The Owen Hamall Mystery
Solving a Seven-Year Puzzle: Who Was "Thornton Hammil"?
From Irish famine to Chicago's industrial age—one family's story of loss, love, and the half-brother who vanished from every record except one
The Research Question
Who was "Thornton Hammill" listed as Owen Hamall's brother in the 1880 Chicago census?
The mysterious entry showed a man born in Canada around 1858—not Ireland like Owen. Despite exhaustive searches across Chicago and Canadian records, this person seemed to vanish from history. No other documents. No other clues. Just one census notation that launched a seven-year investigation.
Four Layers of Discovery
Each breakthrough revealed another layer of tragedy and connection
Layer One: The Lost Children (Mother's Day 2019)
Cemetery records revealed four children of Owen and Kate who were born and died between census enumerations (1880-1900):
- • William (1883-1893, age 10) - Died of pneumonia
- • Elizabeth "Lizzie" (1887-1893, age 6)
- • Catherine "Katie" (1889-1892, age 2 years, 7 months)
- • Eugene Owen (1892-1893, age 10 months)
Layer Two: The Baptism Record Breakthrough (March 2024)
After six years of searching, an 1883 baptism record for Owen's son William listed "William Thornton" as sponsor—the first concrete connection to the mysterious "Thornton" surname.
Reciprocal Sponsorship Pattern: Owen sponsored William Thornton's child in 1883; William Thornton sponsored Owen's child the same year. Both baptisms at Holy Name Cathedral, Chicago—demonstrating active, ongoing family relationships between the half-brothers.
Layer Three: Parallel Tragedies
William Thornton's family suffered the same devastating pattern:
- • Married Mary Jane Lynch, 1881, Granby, Quebec
- • Had 3 children—all died before 1900
- • Mary M. Thornton died July 31, 1886 (age 3)
- • Eugene M. Thornton died August 20, 1886 (age 1)
- • 1886 Summer of Sorrow: Lost 2 children in 20 days
- • William died of exposure in Chicago snowstorm, 1900 (age 44)
Layer Four: Kate's Health Crisis (2025)
Catherine "Kate" Griffith Hamall, widowed at age 41 in 1898, struggled for decades after Owen's death:
- • 1900 Census: Living with her mother Lizzie Griffith and brother John
- • 1917-1919: Became ill with pulmonary tuberculosis
- • Died at Chicago State Hospital, 1919 at age 63—38 years as a widow
Two Brothers, Parallel Tragedies
Owen Hamall's Family
- Children Born: 6
- Children Survived: 2 (Thomas Henry, Mary)
- Children Lost: 4 (between 1880-1893)
- Catastrophic Loss: 3 children in 30 days (Spring 1893)
- Cemetery Plot: Mother-in-law's (Eliza Griffith purchased May 1870)
- Final Years: Blind, destitute (1897 Tribune list)
- Death: 1898, age 51, meningitis
- Widow Kate: Hospitalized for tuberculosis 1919, died at State Hospital age 63
- Burial: Calvary Cemetery, Section D
William Thornton's Family
- Children Born: 3
- Children Survived: 0
- Children Lost: 3 (1880s-1886)
- Catastrophic Loss: 2 children in 20 days (Summer 1886)
- Cemetery Plot: William purchased after daughter's death (1886)
- Final Years: Living with nieces, extreme poverty
- Death: 1900, age 44, exposure in snowstorm
- Widow Mary: Remarried (St Pierre), died 1936 in New Hampshire
- Burial: Calvary Cemetery, Section T
Both Irish immigrant families in Chicago. Both working-class. Both experienced catastrophic child loss. Both ended in extreme poverty. Both men died young. Both buried at Calvary Cemetery. Children born and died between censuses—genealogically "invisible" without cemetery records.
The Evidence in Numbers
Related Stories & Educational Content
From research discovery to family narrative to teaching methodology
The Discovery Stories
"The Fire in Your Blood"
The original 2018 blog post that shared the breakthrough discovery of Owen's hidden family with descendants.
Read the story →"The Missing Brother Mystery"
How we solved a seven-year puzzle through cemetery research, baptismal records, and international connections.
Read the story →For the Family
"A Letter to Owen's Descendants"
The complete family story from County Monaghan to Chicago, beautifully formatted as a PDF for saving, printing, or sharing with family.
Download PDF →This research reunited living descendants with their lost family history, connecting them to ancestors they never knew existed.
Educational Series
Part of the Storyline Genealogy Series:
Finding the Lost. Documenting the Found. Honoring Them All.
"When the Record Doesn't Exist"
A lesson in documenting negative evidence using Elizabeth "Lizzie" Hamall's missing birth certificate.
Read the lesson →More posts in this series coming soon, including "Four Children Lost Between Censuses" and "The Smoking Gun Document."
Ready to Discover Your Family's Story?
Every family has mysteries waiting to be solved. Census records that don't match. Family legends that seem impossible. Brothers who vanished from history. Children lost between enumerations.
Storyline Genealogy specializes in complex multi-generational research, blended family reconstruction, Irish famine genealogy, and BCG-compliant case studies that honor both rigor and heart.