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.
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| 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.
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| Helen Killeen's wedding gifts book 1927 |
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.
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| 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.
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| "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.
