Al Capone (1899-1947) died in his bed at his Florida home on this day, January 25th, in 1947. The former Chicago Public Enemy Number One was happily married for most of his life to a Brooklyn woman, Mae Coughlin, who had Irish ancestry on both sides of her family.
Mae Coughlin’s parents were Michael Coughlin and Bridget Gorman. Mae, or Mamie as she was called by her family, was born to the couple in Brooklyn in 1897, the second eldest of six children. The Coughlin family came from Cork originally while the Gormans came from Limerick city. There are likely to be many people in Cork and Limerick today who are related by marriage to Al Capone.
Mae’s father emigrated to the US in 1891 and found work as a dock labourer. Her mother came the following year. They met and married in New York in 1894.
Michael Coughlin was born in Cobh in 1871 to Dennis Coughlin (also spelled Coghlan/ Coughlan/ Caughlan), a carpenter, and Hannah Desmond, a cook from Woodside, near Tower, Cork. In addition to Michael, the couple had at least two other children: John Patrick, (born 1873) who became a carpenter like his father and lived at Evergreen, Cork, with his wife and family ; and Catherine (born 1875) who never married. Michael was the only member of the family to emigrate to the United States.
Bridget Gorman was born in Limerick city in 1873 to Patrick Gorman, a labourer, and Bridget English (née Goonan). Patrick Gorman, who came from Boherbouy, married the recently-widowed Brid English, of Casey’s Road, at the Church of St. Michael’s, Limerick, in 1871. The groom’s father was Timothy Gorman, labourer. The Bride’s father was John Goonan, also a labourer.
Bridget Gorman had a half sister, Mary English, daughter of Bridget Goonan by her first marriage to Maurice English, a van driver from Barry’s Lane, Limerick. The 1910 New York Census return of Bridget and Michael Coughlin reveals further Irish connections as a family called Dilworth was living with them at this time at their house in Brooklyn. Their father, Timothy Dilworth, from Inniscarra, Co. Cork, was married to Mary English.
The last address of the Coughlins in New York was 117, 3rd Place, Brooklyn, New York.
Mae Josephine Coughlin Capone outlived Al Capone by many decades and died in Florida on the 16th of April 1986, 5 days after her 89th birthday.
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