The Mystery of John RYAN Authored and Documented by 2X Great Granddaughter, Elizabeth Ann NORRIS Banzen JRBEAB@aol.com December 2001 When, in the course of my research on Hannah and John RYAN, I discovered that Hannah, and her children, were deserted by John RYAN, I felt that my research on John RYAN had arrived at a 'brick wall'. I imagined that Irish immigrant, John RYAN, drifted into Hannah's life and then moved on, possibly to another part of the country. Also, never having located John, Hannah, and the children in the 1880 census in Pittsburgh, Allegheny, PA, I thought that my search for the siblings of my great grandmother, Mary Frances RYAN, was at a dead end. Surprisingly, in October 2001, I located the family of John RYAN in the 1880 census and made some interesting discoveries about John RYAN. The details follow. John RYAN was part of a large family that emigrated from Ireland to Pittsburgh, Allegheny, PA between 1845 and 1850. John and his twin brother, Michael, were born 22 or 29 September 1842 (conflicting date of birth data), in Ireland, prior to the family's emigration. Research on the parents, Dennis RYAN and Ellen LUTHER Ryan, and the siblings of John RYAN is incomplete and will be detailed in a future article. John, a glassblower, was enumerated in various Pittsburgh, Allegheny, PA city directories from 1862 through 1876, and in the 1850, 1860, and 1870 Pittsburgh, Allegheny, PA census, but he disappears from Pittsburgh for a period of several years between 1877 and 1881. This disappearance from Pittsburgh is explained by John's appearance in the 1880 Steubenville, Jefferson, OH census. The Steubenville census enumeration provides information on previously unknown children. 1880 OH Census Census Place: 5th Ward, Steubenville, Jefferson, Ohio Source: FHL Film 1255037 National Archives Film T9-1037 Page 537D Relation Sex Marr Race Age Birthplace John RYAN Self M M W 36 IRE Occ: Glass Blower Fa: IRE Mo: IRE Hannah RYAN Wife F M W 34 WV Occ: Keeping House Fa: IRE Mo: IRE John D. RYAN Son M S W 13 PA Occ: At School Fa: IRE Mo: WV Nellie R. RYAN Dau F S W 8 PA Occ: At School Fa: IRE Mo: WV Fanny T. RYAN Dau F S W 6 PA Occ: At School Fa: IRE Mo: WV George E. RYAN Son M S W 4 PA Occ: At Home Fa: IRE Mo: WV William T. RYAN Son M S W 2 OH Occ: At Home Fa: IRE Mo: WV Due to the fact that Hannah in enumerated in the 1900 census having three living children and in the 1910 census having two living children, it is assumed that two of the five children died prior to 1900. George E. RYAN is the child who died between 1900 and 1910. He was electrocuted on 19 August 1904. This electrocution is documented in an article that appeared in the Pittsburgh Press on 20 August 1904. Since Fannie died on 10 July 1911, it appears that Hannah and John survived all but one of their children. Beginning in 1882, John RYAN reappears in the Pittsburgh, PA city directories, but it is soon after this, about 1884, that he deserted his family. This desertion is documented in the 1893 petition for the appointment of a guardian that was referred to in the marriage application for Fannie RYAN and Joseph E. NORRIS. No further documentation is found on John RYAN until his admittance to the Little Sisters of the Poor facility, in Pittsburgh, Allegheny, PA, on 4 December 1906. Surprisingly, this is the same facility where Hannah was admitted on 26 September 1906. Hannah is enumerated with the Joseph E. NORRIS family in the 1900 census and again, with the same family, in the 1905 Glassport, Allegheny, PA city directory. Both Hannah and John are enumerated at Little Sisters of the Poor in the 1910 Pittsburgh, Allegheny, PA census. John RYAN died on 22 September 1915 and is buried in St. Mary Cemetery, Pittsburgh, Allegheny, PA. Hannah RYAN Ryan died on 26 December 1919 and is buried in Calvary Cemetery, Pittsburgh, Allegheny, PA. John and Hannah resided at Little Sisters of the Poor at the time of their deaths.