Connellsville  A Family History

Cain, Cluskey, Lightburn

by Robert Lightburn, 2021

Introduction

The following is a brief summary of the research I did into our family’s origins. The research sources include Ancestry.com, private family trees from various sources within Ancestry, several emails with contacts developed from Ancestry, conversations with family members, and visits to various places noted in the summary, including one to Durham in 2017. The family history is centered around three families all of whom originated in Ireland and emigrated to England in the early to mid 1800s and then, for Charles Cain, Ellen Cluskey, and Robert W. Lightburn, to the United States in the mid 1880s. 

It appears to me that the reason for the emigration from Ireland to England of the families relates to the potato famine in Ireland which devastated the country resulting in a huge number of Irish emigrating in the mid to late 1840s. While a large percentage of the emigrees came to the United States, a smaller number, including the ancestors of the Cains, Cluskeys, and Lightburns emigrated to northern England in County Durham. There was a major demand in England at the time for mine workers during the coal boom in that area of the country. Workers were needed in the mines and little if any skill was required. The Cain, Cluskey and Lightburn families made their livings by working in the mines. 

Our family story picks up with Charles Cain and his wife Ellen Cluskey Cain along with their infant son, Charles Borremeo Cain emigrating from England to the United States in the 1880s. Not surprisingly, the family found their way to Western Pennsylvania, probably because of the booming coal industry there at the time which is how Charles would support his family. Robert W. Lightburn also emigrated at this time and ended up in Western Pennsylvania to work in the mines. For context, Charles Borremeo Cain will eventually move to Connellsville and marry Mary A Cominsky in 1908 and they will have three children together, Robert, Charles S, and Marcella. Charles Borremeo Cain is the grandfather of Charlotte, Cathleen, and Robert C., the children of Charles S.

Charles Cain

Charles Cain (great grandfather of Charlotte, Cathleen, and Robert C) was born in 1858 in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. His parents were Daniel Cain and Mary McGovern. Daniel was born in Ireland about 1829. Mary McGovern was also born in Ireland about 1831. Charles’ siblings were Elizabeth (born 1856, died 1899, married to Martin Caine with an e on the end), James (born 1859, married to Sarah Hopper), Francis (born 1861 and married to Mary Scanlon), and Rose Ann (born 1870, died 1926, married to John Moiser). When I visited England in 2017, I met up with Annette Edmondson, who is the great granddaughter of Rose Ann Cain, at Sunday mass at the Church of Our Lady Immaculate and Saint Cuthberts. She still lives in County Durham and is our cousin and of the same generation as Charlotte, Cathleen, and Robert C.

Charles lived with his parents through at least 1881 when the English census had him living in their household. He married Ellen Cluskey on February 5, 1883 in the Church of Our Lady Immaculate and St Cuthbert’s in the town of Crook, near Durham. The marriage license lists him as 25 years old at that time and Ellen as 28 years old. Charles worked in the mines as a check weighman (this is defined as a “representative elected by coal miners to check the findings of the mine owner’s weighman where miners are paid by the weight of the coal mined. “) Charles and Ellen had two children, Charles Borremeo Cain and Mary Florence Cain. Charles B. was born on December 14, 1883 in England. Mary Florence was born on October 8, 1888 in Cecil, Pennsylvania (near McDonald Pa just outside of Pittsburgh in Washington/Allegheny County.) Charles Cain and his wife Ellen emigrated to the United States in the 1880s prior to the birth of Mary Florence. It is unclear if they came together bringing Charles B. with them or separately. In Charles B.’s obituary it mentions that he came to the US when he was only 18 months old. This would come out to Charles B. emigrating sometime in 1885. Ellen listed her emigration year as 1885. Sometime after the birth of Mary Florence in 1888 and before Ellen’s remarriage in 1893 to Robert W. Lightburn, Charles died. 

