William H. Ryan Jr. 1895 - 1933 A Man of Mystery

William Ryan Jr. is one of Grampie's (Paul M. Ryan's) older brothers.  I recently found a document placing him in San Francisco in 1919:

This is a Seaman's Protection Certificate which served as a kind of passport for seamen of the time.  Apparently William had never been to sea, but was heading out to the Bering Sea from San Francisco.  Go figure.  The huge bonus, of course, is that there is a photograph included there at the bottom!!!  Along with his signature.  So this was a hugely satisfying find for me, but it has only added to the mystery of William Junior's life.

What we know is that he was born in Gloucester in 1895 with two older brothers already.  It's interesting to me that it wasn't until their third son that William Senior and Catherine Bentley Ryan named a child "Junior".  Typically families would name the first born son after the paternal grandfather (in this case Timothy---and none of their sons were named Timothy) and the second son after the maternal grandfather (John was the youngest living child's name).  But William Senior and Catherine did not follow this pattern.

I have a note that William Junior married a Bertha Brooks, but I have found no further evidence of this.  We do know that he married Catherine Gilhooley in 1927 somewhere in New York.  They had two daughters, Catherine and Dorothy.  I believe Catherine never married but I don't yet know what Dorothy's future held. 

William Junior died in Bellevue Hospital in June 1933 .  At the time, he was employed by Ellis Island in their hospital.  The family lived on Madison Avenue, but I don't think they lived the "high life" of New York City.  I've not been able to locate William in each of the census years that I ought to -- perhaps he was at sea.  It surprised me a great deal to find that he'd been in San Francisco for a couple of years. 

Another odd note is that another marriage record appears for Catherine and William in 1933, very shortly before he died.  I can't help but believe those two things are related in some way.  Perhaps he was hospitalized and proof of marriage was needed and that was the only means of providing it.  For now, that is my theory. 

The Gloucester Daily Times for June 30 1933 states that William's mother and brothers John, Richard, Paul and Arthur and his niece Kathryn (I think this is Richard's daughter) attended the funeral in New York City.  He was buried in  Queens, coincidentally in the same cemetery as some of the Italians in my life.  It's also interesting to note that his father did not attend the funeral (he would die almost exactly a year later -- he and Catherine Bentley Ryan are buried in different cemeteries).  There's more to that story also!!! 

As much as I learn, there's more to be discovered.