The Identification of the Parents for John J. Barrett and AdditionalSiblings – the Power of Collateral Searching and a Bit of Luck
Saturday, March 14, 2015
The identification of a
townland in Irish research is critical to determining what records
exist for the area as well as using the land records from Griffith's
Valuation or the Tithe Applotment. When luck enough to have stories
or old letters, research into the claims made through records and
historical articles can piece together families in the absence of
census records. The evidence may represent a reasonable conclusion
since unfortunately so many records have been lost over the year.
An earlier attempt was
made to establish the lineage of John J. Barrett and/or Anne Cormac
Mannion. An old family “letter” provided some names with large
gaps in the history. The letter led to research in various old books
such as Mac Furbis', The genealogies, tribes,
and customs of Hy-Fiachrach, commonly called O'Dowda's country,
to records such as the Ordnance Survey Letters of County Mayo, and
then early land record notations from historical articles found
through JSTOR. The information allowed for a potential lineage to be
drawn for the Cormac (Cormick/Cormack is often used) family with
additional evidence compiled from the Tithe Applotment and Griffith’s
Valuation.
Research did not however result in any reasonable evidence for John J. Barrett's parents or lineage. Obituaries for both John J. Barrett and Anne Cormac Mannion Barrett indicated that they and all but one child, Michael, immigrated from County Mayo, Ireland in the early 1870s1,2. Furthermore, John J. was apparently born in Ballycastle, Mayo while Anne was born in Castlehill, Mayo. The current information allowed for the creation of the following Barrett tree (spouses for the children are included):
 |
| Descendants of John J. Barrett and Anne Cormac Mannion |
The Petition for naturalization for
Charles J. Barrett, was located, having been filed 21 May 1889.
Charles stated provided his date of entry or arrival into New York as
24 April 1871.
 |
| Petition for Naturalization of Charles J. Barrett |
A search of immigration
records online resulted in no records for that date. However,
broadening the search dates resulted in a record for a Chas Barrett
arriving 31 March 1871 to New York on the S.S. Erin3.
 |
| S.S. Erin Manifest for 31 March 1871 into New York. |
The record shows a Barrett
family with Ann, Thos., Chas, Maria and Edwd. arriving from England.
John J. Barrett, his son John E. and daughter Catharine were not
found in the records.
 |
| Possible record for Barrett family immigrating to the United States on S.S. Erin: Ann, Thos., Maria, Chas., Edwd Barrett. |
The heading “the country
to which they severally belong” indicates England which aligns with
a biographical sketch for John E. Barrett4
suggesting that the Barrett family left Ireland for England before
leaving for the United States.
The 1900 U.S. census
record for Catharine5
indicated she potentially married in Ireland and immigrated to the
U.S. after her husband, Martin Burke, in 1875. Michael, the only
son to not have immigrated to the U.S. lived in England according to
the obituary of John J. Barrett. The immigration ship list for John
J. and his son John E. have not been found, however naturalization
records for John E. Barrett indicate that he immigrated in March
1871. The ship list has not been located for John E. Barrett.
As previously mentioned,
the obituary for John J. Barrett identified his siblings, Edward in
St. Louis and Thomas G. a doctor in the Scranton area. There was no
mention of John J.'s parents. A search for records associated with
Thomas G. identified his wife and children through U.S. Census
records6,7
and a notice of his death8,
with little historical information to elucidate the parents of Thomas
G. and John J.
The path for identifying
the parents of John J. Barrett and his siblings was running cold. A
collateral search was started yet again, looking first to John J.
Barrett's children, specifically, his daughter Catharine, who married
Martin Burke and appeared to stay in Ireland or England until 1875 as
noted previously. Thus, a search was undertaken to try and find any
records in Ireland for John J. Barrett's daughter, Catherine
(Barrett) Burke. A bit of luck shined during a Google search for
Catherine Burke Barrett. A biography for Thomas G. Barrett,
MD in “Portrait and Biographical Record of Lackawanna County”,
was discovered in a free digitized book9.
It was determined that this Thomas G. Barrett was the brother of
John J. Barrett, and within the entry, the names of John J. and
Thomas G.'s parents were listed, a Professor Michael Barrett and
Catherine (Burke) Barrett.
This was not the Catharine of the intended search but paying attention to collateral lines was critical to at least stop on the search result and review the record. The biographical sketch list the parents and identifies his brother John by name, location and occupation. In addition, the information indicates two brothers, the previously identified Edward in St. Louis, and a fourth brother, Dominick who was noted to have died in Illinois and was a teacher.
This was not the Catharine of the intended search but paying attention to collateral lines was critical to at least stop on the search result and review the record. The biographical sketch list the parents and identifies his brother John by name, location and occupation. In addition, the information indicates two brothers, the previously identified Edward in St. Louis, and a fourth brother, Dominick who was noted to have died in Illinois and was a teacher.
Included is a wealth
information about Thomas G.’s life in the British Army and that
there were eleven children of Michael Barrett and Catherine Burke,
seven of whom were no longer living. Further information from the
sketch noted that in addition to the immigration of John J., Thomas
G., Edward (of St. Louis) and Dominick, both Professor Michael
Barrett and his wife, Catherine immigrated to the United States,
settling in the mid-west. The biography indicated Catherine died and
was buried in Jacksonville, Illinois, while Michael lived a long life
before dying in St. Louis.
It is often said regarding genealogical research to ensure time is spent on collateral lines. In this instance, while attempting to focus on a sibling of the the ancestor of focus, luck played a part in the identification of a different Catherine (Burke) Barrett, turning out to be my 4great-grandmother married to Professor Michael Barrett. They resided in Mayo until their immigration with much of the family.
Employing a well known technique in genealogical research combined with some additional luck resulted in the identification of the parents for John J. Barrett, Professor Michael Barrett and Catharine (Burke) Barrett, adding an additional branch to the Barrett Family tree:
1The
Scranton Republican (Scranton, Pennsylvania) · Thu, Apr 27, 1899 ·
Page
10
http://www.newspapers.com/clip/248907/the_scranton_republican_27_april_1899
2
The Scranton Republican (Scranton, Pennsylvania) · Tue, Dec 26,
1893 · Page 8
http://www.newspapers.com/clip/248943/the_scranton_republican_26_dec_1893The
Scranton
3Year:
1871; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: M237,
1820-1897; Microfilm Roll: Roll 340; Line: 3; List Number: 241
Ancestry.com. New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 [database
on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
4Derby,
George, and James T. White. "The National Cyclopedia of
American Biography ... V.1-." Google Books. J. T. White, 2 Feb.
2009. Web. 14 Mar. 2015.
<https://books.google.com/books?id=q-c-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA93&lpg=PA93&dq=John%2BErigena%2BBarrett%2BNational%2Bcyclopaedia%2Bof%2Bamerican%2Bbiography&source=bl&ots=CHKt-Idqlm&sig=Ip_5PXfvRL0mwyzWrc9DsjOu82s&hl=en&sa=X&ei=eVAEVf7YEIvFgwSWjYCABQ&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false>.
8Pittston
Gazette, (Pittston, Pennsylvania), 26 Apr 1904, Tue • Page 3
9Chapman
Publishing Co. Portrait and Biographical Record of Lackawanna
County, Pennsylvania. New York, NY: Chapman Publishing Company,
1897. Original from the University of Wisconsin -
Madison. DigitizedFeb 10, 2012
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