Lost Uncles

Did you ever lose an uncle? In genealogy research I have encountered at least four "lost" uncles. One of them, Richard Corbett, was the subject of a previous post. (See Lost in the California Gold Rush entry)  But there are others: Andrew Bresnahan, Michael Farrell and brother John Farrell and William Corbett.  I found Richard Corbett through a website that carries an  index of the "Missing Friends" ads that were placed in the Boston Pilot by immigrants seeking their lost relatives. Patrick Corbett brother to Richard, placed two ads looking for him after he had gone to California. (This resource full text is available on Ancestry.com and the index on Missing Friends Ads Index Boston Pilot )

Andrew Bresnahan is a "double uncle". He occurs only in his marriage record in 1854 to my great grand aunt Mary Leary (sister to my great grandfather James Leary)  Perhaps my great grandfather met his future spouse, Andrew's sister Julia, at that wedding. They were married in 1863. Andrew and Mary had only one son Cornelius Andrew born about 1856. After that Andrew disappears - he is not in any US census including the 1860 one. His immigration record has not been found. He doesn't appear in a city directory for either Manchester, NH - where they were married or Fishkill where his son was born or Concord NH where his wife's family lived. Where did he go? The mystery deepens when a search (for entire US) of the 1860 census for a child named Cornelius Andrew Bresnahan with mother Mary and father Andrew does not come up with the family. If Andrew died before 1860 where are his wife and child? Both wife and child are alive in 1860 since they are in subsequent census records. The family only surfaces in the 1870 census when Cornelius is living with his aunt Julia and uncle James Leary in Concord, NH. His mother is working nearby as a maid and is a widow. There is no death record in NH that fits Andrew.

Michael and John Farrell are brothers to my great great grandmother Mary Agnes Farrell Shea. She and her sister Bridget Farrell Flanigan, placed a "Missing Friends" ad in the Boston Pilot in Sept 1855 looking for Michael  It says that their brother left Limerick in July on the ship Clare in 1850 which docked in  New York City. That ship's passenger list has a Michael 22 but also a John 13 accompanied by a Mary, age 40 who might be their oldest sister Margaret (Mary seems to be part of all the girls' names)  It is odd if this is true that the sisters did not name them also in their ad. It says that Michael is from Mungret about 2 miles from Limerick city. They indicate his mother Mary Catherine had received a letter 9 months ago from him from Ohio. (This would indicate she might have also immigrated and a Mary Farrell of right age died in 1854 in Burlington VT. )They thought he was in "Creamwell, Paulding Co Ohio" There is no town of that name but there is a Carryall in Paulding Co. There, however, the trail gets cold - four men named Michael appear in the Ohio marriage records between 1854 and 1864 and some of them can be tracked in the census but which one, if any,  is our Michael? There may be some Farrell cousins in Ohio but where is a question?

William Corbett is youngest child of several listed in the 1860 census living with Anastasia Corbett mother of Patrick, Richard and Dominic Corbett (my great grandfather) I can verify the identity of the girls Johannah and Ellen from baptism records in their hometown in Kilkenny but there is no William baptized in that town born around 1842. It is possible he is not the son of Anastasia. I do not know when the family immigrated but in the Massachusetts state census in 1855 only the two sons Patrick and Dominick are listed with their mother. Johanah, Ellen and William disappear from records after 1865 when these three appear with their mother under an incorrect last name of Champlin rather than Corbett. A number of William Corbett's live in Massachusetts but marriage records show none with a father and mother than match this family. What happened? Did William die in the Civil War? of disease? His sisters are harder to find since they probably married and none in Massachusetts records have parents that match this family. 

Motherlines: documenting the women in our family tree.

Genealogy tends to follow back the paternal lines - father and mother to their grandfathers with the grandmothers sometimes only there as "Mrs." or only with a first name without their maiden names. It is interesting to do a "motherline" on the women in the family and since we are coming up on Mother's day I thought I would do just that.

