52 Ancestors - FAVORITE PHOTO: Helen and the Byrnes Cousins

Asking me to choose a favorite photo is like asking me to pick a favorite child. I will show you one today, but tomorrow that may change. Right now my favorite photo is this one of my grandaunt Helen Killeen Parker.

Aunt Helen
she captioned this "The Vamp"

I knew her only in her older years, so this photo of her in a 1920s swim dress with a hand-crank gramophone in the great outdoors has made me see her in a different light. But the real reason I love the photo is that I love HER and the legacy she left behind in the form of scrapbooks and loose photos. They make me want to know more about my dad’s side of the family, but Helen did not make it easy. Very few of Helen’s photos are labeled, so it has been a slow process eking out the small details to help me formulate a story of the Sheehan sisters who emigrated from Ireland to New York in the 1880s. For the most part, the family is still a mystery.

LOOKING BACK TO WEEK 2 OF 2019

Last year at this time when the 52 Ancestors theme was “Challenge,” I wrote about the challenge of finding 2 unnamed nephews mentioned in the obituary of Sr Vincent Carmel, aka Sadie Byrnes, Helen’s cousin and daughter of Elizabeth Sheehan Byrnes, my great-grandmother’s sister. Here I am a year later, writing about the same thing, but this year the story has a different ending.

All I knew last year was this:  when Sadie died in 1973, she was survived by 2 nieces and 2 nephews. I knew the girls were Madeline and Patricia, daughters of Sadie’s brother John. John died young in 1925, and his widow remarried. I wondered if she had children with her new husband Joseph P. Maloney or if one of Sadie’s other brothers had children.

DNA COMES CALLING

A short couple of weeks ago, a man (I’ll call him “K”) whose DNA matched with my dad’s contacted me to figure out how we are related. The surnames in “K’s” database did not resemble mine at all. However, we both had Irish immigrant ancestors in New York, so I suspected there was a good chance that we might find a connection collaterally further up the chain. I gave him names:

• Johanna Sheehan and Patrick Hederman
• Margaret Sheehan and John Nagle
• Elizabeth Sheehan and Patrick Byrnes  (parents of John, Sadie, Robert, and others)
• Delia Sheehan and William Christian 

Mine was not “K’s” only match nor only contact. He found John Byrnes’ granddaughter (I’ll call her “M”) and pointed her to my blog. She wrote to thank me for sharing this photo of her grandfather.

 

Labeled "Jack" - a nickname for John
John Byrnes 1919

THOSE MYSTERY NEPHEWS

“M” also helped solve the mystery of the unnamed nephews. Well, part of it anyway. John Byrnes’ widow Madeline and her second husband Joseph P. Maloney had two sons: Joseph Jr and Robert. While that seemed to fit the facts of Sadie Byrnes’ obituary, Robert had been killed during the Korean War so would not have been one of the surviving nephews. Joseph Jr is still living, making him one of the two. But who was the other one? “M” had no suggestions because her family did not keep up with the other Byrnes brothers.

THE PLOT THICKENS AND SO DOES THE MYSTERY

labeled "Cousin Bob"
Robert Byrnes 1919

“K” was searching for the REAL father of a man with whom he matched DNA. In so doing, he found brother Robert Byrnes whose common name and lack of other details had caused confusion in my tree for a while. It turns out that Robert had a wife, Mary Dempsey, and a son and daughter. Of course, that just threw off Sadie’s survivor count which had said 2 nieces and 2 nephews. Unless Robert’s daughter died before 1973, there were 3 nieces and 2 nephews.

But not so fast! “K” found more. It seems ol’ Robert was a bit of a rascal. He fathered a child with wife Mary’s sister Helen who was also married at the time. And there it is – the point where Sheehan-Byrnes-Dempsey DNA reared its Irish head. “K” found the answer to his question.

Robert was not finished though. He fathered children with another woman whom he finally married in 1963 just one month before his own death.

