The McManuses

Hearsay interlaced with fact depicts the life of the McManus family.  They...must have emigrated to Scotland during the potato famine.  My father always told us they set sail from Galway.  They lived close to the Murphy's in Scotland because Mother mentioned their names (I know very little about their life there). The two oldest McManuses (John and Bartley) left Scotland with two oldest Murphys around 1880.  The McManus family came soon after.  They came to the mining region of Western Pennsylvania and settled in Elco Hollow in a home built at the foot of a hill, fronted by a creek flowing into the Monongahela River.  Their first home, ideal for this large, outgoing often boisterous family exists today.  The men in the family found work in the area mines.  Later around 1889, they moved to a newly built home in Roscoe.  An impressive home built on the front of the lot and a double house on the back lot.  A sawmill in lower Roscoe supplied the lumber.  In this home one entered the front door from a porch which extended across the front and around the side.

The double house in the back could house two families, presumably the McManus offspring. During my lifetime, these houses have been remodeled and are in good condition today.  Across the street from the one time Roscoe School.

Bartley and Alice McManus had eight children: John, Bartley, James, Patrick, Peter, Sarah, Alice and Thomas. The eldest John lived in Brownsville [and] had several children. During my early years I remember James, a grocer, whose one child became a nurse, living in Pittsburgh. Leo often visited us and married an Elco girl named Alice Rankin; they had two sons.  Next in the saga was Uncle Bartley.

He and his wife had many children. Starting work in the mines, he became a superintendent but soon became the owner of a hotel with its attached bar in Donora. He prospered in the Prohibition Era, his business became firmly entrenched. Mother said his wife gave him invaluable assistance checking the receipts often. Later they bought a summer home in the Conneaut Lake area.  My brother Bernard went to a college in this area and often visited them.  He aslo bought a liquor establishment in Miami, Florida and the family prospered. One member visited us and we visited her. Another son, Pat, was featured in The Daily Independent, honoring him for his church and town related activities. Now comes James (Jimmy) who died young and unexpectedly from an ear infection. In our living room his picture on the wall always interested me and especially the story Mother told about him.  Mother who was there when he died, blamed his death on wrong medicine prescribed by the doctor. They could never find the bottle containing it.  Another member, a lovable red headed leprechaun was Uncle Pete, father of several children.  His wife seemed always happy, almost carefree. We knew this family well because Pete's wife (my Aunt Molly Haley) was a sister of our neighbor Mrs. Maines and she often visited. After working in the mine for several years he also bought a hotel with bar in Finleyville. In those days it was difficult to retain liquor licenses, politically involved. After Uncle Pete lost his, the family moved to Washington, PA, living there many years. During my early teaching years I visited them often during Teacher Institute week. The undisciplined atmosphere but loving and warm particularly appealed to me, especially the apparent lack of restrictions.  Now living is Jane Moulden, an intelligent girl whom I particularly liked. One member Bartley will be remembered because his wife (a secretary before marriage) had seventeen children including three sets of twins. They were able to live well without any outside help. My mother and James visited them when they lived near Uniontown area in a double house...Later, many years later, Irish and I often took rides after dinner or Sunday up to the mountains beyond Uniontown and visited Bartley and wife who had a store and garage on this well traveled road. It was a retirement business but prosperous.

My uncle Tom, a verbally gifted, handsome man closer to us than any other McManus worked in the mine, became superintended and finally became a state inspector of mines. His wife, Aunt Sadie, a witty woman was not born to be a housewife, always fashionably dressed made a remark one day which I could never forget. (She was a convert to the church and not indoctrinated to its beliefs). Uncle Tom said to Aunt Sadie,: "You'll have a front seat in heaven for bearing twelve children". She said, "If I had know then what I know today, I would be content with a back seat".  Two of the twelve died young, one in the mine and one with flu after WWI. I knew Kathleen and Pat better than any other but James and his wife live now in Belle Vernon may be able to answer any question about his family. Another family member was Alice McManus whom my father cared for, sometimes comparing her to me, physically. When she came with her family from Scotland, a little girl came with her, Mary Ann who in later years evidenced emotional problems.  She married and had several children. But Mary Ann's husband disappeared, this action added to her condition. She was later hospitalized. Aunt Alice married William McGinnis whom my mother said treated her abominably. She had two sons, Bartley and James.

"All I want to do is show things as they are and try to remember there is little difference between the wise man and the foolish one, between the good man and the evil one. A thin line separates us from one another."

One human being with limited capabilities did make a tragic mistake, the son of Alice and William McManus, James, killed his wife in a moment of rage. The news was shocking. What tragedy can erupt from a moment of uncontrolled anger. My dad was compassionate and promised to help in any way. He was tried and received a life sentence. "What father or mother could prevent his son from living his own life, from soiling his hands, from loading himself with sin, from finding his own path." Hesse.

From Mary Flanagan's History of McManus and Murphy Families.  Undated.