back to Family Stories, Fall 2021

by Teesa Pflueger 

While researching my family ancestry, I always knew I was some part Irish because my mother comes from a very proud Irish Catholic family. We celebrate Catholic holidays and attend Catholic Church like my mother did growing up. My cousin Patrick Reidy is a priest at Notre Dame University. Many of my collateral and direct relatives were married in Catholic churches and received their sacraments. While Catholicism is very important to my family I did not realize how deeply that was ingrained in my ancestry as well.

My great-grandfather emigrated from Ireland in 1908. I knew growing up, this happened, but I was hoping to use this project to explore more about his family and ancestors. While researching more about his parents and my other collateral relatives on the Reidy side, I discovered that my grand uncle, Maurice Reidy (1880-1937), was an Ordained Catholic Priest. I first discovered Maurice when looking at a census record 1900 in Ireland that listed Timothy had a brother Maurice. I asked my family more about Timothy’s siblings.  I found a funeral card my aunt had collected about his life. My other great-granduncle Daniel Reidy (1890-1996) was a Reverend. Maurice was ordained in 1903 when he was 23 years old. Similar to my great-grandfather Timothy, Maurice, and Daniel also immigrated to the United States from Ireland in 1908. Ireland has historically had a large Catholic and Protestant population. County Cork is in the southern part of Ireland, which is predominantly Catholic. 

My Catholic heritage also connects to my maternal grandmother’s line. On my grandmother Margaret’s side I discovered that I have a grand-aunt Agnes Schmit (1912-1997) who was a nun in the Catholic Church. I found a photograph of Sister Agnes in my grandmother’s house and a photograph of her with my great grandmother Susan and their siblings in front of the Schmit farm. The Schmits children, such as my great-grandmother Susan and Agnes, were raised Catholic growing up, according to burial records from findagrave.com. Agnes was born on a farm in Hamlin, South Dakota but she moved to California. I traced it back to a census record that dated her residence in California. 

Those who become Catholic Priests or Nuns commit themselves to the Church for life, which means they typically do not get married and do not have children. It takes at least five years of philosophical and theological study, but a lifetime of devotion. These collateral relatives chose to not have children but it is interesting that my great-grandparents were strong Catholics, but did not commit to the church in this way. They had children and those ancestors led to me. Catholicism was a big factor that brought my grandfather Eugene and my grandmother Margaret together and they got engaged after knowing each other for only three weeks. They had seven children together which is typical because Catholics tend to have large Catholic families. My ancestors passed down their genes but also passed down their cultural and religious values over time and across countries. Overall, this project helped connect me more to my Catholic heritage both in Ireland and in America.