James Brady

Hello,

A search at the free irishgenealogy.ie website from the years 1880 to 1902 did not turn up a death record for Susan’s husband, James Brady.

His death may not have been reported to the district registrar by Susan, another family member, a friend of James’s, or a physician. Or he may have died in another district or even another county.

As you had mentioned the 1901 census shows that James’s wife Susan is a widow. She is in the household of 72 year old Michael Brady. They are shown to be the “Residents of a house 25 in Oghil (Drumlish, Longford).”

Susan is listed as Michael Brady’s “Sister in Law.” In the household with Michael and Susan is Susan’s daughter, 19 year old Mary Anne Brady. Mary Anne is shown to be Michael’s “Niece.”

Michael’s age of 72 years old may not be accurate, as ages in the 1901 and 1911 census enumerations were not always correct. If Michael had actually been 72 in 1901 he would have been born circa 1829. Your records show that James Brady Jr. was born 22 June 1857, which means Michael would have been 27 years older than his brother.

But your records also show that James Brady’s father James was born in 1831, which means the older James Brady would have been born two years after his own son Michael. That doesn’t make any sense.

I think the Michael Brady in the 1901 census may have been the brother of James Brady Sr., not the brother of Susan’s husband, James Brady Jr.

I didn’t find Michael Brady in the 1911 census which means he had died between 1901 and 1911. I found his death record at the irishgenealogy.ie website which shows he died in “Ohill” (Oghil) on 3 October 1901 at the age of 80. The 1901 census was taken on 31 March, which means that Michael aged another 8 years between March and 3 October 1901. This shows that you cannot always go by ages in census records or ages in death records either. It is possible that no one in Michael’s family knew when he was born.

At the time of death Michael was a bachelor and had been a farmer. The cause of death was, “Bronchitis 7 days. No Medical attendant.” The person who was present at his death and who reported the death to the registrar was his niece, Mary A. Murphy of Ohill. I suspect that Mary A. Murphy is James and Susan’s daughter who had married a fellow named Murphy between 1901 and 1911.

Michael’s death record was recorded in the Longford Registration District by the Registrar, Matthew D. Gray. The death was recorded on 8 November 1901. Michael’s death is the last entry in the attached register at Number 137.

I next looked for the marriage record of James and Susan Brady’s daughter Mary Anne, and a groom with the last name of Murphy at the irishgenealogy.ie website.

I found their marriage record showing that John Murphy and Mary Anne Brady were married in what looks like the Roman Catholic Chapel of Ennbegs/Eanbegs on 23 April 1901. At the time of marriage John Murphy was a bachelor and Mary Anne a spinster. Both were of “full age” when they married. John’s occupation was Farmer. His residence at the time of marriage looks like “Eanbegs.” His father is Andrew Murphy, also a farmer.

No occupation is recorded for Mary Anne. Her residence at the time of marriage was Ohill. Her father is James Brady, a farmer. The name of the Parish Priest who married the couple looks like Thomas Conefrey. The witnesses to the marriage were Edward Murphy and Mary Anne Quinn. The marriage record is attached to this reply.

The IreAtlas Townland Data Base shows the actual name of the town of Ennbegs or Eanbegs was Enybegs, located in the Civil Parish of Killoe. See:
https://is.gd/rBDFqN

Oghil and Drumlish were also situated in the Killoe Civil Parish. See the IreAtlas’s alphabetical listing of towns in the Killoe Civil parish at: https://is.gd/gYW0i7

Oghil in the Irish language is spelled “Eóchaill,” and means “yew wood.”

The Enybegs Catholic Church is called St. Mary’s, which according to the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage/Buildings of Ireland website, was constructed circa 1828. For more information about St. Mary’s as well as a slide presentation of the church, go to the Buildings of Ireland link at: https://is.gd/7kzYPP

For a Buildings of Ireland map of St. Mary’s in Enybegs, see the attachment.

