How to find a street address

[MaddalenaNYC]

I got it. So sad as she was widowed young and died young. Let me mull this over. I might have an idea or two.

[MaddalenaNYC]

I found Madeline Guarino Morrissey’s Social Security Death record on Ancestry.

As you know, she was the daughter of Steven and Catherine.
The death record distinctly shows her place of birth in 1937 as Astoria (Queens)

[MaddalenaNYC]

I think it would be safe to say, as you predicted, that Steven and Catherine Guarino lived either with or very close to Linda Sullivan in Astoria at Madeline’s birth.

Queens is different than other NYC boroughs as Queens uses neighborhoods, such as Astoria as actual addresses. No other borough does so. Except occasionally.

If you live in Brooklyn, your address is Brooklyn and not Brooklyn Heights, NY, for example.


I had many close friends in Astoria but I haven’t been there for twenty years.

I can tell you that it was always a very lovely area comprised of small apartment buildings, large apartment buildings as well as one or two family houses.

I looked up the address on Linda’s death certificate.

It’s a small apartment building, looks like six families. Very common.

So the Guarinos either lived with Linda or very, very close nearby.

I hope this helps for now.

I’ll go in person to the Municipal Archives in Manhattan next week to see if I can obtain the marriage certificate that you are after.

[MaddalenaNYC]

Here’s a tad bit more.

I am familiar with St. Rose’s Home on Jackson Street in Manhattan where Linda had died.

I’ve never known it to be an actual hospital. I’ve always known it to be a convalescent home or even a hospice as folks would go there to basically, die.

I’m certain that there were some hospital facilities for doctors coming to check on the residents, but a hospital, in general, I don’t think so. Of course, I wasn’t even born when Linda died, so I could be wrong.

However, a very close friend of mine, Irish Catholic like Linda, and who also was dying from cancer, like Linda, died at St. Rose’s home in 1993.

Calvary Cemetery is one of the largest Catholic cemeteries in NYC.


I’m certain, fingers crossed, that the NYC Municipal Archives will have the marriage certificate for Steven Guarino and Catherine Sullivan. It’s very likely that that information has not yet been loaded on to the public database.

In the event that I can not get the marriage certificate, the only other road I can think of is the Catholic Church.

Queens is a part of the Brooklyn Diocese.

Of course, it would be necessary to track down the Queens Parish where the sacraments took place, i.e. marriage, baptism, and death (of Linda).

I’ve gone that route and it can be quite daunting so let’s just pray that all will come into place after my visit to the municipal archives.

[MaddalenaNYC]

If it is necessary to go through the Catholic Church, it would be necessary to find all Catholic Parishes within walking distance to the Astoria address on Linda’s death certificate.

We walk to our parishes here in NYC.

No cars are used unless one had relocated and are driving into Queens for an event at the old parish.

Then, it involves telephoning those parishes.


The parishes have been very good to me in my pursuit of family records.

If you can possibly locate the Astoria Parish where Madeline Guarino Morrisey was baptized in 1937, you might find gold!


I’m uncertain as to what your religion is or was.

But for Roman Catholics, often, very often, a new born was not taken out of the house until that new born had been baptized.

Therefore, one must find the shortest walking route between the new born’s home and the Church selected for baptism.

I know that I’m piling a lot on you.


I’m certain that you are not from NYC and so, I’m just trying to lend a hand.
My family goes back to 1880 or so, settling in Brooklyn.

But my mother was an Italian American from the Bronx.


I’ve lived in NYC for most of my life, including a stint on Elizabeth Street in Manhattan’s Little Italy.


I’m not sure what you are after in your research but I am happy to help you in any way that I can.

Let’s just call it, Paying it Forward as so many on this forum, mostly in Italy, have helped me so greatly.

[darkerhorse]

Thanks for your input. I agree about St. Rose not being a hospital per se. Both sides of the family in question were Roman Catholic. The marriage record itself would be a valued find.

I've heard that Irish and Italian are noted for producing attractive children. I don't have any Irish ancestry myself.

My educated guess is that Linda Sullivan lived with her daughter's family from 1934-1937 and the daughter's family continued living in that same place (likely the address on Linda's death certificate) until moving to Staten Island sometime after the birth of their second child in 1939 and the 1940 Census.

[darkerhorse]

The informant on Linda Sullivan's death certificate was Anna Sullivan, another daughter, whose address was given as the same as her mother's in Astoria. This argues against Linda living with her daughter Catherine's family in Astoria, unless they all lived together as one happy family.

