The Wynne family in the newspapers x 3

My first cousin recently gave me a subscription to the $ Irish Newspaper Archives, so I thought I'd use it to find her something new about our Wynne family.  This post is for you, Aileen 💝

1. Agnes (Wynne) Fegan

Agnes Wynne was born at 10 Christ Church Place, on 7 July 1877, the youngest daughter of our great-great-grandparents, John Wynne and Bridget Hynes. She married John Fegan, a salesman, on 1 March 1905. They made their home at 24 Halliday Square, in Dublin city, where they raised a large family. Sadly, Agnes died young, on 3 October 1921, aged only forty-four years. Five years after she died, her husband placed this 'In Memoriam' notice in the newspaper:

In Memoriam, Agnes (Wynne) Fegan, Evening Herald, 2 October 1926, p. 2

Do you think she went by the name Winnie, or was the intention to include her maiden name, Wynne, in this notice?

2. John Wynne (junior)

John Wynne was baptised on 1 June 1851, in St Catherine's parish, in Meath Street. He was Agnes (Wynne) Fegan's eldest brother. He married Margarita Mary Ward/Armstrong in July 1876, in Dundalk, Co. Louth, where they made their home.  After his wife died and his children were all reared, John came back to live in Dublin for a few years. Records show him in the city in 1911 and 1916. But, until now, his last known address was in Glasgow, Scotland, sometime between 1916 and 1918, and I've never been able to find a record of his death, anywhere. Now, I know he returned to Dublin, where he died on or around 20 July 1923.

Death notice, John Wynne, Evening Herald, 23 July 1923, p. 4

Here's the relevant excerpt from the copy death register:

Copy death register, John Wynne, Dublin, 20 July 1923

The register states he was fifty-one years old when he died. He was really seventy-two years of age, which is why I never paid any attention to this record in the index before now, but there are enough correct details to be comfortable this was our great-granduncle. It's true, he was the eldest son of John and Bridget Wynne, Dublin; he was a widower; his occupation was cork-maker; and his given residential address - 2 Nelson St - was the known address of his sister, Isabella (Wynne) Perrody. 

3. Bridget (Hynes) Wynne
And, saving the best for last - who'd have thunk there'd be a newspaper death notice for our great-great-grandmother, Bridget (Hynes) Wynne, herself - in 1895! 

But, voilà!

Death notice, Bridget (Hynes) Wynne, 

Irish Independent, 19 December 1895, p. 1

Most interesting, apart from the fact the notice was published in the first place, is the sentence 'American and East Indian papers please copy'. We already know Bridget's daughter, Mary (Wynne) Finnegan, emigrated to America and was living in Colorado Springs, when Bridget died. But who in 'East India' was concerned with Bridget's passing? This is a new clue.

Papa Joe

Today, I'd like to introduce you to Joseph Wynne, better known as Papa Joe to his grandchildren. Joseph was a first cousin of my grandfather, Kevin Wynne. 

In 1907, when he was twenty-four years old, Joseph left home in Dundalk, Co. Louth, and made his way to America. He signed on as a trimmer onboard the Carmania, an ocean liner serving the Liverpool-New York route, but on arrival in New York, he deserted ship and supposedly swam to shore.[1] 

Joseph was born on 24 May 1883, in Mary Street, Dundalk, the second son and fourth child of John Wynne and Margarita Armstrong, a.k.a. Ward. He was baptised four days later. His Godparents were Joseph Wynne and Julia Hoey.[2] 

On leaving school, Joseph served an apprenticeship with a carpenter in Dundalk, an occupation that would serve him well in New York City.

On 31 July 1910, he married Catherine McDonald, a girl he knew from home. Catherine was born on 22 June 1888, at Jocelyn Street, Dundalk, the daughter of John McDonald, a fireman on the steamships. Her mother Mary died of tuberculosis in 1891, when Catherine was an infant, and the children were said to have been raised in an orphanage in Dundalk.[3] 

Joseph and Catherine raised a family of eight children in New York City. Seemingly, however, Joseph was not the ideal husband or father, spending far too much time in the pub, drinking the family budget. Perhaps he took after his granny Bridget Wynne in that regard; she had a problem with alcohol too, an illness that even saw her spend a night or two in jail. 