JAMES BRADY JR’S BAPTISM

A transcription at the Find My Past (FMP) website shows that James Brady was baptized in the Killoe Catholic Parish on 22 June 1857. This is the date of birth you have for him. The transcription further shows that James’s parents were James Brady and Maria Kennedy. First names in the transcription are in the Latin. For example, James is either “Jacobum” for the son and “Jacobi” for the father. Mary is “Maria.” You can view the FMP transcription at: https://is.gd/QLFgy5

Attached to the FMP transcription is a link that takes you to a copy of the original baptism record for James held by the National Library of Ireland. The copy of the baptism is attached to this reply, and shows that James’s godparents were Michaele (Michael) Brady and Anna Brady. The godfather Michael Brady may be the Michael Brady in the 1901 census.

I next looked for, but didn’t find the baptism transcriptions for any more children of Michael Brady and Maria Kennedy at the FMP website.

I also looked for the marriage transcription for Michael Brady and Mary Kennedy at the FMP website, but didn’t find it. I looked for their marriage in the Killoe Catholic Parish, as well as surrounding Catholic parishes in County Longford as well as Catholic parishes in nearby County Leitrim.

1878 MARRIAGE OF JAMES BRADY AND SUSAN MURTAGH

Based on your information that James Brady and Susan Murtagh were married on 20 February 1878, I found their civil registration marriage record at irishgenealogy.ie.

They were married in the Roman Catholic Chapel at Columbkille, Longford. Both were of “full age” at the time of the marriage. James’s occupation was famer. No occupation is recorded for Susan. James’s residence at the time of marriage was “Ohill.” His father is James Brady, a farmer.

I could not clearly make out the name of the town where Susan was living at the time of the marriage. It looks like Cuneren or Cuneress. I’ll have more information later about what the name of this town may be.

The marriage record further shows that Susan’s father is Pat Murtagh, a farmer. The priest who married James and Susan was Farrell Sheridan, C.C. The initials C.C. stand for “Catholic Curate.” The witnesses to the marriage were Bartly Quinn and Maria “Murtha.” The marriage was recorded in the Granard Registration District on 28 February 1878 by a registrar whose name looks like Arch Nicholls. The marriage record is attached to this reply.

Since marriages traditionally took place in the bride’s parish, St. Columbkill’s Chapel was likely the parish church for Susan Murtagh and her family. The church is located in Aughnacliffe, which according to a Google Map, is 8.5 miles northeast of Oghil: https://is.gd/x8XMSn

For a Google Street View of St. Colmcille’s Church and cemetery, see: https://is.gd/y0Ghs9

The Buildings of Ireland website dates the church back to the year 1834. For more information and a slide presentation of the exterior and interior views of the church, go to: https://is.gd/Mxlran

The town where Susan Murtagh was living at the time of marriage could have been Corrinagh, Longford, which is 3.8 miles northwest of St. Colmcille’s Church in Aughnacliffe: https://is.gd/zPJly0

The IreAtlas shows that Corrinagh was in the Civil Parish of Columbkille: https://is.gd/rplFqd

Your information shows Susan Murtagh was born around 1856. I looked for her baptism transcription at the FMP website but didn’t find it.

MARY ANNE BRADY’S 1881 BIRTH RECORD

Mary Anne was born in Ohill on 4 November 1881. Her father is James Brady, a farmer living in Ohill. Her mother is Susan Brady, formerly Murtagh. James Brady the father reported the birth to the Registrar, Arch Nicholls, who recorded the birth in the Longford Registration District on 15 November 1881. Mary Anne’s birth is the last entry in the register at Number 468. See the attachment.

JAMES BRADY SR’S BAPTISM RECORD

Earlier in this reply you saw the 1857 Killoe Catholic Parish baptism for James Brady Jr. There will not be a civil registration birth record for him or a civil marriage record for his parents.

Civil registration began in Ireland on 1 April 1845. But at that time, only Protestant and civil marriages were recorded by the Irish government. Civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths for all religious denominations commenced in Ireland in 1864.

Your information shows the Brady family had been related to the Canovan family.

I suspects that James Brady Sr was the person who was related to the Canovan family, as up to this point in the research I hadn’t come across the Canovan surname, or alternate spellings of the surname in any of the church or civil records that I found.

What I did at this point was look for the Killoe Catholic Parish baptism for children named James Brady born in the 1820s or 1830s, to see if any of the baptisms show that his mother’s maiden name was Canovan or a similar spelling.

