My great-grandfather, John J. Costello, was born in Connecticut probably in June of 1871. He moved to Newark, NJ sometime in early childhood and lived there until he died in 1906.

His parents, William Costello and Bridget O’Keefe, were both from Ireland but married in America and emigrated a few years apart. William was older than Bridget by 8 to 13 years, or maybe more. Since they never reported dates the same way twice, the best we can hope for is a rough timeline of their lives.

William & Bridget

William was born in Ireland to John and Ann Costello around 1841. In the 1880 and 1900 census, he says he emigrated in 1865 or 1868, but the only likely emigration record we have for him is in 1864.

Bridget O’Keefe was born in Ireland to Michael and Bridget O’Keefe somewhere between 1848 and 1853. She likely emigrated in 1868 just before her marriage, when she was somewhere between 15 and 20 years old. She doesn’t consistently report her age, so it’s very hard to pin her down.

In one census, they say they married about 1871 – which is to say, about a year before their first surviving child was born – but the only marriage record which actually fits for them dates to 9 AUG 1868 in Jersey City, NJ.

At the moment, there’s no record to tell us where either of them came from in Ireland.

John Costello’s Siblings

We do know they experienced a lot of loss in their family life. Bridget had 15 children, but only 4 lived into childhood. Most were stillborn or died in infancy. I’ve been able to track 11 of the 15 siblings. This pattern of stillbirth, followed by death in infancy, followed by the occasionally healthy child is not unheard of in this period. It sometimes reflects the cycle of congenital syphilis which impacted 10-15% of the general population. Other times, it indicates a Rhesus factor mismatch in the parents.

• 1872 JUN – John J,  born in Connecticut
• 1873 JUN 5 – Michael, baptized JUN 8 St. Paul’s, Jersey City
• 1876 DEC – Margaret
• 1878 JUL 7 Mary Ann, baptized JUL 15 St. James, Newark
• 1880 JAN 28 –  stillborn son
• 1881 JAN 27 – James William, baptized JAN 30 St. James, Newark
• 1883 JAN 31 – Anthony, baptized FEB 11  St. James, Newark
• 1885 FEB 7 – stillborn son
• 1886 FEB 7 – William, baptized FEB 14  St. James, Newark
• 1888 FEB 13 – stillborn son
• 1890 JUL 1 -Ambrose Aloysius, baptized JUL 6  St. James, Newark

Of the 4 children who survived, John was the oldest. His surviving siblings were Margaret, Mary Ann and Anthony – born about 4, 6 and 11 years after him. The family also took in an orphan named John O’Brian, and a friend of John J’s named Michael Dillon.

A Dairy Farm

In 1880, the family was living on Downing St. in Newark, NJ and William was working for the railroad company – but by 1893, they moved 1/2 block down the road and rented a house at 80 Jackson St. where they would stay until 1910. That house was occupied by another Bridget Costello, the widow of different William Costello, just before my ancestors moved in. So perhaps there was a family connection that got them into the house, but its hard to say.

At some point, William left the railroad behind and from 1893 to 1906 he repeatedly appears in the Newark City directory as a milk dealer and a foreman. There were 41 milk depots in Newark at the time and the 2 largest – Alderney Dairy and Newark Milk & Cream, which later merged – were the ones most likely to employ a forman.

There was a family story about John J’s daughter, Margaret Costello O’Mullan, spending time on her grandfather’s dairy farm as a child – and there is probably some truth in it. Her grandfather didn’t own a farm, but he worked for a company that owned lots and lots of them. That combined dairy company included 10 creameries, 800 farms, 6 distributing plants and a bottling plant in Newark.

The Blacksmith

William’s children didn’t follow him into the dairy business. Mary Ann raised a family, Margaret was a bookkeeper for an oil refinery, little brother Anthony worked as a milk dealer for a while but then became a steelworker. My ancestor, John, became a blacksmith.

From 1897 on, he had his own listing in the Newark City directory which means he was probably a journeyman blacksmith by the age of 26. He would have done several years apprenticeship before then – probably 7 years, but the process wasn’t closely regulated.

John & Honora

On April 27, 1898, John J. Costello married Honora Brown at St. James Catholic Church in Newark NJ. The couple moved into John’s parent’s home at 80 Jackson St. and remained there through the birth of their first 3 children.

William, their first child, was born on March 13, 1899 but passed away sometime before 1910. He was followed by another son, John J. on September 23, 1901. Margaret was born August 3, 1903 and her sister Eleanor followed on June 18, 1905.

Sometime before June of 1905, John moved his family to 88 Prospect St., ½ a mile from the rest of the family at 80 Jackson, and began working for the Celluloid Company.

Newark was one of the largest manufacturing centers for celluloid at the time. It was used to make cheaper versions of anything that might have been made out of ivory, shell or horn. It was used to make jewelry, hair accessories, dolls, picture frames, hat pins, buttons, buckles, stringed instrument parts, fountain pens, cutlery handles and, of course, film.

A Short Life

But there ends the short life of John J. Costello. He died at the age of 35, at his parent’s home on Jackson St., from pneumonia and Bright’s disease on 24 MAY 1906. His daughter Margaret was not yet 3 years old.

Bright’s Disease is an old fashioned term used to describe a group of diseases involving kidney failure – and it can be genetic – but given the time and his trade, there is another more likely explanation.

John was a blacksmith and would have been repeatedly exposed to arsenic as a contaminant in metals and as a finishing compound. Blacksmiths did, and do, have a higher risk of cancer, stroke, diabetes, as well as heart and respiratory disease because of their occupational exposure to toxins. Given that John died of a respiratory illness and kidney failure – which is often associated at the time with unchecked diabetes – his illness could have easily been caused by his years as a blacksmith.

For a time after John’s death, his son John lived with his grandparents, while his daughters stayed with their mother and her two sisters, Sarah and Margaret.

John’s father outlived him by 4 years. In 1910, William and Bridget finally moved away from 80 Jackson Street and settled 1.5 miles away at 69 Vincent Street. William died there on November 6, 1910 of hypostatic pneumonia, which suggests he was bedridden near the end of his life. Bridget lived on at Vincent street until she died on August 18, 1919.

By 1920, John’s wife and 3 surviving children were once again reunited at 23 Plum Street in Newark.