But, this wasn't the only trait Joseph may have inherited from his ancestors. He had black hair and blue eyes, same as my granda, and same as many others in our extended Wynne family. And, just like his siblings, and his Uncle James Wynne, Joseph could sing. As a young man, he sang solo at concerts in his native Dundalk, and, according to his granddaughter, he was known to entertain the neighbours in the evenings, singing out on his front porch, in Brooklyn, New York.[4]  

Joseph was eighty-five years old when he died in March 1968, in Lynbrook, Nassau County, New York. Catherine survived him by nearly nine years. They were buried next to each other in the Cemetery of the Holy Rood, in Westbury, Nassau County, New York.[5]

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[1] 'Liverpool, England, Crew Lists 1861-1919' accessed on ($) Ancestry.com.
[2] Copy birth register, Joseph Wynne, Dundalk, 1883, accessed IrishGenealogy.ie; transcription of the baptism register, Joseph Wynn, Dundalk, 1883, accessed ($) RootsIreland.ie.
[3] 'New York, New York, marriage index 1866-1937' accessed on ($) Ancestry.com; copy birth register, Catherine McDonald, Dundalk, 1888, copy death register Mary McDonald, Dundalk, 1891, accessed IrishGenealogy.ie. 
[4] Dundalk Examiner and Louth Advertiser, 21 November 1903; 'World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918' accessed on ($) Ancestry.com.
[5] Burial of Joseph C. Wynne, 1968, and Catherine Wynne, 1977, Cemetery of the Holy Rood, Westbury, Nassau County, New York, accessed on Find A Grave. 
[6] Family anecdotes, as told by Joseph's granddaughters, Pamela and Holly. 
Image: Carmania poster accessed via Wikimedia Commons.

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(c) Black Raven Genealogy 

Mary Frances (Wynne) Stowell

This week, I’d like to introduce you to another of Granda’s first cousins - Mary Frances Wynne. A while ago, I ‘met’ a lovely lady called Gabriella online and she shared some photographs and much of Frances’ story with me.

Mary Frances was born in Dundalk, Co. Louth on 19 June 1881, the second daughter and third child of John Wynne and Margaret Ward/Armstrong.[1] She worked as a tailoress before her marriage.[2] Then, on 16 January 1908, she married Robert Stowell, a sea captain, six years her senior.[3] Robert’s family believed he could do much better for himself, than marrying a cork-cutter’s daughter, but the marriage went ahead anyway, against their wishes.

Robert and Frances Stowell

with Rita and Bernadette, 1916

Robert and Frances had two children, both girls. Margaretta Mary, known as Rita, was born in 1911 and Bernadette Frances followed in 1916. Bernadette was severely mentally disabled. Frances cared for her at home.[4]

Robert’s ‘Identity and Service Certificate’ shows he captained two steamships, the SS Carlingford and the SS Margaret Lockington.  Both were cargo ships owned by the Dundalk coal importers, Samuel Lockington Ltd. In 1921, Robert became the first captain of the SS Margaret Lockington, which at the time was said to have been the fastest collier crossing the Irish Sea.

  

‘RS2 Identity and Service Certificate’, Robert Stowell, c. 1919

And, although Robert served on a minesweeper during World War I, a far more dangerous command, you might think, it was on board the SS Margaret Lockington that he met his unfortunate demise. Tragically, Captain Robert Stowell was found dead in his bunk on 24 December 1922 – Christmas Eve morning – when his ship was docked at Ayr in Scotland. An inquest was held shortly thereafter. The jury concluded his death was accidental, caused by injuries sustained in a fall on deck the previous evening.[5]

  

Death of Robert Stowell, The Weekly Freeman, 6 Jan. 1923, p. 4

Yet, his grieving widow never accepted the inquest’s verdict. Frances believed Robert had been assaulted. He had recently dismissed a seaman for bad behaviour and Frances suspected he received the head injuries in retaliation. She maintained this belief until her dying day.

Frances remained in Dundalk after Robert’s death, taking care of her young family. She passed away on 18 January 1965, aged 83 years, and was buried in St Patricks Cemetery in Dundalk.[6]

Death of Frances Stowell, Irish Independent, 20 Jan. 1965, p. 21

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[1] Copy birth register, Dundalk, 1881, Mary Wynne, General Register Office.

[2] Census of Ireland, Dundalk, 1901, National Archives.