I found what I believe to be James’s FMP baptism transcription, showing that Jacobum Brady was baptized in the Killoe Catholic Parish on 4 November 1831. His father is Eugenii Brady. His mother is Catherine Canavan. Eugenii is the Latin for Eugene.

See the baptism transcription at: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=IRE%2FPRS%2FBAP%2F0592491

Attached is a copy of the original baptism register entry for Jacobum in the Latin.

My translation of the baptism is below:

4 B Jacobum f Eugenii Brady et Catherina Canavan sp Pa
tricio Can? Et Catherina

My translation of the baptism is as follows:

The number 4 is for 4 November. The letter B stands for baptism. In the Latin it would be “Baptizondi.” The letter f stands for the Latin “filium,” meaning son or child. This is followed by the name of the father of the child. The Latin word et means “and,” followed by the name of the mother. The initials sp stand for “sponsors.” In Latin sponsors would be “Sponsoribus.” The sponsors are the godparents. The next two letters Pa are for a portion of the name of the godfather Patricio. The rest of his first name continues on the following line—tricio. His last name looks like it is abbreviated as “Can,” for Canavan. His name is followed by the name “Catherina,” who would be James’s godmother. No last name is recorded for her

I also found the FMP baptism transcriptions for three more children of Eugene Brady and Catherine Canavan. Their first names and years of baptism are:

Eugenii. 1836
Eugenium, 1837
Petrum (Peter), 1840
____

The Latin first names Eugenii and Eugenium refer to the name Eugene. This means the first-born child named Eugene had died.

The FMP baptism transcriptions for the three Brady children can be found at:

https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=IRE%2FPRS%2FBAP%2F0593318

https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=IRE%2FPRS%2FBAP%2F0593599

https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=IRE%2FPRS%2FBAP%2F0593955

A copy of the baptism record for the first-born Eugene Brady in 1836 is attached, and shows that his godparents are Jacobo (James) Canavan and Brigida (Bridget) Brady.

A copy of the original 1837 baptism record for the second-born Eugene Brady is attached, and shows that his godparents are Patricio Canavan and Brigida Canavan

Also attached is a copy of the original 1840 baptism record for Petrum, or Peter Brady. I didn’t find his baptism for 3 July however, but did locate it for 3 June 1840. The FMP transcriber was off by a month for Peter’s baptism record, which is attached. There are no godparents recorded for Peter’s baptism.

I next looked for the Killoe FMP marriage transcription for Eugene Brady and Catherine Canavan but didn’t find it. I expanded the search to other Catholic parishes in Longford and surrounding counties, but again was not successful in locating the marriage record.

There will not be baptism records for James Brady Sr. or Catherine Canavan in the Killoe Catholic Parish. The National Library of Ireland website link shows that Killoe baptisms are available from 1 January 1836 to 18 December 1880, though there may be gaps in the baptism registers.

The National Library of Ireland website also shows that Killoe marriages are available from 1 January 1826 to 31 May 1883, though again, there may be gaps in the registers.

There are also Killoe Catholic Parish death records beginning 14 February 1827 and available to 25 June 1881. I looked for the 1837-1837 Killoe death for the child, Eugene Brady, but didn’t find it.

You may want to go through the Killoe death records to see what information you can find.

To see the availability of the Killoe Catholic Parish baptism, marriage, and death records, as well as a map of the Killoe Catholic Parish, go to the National Library of Ireland website link at: https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0172

With Kind Regards,

Dave Boylan

SOURCES

irishgenealogy.ie
National Archives of Ireland 1901 and 1911 Census
IreAtlas Townland Data Base
National Inventory of Architectural Heritage/Buildings of Ireland
Buildings of Ireland Map of St. Mary’s in Enybegs, Longford
Find My Past (FMP)
National Library of Ireland
Google Maps
Google Street Views

Hello Dave.

Thankyou so much for all your work. Yes James has stumped us for years,we even considered the fact that he could have walked out on his wife and child and died elsewhere. Susan said she was a widow on the census,but could she have entered that because of the shame, we may never know.

