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Thomas Byrnes

Dublin

Based on a Bible my ancestor Thomas Byrnes kept he was "born in Dublin 1832". His 1904 death certificatein New York listed his parents as Phelam Byrnes and Julia Halpin. I assume that information came from his son, with whom he lived at the time. His birth year varied from 1822-1832 in US records but the 1832 date may be the most accurate since it was a first person entry. Irishgenealogy.ie searches throughout the years for this family havenot yielded anything.

I don't know where Thomas married his wife but he entered her information at the time of her 1865 death in New York as "Mrs Ann Byrnes daughter of James and Margaret Anderson, Rathvilly, Co Carlow, Ire wife of Thomas Byrnes in the 34th year ofher age". I assume they married about 1853 based on the birth of their first known child in NY in March 1854. Searches for anIremarriage turn up nothing. Nor have I found any record of their marriage in civil or parish registers here in NY.

It is possible that Thomas had a brother or cousin named Arthur because an Arthur Byrne is buried in the same plot as the rest of Thomas' family and he was born in Ire about 1817.

Any ideas appreciated.

ldegraz@aol.com

5 replies

I found nothing very promising on Thomas - do you know what denomination your Byrne family were ?

Most of the Dublin records on the IrishGenealogy website are for city parishes - there are quite a few additional parishes in County Dublin, some of which do not have  records available back as far as the 1830s..

No sign either that I found of the Bryne/Anderson marriage in Irish Civil (in case hey were non Catholic) or RC parish records that I can see, so think that may have taken place elsewere. There's a possible lead for your Anderson branch in Catholic records - a baptism of a James Anderson in 1816 to James and Margaret (no maiden name given) in Rathvilly parish. see here (right hand page , abt half way down, NLI register images). Might be worth browsing through this register and see if any other possible chidren for this couple were baptised in the same parish

 

shanew147IrelandXO Volunteer

The only match I've found that comes close is for a Thomas Burne in St. Michan's RC parish in the city, with parents James Burne and Joanne Halpin on the 5th November 1830 (IrishGenealogy). I didn't spot any likely siblings in the city records.

shanew147IrelandXO Volunteer

Thanks for the reply shanew147. James Byrnes was Catholic. Unfortunately I only have the names from the death certificate and that could be incorrect.  I was hoping that since Phelim is less common a possible record would stand out but I agree with you that there is no good match.  As for the Andersons, I commissioned a search several years ago and there are 3 James Anderson family groups in the Rathvilly records but none are close enough.  Interestingly, there is a ship's manifest of 1852 with a Thomas Byrnes traveling alone but a few lines below him on the page is Mrs. Anderson (widow) and Miss Anderson. As I said before, I have been completly unsuccessful in finding a possible marriage in NY if that's where the marriage occurred. And without first names I can't search for the death of Mrs Anderson.  

Maybe if the records for the outlying parishes get indexed Thomas will be found.

Thanks for trying.

ldegraz@aol.com

Images for the Catholic registers for county Dublin parishes are on the National Library website, and indexed on FindMyPast & Ancestry - but unfortunately no sign of a better match for Thomas there either. The Byrne/Burne - Halpin cross-match would not be very common so I would not completely dismiss that St. Michan's couple.

As you mentioned, Phelim is a distinctive name, so would usually be a useful clue, but it's possible that was a name he was known by rather than his official name. Another possibility is that, like many others, the family may have lived in 'Dublin' for a while after moving from another area..

shanew147IrelandXO Volunteer

Good advice not to completely dismiss the St Michan's marriage.  I'll have to pursue that.  Also, I'd been leaning toward upgrading my Ancestry subscription to World so your mentioning the indexing helped make the decision.  Thanks

As fortunate as it is to have a family bible, in this case I have frequently thought that it might be more misleading than accurate.  That's based on other entries that have proven elusive.  I think I can at least narrow this Bryne/Anderson/Halpin line to the Carlow to Dublin area and that's more than what others have.

Thanks for your insight.

ldegraz@aol.com

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