. . . The NEALON'S . . .
OF IRELAND
Loretta Margaret Nealon - 1910-1995
Loretta Nealon Laufer (1910-1995), the mother of Joseph M. Laufer, was the seventh child of Micahel Nealon (1862?-1924) and Mary Clarke (1872-1961). The Nealon family had its roots in Ireland.
Michael and Mary Nealon
The great potato famine began in 1846 in Ireland. It was followed by about 30 years of economic and political unrest. Emigration to England and the United States was encouraged. It was during this wave of emigration that the Nealon and Clarke families came to the United States -- between 1860 and 1875. Both Michael and Mary were mere toddlers whern they arrived in the USA.
Above is the Naturalization Certificate of Patrick Nealon (erroneously spelled "Nallen" on the certificate), father of Michael Nealon, who became a citizen of the United States on September 28, 1866. Family lore has it that Michael was about 2 years old when he came to the United States. Therefore, Patrick and his family probably emigrated to the U.S. from Ireland in 1864, towards the end of the American Civil War. Patrick was born in County Mayo, Ireland, in 1845. He died on January 1, 1912. His wife, Ellen died at age 38.
Mary Clarke Nealon emigrated to the U.S. by way of Yorkshire, England at the age of 2 or 3. Her family probably arrived in the U.S. in 1874 or 1875. Michael and Mary were probably married early in 1894 when he was 32 and she was 22.
Mary Nealon, affectionately known as "Nanny" by her grandchildren, in a familiar pose on one of her birthdays, in the mid 1950's. She died on August 30, 1961 at the age of 89.
Michael and Mary had eight children: Patrick, Catherine (Katie), Ellen (Nell), Mary, Alice, Elizabeth (Betty), Loretta, and Michael. They had thirty-six grandchildren.
Loretta married Joseph F. Laufer on February 22, 1933. They had five children: Joseph M., Lorretta, William, Karen, and Mary Lou.
Joe Laufer visits his roots in Ireland
August, 1998
NEALON FAMILY TRIVIA
- Mary Clarke Nealon's parents, Patrick Clarke and Catherine Coyne, had 6 children and 37 grandchildren. Mary had 8 children, but came up one short of her mother in grandchildren, with 36.
- Mary and her 4 sisters (Annie, Nell, Lizzie and Agnes) each named one of their daughters Catherine (after their mother, who died at the early age of 35). Three of the four sisters named a son Patrick, after their father. Their only brother, Pete, was killed in a railroad accident.
- Michael had two brothers, John and Edward, and one sister, Nellie (Helen).
- Michael was 62 when he died; Mary was 89.
- The family homestead was at 66 Fall Street, Ashley, Pennsylvania, a town south of Wilkes-Barre. In the 1940's, Joe and Loretta Laufer purchased the home. When Betty returned from New York, she purchased it. Upon her death, it passed to the Nealon estate, until it was sold in the mid 1980's to Mary Langan's son, Joe.
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