Michael Brady- yes he must have been the brother of James Sr as the age doesn't fit with James Jr. But that brings up another question, his parents were Eugene Brady and Catherine Canovan but when I looked on Killoe parish records https://www.igp-web.com/Longford/churchrecs.htm the only births listed are for James, the two Eugene's and Peter, no sign of Michael and you said you couldn't find Michael in the baptism records either. I wondered if Michael was born in a different area, back in 2011 Father Sean Casey PP from Enybegs kindly sent us some information from the parish records and he could only go back to Catherine and Eugene on that side but he could not find their marriage of their birth dates, he must have got their names from the children's birth entries. So sadly we may never be able to find their birth or marriage details as there are so few records that far back. Yes that birth of James to Catherine Canovan and Eugene Brady is the correct one.

We are taking Michael's age on his death certificate as his official date as the Census ages are all over the place, so his d.o.b would be 1827 which fits with his brother James being born in 1831. My gt Grandmother Mary Anne inherited his property when he passed away and this is the house my Mum was brought up in and we know all the details for Mary Anne's children.

Another mystery is what happened to Michael's brothers Peter and the second born Eugene, we have been unable to find any deaths, marriages or children or even locate them on the Census. We couldn't find the first Eugene's death entry either.

I couldn't view the link to James' baptism as i am not currently signed up to FMP.  But it's interesting that you mentioned one of his god parents was Anna Brady as that is a new person to us, so maybe if i can find out who her parents etc are I can find a new branch of my tree, so i am really excited to look in to that as for years we have been unable to find any other relatives.

Susan Murtagh- Yes we struggled to read her residence on her marriage certificate we thought it looked like Cunerew but theres no such place. We know we are linked with the Longford Quinn's so Bartly Quinn who was a witness could be a relative. Would Maria Murtha be a Murtagh? I'm assuming they liked using different spellings,  If so she is another person to look into.  We are at another brick wall with Susan's father Patt Murtagh we think but not 100% sure he married Anne Devine but we don't know if Susan was an only child or if Patt had siblings himself. Thankyou for the help with the Latin, so we have been calling my 3rd gt grandmother Marie (Kennedy) but she is actually Mary?

The Killoe death records you mentioned are they the igp-web ones? We have been so grateful for the Irish geneology ie site, it has saved us hours of time and money over the years. What site do you use the most for researching Irish records? would you recommend FMP? I use Ancestry quite often and have had my DNA done through that site. I have only recently signed up for Ireland XO and so far I'm impressed, its such a great idea.

Thankyou again Dave, It was very kind of you to help and you have given me some new leads and help with the Latin.

Kind regards

Murtagh

 

 

 

 

Hello Murtagh,

Many thanks for your reply and kind words. They are much appreciated.

I too had wondered what happened to Eugene Brady, born 1837 and his brother Peter, born 1840. Both had been baptized in the Killoe, Longford Catholic Parish.

I didn’t find church or civil marriage records for them. They were born before the Great Irish Famine, also known as the Great Hunger of 1845 to 1851, and so it is possible they had died during the famine. Historians estimate that a million Irish had died during the famine from starvation or disease, and that another million had left Ireland.

It’s possible Eugene and Peter left Ireland during, or sometime after the famine. They could have settled in one of several countries, including England, the U.S., Canada, or Australia/New Zealand.

In the Irish language the Great Famine or Great Hunger is called, “an Gorta Mór.” For in depth information about the Irish famine, see the Wikipedia article at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland)

I think the message board posts like the ones at Ireland Reaching Out are important, as you never know if someone reads your communication and has additional information about the ancestors you are looking for.

I am at the Ireland Reaching Out message boards every day. You can learn a lot of information about the availability of Irish records from the very knowledgeable registered volunteers who reply to queries there. In full disclosure, I am not a registered volunteer with Ireland Reaching Out, but a freelance responder.

Another message board that is viewed by many people looking for their ancestry is the free Ancestry.com board, which has queries pertaining to all 32 counties of Ireland, as well as an Ireland “General” message board. See: https://www.ancestry.com/boards/localities.britisles.ireland

Concerning the 1878 marriage for James Brady and Susan Murtagh, I thought it was interesting to see that Susan spelled her name as “Murtagh,” but that the witness to the wedding, Maria, spelled her name as “Murtha.” These are likely alternate spellings for the same last name, though you still have to wonder how Susan and Maria Murtha were related.