How did the obituary get it so wrong? Sadie’s close family were the children and grandchildren of her brother John. They were not close with the other Byrnes brothers and therefore likely had no knowledge of Robert’s life.

While my favorite photo has nothing to do with this story, Helen is the one who made these discoveries possible.

Amy Johnson Crow continues to challenge genealogy bloggers and non-bloggers alike to think about our ancestors and share a story or photo about them. The challenge is “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.” 

Wendy

© 2020, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

52 Ancestors - CHALLENGE: In Search of Nephews

Speaking of CHALLENGE - How much time do you have? Nothing kicks my genealogy derriere harder or longer than my Irish ancestors. I plodded along unsuccessfully for years before Dara of Black Raven Genealogy handed me my first breakthrough: birth records for all of my great-grandmother Mary Theresa Sheehan Killeen Walsh’s sisters and brothers, some of whom I had never heard of, PLUS a marriage record for their parents.

Those records certainly provided the traction needed to get out of my rut.

A second breakthrough occurred when my aunt gave me my great-grandmother’s scrapbooks in which she had glued greeting cards from friends and family. A Christmas card signed by her niece Sadie Byrnes revealed her religious name: Sister Vincent Carmel. That enabled me to find an obituary.

And that brings me to my current challenge.

The obituary noted that Sr. Vincent Carmel, known affectionately to family as Sadie, was survived by two nieces and two nephews. Hmm. I knew of the nieces already. Her brother John and wife Madeline had two daughters, so that accounts for the two nieces. However, they were not the parents of two boys. Poor ol’ John died at the young age of 22 in 1925, the same year his second daughter was born.

John Byrnes
New York City 1919

Madeline remarried to a man who was a chauffeur, just as her husband John Byrnes had been. In the 1930 census, husband #2 appeared as Joseph MOLENEY. The Byrnes girls Madeline and Patricia were there in the household, but there were no little boys. The family was not to be found in 1940. In my grandaunt Helen’s wedding book is recorded a gift of silver candlesticks from “Mr. & Mrs. J. J.

Helen Killeen's wedding gifts book 1927

MAHONEY” of New York City. So I looked for Mahoney, Maloney, Moleney - nada. I looked for Madeline Byrnes and Patricia Byrnes. Nada. I looked for them with the Mahoney / Maloney / Moleney surnames. Nada.

So maybe the boys belonged to a different member of the Byrnes family. Mary Theresa’s sister Elizabeth and her husband Patrick Byrnes had six boys and one girl, Sadie. Let’s examine each one. We will skip Sadie since it was HER obituary that alerted me to the nephews.

Richard A. Byrnes was born in 1899 and died in 1932. His death record says he was single. Unless there is a family secret to uncover, he is off the list.

John Byrnes has already been eliminated.

William Byrnes died as an infant, living only 2 days in 1905.

Joseph Byrnes seemed to be a likely candidate, especially considering the wedding gift of six teaspoons to Aunt Helen from “Mr. & Mrs. J. Byrnes” of New York City. Helen married in 1927, so that “J” did not belong to John who died in 1925. In 1940 Joseph Byrnes supposedly was a credit man at a silk house. He and wife Elizabeth, a dental assistant, were boarding with Anna Kraft and others in the Bronx. Just when I thought I was making progress, along came a death record for Joseph Byrnes in 1935 with parents identified as Patrick Byrnes and Elizabeth Sheehan. As if to laugh in my face over the mistaken identity, this Joseph was also SINGLE. So the 1940 census record could not be for MY Joseph. I suppose it is possible Joseph married SOMEBODY and divorced before 1935, but no records have been found to support that.

Patrick and Sadie Byrnes
New York City 1919

Patrick Byrnes Jr. was the baby of the family having been born in 1911. He married Margaret Cook in 1937 but died in 1940. It is possible they had two children before his early death, but no records have been found yet.