Ellen Cluskey

Ellen (great grandmother to Charlotte, Cathleen, and Robert C) was born in County Durham in 1855. Her parents were Patrick and Ellen Carroll Cluskey. They were both born in Ireland. Her siblings included Margaret (born in 1848 in Ireland who married Michael O’Grady in 1867 and emigrated to the US sometime later), Francis born in 1846 in Ireland, Matthew born in 1846 in Ireland, and Patrick born in 1850 in Durham, England.

Ellen remarried to Robert W. Lightburn on January 5, 1893 in McDonald Pa. Their marriage license indicates that both Robert W. and Ellen had been married previously, but their spouses had died. I did not come across any information on Robert’s first marriage which probably took place in England. Ellen and Robert W. had no children, but Charles B and Mary Florence lived with them and took the last name of Lightburn. There does not appear to be any record of a formal adoption of the two children by Lightburn. Lightburn came to America in 1888 with his brother, John landing in Philadelphia on July 26, 1888 on the “British King” ship out of Liverpool. He made his way to western Pennsylvania eventually meeting up with and marrying Ellen. I recall my father (Charles S) mentioning that 2 Lightburns came to America together, one came to Western Pa and the other went to Jamaica. 

Robert W. Lightburn

Robert W. (technically, the step grandfather of Charlotte, Cathleen, and Robert C) is from Durham County England as well (the W. stands for Whitfield). His parents were William Lightburn and his wife Mary Whitfield, who lived in Knock, Westmoreland, England. According to the 1881 census. William lived with his 5 children, Ann (30), John (26), Robert W. (21), George (18) and Wilson Octavius (12). Robert W. died on March 30, 1938. His wife, Ellen died in 1944. 

Details

Ellen is not listed on Mary Florence’s birth certificate as her mother. Instead, Ellen O’Grady is listed as the mother. This appears to be in error, but Ellen had an older sister, Margaret Cluskey, who had married Michael O’Grady in England and who lived in McDonald Pa (near Cecil, Pa) after they emigrated to the United States. We know that Ellen kept in touch with her sister and there was a notice in the local paper in 1938 indicating that there was a family reunion that Ellen and Robert did not attend, nor did Charles B. of Connellsville, Pa. Also, Cecil, Pa, which is where Mary Florence was born is very close to McDonald where Ellen’s sister and husband lived. 

Charles B. is listed in the US census of 1900 as living in West Liberty Allegheny County (now part of Pittsburgh) with Ellen, Robert W., and his sister Mary Florence. He is also listed as living in Dunbar, Pa in the 1910 census, although this might be problematic because he married Mary A. Cominsky on August 27, 1908. It appears that Charles B. lived on Tenth Street on the West Side in Connellsville until he bought a house in 1918 on 118 South Sixth Street. In the 1920 census Charles B. is listed as living in Connellsville with his wife (Mary A.) and their 3 children, Robert 8, Charles S. 6, and Marcella 4. I do have a draft card registration for him from early 1942 when the draft was in effect for World War Two. He was nearly 60 at the time and he did not end up serving in the military. He was 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighed 138 pounds. He had brown eyes and brown/gray hair. His complexion was “ruddy.” He was a foreman at the Connellsville location of the Mine Supply Company. He died on November 13, 1944 of an apparent heart attack.

After Robert W’s death his wife Ellen ended up living with her daughter Mary Florence. Mary Florence had married Hayes Liston and the couple had several children. Mary Florence lived near Uniontown Pa, with her mother, until Ellen died in 1944, and her husband until her death in 1958. Some information about Ellen and Mary Florence comes from a conversation I had with 92-year-old (at the time of the conversation in 2012) Loretta Winski (daughter of Mary Florence Liston and Hayes Liston). She confirmed Mary Florence and Charles B were brother sister and not step siblings. She indicated that Ellen ran a boarding house where she may have met Lightburn in the early 1890s. Loretta describes Ellen as a “5 foot tall redhead who did not get along with people very well.” Loretta also mentioned that Ellen was a Catholic, but her husband Robert was not. This would imply that when Mary Florence was born in 1888, she would have been baptized a Catholic in a church near Cecil, Pennsylvania. The church that is in McDonald, Pennsylvania is Saint Alphonsus. I attended Mass there in 2013 or 2014 but found that all old records had been destroyed in a fire several years before in 1908. I did not check out the O’Grady connection (see discussion above). I know that there were at least 16 children from that marriage of Ellen’s sister, Margaret, and Michael O’Grady. One other thing Loretta mentioned was that Charles Cain died within a year of coming over to the US. This puts his death very near the birth of Mary Florence which means there is a good chance he died somewhere near the McDonald area and, if still Catholic, I would guess he possibly could have been buried near there.

