Tuesday, June 13 2016

Well the past weekend was windy and wet and chilly so staring it off with a Genealogy meeting was perfect. Well, once I got inside after stepping my sandalled foot deep into "Lake Inferior" in the parking lot things were fine. Ugh. It was the AGM but the business portion proceeded quickly and efficiently and we're good to go for another year at BIFHSGO.

The Great Moments presented by four members were wonderful and good motivation to keep on seeking. To that end I spend considerable time online pursuing the Irish connection - notably the Byrnes. At times, like now, I think I could work on genealogy 24/7 and still be constantly busy. As it is, a hobby, it keeps me out of trouble.

In all good faith and based on location, right down to the townland of Coolross and the familiar names I started looking more into the family of Whelans who lived in a now-ruined small stone house in what is now a corn field. It is known as Nanny Whelan's place. I was sure this was a related branch but, not so fast ...

Nanny Whelan, whose real name was Annie, was blind yet she was the guardian and substitute parent for her younger siblings. From what I've heard she did a fine job of carrying out her responsibilities. Anyway her parents were Bridget Byrne and Owen Whelan. Head of the household according to the 1901 census was a Michael Byrne. His age and the location had led me to believe he was the son of Michael Byrne and Cath McGuire. On this basis I had assumed Bridget to have been his sister. Well, I was wrong.

Now that so many Catholic parish registers are indexed and online, I decided to look up the marriage of Bridget to Owen Whelan. To my surprise, Bridget's father was Moses Byrne of Coolross. Whoa! That changes everything. So I made the appropriate changes in the family tree, disconnecting them from "our" Michael but leaving the Whelan family intact. Moses' wife was Anne James. So - another question has arisen? Was Moses any relation to our Byrnes? Was it a coincidence of geography to be on the same townland? Byrne is the most common surname in Co Wicklow so this is quite likely to be a coincidence. Anne James is almost certainly the daughter of one of the James family who were tenant landlords in the area. Now I wonder if I should bark up that tree too?

Nanny Whelan apparently would often walk over to what is now Jim Byrne's place at Coolross. Oh to be able to chat with these folks for a few hours!

I found Bridget to have had a brother Michael and a sister Catherine. As far as I can tell, neither married. Catherine had an illegitimate daughter, Mary, who also lived with the Whelans. Having visited the ruins of their home I wonder whether they all slept on hooks on the wall. It certainly was not spacious when you think of so many residents.

So - will I find a blood connection to Nanny Whelan? or her father Moses Byrne? I'm guessing not, as the name Moses was never used in my family nor in Jim's. I suppose we can be grateful for that.

Wandering down other avenues on Sunday I had a lovely chat with Mary and Oliver Harte. They are looking forward to my visit next winter and Mary and I will probably have a few little adventures find the various homes that relatives once occupied. Mary told me of her lovely uncle Patrick, a carpenter, who lived at Three Wells in Aughrim.

A little aside here, a home once owned and probably built by Patrick Byrne, at Three Wells in Aughrim is currently owned by a family of O'Byrnes. In recent times the son, also a Patrick, was arrested and charged for shooting his father. Whoa again. Now I'm happy NOT to be related to that bunch.

Meanwhile, back on track. I also called Tom Byrne at the Rocktavern to see if he knew the name of the missing Byrne brother - son of Luke Byrne and Kate Doyle. The youngest of their sons was James, a seventh son. He was always known as 'the doctor'. I had the names of 5 of his brothers but was missing a name. Tom figures it had to have been Luke as the name was used, and is still used, in the family. What turned up in research was a second son named John - brother to Tom's father John. The two Johns were born a year apart in 1891 and 1892. At this moment I don't recall which was which. But was one of these actually a Luke? or was it an infant death and the second John 'reused' the name. This was not uncommon at the time as my grandmother Agnes McGrath was named for an older sister who had died in infancy a couple of years before her birth.

So - just when I think I'm solving a mystery another one begins. I wonder where my next investigations will take me.