Hi Roger,
Thank you for your information and suggestions. I went back to the booklet my great uncle created when he researched the family to get more information. Unfortunately, there is no one left for me to ask questions, so I am having to guess a bit, but it looks like his visit to New Ross was in 1984. The date on the booklet he put together is 1989, so it looks like he worked on his research for quite a while after his visit.
He lists sources as St. Mary and St. Michael Church in New Ross, with it looks lik Fr. J.L. Kehoe and Rev. Brendan Nolan helping him. I believe we are related to some Nolans though, so I am not sure if Rev Nolan is a relative or someone connected to the church? He lists a Mary Fitzgibbon who is a daughter of Terese Healy as helping him, it says BALLINA after her name, I think that is where she lived?
Bridget's parents were Martin Healy 1801-1880 and Margareta Malloy 1802-1862. I don't have any information on Margaretta Malloy, but I know that Martin Healy's parents were John Healy and Catherine Douglas. My uncle's booklet says they were burried in the St. Mary's Abbey Churchyard, Church of Ireland.
I have Bridget's siblings as:
Catherine Healy b. 1830
John Healy 1833-1894
Mary Healy b. 1835
Patrick Healy 1837-1881
It looks like the family was connected to the meat business and a grocery store in New Ross. The grocery store may have been in the family until about the 1940's from what I can tell. It looks like a lot of the family came to the US, both around the same time as Bridget - which was in 1867 from my uncle's booklet - and it looks like several of her aunts and uncles went a generation before.
Bridget married a man named Thomas Lawson, who was born from Irish parents in Canada. I can't find anything about that side of the family at all. They just show up about 1846 and that's where the paper trail starts with them. I have been trying to find out where they came from using DNA. That's how I found Ireland Reaching Out. I posted in another parish about them, but then I thought after that this looked like a really good site, and I might as well post about Bridget Healy because she's pretty much the only Irish ancestor that I actually have information on. I didn't even know that I had all of these Irish ancestors until just recently. I had no idea that my uncle had made the trip and did all of his research, I would have asked him so many questions! I only got a copy of his booklet a few months ago. I don't want to bother anyone, I certainly can't afford a visit! But as I have been using DNA to try to figure out my family's history, I see that I am DNA related to more than a few Irish people, as wells as Australians, New Zealanders, and Canadians - all with Irish names, and I know there must be some curiosity or the DNA matches would not have added their DNA to Gedmatch.
Also, there must have been some curiosity when my unlce came to visit on the Irish side as well because I have a photo of two women who came to a family reunion here in California, and my grandmother said these are our Irish cousins. Apparently after his visit, some cousins came here to visit. I still have this photo and I am curious who those cousins were. Unfortunately my grandmother did not share these with me until she was 94, just a few months before she died, and she didn't remember their names at that point. I wonder who they were and I wonder if they ever think about our family or if there is anyone left in Ireland who does?
Lisa Schmidt