The main open item in the above discussion is what happened to Charles Cain after he emigrated to the US, including how did he die, where is he buried, etc. I would also like to track how Ellen, Charles, and Charles B. got to the US (separately, together, with their son, etc). Also, I would like to explore when Robert W. was first married (in England apparently) and to whom. I have not explored the Cain, Cluskey, or Lightburn families back before the early 1820s and their origins in Ireland. Looking back at their origins would be interesting. 

Drafted by Robert C. on 1-2-21.

Stuart found this website with every cemetery in Fayette County. You can click on one and get all the names of the people buried there. In the Sylvan Heights cemetery, there are Kanes, but no Charles. This is where Robert and Ellen are buried.

https://pagenweb.org/~fayette/cemetery/index.html

Good list of cemeteries. Lots of them!! Ellen and Charles Cain had Charles B and Florence with them in the 1880s. We aren’t sure where they lived. We do know that Florence was born in Cecil. Pa. I believe Ellen and Robert got married in McDonald, Pa. Both Cecil and McDonald are not in Fayette County. Both are either in Washington or Allegheny Counties. Cemeteries in those counties might be another source.

Ellen married Robert Lightburn in 1893 in McDonald, Pa, which is the same place where her sister Margaret lived with Michael O’Grady. Could be that Ellen ended up near her sister when Charles died. Just for speculation the Catholic Church in McDonald is Saint Alphonsus. If Ellen happened to be there when Charles died, but before marrying Robert, there could be a connection to that church’s cemetery or another cemetery in the area.

It’s all speculation!

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to update you on another conversation I had with Loretta Winski this past week. She is the 93 year old last surviving daughter of Florence Cain Liston and Hayes Liston from Uniontown. Florence is the daughter of Ellen Cluskey Cain (aka Ellen Lightburn, our great grandmother). I had sent Loretta a note after I talked with her a while back. I had asked her a few followup questions and asked if she or one of her family members knew any additional information. I was getting worried about her, but she is still alive and kicking!

When I spoke with Loretta, she had gotten my note and assured me she had passed it on to one of her daughters/grandchildren, who were more into genealogy and would get back to me when they could. So that is a good thing that we potentially have multiple potential sources out there for answers to the questions.

Loretta had a few interesting responses. First, she assured me that Florence and Charles B. Cain were natural brother and sister (had been some reference to them being steps). Second, she was nearly certain that her grandmother’s (Ellen) maiden name was Cluskey. She knew for certain that Ellen was originally from County Cork in Ireland (however this might be in question, and she might have been born in Durham after her parents moved from Ireland). She said Ellen was rather feisty and sometimes hard to get along with! She recalled Ellen as being a little over 5 feet tall and having red hair. Loretta mentioned that Ellen ran a boarding house after her first husband (John or Charles Cain) died and that is how she met her second husband, Robert W. Lightburn. She knew Ellen was Catholic and Robert W was not, which kind of makes sense if she named one of her children Charles Borremeo. From my conversation with Loretta, it is clear that Ellen settled in Western Pennsylvania although they did seem to move around in the area. While originally from Ireland, Loretta felt that Ellen had lived in Durham, England, prior to her coming to America.

