Heaton & Berminghams Kilpatrick

Hi Geraldine,

Thanks for looking into this for me.
Yes, Edward and Bridget are a bit of a mystery. We've come into contact with branches of the family over the years and noone seems to have been able to solve the riddle.

Do you know of any catholic cemeteries around Kilpatrick?

Thanks for the story about the Grennan family of Killina. It is lovely. Its nice to have these stories of your family to relate and hand down.

I haven't had my DNA done yet but my mum Maureen did through Ancestry. It hasn't shed much more light as yet.

Mum has a copy of the family tree on Ancestry but it is currently set to private (long story). I could send you an invite to view the tree, however you'll need to give me your email address.

Thanks again for your help.

Cheers Mel

Hi Geraldine,

As weird as it sounds, I'd prefer to be there than here. It's stinking hot here at the moment (34*C). I wish I could stroll through that graveyard and see if Edward or Bridget's there.

I've sent an invite to the GETHINGS family tree for you to look at the Heaton info.

Cheerio from stinkin hot Queensland

Mel

I'm a gggg grandson through my Heaton mother of Patrick Heaton, Valentine's brother.  It's probably my cousins who are the ones referred to looking unsucessfuly for Edward's and Bridget's records. 

I can't help with that problem, though I'd be happy to put you in touch with our researchers if you've not already done so. 

What I can help with is that I've done a List in Trove for the Heaton and Bermingham relations https://trove.nla.gov.au/list?id=39830. In that list, the Fogarty family from Kilpatrick, James and Mary (Bermingham) is one Bermingham connection that the Heaton family kept in touch with in Australia. 

You may find this helpful, as I've managed to locate some reports about Valentine and his descendants.  

Some further comments:

There is one record for a marriage of Valentine heaton whose parents were Valentine heaton and mrs Edward Heaton.  Its just the names I was trying to follow i.e. Valentine and Edward.

Good sleuthing.  Valentine is an unusual Christian name, and it's a good marker for these Heatons down the generations. This Valentine is the gg grand nephew of Mel's Valentine.  That is, her Valentine's brother Patrick's son Valentine's grandson Valentine, whose father was also Valentine! Whew! Just to make things more complicated, this Valentine's father died young, and his mother remarried Valentine's brother Edward Jnr (yes, who's named after the Edward that Mel is looking for).  Thus Valtetine's mother had the married name Heaton twice.  That explains the strange terminology - Valentine is not the son of "Mr and Mrs Valentine Heaton", but rather the son of "Valentine and Mrs. Edward Heaton". 

So, that tree tha you've found tells us of Patrick's descendents, but is not strong on Valentine and Patrick's ancestors, or Valentine's descendents. 

Peter Heaton Clonshanny (in this parish) who died November 26th 1871.  Aged 82 years.  Also his son Richard Heaton, September 16th 1837.  Aged 16 years. 

Now, there is a cousin in Australia, as reported by Australian newspapers, David Heaton father of John (or Patrick John) of Millers Forest NSW who likely (matching names and likely immigration dates) had a father Peter and who lived in Clonminch according to Irish records. So, the David at Clonminch might be the son of the Peter at Clonshanny.  We do know, as Mel mentioned, that a cousin of Mel's Valentine and his brother Patrick, Richard Heaton, was from Clonshanny.  

Mel said:

We know that Joseph Heaton married Catherine Kidney in 1857 and had children, one of which, Richard (bap 1876) was still around in 1911.

The only Joseph who we know was a relative was the father of Lawrence/Laurence Heaton. Lawrence was born about 1856 and left Ireland around the mid-1880s. However, Joseph's wife was Rose, not Catherine according to Lawrence's death certificate in Australia. There is however a widow Rose Heaton who passed away at 82 in 1892 at Cloonshanny (=Clonshanny?).

So, lots of confusing links. The difficulty in some ways is not that we can't trace relatives.  The problem is that there are many Heatons who lived with Patrick Heaton at Frogmore and who claimed to be cousins, but I at least, have not been able to find out how they were related. These claims come as statements in the newspapers in NSW of the era saying that the different Heatons were related.  The problem is establishing what that relationship was. Often the press describes cousins as brothers. For instance, Lawrence was a business partner of Mel's Valentine's nephew Valentine, working in the same office at Orange, NSW for some years, and was clearly very close, possibly closer than some of Valentine's own brothers.  Possibly as a result, Lawrence is described as a brother in the press when he wasn't. When you go back to Lawrence's father Joseph in Ireland, it's in fact not clear what relationship Joseph had to Edward, Valentine's grandfather.  

