ANCESTOR NO. 7: JOHN JOSEPH KIRNER, JR.

 


My great-grandfather was called John Kerner as a child and went by Joseph Kirner as an adult. His parents were John Joseph Kerner or Kirner and Rosanna Maguire. John was their first child, born on May 27, 1861, in New York City.[1] He had two younger brothers: William, born there on Feb. 12, 1864, and George Washington, born on July 7, 1868, probably in Jersey City.[2] They had no sisters.

Unlike his father, who was a bricklayer or mason, John worked as a store clerk when he left school.

When he was twenty-one, he married nineteen-year-old Mary Ellen Quinlan on February 4, 1883, at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Jersey City.[3] They had ten sons and no daughters; six sons survived childhood. That was a time of many dangers for small children, even in families with means. Mary Ellen’s half-sister Ellen McCormack lived with them and probably helped with the children, who were: George Francis (1884-1887), Joseph George (1885-1898), Edward Anthony Aloysius (1888-1974), Frank Alexander (1891-1904), John Robert (1894-1966), Leo Jeremiah (1896-1959), Alfred James (1899-1989), James (1901-1901), William Fedor (1902-1969), and Charles Vincent (1905-1971). George died at 4 of scarlet fever, Joseph at 13, Frank at 13 of heart disease, and James at seven weeks, of diarrhea. That last one is still a major killer of infants in the poorest countries.

Having this many children to support is probably why Joseph changed occupations. By 1885, he became a dry goods salesman, even traveling to Germany for work. It paid enough that he was able to buy a house in the suburb of Greenville in 1891 (at 34 Woodlawn Ave., later renumbered to 44).[4]

Joseph’s son Joseph George was killed in a horrific streetcar (trolley car) accident in 1898. There were several newspaper articles at the time about children being run down by streetcars. Mary Ellen had sent their son out to get something at the grocer’s for dinner, but he never returned. There were two streetcars on parallel tracks going in different directions, and when one passed, Joseph George crossed the tracks but was hit by the second car and was killed almost instantly. Joseph came home from work and, being told by Mary that their son had been gone a long time, went out to look for him and met a fireman who took him to the station to identify his son’s body.[5] Surely, he never got over that. He sued the streetcar company. I have not found information that he was compensated.

1903 was an eventful year. On a Saturday night, March 14, 1903, Joseph appeared in court on a charge of “creating a disturbance.” His brother-in-law John McCormack called the police when Joseph got drunk and there was “trouble over family matters.” The headline said Joseph “assailed” John. The newspaper published his name and address, but hopefully, his work colleagues were unaware since the paper called him Joseph Kiernan.[6] The other unusual event that year was that Joseph’s mother Rosanna died of a heart attack on the way to the hospital on September 10, 1903.[7] She was buried in the plot Joseph had for his children at Holy Name Cemetery.[8]

In March 1906 Joseph applied for a passport for a business trip to Germany and Austria. In those days there was rarely a passport photo attached. He was described as 5’8”, with grey eyes, blond hair, a round face, and medium sized features. His profession was “buyer” and the passport was to be sent to a place of business in New York City. He probably worked for the importers Hensel, Brackman and Lorbacher.[9] Since his father’s parents were German, he may have spoken that language fluently.[10] He traveled first class on the ship Prinzess Alice from Bremen, arriving back home on May 15, 1906 after a ten day voyage.[11] In 1910 he was a salesman in the linen industry, possibly with the same employer as his son Edward, who worked as a bookkeeper in a “linen house”.[12] They did live close to Manhattan’s garment district, the source of much of the nation’s clothing at the time.[13] In 1920 he described his job as being in the wholesale linen industry.[14]

There were no modern entertainments in those days so the family hosted parties where the guests played music, games, and danced. The boys belonged to the local chapter of the Imperial Social Club, which would hold dances at members’ homes, and Robert and Leo both played the piano. On Sunday afternoon, February 2, 1913, the couple had a thirtieth anniversary party at home. An article in the local paper described it:

“The rooms were decorated with palms, pink blossoms and smilax. A large white bell hung in the centre [sic] of the parlor and suspended from same were ten small red bells. Mr. George Hauser sang. He also sang at their wedding thirty years ago…. Supper was served, after which dancing was enjoyed.” The article listed twenty-nine guests, almost all being close or extended family members.

The family all survived the worldwide flu pandemic, and when America entered World War I, Joseph and Mary Ellen worried about their sons in the military. Leo, William, Edward, and Alfred (in that order) enlisted in the military during World War I.[15] Charles was too young, and John Robert already had children, so they did not sign up.[16] Luckily, all of them returned home.

On March 9, 1921, Mary became ill. She was admitted to the hospital on the 14th and died of “meningo-encephalitis” or septicemia on the 18th.[17] She was only fifty-seven years old. Such a whirlwind illness must have been a shock to the family; some of her sons were still living at home. Joseph made his will four days after she died.[18]

Joseph and Mary both had at least one parent who had been a child during the Famine in Ireland and perhaps that was a factor in their early deaths. Joseph died at age sixty-one on November 9, 1922, of stomach cancer, aggravated by alcoholism.[19] He and his wife are buried in the family plot at Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City, as are some of their children.[20]

We have a few pictures of their grown sons. 


This is Bill Kirner in 1920.