From my perspective, it seems like Western Pennsylvania at the turn of the twentieth century was one of the largest coal and steel producing areas in the world. There were many mines throughout that area and Pittsburgh was the place where coal was used to make steel. It seems like Ellen and her first husband came over from Durham County, which seems like a similar region in England near Newcastle. From my distant days back at Durham in the early 1970s, it was definitely a coal producing region and Newcastle was the closest big city, kind of a smokey, working class oriented place (like Pittsburgh used to be). These facts might explain why a young couple without a lot of resources and a young child might find their way to a similar place in America to find work and make a living.

I have had a contact with a person in Australia originally from England who believes she has a connection with the Cains. She tracked down the marriage certificate of Ellen and Charles Cain in 1883 and is in the process of getting Charles Borremeo Cain’s (our grandfather) birth certificate. She is going to send it to me when she gets it. That should put some clarity on whether the Cluskeys and Cains we are talking about are the same ones that Charles Borremeo is connected with. There are a boatload of Cains and Cluskeys in Ireland and Durham, but not a whole lot of Charles Borremeo’s!

I haven’t done any more digging about the weird reference in her marriage certificate that Grandma Lightburn was originally from New Orleans. That has to be wrong. Maybe the person writing down the information for the license heard wrong. Not sure if the Komanskas, who morphed into the Cominskys, would have come over to New Orleans from Poland! One thing I was wondering was whether there are any surviving Cominsky’s back in the Connellsville area. For some reason I remember someone about my age coming to Dad’s funeral or maybe it was Mom’s. Cathy, do you have any recollection of that?

Anyway, I’ll let you know if I come up with anything more.

Bob

Hi guys,

Well, the mystery is somewhat solved. Here is the birth certificate for our grandfather, Charles B Lightburn. Our great grandfather is a guy named Charles Cain who lived in Durham, England and his wife Ellen Cluskey Cain (eventually Lightburn). Interesting how the recorder listed Charles B’s name. This birth info matches the info Charles B listed when he needed to register for the draft in the US.

So, now, who the heck was this Charles Cain guy, how did he get to Durham if Ellen was from Ireland …….

Bob

— On Wed, 3/7/12, Lorna Giles wrote:

From: Lorna Giles
Subject: Birth Certificate
To: “Bob Lightburn”
Date: Wednesday, March 7, 2012, 9:23 PM
Hi Bob

Here is the birth certificate for Charles Borrow Mayer Cain. So they had not spelt it correctly on the FBMD site.

Have you had any more information on the family? At the moment I don’t have any more to add.

Best Wishes
Lorna

Hi Cathy and Charlotte,

Got this from my contact in Australia. It is pretty much the detailed answer for where Charles Caine came from. Pretty neat. Now, we can trace ourselves through Charles Caine back to someone named Daniel Caine (his father) born in Ireland in 1829.

I’m trying to figure out if he really came to the US with Ellen in 1885 which is when Ellen disclosed that she came to the US in the 1900 US Census. However, at that time she disclosed that she had married Robert W in 1893 and that Charles B and Florence (later to be Liston) lived with them in West Liberty Pennsylvania. Loretta Winski says Charles died young at 35 or 36, which puts it around 1893, the same year Ellen remarried. Florence was born in 1889 so I figure she had to be Charles Caine and Ellen’s child and that Charles Caine had to be in the US at that time. I don’t know where the Caines lived from 1885 to 1900. That is the current missing link.

Bob

— On Thu, 3/8/12, Lorna Giles wrote:

From: Lorna Giles
Subject: Simple Register Report (Family Tree Maker)
To: “Bob Lightburn”
Date: Thursday, March 8, 2012, 9:25 AM
Simple Register Report created by Family Tree Maker.

Hi Bob

I was only too pleased to send you the certificate as with the information that you have given me has filled in part of the tree that I am researching, anything else you find I would love to know about. So far I have found all that you have told me very interesting. Do you think that Florence was born in the UK? I have looked but don’t seem to be able to find a birth for her.

I thought that this part of the tree may be of interest to you. Hopefully I have researched it correctly.

Best Wished
Lorna