John Patrick Coogan
Birth: 4 Aug 1885, San Francisco, California
Death: 5 Oct 1928, Los Angeles, CA
Spouse: Marie?
Birth: Unknown
Marriage: About 1912
Death: About 1916
Spouse: May Lena Cutter
Birth: 8 May 1882, Illinois
Marriage: 10 Mar 1925, Alameda, California
Death: Unknown
Death: 5 Oct 1928, Los Angeles, CA
Spouse: Marie?
Birth: Unknown
Marriage: About 1912
Death: About 1916
Spouse: May Lena Cutter
Birth: 8 May 1882, Illinois
Marriage: 10 Mar 1925, Alameda, California
Death: Unknown
Mary and William’s second child was John Patrick Coogan. Almost nothing is known about him. He was born on August 4, 1885, in San Francisco. In 1903 he began working as a plumber. He lived with the family until 1911, at which point he disappears from the Langley’s Directory. He may have been married around this time. The family bible listed his marriage to a woman named Marie, but neither last name nor marriage date was given. His later marriage certificate listed him as a widower, so Marie must have passed away before 1918.
He is next found in the WWI Draft Registration in 1918, where he was back living with the family on 23rd Street. He was listed as a molder’s helper working at the Pacific Coast Steel Company in South San Francisco. He was of medium height and medium build, with black hair and blue eyes. His Seaman’s Protection Certificate application said he was 5’ 8 ½” and had a scar on his forehead. According to a Chronicle article dated November 7, 1918, John was among several men who were called up to the draft and sent to Kelly Field, San Antonio, Texas for training.
He is next found in the WWI Draft Registration in 1918, where he was back living with the family on 23rd Street. He was listed as a molder’s helper working at the Pacific Coast Steel Company in South San Francisco. He was of medium height and medium build, with black hair and blue eyes. His Seaman’s Protection Certificate application said he was 5’ 8 ½” and had a scar on his forehead. According to a Chronicle article dated November 7, 1918, John was among several men who were called up to the draft and sent to Kelly Field, San Antonio, Texas for training.
In January of 1920, John applied to for a Seamen’s Protection Certificate. The certificate program was a holdover from 1797 when sailors needed proof of citizenship to keep from being pressed into service by the British Navy. He had just returned (on November 8, 1919) to San Francisco on the USAT Mount Vernon. The Mount Vernon had been built in 1906 in Germany as the Kronprinzessin Cecilie, and had been seized at the beginning of the war and rechristened. It served as a cruiser and transport in the Atlantic. It had been torpedoed in September 1918 and, after repairs, was transferred to the War Department for operation by the Army Transport Service where the ship was assigned to the Army's Pacific fleet based at Fort Mason in San Francisco. Whether John had been sent to Europe or not is unclear, but he seems t have returned home on the Mount Vernon.
On March 10, 1925, John married May Lena Cutter in Alameda before a justice of the peace. May was born on May 8, 1882, in Illinois to Andrew T Cutter of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Mary Louisa Carter of Kentucky. Like John, she had been married and widowed previously. Her first husband’s name was Pollard. The marriage record shows that they had both been living in Los Angeles at the time, but when he moved down there is uncertain.
On March 10, 1925, John married May Lena Cutter in Alameda before a justice of the peace. May was born on May 8, 1882, in Illinois to Andrew T Cutter of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Mary Louisa Carter of Kentucky. Like John, she had been married and widowed previously. Her first husband’s name was Pollard. The marriage record shows that they had both been living in Los Angeles at the time, but when he moved down there is uncertain.
John and May lived at 713 Valencia Street in San Francisco in 1926, but they were living at 526 Maple Avenue in Los Angeles on October 5, 1928, when Patrick suddenly died. According to his death certificate, the cause of death was “strychnine poisoning, whether accidental or suicidal, unable to determine.” Sr. Toni Lynn remembered family whispers about a suicide, but no one would talk about it and she had not known that it was John. Toni Lynn remembered, “Of course, the Church was pretty hard on the person who took their life in those days, and, unless you had a pastoral parish priest who attended the family there was much sorrow over burials in unmarked and unconsecrated graves.”
The death certificate listed his name as Cogan, not Coogan, and his sister Carrie Tibbitts was the informant. It also says John was to be buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles, but they do not have a record of him. Lena disappeared from the records after his death as well and she does not appear in the 1930 Census unless she remarried.
John had a short tragic life, especially compared to her siblings. The hush in the family over John’s death was a continued sigh of sadness as John was considered a handsome, fun person who loved life. In some ways, moving out of the San Francisco may have undercut the support system that he so desperately needed. If he had stayed here, maybe he could have worked through his difficulties. Unfortunately, we will never know.
The death certificate listed his name as Cogan, not Coogan, and his sister Carrie Tibbitts was the informant. It also says John was to be buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles, but they do not have a record of him. Lena disappeared from the records after his death as well and she does not appear in the 1930 Census unless she remarried.
John had a short tragic life, especially compared to her siblings. The hush in the family over John’s death was a continued sigh of sadness as John was considered a handsome, fun person who loved life. In some ways, moving out of the San Francisco may have undercut the support system that he so desperately needed. If he had stayed here, maybe he could have worked through his difficulties. Unfortunately, we will never know.