52 Ancestors: An Ancestor I Admire
Janelle and Aunt Marie, 1985
I’m participating in Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks this year, as I thought it sounded like an opportunity to look at my genealogy in new ways. I encourage you to do so as well! It’s only as much effort as you want it to be.
I was connected to my Aunt Marie before I even knew it. Marie O’Rourke was my great aunt, the sister of my paternal grandmother, and I grew up seeing her as often as I saw my grandparents. It was her first name that connected us, as my parents gave it to me as a middle name, in part to honor her as well as another family member. But along the way, I found much more that connects us.
Marie O’Rourke was born in Lake Linden, Michigan on 3 January 1926 to Thomas O’Rourke and Mary Dubuque and spent her early decades living in an apartment above her father’s bar. Marie was the youngest child by far, a real “oopsy baby” born 11 years after her next youngest sibling. This also always connected me to Aunt Marie in my childhood, as I am 11 years younger than my oldest sibling and 11 years older than my youngest sibling (my older sister is the only one who doesn’t follow the 11 pattern). Marie’s older siblings were Morton (born 1909), Gordon (born 1911), Eileen (born 1912 and my grandmother), and Gloria (born 1915). Her mother was 43 when she was born and her father was 58, and Marie would spend the rest of their lives with them.
Thomas O’Rourke, Marie O’Rourke, Eileen O’Rourke — I’ve always enjoyed this photo, which makes it clear just how wide the gap in ages was between my grandmother (far right) and her youngest sister (center). My grandma was likely around 17 in this photo, while Marie was probably 3 or so. Their father (far left) would’ve been in his early 60s.
The O’Rourke household in the 1930 U.S. Federal Census was full of Thomas and Mary’s children, from 21 year old Morton to “4 3/12” Marie. Thomas worked as the proprietor of a “Soft Drink Parlor” and had been born in “Canada French” to parents both born in Northern Ireland. Research eventually uncovered that none of that was accurate, although it’s the soft drink parlor fiction that has amused the family the most over the years.
My grandmother and her siblings insisted to the end that their father had absolutely NOT operated illegally during the Prohibition years, despite being an Irish-American who owned a bar on the banks of a lake that led to Lake Superior and Canada and who had two brothers working at the Walker liquor business in Canada. They always said he had only run it as a soft drink parlor during prohibition, as they wouldn’t want to admit their father had broken the law.
Marie’s mother Mary Dubuque is described more accurately as the Michigan-born daughter of a “Canada French” born father and a Michigan-born mother. In 1930, even 21 year old Mort was still in school, likely college, as were all of the other children besides Marie who was too young. But by the 1940 U.S. Census, all of the older siblings had gone off to live their lives, and the household was just Thomas and Mary and youngest daughter Marie.
In 1940, Marie was 14 and in school. Thomas was described as a “Bartender” at a “Tavern”—at first it seemed like he sold his bar at some point between 1930 and this census since he was nearly 70. But other documentation shows this was simply an error on the part of the enumerator.
Thomas O’Rourke at work
However, in the 1950 U.S. Census, once again Thomas, Mary, and Marie are living together, and Thomas is still working, once again listed as the proprietor of a tavern that he owned, now at age 79. According to Thomas’s son Gordon in a 10 page document he wrote about the family history, “Gordon O’Rourke operated a tavern in Hubbell with his father for twenty years… The O’Rourke’s Bar was sold to Emilio Bonanni and son Alfred on October 20, 1951.” There are likely some clues as to why Thomas felt willing to sell his bar in 1951 within the 1950 census. Marie was then 24 and done with school, and she was working 40 hours a week as the secretary for a railroad office. It was no longer Thomas’s sole responsibility to support the three of them.
According to Gordon’s document, “Marie O’Rourke was born at the Lake Superior Hospital in Lake Linden on January 3, 1926. Her god parents were her 14 year old brother Gordon and cousin Mabel Piche. Mabel was nurse and housekeeper during mother O’Rourke’s confinement. After the sale of O’Rourke’s Bar and apartment, Marie with her mother and father purchased a home in Lake Linden to live. Tom O’Rourke died on December 14, 1957 at age 89. In 1966, Marie and her mother moved to Houghton where Marie had been secretary at Gundlach Construction Co. since 1962. Prior to that, she had been employed by Copper Range Railroad of Houghton for 17 years in the same capacity.”