[3] Copy marriage register, Dundalk, 1908, Stowell-Wynne, General Register Office.

[4] Copy birth registers, Dundalk, Margaretta Stowell in 1911, Bernadette Stowell in 1916, General Register Office.

[5] Copy of an extract from the Register of Deaths for Ayr, Robert Francis Stowell, dated 5 October 1923.

[6] Copy death register, Dundalk, 1923, Mary Frances Stowell, General Register Office.

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© Black Raven Genealogy

John Augustine Wynne

The search in Dundalk, Co. Louth has so far failed to unearth our Wynne family’s roots. Instead, I have found out more about my granddad’s first cousins, the children of his Uncle John Wynne. John and his wife Margaret had ten children, many of whom have previously featured on this blog. 

You might remember Philip Camillus, their youngest son, who died so tragically during World War I. Or, Mary Clarissa, their youngest daughter, who travelled to Sydney, Australia before settling in New York with her brothers James and Gerald. Well, this week I learned about their eldest son, John Augustine Wynne, born in Dundalk in June 1877.

Poor John Augustine. He too died young. He caught that dreaded nineteenth-century killer - tuberculosis. His parents nursed him for a year before he finally succumbed to the disease. He was only sixteen years old. But, what’s unusual about John Augustine – well, unusual for our family that is – was his obituary was published in the local newspaper. John Augustine was well-known in Dundalk, and that, coupled with his youth, meant people were interested in his passing. 

You see, John Augustine could sing.

Death of Master John Augustine Wynne 

'The hundreds in Dundalk who frequently listened with rapture to the charming vocalism of Master Wynne will learn with grief and sorrow that the sweet voice which was the source of so much enjoyment to them is forever stilled in death. Master Wynne died on Tuesday, to the inexpressible grief of his father and mother, to whom the sympathy of the people goes spontaneously out. 

The funeral took place on Thursday, the coffin containing the remains being carried to the grave by the schoolfellows of the deceased who attended in hundreds and marched with the funeral in processional order. Rev. Brother J A Yorke and all the members of the Community of Christian Brothers in Dundalk attended. Mr T V Parks was also present as well as great numbers of the townspeople generally. Rev. P Murtagh, C C, officiated at the grave. R.I.P.' 

Death Notice of John Augustine Wynne in the Dundalk Examiner and Louth Advertiser, 1 July 1893, p.2.

Sadly, for a genealogist, it was not a typical obituary. It provides zero information on John Augustine’s family, or their origins, or their ties to the community in Dundalk, concentrating instead on naming the local 'celebrities' who attended. Still, isn’t it nice to learn a little about our young cousin’s life! 

And news of his death travelled far and wide. In the following weeks, the newspaper printed a letter addressed to John Augustine’s mother, from P C Clarke in Gibraltar. The Reverend Brother P C Clarke was the Superior of the Christian Brothers School in Gibraltar, but formerly of their school in Dundalk, where John Augustine had no doubt attended. 

Gibraltar, July 8th, 1893

Dear Mrs Wynne – A few moments ago, I received the Dundalk Examiner and was startled and deeply grieved to read the account of poor dear John Augustine’s death. I wondered at not receiving a letter from him, but now I know the reason. Need I say how profoundly I sympathise with you in your deep sorrow, knowing what a terrible blow this must be to so loving a mother for such an endearing, affectionate child. He was a favourite with everyone who came across him – to know him was to love him. 

Yet, ‘God’s holy will be done.’ Our dear Lord, who does everything for the best has called him ‘Home’. That sweet voice of his, which was so lovingly devoted to the praises of God here below, now resounds midst angel choirs in chanting joyous hallelujahs before His heavenly throne. He would not now exchange his happy lot for this cold, cold world again. 

I am sending on the account to Mr Duggan, who I know will be deeply touched to hear–I scarcely know which to call it–the sad, or the happy news; it is such a special privilege and mark of God’s love to be called, whilst this young and innocent, from this deceitful world. 

With kindest regards and heartfelt condolence with dear self, Mr. Wynne and the little ones, I remain, very sincerely yours,

P C Burke

Letter to the mother of the late John Augustine Wynne, published in the Dundalk Examiner and Louth Advertiser, 22 July 1893, p. 3. 

It seems John Augustine was not the only one of my grandfather’s first cousins who could carry a tune. His sisters Maggie and Nora were similarly talented, as was his brother Joseph. And, people actually paid to hear them perform. 

