Hinkles and Hanrahans

Michael was a teamster (muleskinner), and served with the NY Light Artillery Battery E, First Regiment, in the Civil War, per the recollection of his daughter-in-law Sarah Flood (James' wife).

The record below of his Civil War Service was provided upon application for pension in 1910.
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Civil War Record of Michael Hanrahan (listed on War Enrollment Records by War Clerk as Michael Handerhan. Correction made by supporting affidavit upon application of pension and accepted):

Volunteered and enrolled on March 16, 1861, as a Private in Company I, 4th Regiment of Artillery.
Honorably discharged after serving three years, March 16, 1864.
Reenlisted as a Private in Company E 1st Regiment of Artillery on September 13th, 1864, and honorably discharged for the second time on June 16, 1865, on account of end of war.
Note: Record verified by R. A. Ballinger, Secretary of the Interior, USA, November 26, 1910, when issuing increase in Pension under the Act of February 6, 1907 , and counter-signed by J. L.Davenport, Commissioner of Pensions, Department of the Interior, Bureau of Pensions, Washington, D.C.
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The quotation below is from the autobiography prepared by youngest child George on the occasion of his 50th wedding anniversary 1957:

My father came to America from Westmeath, Ireland, sometime about year 1850 [edited to add - this was near the end of the period called The Great Famine in Ireland], and when the Civil War broke out in 1361 he joined the Heavy Artillery of the Northern Army and after voluntarily serving the first three years of enlistment was honorably discharged, but inmediately reenlisted and served until the end
of the war in 1865. He was fortunate in escaping injury of any serious consequence during his first enlistment, but during his second enlistment his shinbone was severed by a bursting cannon he was operating at Gettysburg due to the carelessness of General Grant disposing of a lighted cigar. When the War was ended and he was honorably discharged he returned to New York City and there met my mother who was but sixteen years of age, and they were married in the Immaculate Conception Church on 14th Street between Avenue B and First Avenue. They lived on 14th Street until a short time after my brother William was born and then moved to the Borough of Bronx where they had built a small house at 1140 East 141th Street, where the remaining children were born. My father obtained employment with the Central Gas Company as a gas-maker. The Company was later merged with the Union Gas Company
and became known as the Central Union Gas Company, later the Consolidated Gas Company, which is now known as the Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Incorporated. He remained in their employ for about twenty years and resigned about the the I was born. His duties required him to work sometimes as long as forty eight hours consecutively at peak times or on account of illness of other employes.
It was very laborious work during those times; the regular hours consisted of twelve per day seven days a week at fifteen dollars per week, no extra pay for overtime nor any of the benefits that are granted to men today as Unions did not exist. Pensions were not in vogue and as such laborious work wore him down physically he resigned and turned his efforts to other endeavors. Sometime during the later 1890s
when Congress voted for pensions for Civil War Veterans he received the sum of $12.00 per month for his four years of service as Heavy Artilleryman in the Civil War.

My father was thrown and injured by a trolley car at West Farms, Bronx , late at night when returning from his duties as Night Watchman in Crotona Park, Bronx, which job he obtained through the efforts of my oldest brother, William, who had become Deputy Water Commissioner with jurisdiction over the Borough of Bronx, and the fact that my father was a Civil War Veteran and entitled to assistance from the
Government in his old age. While he was ill in bed from the accident, I got in touch with all my brothers and arranged to have them meet at my father's home, and upon their arrival I dressed my father while he was in bed and with the help of some of my brothers carried him into the parlor and had a photographer take his picture with his eight sons surrounding him. [picture included in Media]
He died about two weeks after the picture was taken in the Month of May, 1912, at the age of seventy-seven years.

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Note: In his declaration for Civil War pension in 1907, Michael said he was born in Tipperary, Ireland, not Westmeath. In one record he is more specific, stating he was born in the Parish if Arlow, County of Tipperary. George's recollection of Westmeath was in error. Perhaps his mother hailed from Westmeath?
Michael's enlistment records and his pension application both describe him as 5'10", with brown hair and blue eyes and a ruddy complexion.

Census records show that Michael could read but could not write, so his signature was marked with an X. His wife Ellen could do both, and so she managed the family finances and business dealings.

Old St Raymond's Cemetery is located at 1201 Balcam Av, Bronx, NY. GPS Coordinates: 40.83116, -73.83446