came calling. Betty hated Mac. She was unhappy that her brother-in-law had sold the

Vactioning in the mountains

Merrymac Ranch

Merrymac Ranch

property surrounding the Cabin to Mac, 12 acres for only $500. She believed that the land Mac had purchased was rightfully hers and it drove her crazy. That day, Betty barged into the cabin and started hollering about Mac’s cattle “pushing through her fence and onto her property.” As told by Barbara, “Mac didn’t move a muscle, he didn’t even lift his hat off his face” when he exclaimed, “Betty, you get your ass outta here or I fill it with buck shot!” Mac then proceed to bless himself with the sign of the cross. This was because he and Clara were convinced that Mac was not going to Heaven because he cursed too much. It was later discovered that Betty Anderson, in the dark of the night, had clipped the fence to allow the cows to come through. Even though Mac became very weary due to TB, he loved to entertain at their mountain home and continued to do so until his death. Clara, her children, her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren kept up the family tradition of entertaining at “The Cabin” and still recount memorable “cabin” stories to this day.

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Prosperity & Goodwill

Mac’s business grew equivalently alongside the city of Denver. His one mortuary was located at 3020 Federal Boulevard in the heart of the Italian neighborhood. It served Denver’s Catholics well until the 1950’s (and today). Mac and Clara raised four children in the Denver area: Elizabeth (Betty), James (Jim), Mary and Joseph (Joe). Mac died September 6th, 1942 from complications of Tuberculosis. As his niece Foley Zirkelbach recounts, “When he died, there was a line around the block and double back to say hello to Clara because he

had done something for them, their church or their charity. No one had ever seen such a large funeral procession.”

Mac and Mr. Hartford standing by their funerial hearse standing outside the Ivy Chapel located in Denver’s Fairmount Cemetery.

Boulevard Mortuary and Beyond

Mac’s two sons, Jim and Joe, took over their father’s business after Mac died in 1942. They built a second mortuary in 1958 at the corner of Colorado Boulevard & Mississippi Avenue in the growing suburbs of Denver. In 1986, Mac’s son Joe, sold the business to another Denver funeral family, and a trusted business partner, John J. Horan. Today there are a total of seven facilities in Denver that bear the name Horan & McConaty Funeral Service. 2011 marked the 100th anniversary of the business that still bears his name.

Ground breaking of the second Mc-Conaty mortuary.

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Colophon

James Peter McConaty was my great-grandfather. I have always been interested in family history, figures and stories. This was my chance to research, learn and teach about a larger than life character in my family tree.

This book would not have been possible without the help of my family and I have a few people in particular that I would like to thank.

My second cousin, Jamie McConaty, Mac’s grandson. Without his dutiful research, time and effort, my attempt at sharing Mac’s story would have been nearly impossible and certainly a lot less fun!

Mac’s niece and my third cousin, Barbara Foley Zirkelbach is my last living connection to Mac (as of the summer of 2014). Thanks to her stories and memories Mac is now much more then just a photo and a character. He is a real person to me, alive and kicking. Through her, I have created a connection with him that will last me the rest of my days.

To my Aunt Clare Louise Gardell Dilts, Mac’s grandaughter, without the family album you created, my book would have been nothing but type on paper.

And to my mother, Kathleen Elizabeth Gardell Lennon. You kept me on track, corrected my spelling and grammar errors and laughed at me when I felt overwhelmed. Most of all, because of your amazing memory and fabulous storytelling, you instilled in me a desire to know my ancestors!

Thank you!

The typefaces used in this book are as follows, The book cover: Baskervill SemiBold Italic

The section titles: Baskervill SemiBold, 14pt. Leading 16.8

The copy: Century Gothic Regular, 10pt.Leading,12pt.

The photo captions: Century Gothic Bold, 8pt. Leading, 9.6pt.

Emily Clare LennonSummer 2014

Colophon

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