A Lesson in Alternate Spellings...

     While looking over our grandfather George Burns' siblings, I had a nagging gap of information.  I had never found the death record for his sister Frances.  I knew she had married and had a son.  I found his birth record in the Minnesota Birth Index as William Waller. In newspaper articles, Frances was referred to as Mrs. W. H. Waller.  Well....
     I had never considered an alternate spelling!  Someone on Ancestry used the spelling Wallar.  My gap resolved.  Her husband's name was actually Henry Wentworth Wallar. 
     I should have known to be more creative!  Experiences trying to find out Stella Lazewski's real maiden name and looking for Dohertys in indices should have reinforced this for me!

Patrick T. Burns and Hannah Murphy's Family

     Our ancestor coming out of the Eliza Barry and Timothy Burns family is Patrick T. Burns.  In the newspaper he is often referred to as P. T. Burns. He was born in Stoughton, Massachusetts on 7 March 1854 and if the marriage certificate is correct, was named for his paternal grandfather.
     He married Hannah Murphy, daughter of Mary Shea and Moses Murphy on 12 October 1880 at the Church of St. Thomas. There were 13 children born to this marriage: Patrick Leo, Mary Elizabeth, Ellen "Nellie", Ambrose Timothy, Mary Ellen "Mae" (Foldesi), Cecelia (Olstad), Moses, Baby Boy, Thomas, Frances, John Joseph, Agnes and George F.
     Patrick T. farmed most of his life on a farm in Tyrone Township.  A few bits reveal little details of his life:  in 1886 a news item said he was "experienced in surgery" and had dressed the foot of his brother Jerry who had injured his foot while chopping wood.  In 1905, Patrick himself lost the end of one of his fingers in a harvester. In 1906, he had a phone!  The number was: 186 J-4.  I'm not sure what these little news bits tell us. It certainly isn't a full measure of a man!!
    When he died, the news bit got it wrong!  In his obituary headline, he was referred to as Herbert. Where that came from I have no idea!!!!

Died at his home on the 9th, after a short illness, Patrick T. Burns, aged about fifty-two years. He leaves a wife and eleven children, three brothers and a sister to mourn his untimely death, beside a hot of friends and neighbors who respected and admired his high character and manly life. The funeral was held on Saturday and was very largely attended. He was a member of the A. O. H., which attended in a body. Le Sueur and Belle Plaine and the Center were all well represented at the funeral. We extend our deepest sympathy to the wife and the children in their great loss.

Belle Plaine Herald, 16 Jul 1908

 On July 23rd, the Le Sueur News reported that Mrs. P. T. Burns received $1,000 from the AOH (Ancient Order of Hibernians. 
     Truth be told, I don't know a lot about George's siblings.  His brother Thomas was killed in October 1918 

Hannah Murphy Burns &
grandson, Dick Burns

 while a soldier during WWI in France.  I recently came across a record on Ancestry that gave his burial place.  His grave is in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in Romagne, France.  Newspapers at the time implied that his death date was not really known but this record gave his death date as 25 October 1918.  According to the newspaper, his sister Cecelia served as an Army nurse briefly from October 1918-May 1919.  Moses may have enlisted in the army as well according to the newspaper, though no record surfaces on Ancestry. 
     Patrick Leo--more often referred to as Leo--may have played the violin.  According to a newspaper bit, his aunt Katie Cullen gave it to him. 
     No pictures of Patrick T. exist that I know of.  We do have a photo of Hannah Murphy Burns. 

     There is a better picture of her, but this is one with Dad. 
     
      

The Burnses

     When I first started working on our genealogy, I was told there were 4 Burns brothers and they were born in Boston.  This turned out to be geographically incorrect.  First records in the USA for the Burnses were found in Stoughton, Massachusetts and they begin not with the four brothers, but with their father and his brother. .

     There were two brothers, Timothy and Daniel Burns.  According to Timothy's gravestone, they were were natives of Killquane, parish of Ballimona, County Cork Ireland.  After doing some searching, I was unable to find the place on any map of Ireland. With the help of volunteers specializing in Irish genealogy at the Irish Genealogical Society International, it was determined that the name place I was seeking was likely Kilquane, Ballinamona, County Cork.

     In records for the area, there were Burnses living there.  On one of our early visits to Ireland Jim and I stopped at the church in what is now called Mourne Abbey. There were Burnses in the record, and they did spell it B-u-r-n-s!!  People always wonder about that. There weren't any records for Timothy or his brother. The records don't begin until June of 1829.  Daniel was older than Timothy, and if the information given on Timothy's marriage certificate is correct, he was born about 1827.  Correspondence with one of the descendants in the area eliminated one of the Patricks as the father of our two. There are plenty of our given names in the record such as:  Jeremiah, Patrick, Timothy, Daniel and John. If the families here followed the naming pattern, the parents might have been Patrick and Ellen, but we will never know! In 1852 according to the Griffith's Valuation, a Daniel and a John lived in Kilquane.  So close, yet so far. The question remains!
     The next record is of Timothy in the 1850 Federal census in Stoughton, Massachusetts. His occupation is recorded as a "boot crimper".
     There is an intent to marry record in 1852 for Timothy Burns and Elizabeth Barry in Stoughton also.  On the same page was also an intent to marry for John Barry and Hannah Mansfield. I believe that John Barry is Eliza's brother.
  

     The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has marriage records for both Timothy Burns and Elizabeth Barry and for John Barry and Hannah Mansfield. The marriage record gives the fathers' names for both Timothy and Elizabeth.  Timothy's father is Patrick and Eliza's is Garrett.  In the Mansfield-Barry record, it also reveals that John Barry's father is Garrett as well. More on this family later.