"Atop the roof, New York. Cousin Bob & I"
Helen Killeen and cousin Robert Byrnes
New York City 1919

Then there’s Robert, actually child #2 whom I skipped on purpose. I knew a name like “Robert Byrnes” was going to be a challenge, especially since “Byrnes” was often spelled “Burns” or “Byrne.” Surprisingly it was not too difficult. I found him in Miami, Florida in 1935. I found a marriage record dated 1936 in Henderson, North Carolina for Robert Byrnes and Lorraine Garfunkel of Miami. They were in the Miami, Florida census in 1940. Lorraine was in the newspaper often because of her position as principal of an elementary school in Florida. She was an innovator in the school system and was often called on to speak at education conferences.

While Robert did not make the paper often, he sometimes was mentioned in the social columns, especially when they hosted a fund-raising event or a party for Lorraine’s niece upon her marriage. It turns out he was a boat captain and a Navy veteran.

I do not know what made me expand my search by using Lorraine’s maiden name, but I did, and that is when my little Byrnes family of Florida disintegrated. Lorraine’s wedding announcement made the news. It was one of those lengthy wedding announcements complete with portrait and detailed description of her gown, her flowers, and her traveling attire. The little mention of the groom noted that Robert, a native of Connecticut, was the son of THOMAS and MARY Byrnes. WHAT????

The next sound you hear is the swoosh of the folder of newspaper clippings being deleted from my database.

Back to the research drawing board. Maybe Robert married and had two boys. I surely hope so. Of course, it’s possible that Madeline Moleney/Maloney/Mahoney and Joseph had children. If I could just find them!

Amy Johnson Crow continues to challenge genealogy bloggers and non-bloggers alike to think about our ancestors and share a story or photo about them. The challenge is “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.”

Wendy

© 2019, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

Mystery Monday: Sadie's Family

Mystery Monday is a daily prompt at Geneabloggers that encourages bloggers to write about mystery ancestors or mystery records – anything in their genealogy and family history research which is currently unsolved.

Information about Robert Byrnes has been proven to be in error. Please disregard. His story has been updated HERE.

During the month of March, I am remembering my Irish ancestors by writing about my recent discoveries. The stories still qualify for “Mystery Monday” as there are so many questions yet unanswered.

Julia Walsh and Sadie Byrnes
between 1917-1920

I grew up with my cousins. We were close as children and remain so today. Even though my paternal grandmother’s cousins lived miles away in New York while she lived in Portsmouth, Virginia, my great-grandmother made sure her children knew their cousins by making frequent trips to New York. One of my favorite photos is of my granny with her cousin Sadie.

Another photo of Sadie was taken in 1969 when she visited her Portsmouth cousins. I had always heard that there was a nun in the family, and there she is. I tried unsuccessfully to trace her life as a Dominican nun, but without her religious name, no one could help me.

Sadie Byrnes August 1969 Williamsburg, VA
Sr. Vincent Carmel

Then a little bit of serendipity came my way. My aunt recently gave me Mary Theresa Sheehan Killeen Walsh’s scrapbooks where she had saved greeting cards. Several are from her loving niece “Sr. Vincent Carmel Byrnes.” In that one card I learned both Sadie’s religious name and the correct spelling of her last name. I had searched census records for “Sadie Burns” or “Sarah Burns” because that is how someone spelled it on the back of the photo.

I also had sought Sadie with a mother named Sarah. An old family chart identified one of Mary Theresa’s sisters as Sarah Burns. But the census records offered too many possibilities in some years and unlikely possibilities in other years, such as the one with Sadie still living at home at age 30. Surely MY Sadie would have been a nun by then.

The same scrapbooks came to the rescue with cards signed “Pat and Peggy Byrnes.”