This "motherline" needs their maiden names (which of course is the last name of their father - not their mother). I don't have any families with hyphenated names or with women who kept their own names. However on my paternal grandmother's side I am blessed by being from a culture (French Canadian) where women were often referred to in records by their maiden names (most Canadian census, baptism, marriage and sometimes death records). On my maternal Irish side I have had to rely on very unreliable marriage, baptism and death records to find the elusive maiden name. Even a missing person newspaper ad provided one name. Occasionally in searching census records a researcher can find a relative living with the family who reveals the woman's maiden name especially if the census notes the relationship to the head of house: in-laws, siblings, nephew or nieces, etc.

Mary Margaret Leary at the Lakes of Killarney near where her paternal grandparents lived.

Here are my "motherlines" beginning with my maternal grandmother Kathryn Grace Corbett mother of my mother Mary Margaret Leary.(1907-1994)

• Kathryn Grace Corbett (1873-1860) daughter of Mary Bridget Shea 
• Mary Bridget Shea   (1844-1924) daughter of Mary Agnes Farrell
• Mary Agnes Farrell (1818-1886) daughter of Catherine Supple 
• Catherine Supple (ca.1790-ca.1850) where the line ends somewhere in Limerick Co. Ireland  Her father's name is of Norman origin and found in Limerick from the 13th century. Her mother's name is unknown. Her name is from baptism records of siblings of her daughter Mary Agnes. 

Mary Agnes Farrell and Mary Bridget Shea came to St. Johnsbury, Vermont from Limerick. Some records indicate that Catherine Supple might have immigrated with her son John Farrell to Ohio.

The maiden names are retreived from baptism, some marriage and death records. A missing persons' ad published in the Boston Pilot identified Mary Agnes Farrell's sister Bridget who lived in the same town and made finding her baptism record in Ireland easier. Her mother's maiden name was on the record.

Here is the "motherline" of my paternal grandmother Ida Emma Desrosiers. (on right)

• Ida Emma Desrosiers (Moreau dite Desrosiers) (1873-1924) daughter of Adelaide Raymond (dite Toulouse) 
• Adelaide Raymond (1852-1915) daughter of Salome Dupuis
• Salome Dupuis (1822-1907)  daughter of Marie Montminy 
• Marie Montminy (Montmesnil) (1788-1827) daughter of Francoise Remillard
• Francoise Remillard (1756-1809) daughter of Clothilde Denis (dite LaPierre)
• Clothilde Denis (1740-about 1760) daughter of Marie Jeanne Clement (dite LaBonte)
• Marie Jeanne Clement (1704-1758) daughter of Marie Jeanne Morisset
• Marie Jeanne Morisset (1683-1756) daughter of Jeanne Choret(te)
• Jeanne Choret (1652-1718) daughter of Sebastiene Veillion
• Sebastiene Veillion (1626-1698) ,  daughter of Bernarde Venet
• Bernarde Venet (1599-1657) in Verdille, France where the line ends and whose mother's name is unknown Her name is from her daughter's marriage record in 1647.

Salome Dupuis immigrated to Highgate Vermont Quebec  around 1850 from St. Valentin, Quebec. 

Sebastiene Veillion born in Verdille, Vienne, France immigrated to Beauport Quebec via LaRochelle France where she married in 1647.

The maiden names of all these women come from marriage records as well as baptism records where they are carefully noted. For an explanation of dit names google my blog on that topic.

Lost in Limerick

Finding the Irish ancestors once you get "over the pond" can be difficult if not impossible. My Shea and Farrell side are from Limerick according to information on a family gravestone and family oral tradition. Tracking them down was a combination of serendipity and detective work.

Mary Agnes Shea and granddaughter

Michael Shea and wife Mary Agnes Farrell left Ireland with (according to family tradition) their daughter Mary Bridget, my great grandmother. She was too young to remember Ireland or the voyage. They had at least 5 or 6 other children. Tracking the census information on all of the children led to the discovery that Mary Bridget's brother Michael was also born in Ireland. There is another Shea family in St. Johnsbury VT where Michael and Mary Agnes settled: Patrick Shea and wife Hannah Haley. They are buried in St. Johnsbury and were researched to see if there was a connection. So far none has been proved.