Timothy Burns & Eliza Barry Marriage Records

    The above certificate from the Commonwealth likely has inaccurate information on it.  The intent to marry was dated 19 November 1852. Timothy and Elizabeth were married on the 20th of November 1852 according to the church records. (So I believe the above certificate is in error for the month).  Records from the Archdiocese of Boston reveal that the marriage took place at the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Boston. The witnesses to the marriage were Patrick Sweeney & Ellen Sweeney.  Eliza's brother was also married on 20 November 1852 by the same priest--Rev. J. Fitzsimmons.

     The records for the baptisms of the older were not found at Sts. Peter and Paul.  The Commonwealth has birth records for Patrick (7 Mar 1854) and Daniel (16 Dec 1857).  There is no record for Elizabeth Frances, though census records indicate she was born in Massachusetts. Patrick is our ancestor.

     In the interim, it appears that Daniel made his way west to Minnesota.  There was a sale of property in Town 112, Range 25W (later known as Tyrone Township) to him in Minnesota in November 1856. He appears in the 1857 Minnesota Territorial census. By 1860, Timothy and family has joined him.

     The rest of the children born to Timothy and Eliza were John, Timothy, Ellen, Honora, William, Jeremiah, Mary Jane and Agnes. 

     Timothy died on 5th of August 1872.  Eliza is left with 10 living children.  In the 1875 Minnesota Census, she is recorded as "Widow Burns".   Interestingly, in the 1880 census, her brother is living in DerrynaneTownship. One may speculate that he came to help out his sister. By 1887, they were back in Stoughton, Massacusetts.  John Barry's wife, Hannah, died that year.

     Eliza died in 1885. Her obituary follows:

Mrs. Timothy Burns, who had been a widow for some years and who resided near the line of Tyrone and Derrynane township, died on Monday evening at the age of 50 years and was buried at St. Thomas yesterday. She had been more or less sick for the past year. Mrs. Burns and family were among the earliest settlers in her neighborhood. She was a woman of great energy and industry, and was generally esteemed as a good woman. She leaves a family of six or seven children.

Le Sueur Sentinel, April 30, 1885

     Timothy's brother Daniel married Mary Murray.  There is sometimes confusion in the records about her last name, but that stems from the fact that her mother remarried. They had 7 children. There is a sad story attached to Daniel.  He committed suicide in his barn on the farm. 

Suicide of Daniel Burns

Daniel Burns, aged between 50 and 60 years, committed suicide at his home in Tyrone township on the road from St. Thomas to Belle Plaine, on Sunday morning a week ago. A son of Mr. Burns and another boy had been watching a sick horse on Saturday night until 12 o'clock, when they were relieved by Mr. Burns, whose lifeless body was found the next morning hanging from a rail which had been placed across the inside of his granary. No possible cause can be assigned for the act as he had never manifested anything unusual. Mr. Burns had lived in Tyrone township from its earliest settlement and was always a very peacable, upright citizen, and it is not known that he had an enemy or was in enmity with any person. He leaves a wife and three children

Le Sueur Sentinel, April 17, 1884

Auntie

     Ma's aunt Ellen O'Connell Ronayne was known to many in and out of the family as "Auntie".  She was the daughter of John G. O'Connell and Mary Ann Pyles.  She was born on 2 Aug 1864 in Ohio and came to Minnesota with the family about 1870.
     She married Cornelius Ronayne on 8 September 1884 at the Church of St. Thomas.They had four children.  The daughter's photo appeared previously on this blog in the 4 generation picture.

     When Auntie's sister Mary Agnes O'Connell Ronayne died just after childbirth in 1899, Ellen  took over the care of Mary Agnes' 8 children as well as her own. This earned her the respect and admiration of many.
      Ma told a story about one of her cousins, I think it may have been Madge Ronayne, who was getting ready for a dance.  She went out and bought a very nice blouse to wear and was quite excited about it.  Auntie didn't approve of this frivolity and took the blouse and threw it in the fire!!
     In her later life she lived with her brother Daniel, who never married.  Ma said they had an altar set up in their home and they prayed together.
     At the end of her life, she spent some time at the Little Sisters of the Poor in St. Paul.  Evidently, she became too hard for them to handle, and was moved to a facility in Rochester, Minnesota where she died on 11 April 1961.  She was 96 years old!!  Those O'Connells have the longevity gene.
     The father of Mary Agnes' children was James F. Ronayne.  James and Cornelius were brothers.  This can be very confusing because another sister--Lizzie--also married a Ronayne.  His name was Dennis.  He may have been a cousin to the other Ronaynes.  Dennis' sister Catherine married into the Burns family.

Quiltless

Margaret Doherty & Dave O'Connell Family
Ann (Ma), Margaret, Alice, Dave, John
But look past them to the quilt!

     Here is the only photo of ancestral type people that has a quilt in it.  If you've read any of the pioneer stories or looked at quilt books, they discuss how women saved every fabric scrap for inclusion in a quilt for the home and got together on winter days at a quilting bee to help each other get a quilt made.  People often bought feedsacks by the fabric it was packaged in so the bag could be reused in a quilt.
     The quilt behind them is a tied quilt. This wasn't meant to be decorative, just functional.
     I don't remember anyone in the family talking about quilting or quilting bees.
     The quilts most people make today, by buying yards of material specifically for a quilt, would probably seem wasteful to many of the ancestors.