It was after their mother’s death in December 1900 before their names were found in the newspaper. They specialised in Irish songs and ballads, singing at ‘Irish’ concerts, all part of the Gaelic Revival taking place across the country at that time. 

Maggie Wynne was seemingly the most popular.  She regularly performed alongside Mr T. V. Parks, who it transpires was a particularly popular local musician and professor of music. I wonder did Maggie think of her brother when she sang.

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© Black Raven Genealogy 

John Wynne, the Cork Cutter

In the search for what brought my great-granduncle, John Wynne, fifty miles from his home in Dublin city to Dundalk in Co. Louth, it crossed my mind he may have been offered such a great a job he had to take it. Why else had he not become a brush maker in Dublin, like his four younger brothers?

And, if he was offered a job in Dundalk, he must have known someone in the town. So, we may have had family there - I am still looking for our Wynne family origins after all.

Then again, if we were related to the Wynne family from Dowdallshill, like those other online family trees suggest, why did John not become a stone mason like his supposed grandfather? Or, take a job in the building trade with his up-and-coming would-be first cousin, the soon to be famous church builder, James Wynne?

Instead, when John married Margaret Ward in July 1876, he was working as a labourer. He could easily have picked up that kind of work in Dublin. So, from the start, it did not look too promising for my ‘great job’ theory. 

By the time the couple’s first child arrived in June 1877, John had started his career as a cork cutter. You’d be surprised at how many cork cutters there were in nineteenth-century Ireland! Cork came from the bark of a type of oak tree, imported from around the Mediterranean. It was used for a variety of purposes, like in the manufacture of shoes and flotation devises, though even then it was most often used for bottles stops and barrel bungs.

I imagine John might have found work at a factory like the Malcolm Brown Distillery in Jocelyn Street, close to his home in Mary Street. In the 1870s and 1880s, the distillery was a thriving business, famous for its whiskey, and one of Dundalk’s largest employers. They probably had need of a cork cutter, or two.

Malcolm Brown & Co.'s Dundalk Distillery c. 1892

Still, increasing mechanisation likely meant that by the time John joined the industry, cork cutting was no longer considered a skilled trade. He was probably never very well-paid, and by the end of the nineteenth century, he certainly found it hard to make ends meet. The distillery business in Dundalk was also going downhill by then. This would explain his daughter Maggie’s letter to her Aunt Mary in Colorado Springs. In December 1900, Maggie complained: 

‘Times are very hard.  Now here everything is so dear. I’m not very strong at present. My health is gone down. My father is going in for Hall Keeper in the Young Men’s Society rooms. I hope we may get it, free house light & fire & £12 a year. So, think of that and my father’s money besides.’

It doesn’t sound like Uncle John was lured to Dundalk by the promise of rewarding work. If he was, it never came to pass. So, perhaps it was ‘love’ that brought him north. I never could find out much about his wife, Margaret Ward, or where the couple might have met - maybe I’ll give her another try.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons - Stratten & Stratten, Dublin, Cork and South of Ireland: A Literary, Commercial & Social Review Past and Present; With a Description of Leading Mercantile Houses and Leading Enterprises.

Many thanks to my third cousin, Phyllis, for the copy of Maggie Wynne’s letter.

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© Black Raven Genealogy

The Wynnes of Dowdallshill

The one thing drummed into me since I first started learning how to 'do' genealogy is to start with myself and work backwards, carefully, one proven generation at a time. So, it goes against the grain to jump in and start researching this Wynne family of Dundalk, Co. Louth. Chances are they’re not my family!

But something brought my great-granduncle, John Wynne junior, from his home in Dublin city to Dundalk in Co. Louth, where he married Margaret Ward/Armstrong in 1876. And, I’ve exhausted all other clues regarding where his father, also John Wynne, might have originated. So, I may as well look at the Wynnes in Dundalk.

Last week, I identified James Wynne and Catherine Martin, a couple who lived in Dowdallshill, a townland in Upper Dundalk, three kilometres out of town. Some online trees claim they were my John Wynne’s parents. And, they did have a son John, baptised in Dundalk in 1832. Yet, I have my doubts - my great-great-grandfather claimed he was born in Dublin city about 1820. He married Bridget Hynes there in 1849, and this seems a stretch for a seventeen-year-old boy from Dowdallshill. Still…

Griffith’s property survey shows two Wynne households in Dowdallshill in 1854 - one headed up by James Wynne as expected and the other by a Mary Wynne, presumably a widow. James leased an old cottage from a James Kearney, shown at 24e on the below map, while Mary lived across the road from him, at 21c. These two Wynne families were probably related.

