Sir, - Through the years numerous books, papers and articles have been written about Eamon de Valera. Many of those writers who wrote about Mr de Valera chronicled his life, including his birth in Manhattan in 1882.
The identity of de Valera's mother, Catherine Coll of Bruree, Limerick, never has been doubted. However the debate over the paternity of one of Ireland's greatest figures of the 20th century remains open. One of the problems with this issue is that the sources available in New York City apparently never have been used to trace Kate Coll's early years here along with that of her son Eamon (Edward), to the fullest. With that in mind I decided to begin the search.
One set of records which have never been made public until now are those of the Nursery and Child's Hospital. Those familiar with Mr de Valera's birth know that, according to his birth certificate, he was born at that institution on October 14th, 1882. The hospital was usually reserved for destitute women who needed to be referred by another woman. The hospital closed its doors in 1934 and the records are now housed at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Centre in Manhattan.
I personally inspected the records and have a written transcript. They read: "Line 1 - Date of Admission 10/13/1882, Name, Mrs Kate de Valero, Age, 23, Place of birth, Ireland, Religion, Roman Catholic, Reference, Mrs Abraham, 61 East 41 St, Residence of Parents, Brother, Edward Cole (or Coll), Rahway, NJ, c/o A.F. Shotwell, Esq. Line 2, Date of Admission: 10/14/1882, Name, Mrs Kate de Valero, Name of Child, Blank, Place of Birth, N. and C.H. (Nursery and Child's Hospital)".
There are several interesting points here. One is the reference to Mrs Abraham, who according to the 1882 New York City Directory, is the wife of Solomon Abraham, a Russian-born "Segar" dealer whose business was located at 48 East 42nd St. The Abrahams are listed in the directory as living at 61 East 41st St. There is no de Valera or de Valero listed in the directory anywhere at that time.
What was Kate's relationship with this family? Was she a servant? And if so, where was Mr de Valera? Secondly, if Kate is the wife of Vivion de Valera, why is her brother Edward listed under parent's address. Kate's mother was living in Limerick, so it is understandable that a relative who lived closer geographically would be listed in the record. It has been written over and over again that the de Valeras were living at 61 East 41st St at the time their son was born. If that is true, why wasn't Mr de Valera listed at that address instead of Kate's brother Edward, who lived in New Jersey? If 61 East 41st Street was the de Valera residence, why wasn't Eamon born in the house, as were most children at that time?
The hospital records show no Christian name given to Kate de Valero's child. His birth was registered with the State of New York on November 10th, 1882 when "Blank" de Valero became George de Valero. On December 3rd, 1882 Kate's son was baptised at St Agnes Church, and given the name Edward. Edward's baptism took place at St Agnes, seven weeks after his birth, which was extremely unusual for that time.
I have yet to find any written record of Vivion de Valera, except for the birth and baptismal records of his son. Assuming that Kate was left a widow by the death of Vivion, we know that in 1885 her brother Ned took young Edward to Ireland to live with Kate's mother, Elizabeth Carroll Coll. On May 7th, 1888, Kate married Charles Wheelwright at St Francis Xavier RC Church in Manhattan. A dispensation for mixed religion was granted because Mr Wheelwright was a Protestant.
The Wheelwrights set up residence at 18 West 18th Street. A year later a daughter, Anne Elizabeth, was born and in 1890 a son named Thomas Joseph completed the family. In September 1895 the Wheelwrights departed New York City and headed upstate to Rochester. On July 8th, 1897 young Annie died in Lenox Massachusetts of heart disease, six days before her eighth birthday. Kate's remaining children were her two sons Edward and Thomas.
Two consecutive US censuses contradict the number of Mrs Wheelwright's children. In 1900 she was asked, as were millions of other women: mother of how many children? Her answer was two. The second part of that question was: How many of those children are now living? Kate's answer was one. Annie is accounted for under children who have died and since Thomas was living in her home it is reasonable to assume she was thinking of him when she answered that question. But what about Edward? Why was he not counted among her living children? In 1910 she answered again that she was the mother of one child and this time did not include Annie as a deceased child.
It is known that information from census records, as from any other source, should be taken with a grain of salt. However everyone in the Wheelwright household knew that Edward was living in Ireland. In 1907 Catherine and Thomas visited Ireland. Surely, Kate did not keep Edward a secret from his brother. When Annie was born in 1889, her birth certificate stated that the mother (Mrs Wheelwright) already had one child, which of course was Edward.
In 1916, de Valera's life was saved when his mother signed a "corrected" birth certificate for her son which showed his name to be Edward and not George as the original 1882 certificate shows.
The search for Eamon de Valera's roots is one of the most interesting projects I have worked on in more than 18 years of genealogical research. Twists, turns, contradictions and dead-ends are par for the course for any family researcher, and de Valera's family is no different. - Yours, etc., Joseph M. Silinonte, (Genealogical Researcher),
Brooklyn, New York.