Anyway, I hope a few more clues will assist. 

Sorry, Geraldine,

Here are all the lines of claimed relatives, which hopefully are clear. I've tried to trace as many as I can in the Rahan records. 

On the Heaton side:

Patrick, son of Edward and Bridget (née Bermingham), b. 1815 arr. 1833? d. 1874 wife Ann d. 1875;
Valentine, son of Edward* and Bridget b. 1833 arr. 1850 in the "Emily", d. 1918 wife Anne d. 1932;
Richard, son of Michael and Mary, b. 1838 arr. 1853 in the "Malvina Vidal" d. 1902 wife Martha d. 1922;
Lawrence/ Laurence, son of Joseph and Rose b. 1856 arr. 1886 d. 1928 wife Ellen d. 1923;
David (father of John - aka Patrick John and John Patrick of Millers Forrest) son of Peter b. 1832 arr. aft. 1874 d.? wife Anne née Houghran d.?.

On the Bermingham side:

Bridget (Sr M. Alacoque PBVM) daughter of James Fogarty and Mary Bermingham (b. 1828 d. 1896 Kilpatrick, Rahan, Tullamore) b. 1865 arr. 1883 prof. 1885 d. 1947. 

Mel has already mentioned her ancestor Valentine, his brother, my ancestor Patrick, and their cousin Richard.  The others are known from press reports in Australia to have claimed to be cousins of Patrick. 

Rod

Thanks Geraldine,

The amount of material on the Heaton and Bermingham name in Rahan that you've now found is quite impressive.  However, it needs some hard work checking to find the connections, if they exist.  Future tasks for us all here!  

One question: is the Richard you've found here (father of Ellen) the same Richard father of Mary who you posted a marriage record for on 31st March? Though an answer doesn't provide a direct connection to Valentine as Mel is seeking here, it may help simplify future matching work. 

Thanks again, Rod

Hi all

I'm a descendant of Richard Heaton (son of Michael Heaton and Mary Mahon) and Martha Cathcart, via their son, Robert Valentine Heaton.

Just wondering if anyone has any details about the parents of Michael, Mary and Martha?

Thanks in advance!
Tim

Thanks Geraldine

The headstone photos and transcript and the new headstone records give me some leads.  

Tim,  No, I have nothing on Michael and Mary's parents.  However, would you be able to share some information on Robert Valentine Heaton, please? I cannot find birth or death records for a Robert Valentine, son of Richard and Martha.

The immigration records  show that Richard and Martha arrived in Port Jackson, NSW in 1853 on the “Malvina Vidal” with one infant, Eliza (and Richard’s sister? Jane Heaton). All subsequent children were born at Penrith where they settled near my ancestor Patrick Heaton’s farm “Frogmore” at Orchard Hills.

Thanks.

Rod

Hi Rod

Robert Valentine Heaton was born in 1872 in Penrith, New South Wales.  I have him as the youngest of at least 11 children of Richard and Martha.

He married Mary Ellen Dunne in 1902 in Parkes, New South Wales.

They had my great grandmother, Edna Mavis Heaton in 1907 in Parkes.  She married James Lawson McSweeney in 1926 and they came out to the inner west of Sydney to raise their family.

I assume Richard's father, Michael, was a brother or cousin to Patrick/Valentine's father and that the Valentine name came from their father or their mother's father or it was her maiden name?

And Robert Valentine died in Concord West in 1955.

Sorry, I realised what the problem was. The NSW BDM birth record shows Robert’s mother as Matilda for some reason, not Martha.

So, we’re aware of your extended family, because your great great uncle William http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article113511296 (Edna’s brother) came to live in Crookwell, NSW in the 1950s, near my grandfather Gus Heaton’s farm at Gurrundah. They were referred to as the “Parkes mob”.  I last ran into one of them by chance in the Outback about 2006.  

So, we don’t know what the connection between Richard and Patrick was. Our families (through your Orchard Hills Branch) have been in continuous contact since your ancestor Richard landed in 1853, and we know we are related, we’ve just forgotten how!

