Rev Joseph Anthony Tytheridge (1896 – 1952) – The Catholic Priest

Rev Joseph Anthony Tytheridge of New York

Early in our research, in 1989, someone told us about a catholic priest in America who had been in correspondence with their cousin in the 1950s.  It was many years before we finally identified the priest and only recently that we have traced his Tytheridge family tree back to England.

The family tree of this American priest can be traced back to John who was born in Brasted, Kent in 1797  In various records his surname is spelt Tytheridge, Tutheridge, Titheridge and Tetheridge; the first two being the most prevalent.  We have not been able to establish if this John is related to the Titheridges in Hampshire or if this is a completely different family group with the same name.

John’s grandson was responsible for taking the Tytheridge surname to the USA. John’s grandson, Joseph Tytheridge, was born in Chislehurst, Kent in 1868 and his brother Walter William Tytheridge was born in Chislehurst in 1869.  In 1888 both boys set sail from Liverpool to New York arriving in the USA on 23 April 1888  on the “Umbria”.  On the passenger list Joseph is shown as a 21 year old bricklayer and Walter as a 20 year old mason.

Walter obviously did not settle to life in USA and by the 1901 census he had returned to England and was married to Lizzie. He died in 1952 in Woolwich, London. 

Joseph, on the other hand settled in New York and worked as a brick mason.  He married Mary Bell on 22 September 1895 in Manhattan. They lived all their lives in New York with Joseph dying in 1935 in Manhattan and Mary in 1947 in the Bronx.  Joseph and Mary had 3 children Joseph Anthony born 6 May 1896, Walter born 1897 and died in childhood and Henry born 10 September 1903. Henry married Rita A Connelly on 9 September 1936 in Manhattan.  Henry died in January 1962 in New York and he and Rita had no known children.

Records show that Joseph became a theology scholar and entered St Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoodie, New York.  In October 1920  he went to Rome and spent 3 years there pursuing studies at the North American College, Rome.  He returned to the USA on 23 July 1923 having travelled back via Southampton returning on the ship “Leviathan”.  He worked as a catholic priest in St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, his exact years of service are unknown but he was definitely in post between 1929 and 1939. In 1940 he became temporary pastor of The Church of St Clare, Straten Island New York, due to the ill health of the regular pastor and when the pastor returned to work Joseph remained as Assistant Pastor.


 

Joseph died on 27 June 1952 aged 56.

We found this quote from Rev Joseph A Tytheridge which is still so true today
“Prejudice, ignorance, bitterness and, above all selfishness are the great obstacles to peace in people, groups and nations.”