John Frances Houlihan was the middle child of Bartholomew Houlihan and his wife, Johanna McCarthy. Born in 1885 in Worcester, MA, John was only eleven when his father died. He lived with his widowed mother in the 1910 census, where he was listed as working as a “spring maker” at a spring shop (presumably a shop that manufactured springs for carriages, as his two elder brothers were running a business in the carriage painting trade).
Three years later, he married Mary Agnes Lowrey, daughter of immigrants Dennis W. Lowrey and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Dwyer, of County Tipperary, Ireland. By the time of the 1920 census, John had gotten a job as a clerk at the U.S. Postal Service where he continued to work for over 30 years. The couple had already purchased their long-time home at 146 West Street, where they lived for the remainder of their marriage. The house was a three-story residence, which allowed John and Mary to live on one floor and rent out the rooms on the other two levels to other families.
John and Mary were close to their families, especially the Lowreys; Mary’s sisters Josephine and Katherine lived with them in 1930, and Katherine continued to reside with them 10 years later.
John died in 1951, with Mary following ten years later.
John Frances Houlihan (b. 14 Apr 1885, Worcester, MA — d. 7 Oct 1951, Worcester, MA)
m. 5 Nov 1913, Worcester, MA
Mary Agnes Lowrey (b. 2 May 1885, Worcester, MA – d. 4 Mar 1961, Worcester, MA)
Children:
i. Grace Marie Houlihan
ii. John Francis Houlihan
iii. Mary Elizabeth Houlihan