Yes, I have Robert's mother as Martha Matilda on some documents.

Here are the nla records of her death:

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/106393814

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/104675044

However, I have no documents confirming that a Colonel G. Cathcart was actually her father, and I don't expect you have any interest in knowing who her parents were, but I was hoping that someone else on the site might be able to shed some light.

Regarding Richard and Patrick, my assumption is that my Richard's father, Michael, and your Patrick's father, Edward, were brothers.

Tim

As Mel noted in the opening post, your branch of the family is better represented in the Irish records than ours, so Mel may have come across something that would help you.  Do you know any of your great great uncle Michael's descendants (ie Robert's brother), some of whom remained at Orchard Hills until the 1990s? Again, I think your family (Richard's descendants) are better documented in Australia than other lines such as Patrick/Valentine because some of them stayed put, and therefore were the keepers of the knowledge!  There's a fairly complete family tree for your family on Ancestry done by one of them (which BTW has Richard and Patrick as brothers). The other connection between our families, which I presume you know about is that my mother's great uncle Edward (ie. Patrick's son, and Mel's Valentine's nephew) founded the prominent wholesaling company Wright Heaton & Co.  Your Robert's brother Thomas Heaton was the manager of Wright Heaton in Parkes, and I presume that had something to do with why your Robert lived in Parkes.  A number of the extended Heaton family worked for Wright Heaton, even long after Edward Heaton had died and our family no longer had contact with the firm. Other family members of our line (Patrick's sons) were involved with a less prominent fruit and vegetable wholesaler, Heaton Bros, and the same custom prevailed, where extended family worked as regional managers. Have a look at the Trove list that I linked in a previous post above, and you'll see some of those stories. 

Anyway, maybe you know all this, and I'm teaching you to suck eggs? 

Rod

Hi Geraldine,

I think all of us discussing here are on the female line.  We're doing DNA testing with our Clan (yes, I'm mostly Scottish, not Irish), and my understanding is that the male line gives the best results, becuase you can trace through the surname (if you have a male line naming system, which Highlanders didn't until relatively recently, but that's another story).  

But I can certainly try to convince my Heaton cousins to submit a test to a Heaton program (eg. https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/heaton/about/background).  Do you have a particular one in mind, or do you recommend something else?

We're doing it through Clan MacInnes https://macinnes.org/dna/DNA_project.html, and most Scottish clans have them.  (Again, just to complicate things, we're not actually McInnes which has to do with which random name our family got when we came out of the traditonal Gaelic patronymic naming system Our real clan is a McInnes sept of Clanranald http://clandonald-heritage.com/sample-page-2/, but that's not so good for surname matching.)

Anyway, Heaton, being a Sasannach surname, would have a much longer history with the male line which should be much bettter for matching. 

Hi Rod

No, unfortunately I don't know any of Michael's descendants.  I am familiar with the Wright Heaton & Co. business and our connection but your Trove list offers some great insights!

Hi Geraldine, my mother, Kim Appleby (great granddaughter of Robert Valentine Heaton) has done her DNA with Ancestry and 23andme.

Tim
 

Hi Tim

I can put you in touch with researchers of your great great uncle Michael Heaton's line, and therefore also of your ggg grandarents Richard and Martha Heaton. Do you live in Sydney?  You can contact me via the link at the bottom of our family tree webpage http://www.mcinnes-family-history.com. ;

Rod

Hi everyone,

Well its been awhile since I've been on Ireland XO, but coming back and reading through these posts has my head spinning. I hadnt been looking too much into the Heaton/Berminghams for quite a while but have just recently pucked them back up again. Below are some tidbits (Rod, you may already be aware of these):

1. Sister Mary Vincent, who died in 1913, Athy Kildare, was supposedly closely related to our Heaton's in Australia. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article111298055. Sister Mary's birth name was Catherine Bermingham born c1835. Sister Mary's brother was...

2. Rev. Patrick Bermingham (birth name William Bermingham). Rev Patrick was born c1828 in Ballycommon, Kings County and came out to Australia in 1855. There is quite abit written about him. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article108184870. He died in London in 1883.

3. Sister Mary's requiem mass was read by her nephew, Father Bermingham. So there is at least one other brother of Catherine and William (Sister Mary and Rev Patrick) who married and had children. I wonder who it is?