Excerpt Griffith’s Valuation, Dowdallshill, Dundalk, Co. Louth, 1854

Church records also reflect the two families in Dowdallshill:

i)   James Wynne, with an address in the townland, married Catherine Martin in 1831. They had nine children baptised in Dundalk – John, my would-be great-great-grandfather (1832), Thomas (1834), Cath (1837), Elizabeth (1840), Patrick (1843), Bridget (1846), Mary (1850), James, the builder, discussed last week (1852) and Valentine (1856); and  

           

ii)  John Wynne, also living in Dowdallshill, married Mary Treanor in 1834. They only had three daughters listed in the parish register - Catherine (1835), Elizabeth (1839) and Mary (1842). So, it’s feasible John died young, leaving Mary a widow. She rented her home in Dowdallshill from Nicholas Traynor - same surname - perhaps her relation.

In later years, a third couple, John Wynne and Bridget Kelly, lived in the townland. Their children Anne (1863), Owen (1865), Cath (1867), Mary (1869), John (1876) and Michael (1876) were all born in Dowdallshill. A so named couple also had a son James born in Forkhill, Co. Armagh, just ten kilometres away, in 1860. 

In this generation, John was a blacksmith. Occupations are often passed down from father to son, and I’ve found nothing to directly confirm he was the son of James, who was a mason. But, if he was James and Catherine’s son, he followed traditional naming patterns by calling his eldest son after his father and his second daughter after his mother. He could also have been a son of John and Mary, though not reflected in the baptism register, as he gave their names to two of his children also.

To me, it seems a better match that this chap was James and Catherine’s son John, born in 1832, especially when compared to my great-great-grandfather, a shop assistant living eighty kilometres away in Dublin city. My ancestor had sons John and James and a daughter Mary, but he did not have a daughter called Catherine. 

In truth, the available documentation has not resolved the issue, one way or the other. Yet, there is now another tool in a genealogist’s tool-box to help with such dilemmas. That tool is DNA testing. Maybe the best course of action would be to track down a descendant of James and Catherine and see if they’d consider doing a DNA test.

If you are descended from the Wynne family from Dundalk, Ireland, and have already taken a DNA test, I'd love to hear from you: BlackRaven.genealogy[at]gmail[dot]com

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© Black Raven Genealogy 

See more on the Wynnes from Dowdallshill

The Wynne Family of Dundalk

No one alive today remembers where my great-great-grandfather, John Wynne senior, came from. He was first recorded in Dublin city about 1848, the year prior to his marriage to Bridget Hynes. Also, nobody today knows why their son John Wynne junior migrated to Dundalk in Co. Louth. But he did. He married Margaret Ward, a.k.a. Armstrong there in 1876 and that’s where they raised their family.

Dundalk was more than fifty miles north of Dublin city, a fairly significant journey in nineteenth-century Ireland, and well out of the range of everyday visits from family in Dublin.  It’s hard to imagine why John junior might have moved there.

There were a number of other Wynne families in and around Dundalk at the time. And one of my reasons for researching my Dundalk cousins was to find out if there was a connection between my Wynnes and these other families.

There is a suggestion, although I’ve no idea where it originated, that John senior was a brother of the once well-known Irish church builder, James Wynne of Dundalk. I’ve never been able to find anything indicating if this was true, but I thought I’d take another look again now.

James Wynne, the builder, was born at Dowdallshill, Dundalk in August 1852. He was much younger than my great-great-grandfather, even younger than his son, John junior. James was the eight of the nine children born to James Wynne and Catherine Martin, as  listed in the baptism register for the parish. His father was described as a mason and a tradesman on the marriage documents of two of his children and young James went on to become a successful building contractor in the area. 

