Roots – PopWars

Ma and Pa Tierney celebrated their fiftieth anniversary at their house at 208 Lyndhurst Street in 1920. Top row from left: Maime Tierney, Maney Moynihen, Raymond J. Tierney Sr., Mary Weitz, Andy Moynihen, Eleanor Nell (Tierney) Craddock, Emma Moynihen Foster Middle Row: Walter L. Tierney, Loretta Weitz, Lucille Weitz, Clare and Clive Lansing, Nell Lansing, Bernard Weitz, Ed's wife with Winifred, Gus Weitz, Edward J. Tierney Jr., Edmund Weitz, Mr. Foster, Joseph Bernard Tierney Front row: Arthur John Tierney, wife Anna Tierney, Winifred Lansing, two young girls are Rita Tierney and Elizabeth Lansing, Ma and Pa (Edward J. Tierney and Winifred Maloney) Tierney, Elizabeth M."Betsy" Tierney, Mary Tierney, Jane Lansing., Margaret Tierney, two boys in white are Bob and Dick Lansing, Gerritt Lansing. Suzanne Tierney, Art Tierney's daughter, provided identification. — Ma and Pa Tierney celebrated their fiftieth anniversary at their house at 208 Lyndhurst Street in 1920. Top row from left: Maime Tierney, Maney Moynihen, Raymond J. Tierney Sr., Mary Weitz, Andy Moynihen, Eleanor Nell (Tierney) Craddock, Emma Moynihen Foster Middle Row: Walter L. Tierney, Loretta Weitz, Lucille Weitz, Clare and Clive Lansing, Nell Lansing, Bernard Weitz, Ed’s wife with Winifred, Gus Weitz, Edward J. Tierney Jr., Edmund Weitz, Mr. Foster, Joseph Bernard Tierney Front row: Arthur John Tierney, wife Anna Tierney, Winifred Lansing, two young girls are Rita Tierney and Elizabeth Lansing, Ma and Pa (Edward J. Tierney and Winifred Maloney) Tierney, Elizabeth M.”Betsy” Tierney, Mary Tierney, Jane Lansing., Margaret Tierney, two boys in white are Bob and Dick Lansing, Gerritt Lansing. Suzanne Tierney, Art Tierney’s daughter, provided identification.

This house, a block behind the World of Inquiry School No. 58 has been torn down. My grandfather grew up here with ten siblings. He and two of his brothers opened a store, Tierney Market, at the intersection of North Street and Hudson Avenue. My grandfather would walk to work. I am so happy they gathered in front of their house to pose for a photographer on their parents’ fiftieth wedding anniversary. Could they have imagined we’d still be looking at this photo today?

The stories we heard of Pa’s drinking and abusive behavior don’t exactly jive with this photo. The couple reached the half century mark! My mom, Mary Tierney, wasn’t even born when this picture was taken but her oldest sister, Rita is shown in the lower left. She was the first child of my grandfather, Raymond Tierney, top left, and his first wife who died in childbirth. My grandfather rather quickly married my grandmother, upper left and by all evidence they had a wonderful marriage unlike Ma and Pa. I still remember my grandmother in her 90’s saying “I miss Ray.” I miss him too.

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