4. Is the Bridget Heaton who died in 1892 in Clonminch our Bridget Bermingham (wife of Edward Heaton)? Many descendants appear to think so as they have linked that death to our Bridget. The informant was Margaret Sylvester, daughter Clonminch. We have found records pertaining to her (marriage, baptisms etc) but ahe falls off the radar and I can't validate her connection to our Heatons. Maybe someone else might have just the evidence we need.

Cheers Mel

Hi Geraldine,

It appears you and I and other family members DNA match in Ancestry. Your John Bermingham in Backsteel may be a nephew of my Bridget (aka Mary) Bermingham, who married Edward Heaton!! Hello cousin!

Cheers Mel

Hi Mel

Sorry for the slow reply.  I've not looked back here recently, as all was very quiet. 

You've done a wonderful job finding the Bermingham links. I knew of Fr. Bermingham and his controversies, suspected that he was a relative, but could not prove it.

I had mentioned in April last year above, that I had found Mary Bermingham (married Fogarty) and that one of her daughters became a Presentation Sister at Wagga Wagga http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article115466255. I've since found another daughter who joined the order. Fr. Bermingham's involvement in setting up that convent explains that connection. 

I've also since found that Mary had a  son who was a priest Fr. J. J. Fogarty http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article108034219, and my mother's great uncle Edward was involved in caring for him.

Sorry, I don't know who Fr. Bermingham's parents were. 

Thanks again,

Rod

 Geraldine 

Thanks for this. Goulburn was a Diocese (now the Archdiocese of Canberra-Goulburn) . Fr. Fogarty’s main parish while serving in Goulburn was Boorowa, a town which is a similar travelling time from Goulburn city as Dublin is to Rahan Parish. He was Inspector of Schools for the Diocese, based at St. Patrick’s College Goulburn in the early 1880s, but went to Boorowa in 1889 and died there in 1912, but with many breaks for illness  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article108034219.  (Coincidentally, my current parish priest served in Boorowa as his previous parish).

Fr. Fogarty performed family weddings and was cared for in his illness by my mother’s Heaton Great Aunts and Uncles (Edward, Valentine and Sarah Heaton née McCarthy).

Whilst at Boorowa the first time in 1889 he was a curate to Fr. Bermingham who I presume is the same nephew of Dr. Bermingham (http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bermingham-patrick-2981).  Fr. Fogarty left this post early to return to Ireland for his health http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article115382878. However, there’s no mention of them being related.  His two sisters had a connection to Dr. Bermingham in that he had founded their convent at Wagga Wagga (which had been part of Goulburn Diocese).

Rod

Hi.

   My Heatons came from this area too. My gggf Michael Heaton (about 1823) married Anne Cahall or Cahil in the early 1851, Marriage year 1851
Marriage date 20 Nov 1851
Parish Balliboy and Killoughy
Spouse's first name(s) Anne
Spouse's last name Cahal
Spouse's address -
County Offaly (King's)
Country Ireland
Repository
National Library

 The Heatons’ son James Heaton was born in the Catholic parish of Banagher, which borders the parish of Balliboy and Killoughy in 1853. That same year, the Heatons left for the United States and settled in Shenandoah, Schuylkill Co, Penna, where they mined coal.

    In addition to son James, they had Michael and John.

    The elder Heaton died in 1895, Anne, his wife in 1906, and son Michael in 1899.

    Other Heaton names include Thomas and Kieran, or Carey.

     I would love to know the parents. I suspect Anne's father was James, and I also think Michael's father had the same name.

     Michael Sr's brother John may have come to the United States first.

      I love any help,

   Paul

Hi Mel and All

I am another Heaton relative in search of the ellusive Edward and Bridget.

Hello Rod, who is my cousin, from the Patrick Heaton tree in Australia.

I have seen dates for their birth and deaths, but can't trace where the information came from. Edward 1799-1892 and Bridget Birmingham 1798-1892. From an earlier family tree when I was last looking 20 years ago on ancestory.com.au I saw a reference to Edwards father as William Heaton, wife Jane.

I am also interested to track down how Patrick Heaton, their son (1814-1874) arrived in Australia. His sisters Eleanor, Jane and Valentine came from Ireland to Australia in 1850, but I can find no reference to Patricks arrival from UK shipping arrivals in Sydney.