The Dundalk Club, Roden Place, Dundalk

In 1886, he built ‘the Dundalk Club’, a red-bricked, end-of-terrace, former gentleman’s club in Roden Place. But, he specialised in building Roman Catholic churches. Prof. Google credits him with having built St Patrick’s Church in Donaghmoyne, Co. Monaghan in 1901, the tower of St Patrick’s Church in Dundalk in 1903, and the Church of the Assumption of our Blessed Lady, in Tullamore, Co. Offaly in 1906, amongst others.

Surely, memory of such a successful relative would have survived in my direct line – if indeed he was a relative.

It is true though, James had a much older brother named John, baptised in Dundalk in 1832. This is the chap some online family trees claim was my great-great-grandfather. But nearly everyone in Ireland had a brother called John then. The 1901 census suggests one in five males were named John. And, this same census indicates our John Wynne was born about 1820, in Dublin city. So, I have some doubts.

Plus, to me, it seems a tad unrealistic that a sixteen-year-old boy would leave his home in Dundalk and move to Dublin city, only to marry and start a family within a year or two. Our John was a shop assistant, at least in later years. Would a teenager have had the means to head up a household in Dublin city, without the support of his parents living nearby?

Perhaps it’s time to build a better picture of the Wynne family from Dowdallshill and maybe rule out this theory once and for all. And, you never know, I might find my family in the process.

Continued here: The Wynnes of Dowdallshill

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© Black Raven Genealogy

Genealogy Saturday: Nora

This week, as I was trying to piece together the story of Bridget (Hynes) Wynne – a task not made easier by the fact she died more than one hundred years ago – I came across another lady. I've no idea where she fits in our family tree. In fact, there's nothing to document her existence at all, per se and no memory of her has survived through the generations. 

Yet, I believe her name was Nora.

Bridget was my great-great-grandmother. She had at least ten children. Margaret, her eldest, was born in 1850, in Dublin, and twenty-seven years later her youngest daughter, Agnes, was born. In between there was John, James, Joseph, Mary, Isabella, Patrick (died in infancy) Patrick (my great-grandfather), and Philip – but no Nora.

Family lore remembers Bridget was a midwife - a capable woman you might imagine. She lived until Agnes was eighteen years old. However, there is an indication she may have, on occasion (and for all I know the occasion was rare), been a little too fond of the demon drink. And, Nora, I'm thinking, just might have played a motherly role in the family. 

At least, as far as the traditional Irish naming patterns suggest, that is.

In Ireland, at this time, often the eldest daughter was named after her maternal grandmother, with the second daughter being named for her paternal grandmother, or perhaps vice versa. Bridget named her eldest daughter Margaret after her own mother, though whether she named another after her husband’s mother remains to be seen.

This naming custom was broken as often as not, but generally speaking, in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, it's very strange to find not a single child, in a family of ten, named a daughter after their mother. Not one of my great-great-grandmother's nineteen known granddaughters went by the name Bridget. 

But three of her granddaughters were called Nora. Now, do you see where I'm coming from?

Actually, in fairness, Margaret, who married John Vaughan, christened her first-born ‘Mary Bridget’ in 1880. The child's middle name was presumably chosen out of respect for her granny, but she was known in the family as Mary, so it didn't really count.  

It was Bridget's three sons, John, James and Patrick who each named a daughter after my hypothetical Nora:

• John, the eldest son, had five daughters. None of them were called Bridget, but the fourth was christened Nora Mabel. She was born in 1886, in Dundalk, and married Valentine Warren there in 1913;
• In 1895, James Wynne named his eldest daughter Norah Isabella. This Norah was the girl I suspect Agnes's daughter, Pat Fegan, once mentioned married a tailor and went to Australia. But, no actual trace of the girl has been found since she was about fifteen years old;
• And finally, my great-grandfather, Patrick Wynne, named his second and youngest daughter Nora Teresa. She was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England, in 1920, and married Norman Skelton in 1945.

Of Bridget's remaining children - Joseph had no children of his own; Mary only had boys; Isabella and Agnes both had girls, but none of them were called Bridget, and I still have no idea what happened to Philip.

There is another possibility for the preponderance of the name Nora in the family.  Perhaps, John's daughter, Nora Mable, who was born first, was the eponymous cousin, giving her name to the other two. This proposition is not without merit. In 1905, Isabella christened her youngest daughter Clarissa Mary – a rare enough name in Ireland – and John's youngest daughter, born twelve years earlier, was also Clarissa Mary.

