Mattimore Family Blog
Welcome! I started this blog as a place to share stories, photos and ancestry research about our Mattimore family. Contact me if you would like to contribute a story or photos. To SUBSCRIBE to the blog, sign-up and click SUBSCRIBE at the bottom of this page or on the Contact page.
May 09, 2025
While this may not relate directly to our ancestors, it's a remarkable story that blew me away when I first learned of it years ago, and I think you might feel the same.The year 1847 was an extremely difficult one for the Irish people. Known as "Black 47," this was the worst year of the famine...
May 20, 2023
What does it mean when a generation dies? How much is lost when the last of a family’s generation passes away?
Brothers Harry and Joe raised 11 children in all. There was Mary born in 1923 who married Joe Sheehan. Then came Harry, Jr in 1924. In 1927 came Jane and then the first of...
Jan 10, 2023
Heartfelt condolences to the family of Tom Mattimore, who tragically lost his life in a car accident on January 3, 2023 in Marion, Mississippi.
To his widow Angel, and siblings Joe, Jane, John, Nancy, Eileen and Teresa, please know that the entire Mattimore clan is praying for you and your...
Nov 23, 2022
She was Mary Margaret McMahon, but her family nicknamed her “Tiny” because of her small frame (often shortened to just “Tine”). She married Joseph Mattimore at Holy Family Church in 1925. Of her 23 grandchildren, she only knew the first six — all aged three and...
Oct 09, 2022
October 10th is the 58th anniversary of the death of our grandfather Joseph Mattimore. He was only 66 years old when he died. It was totally unexpected, and likely a terrible shock to his five children, and to Harry, his only sibling. There was drama involved. And baseball. Read on for the...
Aug 04, 2022
Kathy Shaw recently shared on FaceBook the news of her brother Mike Hirsch’s passing. I know not everyone is on FaceBook, so I wanted to share Kathy’s words here, along with some of Mike’s own words from a recent article he wrote.
From Kathy:
I’m heartbroken to let you...
Dec 13, 2021
Genealogy research is always evolving as new documents are digitized and more and more people take DNA tests. From time to time I’ll share updates to previous posts or new information as I discover it. This is one of those updates.
But first, I would be remiss if I didn’t offer...
Oct 15, 2021
October brings crisper air and baseball playoffs — the perfect time for a Mattimore baseball story. Great-grandfather Henry Mattimore’s older brother Mike was a professional baseball player. Born in 1858, about three years before the American Civil War, Mike played in four major...
Aug 30, 2021
Throw your name into the virtual hat for a chance to win an Ancestry DNA kit. I’m doing an end-of-summer flash drawing for anyone in Mattimore-land who is interested. I have two (2) DNA kits to give away.
Always wanted to do one of these DNA tests but never got around to it? Didn’t...
Jul 01, 2021
If you look deep enough, you’ll find that almost all family trees have questionable ancestors or even hidden scandals. Ours is no exception. Read on for the story of our great, great grandfather Cornelius O’Rourke.
Known as Connie or Con, he was the father of Mary O’Rourke who...
May 15, 2021
When I found a newspaper clipping about someone searching for a Michael Mattimoe, it gave me goosebumps. This was a whisper from the past. A small one, but one that was 166 years old. Was this our Michael Mattimoe? Our immigrant ancestor who left Ireland during the Great Famine? Was someone in...
Apr 16, 2021
Not every photo we take is a good one or one worth keeping. I would bet that most of us have cell phones filled with mediocre photos. But every now and then there is a photograph that is special — a family favorite, destined to be kept and passed down to future generations.
One such...
Mar 25, 2021
How is it we are here, walking this path in life? What circumstances had to happen in order for our great grandfather Henry Mattimore to be born in Renovo, Pennsylvania in 1862 in the midst of the American Civil War? His parents, unknown to each other, had come from different parts of Ireland on...
Feb 20, 2021
I’m sure Kate O’Rourke never imagined that she’d spend her life raising her sister’s children. She probably had her own hopes and dreams of marrying and having a family one day. But when her sister Mary Mattimore died at 27 leaving two young boys, Kate became a caretaker...
Jan 30, 2021
Do siblings have the same DNA? It seems like brothers and sisters should have the same ancestry background. After all, they have the same parents, right? While biological siblings DO have the same family tree — parents, grandparents and so on, their genetic code might be different. Because...
Jan 25, 2021
Our deepest sympathies to our Chicago Mattimore cousins on the passing of their dad, Richard. He died peacefully at home last night surrounded by the wonderful memories, laughter and love of his family. Sadly, Uncle Dick was the last of his generation. He now joins all his siblings and Mattimore...
Jan 17, 2021
He was born to Irish immigrants in Renovo, Pennsylvania. He came to Buffalo as a young man working the trade of a boilermaker. Among his seven siblings, he had a sister who was a nun and a brother who was a professional baseball player. His wife Mary died at 27 from tuberculosis. Through his two...
Dec 24, 2020
When our grandfathers — Harry and Joseph Mattimore — lived with their Aunt Kate after their own mother’s death, they became close with Kate’s family living in Oswego, New York. Postcards were a quick and easy form of extending greetings between families. As our Mattimore...
Dec 16, 2020
We lost one of the best. One from our Greatest Generation. Hank Mattimore died peacefully at home yesterday, surrounded by those he loved most. His daughter Laura and son Sean and their families were there to hold him. My sister Elaine said exactly what we are all feeling when she shared with...
Nov 27, 2020
If you read my last post, you know the story of our great grandmother, Mary O’Rourke Mattimore, and how she died young from tuberculosis in Arizona in 1901. This follow-up is the story of the search for her burial site in Tucson. Son Harry Mattimore was almost six when his mother died...
Nov 12, 2020
Mary Ellen (O’Rourke) Mattimore, mother of Harry and Joseph, died tragically young. She was 27 when death took her near Tucson, Arizona in 1901. Her husband Henry Mattimore was left a widow with two young boys, Harry, then almost six, and Joe just three. How did Mary die? What was she...
Oct 31, 2020
My mother was never wild about the fact that our surname Mattimore was actually derived from Mattimoe, also occasionally spelled without the “e” as Mattimo in Ireland. She grew up a Mattimore after all, so THAT was the name! She reluctantly assumed that somehow the name of our...
Oct 23, 2020
While technically they just missed out on being from The Greatest Generation (those born in the 1900s and through the 1920s), they most certainly are from our family’s Greatest Generation. Brothers Richard and Hank Mattimore — siblings of beloved Joe, Mary and Dan, and first cousins...
Oct 21, 2020
For some time now I have been trying to figure out a good way to share information about our Mattimore family ancestry. There is a Mattimore Family group on Facebook, but too many family members are not on Facebook, and those of us who are often have a love-hate relationship with it. Some other...
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