Crossing my fingers in the hopes that Pat or Patrick was Sadie’s brother, I went to FamilySearch and entered “Patrick Byrnes” born in New York between 1890 and 1915 with a sibling named Sadie. One possibility looked especially promising. It was a 1920 Manhattan, New York census.   

from 1920 Manhattan, New York, New York census

Cousin Bob and Helen  1919
"Atop the roof, New York"

Looking at the children’s names, I recalled some photos belonging to my grandmother’s half-sister Helen Killeen Parker. The one of “Cousin Bob” with Helen “atop the roof New York” in 1919 is probably Robert who was born in 1901. He looks to have been about 18 in the photo.


Then “Cousin Jack” is probably John who was born about 1903.

"Cousin Jack"
possibly John Byrnes

The two younger children are not identified, but the girl resembles the early photo of Sadie. The boy appears to be younger, so maybe this is either Joseph or Patrick. They would have been about 10 if Joseph or 8 if Patrick; Sadie would have been about 11 or 12.

Cousins in New York 1919

Any thoughts that I was perhaps forcing the pictures to match the census dissipated when FamilySearch gave me a death record for Patrick Byrnes. Parents named were Patrick Byrnes and Elizabeth Sheehan. And just for good measure, the spouse was Margaret, for which Peggy is a common nickname. Ding Ding Ding I think we have a winner.

So Sadie’s mother was not Sarah after all. It was Elizabeth. The third daughter and fifth child of Daniel Sheehan and Bridget Gorman, Elizabeth was born in Croom in County Limerick, Ireland, April 18, 1871 and baptized in the Roman Catholic Church six days later. One point of confusion in the record, however, is that her parents were identified as Daniel Sheehan and Margaret Gorman, not Bridget as was recorded in every other birth and baptism record for this family. Whether this was an error on the part of the recorder or an indication of either her first or middle name is not known.  

Baptism record for Elizabeth Sheehan, daughter of Daniel Sheehan and Margaret Gorman
Ballingarry Diocese of Limerick
April 24, 1871
from Catholic Parish Registers at National Library of Ireland nli.ie

The New York census records are fairly consistent in details of Elizabeth’s and Patrick’s lives. Both came to the US in 1888 and were naturalized in 1896.  They married about 1897 and had 8 children, two of whom died before 1910. Patrick worked most of his life as a driver for a brewery although in one census he was a carpenter for the hospital.

As for the rest of the family, I have found only bits and pieces:

• Robert moved to Florida and worked as a boat captain. On July 22, 1936 he married Lorraine Garfunkel in Henderson, North Carolina. Their home though was in Miami, Florida. In 1940, Robert was a salesman of motorboat supplies. Lorraine was a public school principal.
• Joseph worked as a bank clerk according to the 1930 census. In 1940, he was boarding in a home in Bronx and working as a credit man for a silk house. His wife Elizabeth was a dental assistant.
• Patrick worked as a clerk in a silk factory. In 1937 he married Margaret Mary “Peggy” Cook. They were still just newlyweds, really, when he died three years later.

The Byrnes Family:

Elizabeth SHEEHAN (18 Apr 1871 Croom, Limerick, Ireland – After 1930 probably New York) & Patrick BYRNES (1868 Ireland – After 1930 probably New York) married about 1897 New York

1. Richard Aloysus BYRNES (9 Aug 1899 Manhattan, New York – 10 Dec 1932 Manhattan, New York)
2. Robert BYRNES (3 Aug 1901 Manhattan New York - ) & Lorraine GARFUNKEL  married 22 Jul 1936 Henderson, North Carolina
3. John BYRNES (1903 Manhattan, New York - )
4. William BYRNES (5 May 1905 Manhattan, New York – 7 May 1905 Manhattan, New York)
5. Sarah “Sadie” BYRNES (16 Feb 1907 Manhattan, New York – about 1970)
6. Joseph BYRNES (27 Jan 1909 Manhattan, New York - ) & Elizabeth UNKNOWN
7. Patrick BYRNES Jr. (1911 Manhattan, New York – 5 Nov 1940 Manhattan, New York) & Margaret Mary COOK married 6 March 1937 Manhattan, New York

Wendy
© 2016, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.