So ok, maybe the ghostly presence of Nora in the lives of the Wynne family is the figment of an over-zealous imagination, but, nevertheless, given the customs of the time, it begs the question - why were none of Bridget's grandchildren called Bridget?

Update September 2016 

• James Wynne's daughter Norah Isabella was traced to Australia, see here.
• And, it was discovered my poor great-granduncle Philip had been committed to a lunatic asylum, here.

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© 2015 Black Raven Genealogy

Friday’s Faces from the Past: More Wynne cousins

James, Clarissa and Gerald Wynne, Dundalk

James, Clarissa and Gerald Wynne, the children of John and Maggie Wynne from Dundalk, Co. Louth, were first cousins of my grandfather, Kevin Wynne.  Clarissa’s story was told previously here, so today let me introduce you to James and Gerald. They too emigrated to New York in the early twentieth century. 

James Augustine Wynne, with an address at Chapel Lane, Dundalk, Co. Louth, was baptised on 9 August 1888, the son of John Wynne and Margt Ward. His birth date was 5 August 1888. He seemingly acquired his middle name later in life, perhaps as his confirmation name. Augustine was not recorded as part of his name at the time of his birth, either in the Dundalk baptism register or on his birth register. He may have taken the name in memory of his eldest brother, John Augustine, who died in 1893, aged only sixteen years. 

James followed his brothers, Joseph and Gerald, to Manhattan in 1915 and obtained U.S. citizenship on 2 May 1922. There, he worked as an elevator-man in a hotel, a career he undoubtedly never considered as a child growing up in Dundalk. While James registered for the US Draft in 1918 and again in 1942, there is no evidence that he served in either World War. He did join the US Army National Guard in 1920 and was promoted to Captain before his retirement in 1929. 

The 1940 US Federal census lists the fifty-one year old in Manhattan, still unmarried and living with his sister Clarissa. However, the transcript of his baptism register contains a note reading ‘Dominica Nordene 28121956 St Patrick's Dundalk’ that suggests James married a lady called Dominica Nordene (not your typically Irish name) in St Patrick’s, Dundalk on 28 December 1956. No reference to this marriage was found on the FamilySearch marriage index for Ireland, but, an unsourced family tree on Ancestry also shows James married to a similarly named, Dominea Nardoni. It’s nice to think, even if he had to wait seventy years, James finally met someone that made him happy. 

Gerald Patrick Wynne, with an address at Bachelor’s Walk, Dundlak, was baptised on 13 July 1890, the son of John Wynne and Margaret Armstrong (not Ward). His birth date was 10 July 1890. Gerald emigrated to New York about 1911, where he became a barber. There is no indication that Gerald ever married, but he remained in New York all his life and died there towards the end of 1967. 

There is a little confusion surrounding James and Gerald’s mother, i.e. was her maiden name Ward or Armstrong? Margarita Mary Ward, the daughter of John Ward, was said to have been a spinster at the time of her marriage to John Wynne in Dundalk on 11 July 1876. However, the surname Armstrong was recorded when their three eldest children were born, John Augustine in 1877, Margaret Isabel in 1879 and Mary Frances in 1881. She then used the name Ward at the baptisms of Joseph, Mary Agnes, Nora Mabel and James between 1883 and 1888 and reverted to Armstrong again, between 1890 and 1895, when Gerald Patrick, Mary Clarissa and Philip Camillus were born.

Initially, I thought John Wynne may have married twice - two Margarets - or that there were two completely separate Wynne families. Yet, the dates do not line up for a second marriage and many of these children can be seen together with their father in Bachelor’s Walk at the time of the 1901 census. When, I obtained the register of James Wynne’s birth, his mother’s name was recorded as Armstrong, not Ward as given at his baptism, suggesting there really was only one Margaret. Perhaps, Armstrong was the name of her ‘adoptive’ father?

Sources include: Church records on RootsIreland; BMD registers, General Register Office; FamilySearch, Ireland, civil registration indexes, 1845-1958; 1901 and 1911 census, National Archives Ireland; and Ancestry - New York Naturalization Records 1882-1944, 1920-1940 U.S. Federal Census, New York Military Service Cards 1816-1979, World War I Draft Registration Cards 1917-18, World War II Draft Registration Cards 1942, U.S. Social Security Death Index 1935-2014. 

Wynne family photograph courtesy of Gabrielle, a relative of the Dundalk family.

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