[MaddalenaNYC]

I have nine nieces and nephews who are both of Irish (Patrick Reilly) and Italian (Gardella) extraction and they are indeed very handsome people, ok I might be a bit biased in that regard.

[MaddalenaNYC]

I’m just questioning here. I looked up Linda’s address that was stated on her death certificate. It looks to me to be a small apartment building, six families.

We have such buildings where I live in Brooklyn.

They’re usually apartments of two bedrooms, sometimes three bedrooms, but not often.

All that having been said, those were different times. Often, a larger family would live in an apartment of only two bedrooms.

For example, when I was one year old, my parents lived in a two bedroom apartment.

My patents and I, a baby, slept in one bedroom. My elder brother, 21 years my senior and his wife who has from Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan, had the second bedroom with their new born son. My other brother who was about 13 years old slept on the couch in the living room.

People just simply made do. No one owned a lot of possessions back then.

Indeed, closets were rare.

As long as the apartment was clean and if the kitchen was large enough for the family to sit down and eat, that’s all that mattered.

Oh, and sweeping the stoop.

[darkerhorse]

Anna Sullivan was married in the 1930 and 1940 U.S. Censuses living in the Bronx with her husband in 1930 and with her husband and child in 1940. So, her address as informant is likely a mistake, leaving Linda and Catherine's family residing together in Astoria (without Anna and family). That makes more sense to me, even in the face of extended families living together.

[MaddalenaNYC]

And away we go!

The NYC Municipal Archives has the marriage certificate on microfiche. It’s rather difficult to read which, possibly, had precluded it to be entered in the first phase of the Archive’s online database.

Ok.
The license was approved on 12/22/1934 at the Queens Courthouse.
The marriage took place on 1/12/1935 at St. Gabriel’s Church then located at 9907 East Elmhurst, Queens. The officiant was Father Anthony Foley.

Steven Guarino
Age 24
Painter
Lived at 284 Hopkinson Avenue Brooklyn.

This was Steven’s first marriage.
His parents were Frank and Theresa both born in Italy.

I’m sorry but I could not make out Theresa’s maiden name.


Catherine Sullivan
Age 24
No occupation which the common notation of that time.

Her address was 30-91 91st Street Jackson Heights.

The house address was somewhat illegible. My closest guess is 30-91. The street name was legible.

This was Catherine’s first marriage.

Parents: Bartholomew Sullivan and Bridget? I couldn’t make out the last name for Bridget w
But it did start with a B.

Both born Ireland.

The witnesses:

Mary Constance Guarino at same address as Steven

Phillip James Shannon (the last name was difficult to read, it looked like Shannon),
Address : 43 Broadway, Bayonne, NJ.

So there it is.

[MaddalenaNYC]

Sorry for the typo. St. Gabriel’s address in 1935 was 9907 27th Avenue, Elmhurst, Queens.

[darkerhorse]

Thanks for all your efforts above and beyond!

I never would have located it myself.

The mothers' surnames were Caiazza and Boland.

[MaddalenaNYC]

You’re welcome Darkerhorse.
The people on this forum have helped me a great deal. Helping you was my way of paying it forward.

[parkergambino]

If we examine the 1937 death certificate for Linda Sullivan:
https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc ... ew/6681307
we find two pertinent addresses, with some fuzziness about the identity of the surrounding neighborhood. The front indicates 28-47 46th Street, Astoria and "LI". The second page shows that daughter Anna Sullivan,who engaged the undertaker, has an address shown as 27-47 46th, followed by writing of some inscrutableness, but can possibly be an abbreviation of Long Island City (perhaps Brooklynite Maddalena can corroborate or alternatively decipher). The addresses are so similar that my guess is that only one is the correct address for the family.

If we refer to Google Maps, we find that only 28-47 46th Street (Queens) is an existing address today.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/28-47 ... FQAw%3D%3D
By using street view, the numbers 28-47 can be seen on the front door of that house. You can see that Google identifies the neighborhood as Long Island City, not Astoria, but these neighborhood designations do not have well-defined legal boundaries.

There are some flies in this ointment, namely changes in the neighborhood infrastructure. Have those houses been built since 1937? And at that time, were there more avenues between 25th and 30th? (missing today are 26th, 27th, and 29th). Both questions might be answered by referring to the tax map photos of (I believe) ~1941, a task I do not have time to pursue right now (perhaps one for you Maddy?)

Parker