This is Leo in WWI.


This is Alfred.

Finally, this is Charles, the youngest.

[1] Passport Bureau, Application no. 8424, John Joseph Kirner, 14 March 1906; “U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1174/: accessed 22 Aug. 2025) > “Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925 > 1906-1907 > Roll 0003 - Certificates: 8182-8881, 14 Mar 1906-26 Mar 1906,” > image 273 of 811.

[2] For William: New Jersey Department of Health, death certificate no. 6 (1942), William H. Kirner; Bergen County Courthouse, Hackensack, N.J. For George: Catholic Church. St. Boniface (Jersey City, New Jersey), Baptisms 1863-1870, microfilm, FamilySearch, Film 1479574, p. 24, entry 71, Carolus Körner. Note: Catholic children often had a different baptismal name. The date agrees to what he provided in his Social Security application in 1942.

[3] New Jersey, Marriage return, John Joseph Kirnea [sic]-Mary E. Quinlan, 4 Feb. 1883; no. 333/47/39, Reel 21, New Jersey State Archives, Trenton, N.J.

[4] Hudson County, New Jersey, Deeds, 528: 521, Adolph Onslow et ux to John J. Kirner, recorded 11 May 1891; “Hudson. Deeds 1891,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3W9-8SGH-2?view=explore: accessed 24 June 2025) > IGN 8594325 > image 545 of 677.

[5] “His Life Crushed Out. Young George Kirner Mangled Under Trolley Car Wheels. A Shocking Accident,” The Jersey Journal (Jersey City, N.J.), 30 June 1898, p. 2, col. 3-4; images, GenealogyBank (https://www.genealogybank.com: accessed 23 August 2025).

[6] “Kiernan Assailed His Brother-in-Law,” The Jersey Journal (Jersey City, N.J.), 16 March 1903, p. 3, col. 4; images, GenealogyBank (https://www.genealogybank.com: accessed 23 August 2025). Note: we know it was Kirner because the brother-in-law was John McCormack; Mary Ellen and he lived in the same household as children; he was her half-brother. Kiernan was a common misspelling of Kirner.

[7] Hudson County, New Jersey, death certificate no. 22015 (1903), Rosanna Kirner, N.J., Bureau of Vital Statistics, Trenton, N.J.

[8] The Archdiocese of Newark (N.J.), “Find Your Loved One”, database, Catholic Cemeteries (https://www.rcancem.org//find-a-loved-one-search/: accessed 23 August 2025), results for Kirner, Holy Name Cemetery, Blk-M Gr-111.

[9] See footnote 1. The witness to his passport affidavit, and to whose address the passport was to be sent, was a Mr. Bruckmann.

[10] "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MN8Z-P3S: accessed 23 August 2025), Jersey City, Hudson, New Jersey, United States; population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 39, page 6, sheet 146B, dwelling 47, family 55, Joseph Herman [as indexed, appears to be Kernan], NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 0784; FHL microfilm 1,254,784. Note: The last two columns for Joseph’s father say his parents were born in Germany.

[11] “New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957, Microfilm publication T715: 1897-1957, Roll 0711,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 12 December 2017), entry for Joseph Kirner, line 10, Image 389 of 830, departed Bremen 5 May 1906, arrived 15 May 1906.

[12] 1900 U.S. Census, Hudson County, New Jersey, population schedule, Ward 7, Jersey City, ED 145, p. 5B, 44 Woodlawn Ave., dwelling 74, family 122, Joseph J. Kirner; images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 23 August 2025); from National Archives microfilm publication T624, roll 890.

[13] Lauren Benet Stephenson, “The History of the New York City Garment District,” article, Zady (https://zady.com/features/the-history-of-the-new-york-city-garment-district: accessed 20 December 2017), para. 9.

[14] "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4R5-WDC: accessed 3 Aug. 2025), John J. Kirner, Ward 7, Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States; (ED) 178, sheet 34A, dwelling 307, family 997, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992).

[15] “U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File 1850-2010,” database, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 23 Aug. 2025), entries for Edward Kirner, enlisted 26 July 1918, Alfred Kirner, enlisted 1 October 1918, William Kirner, enlisted 5 July 1918. “U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925-1963,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 23 Aug. 2025) > 1959-1960 > Kintzley, Walter - Landrus, Samuel; entry for Lee J. Kirner, enlisted 9 April 1918.

[16] "United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KZJV-XSD: accessed 23 Aug. 2025), card for Robert Kirner, serial no. 3905, citing Jersey City Precinct no 5, New Jersey, United States, NARA microfilm publication M1509 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

[17] Department of Health of the City of New York, death certificate no. 7576, Mary Ellen Kirner (1921); Municipal Archives, New York, N.Y.

[18] Hudson County, New Jersey, “Wills,” Liber 123, p. 148, I 15069, will of John Joseph Kirner, office of the Surrogate of Hudson County.

[19] Department of Health of the City of New York, death certificate no. 27284, Joseph Kirner (1922); Municipal Archives, New York, N.Y.

[20] The Archdiocese of Newark (N.J.), “Find Your Loved One”, database, Catholic Cemeteries (https://www.rcancem.org//find-a-loved-one-search/: accessed 23 Aug. 2025), results for Kirner, Holy Name Cemetery, Blk-M Gr-111.

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