The shipping log (boat called Emily , arrived in Sydney in 9/9/1850) lists Eleanor and Jane's parents as Edward and Bridget and living in Kilpatrick , Kings County. So if this is correct , we have reference to Edward and Bridget being in that region in 1850.

Referencing Patrick's death certificate in Sydney, it appears he was 27 when he arrived in Australia in 1841. Trouble is I don#t know from where. It also mentions his father was a farmer, as was Patrick. I guess the farmer background is not new.

Not sure if much new here, but welcome any comments .

rgds Adrian Heaton

Hello 

I've been searching my relatives on the Heaton side for a long time.  

Mel - you and I are related to the same Valetine Heaton. ( through the McCannons) 

They only record I have found for Bridget and Edward is the baptism record of Bridget Birmingham/Bermingham to Walter Birmingham/Bermingham and Mary Cunningham in 1798 and a death record for a Bridget Heaton in 1892 with an  age that matches to the baptism record.  I'm feeling pretty confident they are a match.

I vagulely remember (about 5 years ago) talking to a Heaton relative  out at Penrith, who had done a bit more research of their Heaton branch and had been to Ireland to see where the Heatons were from but I'd need to go back through my records to find it again.   

Would love to solve this mystery and trace back further but at least we know the area they originated from.

Lou. 

Hi Adrian,

Glad to see you found this thread.  The details you've suggested I can't dispute.  For the reference of others, Adrian and I are first cousins.  Just about all of us here are cousins, though mostly fourth or fifth!

Hi Lou,

Would the Penrith researcher have been Maree Windress?  Maree is married to the grand son of Elizabeth Basedow née Heaton.  Elizabeth was the family keeper of Heaton history. We used to visit Elizabeth at Orchard Hills (near Penrith) in the 1970s and 1980s, and that's part of continuous contact going all the way back to arrival. Maree doesn't live at the original family location of Orchard Hills (Penrith), but I believe her sister-in-law still does.   They are involved with the old Heaton family church there, St. Nicholas of Myrna, including the donaton of the "new" Heaton window installation a couple of years back. 

Maree's got a pretty good start on your Valentine's tree, including a couple of generations of McCannons: https://www.ancestry.com.au/family-tree/tree/56406518/family/familyview… (for those with Ancestry access).  With Adrian's and mine, she's got down to our parents' generation.  She's strongest of course on her own descent from Michael Heaton (1793-1868) who she puts for convenience as a half-brother of your Valentine's and our Patrick's father, Edward.  However, we don't know the actual relationship, and it was probably a cousin, first or second. 

The other resource that I'd recommend is a Trove archive I've done of newspaper articles on the Heatons https://trove.nla.gov.au/list/39830. There are some articles there relating to your Valentine and family. I'm also a regular visitor to the McCarthy's Lane cemetery in Castlereagh (Penrith https://austcemindex.com/?cemid=1764), where many family are buried, most closely to Adrian and I, our great aunt Mary. 

All the best, and hope we can be of assistance. 

Rod

Correction: The parish name is Myra, not Myrna. https://stnicholasofmyra.org.au/about-us/

Hello Geraldine

Hope you are still volunteering for this great site. ?

Regarding Edward Heaton and Bridget Berningham , I will be visiting Ireland at the end of October . If time permits I was planning to visit Parish of Rahan to see if any cemeteries and or local historians worth visiting to investigate the missing information on my ancestors 😀 .

For example , I visited the Clonminch cemetery website , but couldn’t find any Berminhams or Heatons listed .

Any suggestions welcome of what could be done at the city/village .

thanks Adrian Heaton

Adrian

I've sent you my e-mail address via your sister.

Despite Mel and Geraldine's work over seven years, there's no answer on a burial place for Edward Heaton and Bridget Bermingham or even death dates. There is a birth and death date for a Bridget Heaton of Clonminch (1798-1892), Tullamore, County of Kings (Offaly), the widow of a butcher. Mel mentioned her in 2019 as someone who a number of Heaton researchers have already identifed as a candidate for our ancestor Bridget, but without conclusive evidence. She's old enough, just, to have been Patrick's mother.

Here's my Trove list again, with a summary of the migrants and known relationships https://trove.nla.gov.au/list/39830

Happy to help where I can.