Morton, Gloria, Mary, Thomas, Eileen, Gordon, and Marie O’Rourke at a celebration of Mary and Thomas’s 50th anniversary.
Marie never married, and she lived with her parents until they both had passed away. She was happy to work full time but be there for her parents as they aged, as her siblings went off to other parts of Michigan near and far and got married and had families. But the entire family was always quite close. Gordon wrote about the loss of their parents:
“In March of 1941, Dad and I drove to Mayo Clinic at Rochester, Minnesota where he underwent throat surgery. It left him with a softer voice but also permitted him to enjoy another sixteen years of life. In September of 1957, we again returned to Mayo. This different surgery overtaxed the capacity of a man nearing his 89th year. He often remarked that he considered himself ‘blessed’ to be cared and comforted by Mary, his partner of fifty years, and his loving daughter Marie. On the snowing Saturday afternoon of December 14, 1957 sitting in his favorite chair, talking with our Mother, Dad suddenly stood erect, sat back down, and closed his eyes forever. After the death of her husband, Mary Dubuque O’Rourke lived on in Houghton with her daughter Marie until she was called to her ever lasting home on January 10, 1975, only two months from her 92nd birthday.”
When I knew her, Marie had retired from her full-time employment and no longer supported either of her parents. Marie lived in an apartment in Houghton, Michigan, and worked part time at the jewelry counter at a local department store. When we would visit, we’d often pop into her store to say hello, and she’d be delighted. Aunt Marie always had a full face of makeup and was dressed to the nines, and it made perfect sense to me even at a young age that she would be working at a jewelry counter.
As my other great aunts and uncles were focused on their own children and grandchildren, and as my own grandparents had seven children and over twenty grandchildren, I was delighted to get Aunt Marie’s attention on our visits “up north.” Especially as I was on the younger end of the grandchildren, so my cousins started adding great grandchildren to the mix when I was only six. There was one particularly memorable experience when I was about four years old. My grandpa had a heart attack and was in the hospital, and so my parents packed up us kids and we went up to stay with my grandma for Christmas. That way we could be close and visit my grandpa and my grandma wasn’t alone. My Aunt Marie joined us for the Christmas festivities, and all of that added up to a special Christmas that was quite different from our other Christmases.
Marie died in late 2011 and was followed just six months later by her sole surviving sibling, my grandma Eileen. Marie’s obituary describes a busy life:
“Marie O'Rourke, 85, of Houghton, passed away on October 29, 2011 at Cypress Manor in Hancock.
She was born January 3, 1926, in Lake Linden, a daughter of Thomas and Mary (Dubuque) O'Rourke. She graduated from Lake Linden-Hubbell High School in 1943. She worked for the Copper Range Railroad until 1972. She was then employed by Herman Gundlach Const. After her retirement, she worked part time at Gartner's in Hancock. She also volunteered with the Portage Hospital Auxiliary in Hancock.
She was a member of St. Ignatius Catholic Church in Houghton and the Altar Society, and she was a member of the local Business and Professional Women's Association.
She was also preceded in death by her parents, brothers- Morton (Grace) O'Rourke and Gordon (Edna) O'Rourke, sister- Gloria (Robert) Smith, and brother-in-law- Leonard Asselin.
She is survived by: a sister- Eileen Asselin of The Bluffs in Houghton and many nephews and nieces.”
Grave of Marie O’Rourke
Since Marie passed in 2011, I’ve had time to think about who she was and what she meant to me. That last decade of her life, I was busier with my own 20-something things and I didn’t visit as much as I should have, but I felt the loss of Aunt Marie as much as I felt the loss of my paternal grandparents. I still distinctly remember the day I found out she died and the ache in my heart.
Now, as a childfree, middle-aged woman, I see more deeply how easy it can be for everyone to dismiss our contributions to the world and to our families. It’s one of the greatest joys of my life, however, to be an aunt, and I know that Aunt Marie was the same. I don’t know why she never got married or had children, although I’ve heard speculation from various family members (she was the right age to lose a sweetheart in World War II, for instance). But I so admire that Aunt Marie showed up for her family over and over again for decades, while also walking her own path.
A few years ago, a cousin sent some family videos from our 1985 and 1990 family reunions in Michigan. I took a screen capture of Marie and me, so taken with her clear care for toddler me. This was just one frozen moment of her holding me and walking around with me, talking about everything. I was very lucky to have my Aunt Marie, and I hope I can be half the auntie she was.
Just two Maries, enjoying Michigan summer in 1985
