The missing piece of the jigsaw - Mary Anne Hynes

💙 Surprise, Surprise! 💙 My great-great-grandmother Bridget (Hynes) Wynne had another sister. Her name was Mary Anne. And with Mary Anne's recent rediscovery came confirmation of my great-great-great-grandparent's identity.



A few years ago, I set out my preferred theory for who my third great-grandparents were in The Hayes Theory. John HYNES and Margaret HAYES married in Limerick city in 1826, and christened a daughter Bridget there in 1830 and a son Edmond in 1835. They were the perfect candidates. Everything about them fit—the right names, in the right place, at the right time, and nothing ruled them out.

But we didn't 'know' the maiden name of Bridget's mother Margaret. Plus, there were no links between this young family in Limerick and the adult Bridget's family in Dublin city. It could easily have all been one big coincidence. So, much to the exasperation of my third cousin Phyllis, I never added 'Hayes' as Margaret's maiden name in my online family tree.

Just last month Phyllis asked again, 'You and Aileen [my first cousin] have continued to question Margaret Hayes as Bridget's mother and I've always wondered why'. But, it was hard to explain. In short, our hesitation can probably be attributed to Mr. Murphy, our genealogy lecturer at University College Dublin. His voice always echos in my head - 'it's a good theory, but where's the evidence?'

Then recently, as I was gallivanting down that rabbit hole in pursuit of what turned out to be my 'too deep' Hynes ancestry, I came across an exciting DNA match. My mother's first cousin Larry was the estimated 3rd-4th cousin of an unknown lady with the unlikely surname Rodoreda.



This lady also matches my Aunt Anne, her second cousin Paul, and a known descendant of Bridget's sister Catherine (Hynes) Tucker. Phyllis and Aileen, being one generation removed, have an estimated 5th-8th cousin match with her too. We also all match other members of the extended Rodoreda family. It looked like this match was definitely on our Hynes line.

Of course, the Rodoreda lady had no online tree. Still, her surname was so uncommon, in the English-speaking world anyway, it wasn't difficult to trace. It turns out, she was descended from Jerome Rodoreda of Barcelona, Spain and Mary Anne Hynes of Limerick, Ireland. Jerome and Mary Anne met in Perth, Western Australia, and married there in 1856.

Nothing is ever that easy though. Mary Anne's baptism was not found in the registers for St Mary's in Limerick, or elsewhere for that matter. And most of the online family trees claimed Mary Anne's parents were John Hynes and Mary—not Margaret—Hayes from Limerick. Close but no cigar!

Her mother's stated given name was obviously an error, right?

Except, not only that, 'Mary' was said to have died in Perth in 1880, with a source attached. Her father supposedly also died in Perth, in 1894, though no source was cited. Ok, so we don't know yet what happened to John Hynes, but we do know where Margaret ended up. She was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin with her daughter Catherine's family.

Sure enough, FamilySearch has a record confirming Mary [Anne]'s mother was Mary—not Margaret—Hayes. Except it's only a transcription, perhaps of the church register, without the image of the original document. The source details are not provided. How many times have you initially thought old writing of 'Margt' (with that little superscript 't' at the end) read Mary?

Phyllis did Trojan work proving the Mary Hines who died in Perth in 1880 was actually the wife of a William Hines, a convict from England, and not the mother of Mary Anne Rodoreda. So, there was hope. But, although images of the original baptism records for all Mary Anne's children were found online, her church marriage register was not available. We ordered the civil record, and are still waiting for it to arrive.

In the meantime, the Catholic Archdiocese of Perth Archives provided a requested scan of Jerome and Mary Anne's marriage, from the registers of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Perth. And, as clear as day, or at least as clear as it can possibly be for an old record written in Latin, Mary Anne's details were given as Marianam Hines filia in Joannis et Margarita Hayes ex Limerick in Hibernia. I read this to mean 'Maryanne Marian Hines a daughter of John and Margaret Hayes from Limerick, Ireland'.

There is still no 'documentary' evidence linking Bridget (Hynes) Wynne with John Hynes and Margaret Hayes, other than what was written in code and given to her in her DNA, which she in turn passed on to her descendants. I'm not 100% sure Mr. Murphy would agree with this 'scientific' approach, but for me DNA has provided that crucial piece of the jigsaw showing Margaret Hayes belongs in our family picture.

It's about time, I hear Phyllis say.😄

Sources:
1.'Australia Marriages, 1810-1980', database, FamilySearch, Mary Hines in entry for Jerome Rodoreda, 1856, accessed 20 August 2020.
2. Marriage register, Church of the Immaculate Conception in Perth, Rodoreda-Hines marriage, 1856, Catholic Archdiocese of Perth Archives.

Further articles about Mary Anne (Hynes) Rodoreda:-

• Duped by the Emigration Commission;
• Mary Anne Hynes meets Jerome Rodoreda;
• Cousins connect ~ Mary Anne (Hynes) Rodoreda.