The Cremins Family-USA

Bweeing, Co. Cork – Ireland

The is the known history of the children of Jeremiah Cremin and Mary Buckley that immigrated to the United States.  All came to California.

Ellen, Lizzie and Denis came to San Francisco.  There was an uncle named James Riordan at 309 Austin St. in San Francisco who was the responsible party in the US for Ellen.  Ellen’s address, 2611 Broadway in San Francisco, was listed as the destination for Lizzie and Denis.  Nora, Eugene, Mary and John came to Los Angeles area.  Denis and Ellen were their responsible parties.  Mary and Eugene came together.  Lizzie (Elizabeth) eventually returned to Ireland, but the time and date of her return is unknown.

Family members in Ireland have the surname Cremin, but in the US most adopted the name Cremins.  It is not known when the “s” was added by the US branch of the family.  There are several stories as to how this happened.  Some say a paycheck was made out to last name of Cremins, and in those days checks had to be endorsed exactly as the payee name on the face of the check.  Another tale was that fellow workers called the males by the last name and the “s” seemed to attach.

Below is biographical data on each of the children.

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Ellen Cremin

Ellen Cremin married James Diffley.  James was from County Roscommon. They had four children: Walter, May, Helen and Joseph.  They lived in several California locations, including Holtville, and the cities of Los Angeles, Lennox, and Hawthorne, in Los Angeles county.  James worked for the gas company, and had his own farm on which he raised turkeys and did general farming.  James died at an early age, leaving Ellen with four children to raise.

Ellen was affectionately known to the family as “Helen.”  She worked very hard and long hours to maintain her family.  She did this for many years.  The children all pulled their weight, and each child was very successful in their life vocation.

After James’s death, Helen met a very fine gentleman, William Trenkle, who had also lost his mate.  He too had four children, Edward, Mary Margaret, Thomas and Katherine.  William and Helen were married and had some of each family living at home.  Unfortunately, Katherine died before she was 20 years old.

“Will,” as he was known to the family, was a railroader and lived many years in Death Valley where he worked on the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad.  With the rest of the family living in Hawthorne, Will and Helen had to commute between Death Valley and Hawthorne to be together.

Will and Helen ultimately sold the Hawthorne property and purchased a wonderful old two-story house in Inglewood.  The house was formerly a funeral home!  Will eventually retired from railroading and settled down to casual living.  He was never idle, always had some small job or project.

The children of Ellen Cremin and James Diffley:

Walter was a chemical engineer.  Mae married John O’Connell.  Helen married Eugene O’Callaghan and lived in San Francisco.  Joseph worked for the US Marine Corp. in Barstow, CA.

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Lizzie Cremin

Little is known about Lizzie other than she returned to Ireland.

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Denis Cremin

Denis Cremin married Anne Kelly who was from Co. Louth, and they raised six children, Marie, Anna, Robert, Eileen, Denis, Alice and Jeremiah Patrick.  Denis also worked for the gas co.  For some short period of time they lived in Pasadena, CA.  The house they rented is still a good structure.  Denis for a period of time was a Pasadena police officer, and part of the time he was a mounted officer.  He went on to become a Los Angeles police officer for twenty-three years.  He worked many assignments, foot beat, traffic control, jailer, and radio patrol cars.

The children of Denis Cremin and Anne Kelly:

Robert died when he was quite young, a pre teen.  Anna became a sister of the St. Joseph of Carondalet order, taking the religious name of Sister Pancratius.  Alice also had the same calling and took the name of Sister Denis Anne.  Marie and Eileen went on to become registered nurses.  They both married.  Denis worked in the construction field after serving in both the US Navy and Coast Guard.  He did not marry.  Jeremiah became a Los Angeles labor leader.

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Nora Cremin

Not much is known about Nora.  There always seemed to be hushed voices when her name was brought up.  It is known that she is buried in Calvary Cemetery, Los Angeles, but there is no written documentation as to this.  Further information can be found elsewhere in the Cremins family history.  Marie Cremins Murphy had some recall of her and said that she thought Nora had married a man named Duffy.

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Eugene Cremin

Eugene married Katherine Riordan who was from Co. Kerry.  They had five children – Aileen (who died as an infant), Eugene, John, Harold, and Daniel.

The children of Eugene Cremin and Katherine Riordan:

Eugene was an all around worker, early on he worked for the Grinnell Co. in Los Angeles.  Grinnell installed fire sprinkler systems and other types of plumbing.  From there Eugene (Gene) did some years as a bartender and a very good one at that, much to his mother’s chagrin.  He eventually became a lay brother at the Benedictine monastery in Valyermo, Los Angeles County, and is buried in the Benedictine cemetery at the same location.

John was ordained as a catholic priest for the diocese of Los Angeles.  He was multi-talented.  Liturgical music was a big part of his life.  He had several degrees in music, including a doctorate.  He was a parish priest, became a very good friend of Bob Hope, the comedian, and his wife, Delores.  He was a pastor of Nativity church in Torrance, CA.   He was also an educator at Bishop Amat high school in La Puente, CA.  John was the director of music for the archdiocese of Los Angeles, teaching at the seminary in Camarillo.  He was widely known for his musical talent and humor.  John was honored with the title of monsignor.  He is buried along side of his parents in Calvary cemetery in Los Angeles.

Harold also became an ordained priest for the diocese of Los Angeles.  He served in many parish assignments and was also a teacher, and pastor of St. Margaret Mary parish in Lomita, CA.  He was a legend in that parish.  During this time he had a change of direction and left the active ministry.  Ultimately he moved to Washington D.C. where he lived for some years.  When Harold died his remains were cremated and are interred in Calvary cemetery in Los Angeles with his parents.

Daniel was also ordained a catholic priest for the diocese of Los Angeles.  “Danny” also served in several parish assignments, including an assignment in Palmdale.  While there, he too took a change in direction and left the active ministry, going to work for the county of Los Angeles in the desert area in the probation department.  Danny is buried in the cemetery in Palmdale.

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Mary Cremin

Mary Cremin, married Corneilus Guiney, a native of Co. Cork.  They had three children - Mae, Veronica, and Timothy.  Mary and Con lived in San Francisco.  Con was the owner of a coal yard, which also sold other fuels.  He was known for his generosity.  Mary died young, leaving Con with three young ones. All did well and all married and had children.

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John Cremin

John was the youngest of the family.  He had an older brother, Jeremiah , who died in infancy.  John married Margaret Smyth in Los Angeles.  Margaret was a native of Co. Wexford.  John worked for the Los Angeles Gas and Electric Co.  This company sold its electrical holdings to the city of Los Angeles.  It was then known as L.A. Gas Co.  Shortly after the sale of the electric holdings the gas company merged with the Southern California Gas Co.  John worked for the gas company for some twenty six years until he was afflicted with Parkinson’s disease, from which he suffered for some twenty years.

John and Margaret had one child, John J. Jr., the author of this family history article.  John Jr. is known to all the family as “Jerry”.  Jerry became a Los Angeles police officer and retired from the detective bureau after 30 years of service.