During the famine many ships went from Limerick directly to Canada. Since Canada was part of Britain the passage was cheaper.  No statistics exist on how many people in the Limerick area died during the famine. Nationally, the population declined by an average of 20%, half of whom died and half emigrated. While the Great Famine reduced the population of County Limerick  by 70,000, the population of the City actually rose slightly, as people fled to the workhouses Ships berthed on the Limerick quaysides ready to transport produce from one of the most fertile parts of Ireland, the Golden Vale , to the English ports. Francis Spaight, a Limerick merchant, farmer, British magistrate and ship owner, recorded 386,909 barrels of oats, and 46,288 barrels of wheat being shipped out of Limerick between June 1846 and May 1847. Giving evidence to a British parliament  select committee  inquiring into the famine, Spaight said that: "I found so great an advantage of getting rid of the pauper population upon my own property that I made every possible exertion to remove them ... I consider the failure of the potato crop to be the greatest possible value in one respect in enabling us to carry out the emigration system." The same quaysides were the departure point for many emigrant ships sailing over the Atlantic. (see the Wikipedia article on Limerick)

Immigrants were often promised that they would receive help on arrival but this was usually not forthcoming. Walking over the border into Vermont was possible and tempting. Once the railroad started running between NH and VT and Canada that was another way immigrants arrived. In a report by the trustees of a Vermont "poor farm" (a place for indigent people where they assisted with farm work in return for board and room) in the 1850's it expressed alarm at the influx of immigrants. The trustees felt they were coming just to take advantage of the benefits offered by the county poor farm. Some men left their families in Canada and went ahead of them. Since the Shea family wound up in Caledonia Co. Vermont on the east side of the state it is possible that they crossed  into Newport, Orleans Co. They were one of the lucky families if they did come through Canada. Many of those immigrants wound up in quarantine on Grosse Isle and died there from fever. Fear of immigrants was also connected to a fear that they brought contagious diseases.

The first census of a family that fits them is in 1850 in Newbury, Orange Co, Vermont.   Michael O'Shay 34 b. Ireland 1816, Mary O'Shay 34 born Ireland 1816, John 10 b. 1840 Ireland, Mary 7 born 1843,  Ireland, Michael 4 born Ireland 1846 and Bridget 1 born Vermont 1849. This would give them an arrival date of 1847 Ages and names fit except for eldest and youngest. No death record has been found for Bridget but it would explain a John mentioned in the will of Michael Shea in 1881. (Mary was Mary Bridget) This census also has a  Patrick and Hannah Haley Shay spelled Chay - they live near the O'Shay family in Newbury. They also movcd down to St. Johnsbury. On their gravestone it notes their origin in Ballysheane, Co. Clare. (not far from the Limerick border).

By 1860 both families are living in or near St. Johnsbury. Michael and his family are in Lydon on a farm near the city which remained in the family until the 1920's. Their name gets mangled in the census and appears as Chay.  He is listed as 33 but was probably older. He is a RR laborer. Mary b. 1843-44 is listed as born in Ireland and the other children in Vt. (Later evidence shows that 2 children were born in Ireland) There is no John listed in the family but a John P. Shay age 21 is living in Lyndon in John Darling's hotel  that year. His occupation is painter and his birthplace is listed as Canada East.  Michael owns $1200 worth of real estate in 1870 and is listed as a farmer.  According to family oral tradition Mary Agnes was a midwife as was her daughter Mary Bridget. Both spoke Irish and Mary Bridget absorbed many of the Irish folklore and stories which she passed to her children. She believed in the "little people" and would leave some milk by the door for them. (Making neighborhood cats very happy)

The most important clue to exactly where in Limerick the family came was an "Missing Friends" ad in the Boston Pilot which read: "MICHAEL FARRELL, of parish Mungret, 2 miles from the city of Limerick, who sailed from Limerick in ship Clare, in July, `50. He wrote to his mother about 9 months ago, when he was in Creamwell, Paulding co, Ohio. Please address his sisters Bridget Flanagan and Mary O`Shea, care of Mich Flanagan, St Johnsbury, Vt.  Sept 22, 1855 "  http://infowanted.bc.edu/.  