The other witness to the marriage is Bartly Quinn. Bartly is a nickname for Bartholomew.

Bartly may have actually been James Brady’s cousin. I found the Find My Past baptism transcription for a Bartholomeum Brady, son of Bartholomy Quin and Anna Brady. Anna Brady could have been James Brady’s aunt. The FMP transcription for Bartholomew’s baptism is attached, and shows his baptism took place in the Drumlish Catholic Parish on 18 August 1841.

Another attachment shows that the Catholic parishes of Drumlish and Killoe, border one another. This map, and dates of the Drumlish Parish baptisms, marriages, and deaths, are from the National Library of Ireland website.

Speaking of Find My Past, this is primarily a subscription based website, but does have some free collections. One of these free collections is for Irish Catholic Parish baptisms, marriages, and deaths or burials for all 32 counties of Ireland. Most of the parish registers are for the 19th century, but some go back to the 18th and even 17th centuries. To search or to access the transcriptions, all you need to do is establish a free account with FMP. I use FMP a lot, because it not only provides free transcriptions, but also gives you links to copies of original Catholic Parish baptisms, marriages, and death records held by the National Library of Ireland.

Not all Catholic parishes in Ireland kept death or burial records during the 19th century. I’d say the Drumlish and Killoe Catholic parishes were two exceptions.

The Killoe death records I had mentioned are from FMP, not from igp-web, though igp-web is another great site. Like Find My Past, you can use igp-web to find indexes of death for the Killoe Catholic Parish, as well as other Longford parishes that kept death or burial records. See the igp index for Brady deaths recorded in the Killoe Catholic Parish, which includes Oughill/Ohill, etc. at: https://www.igp-web.com/Longford/killoedth_b.htm

One of the indexes is for the death of a Maria Brady, who died in Ohill in 1877/10, that is, October 1877. Going to the National Library of Ireland website link you can now look for a copy of Maria’s original death/burial record in the Killoe Catholic Parish. I found Maria’s death/burial record, which is attached to this reply. She is the 4th death recorded under October 1877, showing she died on October 20. I’ve transcribed her record below:

20th Maria Brady (Ohill, aetatis 94
____

The word “aetatis” is the Latin for “age,” which means that Maria was 94 years old when she died.

If you go to cemeteries with older gravestones, you may see something like this:

John Smith
Born July 1860
Died Jan 1900, ae 40
____

The letters ae in this example would be the abbreviation for the Latin, aetatis.

Going back to Maria Brady’s death record, you’ll see that she died in 1877. The irishgenealogy.ie website has copies of original civil registration death records online from the year 1871. Before that, only indexes of death are available, which provide very little information about the person’s death. Irishgenealogy.ie however, plans to make available full death records sometime in the future that you can access for free.

I went to irishgenealogy.ie and found Mary Brady’s civil registration death record, which differs from the church record. Her death record is attached to this reply and shows that she died in Ohill on 18 October 1877 at the age of 96. She was a “Farmer’s Widow.” The cause of death was, “Debility ten days. No medical attendant.” The person who reported the death was, “John Brady his + mark occupier Ohill.” “His mark” means that John Brady could not write. Occupier pertains to his being the head of the household where Mary died.

Mary’s death was recorded in the Longford Registration District by the deputy registrar on 28 October 1877. The name of the deputy registrar looks like it may be Laurence Fahy, but I could be mistaken, as his handwriting is difficult to read.

John Brady, the informant who reported the death, may have been Mary’s son.

I sincerely hope that you can uncover more records for your Brady and related ancestors in Irish records. I have been researching for over 30 years now, and haven’t found all the Irish records I’ve been looking for in that time. But it is a fun addiction.

Best of Luck with your continued research Murtagh.

Dave

SOURCES

Wikipedia
Ireland Reaching Out
Ancestry.com
National Library of Ireland
Find My Past (FMP)
Ireland Genealogy Projects (IGP)
irishgenealogy.ie