The ad may indicate that Catherine Farrell their mother was living with or near the Flanagan or Shea families since it refers to a letter received in 1855 from Ohio. A ship passenger list for the Clare arriving on  August 23, 1850 from Limerick Ireland into NYC were John Farrell 13, Mary age 40 and Michael age 22 .  Michael would fit the profile as would his brother John. Is the Mary his older sister Mary Margaret? There is a death record for a Catherine Farrell born 1792 who dies in Burlington in 1857. While this might fit Catherine Supple Farrell her husband is listed as Murt not Michael.

I had no record for my Mary Agnes that showed her parents but when Bridget Farrell Flanagan died Vermont death records list her parents  as Michael and Kate. Unfortunately early records from the parish of Mungret are not available but from the clues in this ad, a search of Limerick records database through brsgenealogy.com  yielded   a Bridget, Margaret and Ellen whose father is Michael and mother is Catherine Supple -b. 1817, 1814 and 1820 in Ballybricken and Bohermore Limerick. (not far from Mungret about 8 miles from Limerick City)   Her sister, Mary Agnes , born  earlier (1812-16) does not appear. The same site gave me the baptism records in Mungret for several of Bridget's children (she and her husband Michael Flanigan were married in Ireland. The same parish had Michael Shea, son of Michael and Mary Farrell baptized in September of 1845. No records were available for his older sister Mary Bridget Shea. Since the records start about that time the marriage record for my great great grandparents will probably not be retrievable but it is likely it was around 1840.

Mungret today is a suburb of the city of Limerick http://www.limerickcity.ie/media/mun004.pdf had almost 3500 inhabitants in the 19th century when the Sheas and Flanagans lived there. It was on the road to Adare.  One of the earliest monastic settlements was founded here going back into the earliest days of Christianity here. In the middle ages there was a large abbey with six churches and as many as 1500 monks. The abbey was a magnet for Viking raids and was destroyed at least 5 times between the 9th and 11th century by Vikings, fire and other raiders. For Mungret map see: http://www.maplandia.com/ireland/mid-west/limerick/mungret/.

Ballybricken and Bothermore were farming areas eight miles from Limerick City. http://ukga.org/ireland/Limerick/towns/CahirellyorBallybricken.html  It was smaller than Mungret having about 1400 inhabitants. A mid 19th century description writes: "CAHIRELLY, or BALLYBRICKEN, a parish, in the barony of CLANWILLIAM, county of LIMERICK, and province of MUNSTER, 8 miles (S. S. E.) from Limerick; containing 1346 inhabitants. This place appears to be of considerable antiquity, and its church is said to have been founded by St. Ailbe, Bishop of Emly, in the time of St. Patrick; it would also appear to have attained an early degree of importance, as three castles were erected within its limits. The parish is situated on the river Comogue, by which it is bounded on the south; the mail coach road from Limerick to Cork passes within a quarter of a mile of its western extremity; and it is intersected from north to south by the road from Limerick to Hospital. It comprises 2636 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, of which 33 acres are roads and waste, and the remainder arable, pasture, and meadow land, of which last a great portion is frequently overflowed by the river. the western portion is rich grazing land, mostly belonging to large dairy farms, and the greater part of the eastern portion is in the occupation of small farmers, and is generally cultivated by spade labour. "

Let's hear it for the Irish matriarchs!

On Mothers’ Day it is appropriate for a genealogist to look at her matrilineal lines – the mothers of our mothers and grandmothers. In the family tree I am working on,  my Irish female ancestors are few as the line only goes back to the late 18^th century. 

Mary Margaret Leary & Maureen

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Mary Margaret Leary (1907-1994) married Elphege Chicoine 1935, St. Albans, VT. Born in Concord, NH. Graduated high school in St. Johnsbury, VT and worked as a bookkeeper there for the Fairbanks Scale factory.Moved to St. Albans in the 1920's and worked for the Immigration and Naturalization Service.Met her husband through her brother. They had two daughters Maureen and  Sheila named for the Irish version of family names Mary and Julia. She lived in Schenectady NY when her husband started working for GE during the second World War. She was a stay at home Mom, When she was 75 she fulfilled a life long dream of visiting Ireland. When her husband retired she moved to Glenville, NY and then to Reston, VA to be near her daughter Sheila and her family.

Kathryn Grace Corbett ca. 1893.

Kathryn Grace Corbett (1873-1961) Mary Margaret’s mother married James T. Leary 1904 St. Johnsbury, VT. Kathryn worked as a maid for one of the Fairbanks family (as did her sister). Her father was a carpenter in the Fairbanks scale factory. She had at least an 8^th grade education. Loved to travel, write letters and wanted her daughters as well as her sons to have more education. She attended the Chicago exposition in 1893 traveling by train. She was married in a double wedding with her sister Mamie and the couples traveled to the 1904 St. Louis World’s fair on their honeymoon.

Mary Bridget Shea Corbett with Mary Margaret

Mary Bridget Shea (1844-1924) Kathryn’s mother,  married Dominick Corbett 1867 St. Johnsbury VT. Born in Limerick and immigrated with her family when about 3 or 4. Family tradition is that she and her mother were midwives. She was left a widow with 3 small children to raise in 1877 and took in boarders to supplement family income (Civil War pension from her husband) Her daughter Kathryn probably met her future husband James T. Leary when he boarded in her mother’s house.

Mary Agnes Farrell (1815-1888) Mary Bridget’s mother, married Michael Shea ca. 1839 Limerick Ireland and  immigrated from Mungret, Limerick in the famine years 1848-1850. She came with her husband and at least two small children: Michael and Mary Bridget. They brought with them a white lace trimmed baptism gown still used by the family today.

Mary Catherine Supple (ca. 1790-abt 1850) Mary Agnes’ mother, married Michael Farrell ca.1813 Limerick Ireland. He probably died in Ireland. She immigrated with sons Michael and John to US when in her 60’s. She may have died in either Ohio where Michael settled or in Vermont where her daughters Mary Agnes and Bridget were living.

Mothers and grandmothers of James and John Leary, Dominick Corbett

Julia Bresnahan, (1839-1926) mother of James T. Leary, was born somewhere in Ireland and immigrated in the 1850’s with her mother Margaret and sister Honora. In 1860 she is living in Manchester, NH working in a textile mill with her mother, sister, and two other probably related Bresnahans. She spoke Irish. She may have met her husband, James Leary through her brother Andrew who married his sister Mary. She settled in Concord NH after her marriage. She raised her deceased brother’s son and cared for her elderly in-laws and seven children.

Abbie (Gobnait, Juliana) Callahan (1800-1875) grandmother of James T. Leary, was born either in Kerry or Cork. She married James Leary’s grandfather, John in Ireland about 1828 and they had at least 6 children. Two of her daughters Mary and Hannah left for America perhaps accompanied by  John around 1848. One son died in Ireland. She, John with sons James and John, and daughter Catherine  immigrated  in 1853. They landed at the current South Street Seaport in New York City and traveled to New Hampshire to join her other daughters Mary and Hannah. She spoke Irish. When she died in 1875 she left nearly $500 in the bank in her own name. Her husband and son went to court to get access to the money and used it to buy a burial plot, pay for her funeral and erect a monument that says: Abbie Callahan (large letters) wife of John Leary (smaller letters). Unfortunately her death record does not give her parents names.

Hannah Walsh (Welsh) (ca. 1770-1840) mother of John Leary who was born in Kerry about 1798. She and her husband James may also have been from Kerry or may have moved there at the end of the 18^th century from Cork. They were married in Ireland and may have had other children. She did not immigrate to the US. She probably was an Irish speaker.

Margaret Fleming (1799-before 1870) mother of Julia Bresnahan married Corneilius Bresnahan around 1825 in Ireland. She may have been a widow before she immigrated with her two daughters. She probably worked with them in the textile mills. She spoke Irish. She had at least three children.

Anastasia (Anty) Grace (1792-1873) mother of Dominick Corbett had lost her husband John sometime before 1850. They were probably married around 1825.  She immigrated with Dominick and son Patrick  from Turkstown, Kilkenny Ireland about 1854 to Taunton, MA. Her mother was Mary but no maiden name was written on her daughter's death record. She was not an Irish speaker. She and her sons seemed to have had some education. One son, Richard, a sailor went to the gold fields of California, three other children immigrated between 1855 and 1860 and are living with her in Taunton that year: Ellen, Johanna and William.