What happened to the Leahys?

This week, I continued the search for my third-great-grandparents, Michael and Bridget Leahy, the known parents of Alicia (Leahy) Byrne and her sister Mary. I discovered a likely couple living in Dublin city, and am now attempting to trace them forward via a son Michael, born in January 1835.

As mentioned last week, Michael married Ellen Hyland in 1854. He worked as a servant, just like his father. There is no indication my third great-grandfather was a servant, but it cannot be ruled out. He was once said to have been a clerk, except two other records indicate he had ‘no trade’. So, there’s confusion surrounding his occupation, and in most other respects this Leahy family closely matches mine.

The trouble is, the very last record discovered relating to Michael and Ellen was the baptism of their son Michael, in 1865. And, even though BMD (birth, marriage, death) registration commenced in Ireland in 1864, no further mention of them was found anywhere, not in Ireland, not abroad. They seem to have just vanished, without leaving any trace!

I may have found another record of Michael Leahy, the father - my would-be third great-grandfather. But, the news is not good. He was admitted and discharged from the South Dublin Union Workhouse – twice - once in 1867 and again in 1868. Then, he too vanished without a trace.

Map of Dublin City 1863, Thom's Directory

Here’s the information gleaned from the Workhouse Admission and Discharge Registers[1]:

Pauper number:	2789	3775
Pauper’s name and surname:	Michael Leahy	Michael Leahy
Sex:	M	M
Age:	60 [born c. 1807]	60 [born c. 1807]
Status:	Widower	Widower
Employment:	Servant	Servant
Religious denomination:	R.C.	R.C.
Electoral division / townland:	Union/123 Francis St.	Union/25 Meath St.
Date admitted:	9 Nov 1867	1 Jan 1868
Date discharged:	16 Dec 1867	19 May 1868

So, if this was my ancestor, his wife Bridget, my third great-grandmother, was already dead by November 1867.

Michael’s stay in the workhouse came not long after his son’s apparent ‘disappearance’. And came just after my relatives married their husbands - Alicia Leahy married John Byrne in January 1867 and moved to Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire) in south Co. Dublin. Their son Michael Byrne was born there on 2 December 1867. Mary Leahy married Christopher Radcliffe in May 1866 and moved to Malahide in north Co. Dublin. Was Michael Leahy left alone in the city, leading to his spell in the workhouse?

And what happened to him after he was released the second time? Did he move to Co. Meath, where another source dated 1873 indicates he lived (or once lived)?  No likely death record has yet been found.

This search may be better left until the General Register Office release the rest of the copy BMD registers, for free, online. Those with an inside source suggest they’ll be available ‘in a couple of months’, but I’m not holding my breath.

See previous posts: Homing in on Alicia and More Leahy Family Research.

[1] Accessed on Findmypast.

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© Black Raven Genealogy

More Leahy family research

This month I was hoping to prove our family connection to the Michael and Bridget Leahy living in Dublin city in the 1830s and 1840s. They christened a daughter Alicia Lehey in the Pro-Cathedral in January 1833, before moving to St Andrew’s parish, where Michael Lahey was christened in January 1835, followed by Timothy Lahy in January 1840 and Mary Leahy in March 1842.

Alicia Leahy was my great-great-granny’s name and she had a known sister, Mary. Their parents were Michael and Bridget Leahy. Mary claimed she was born in Dublin city about 1842.[1] So, on the surface at least, this family looks like a shoo-in.

And, on the plus side, there was only one marriage of an Alicia Leahy found in the online church records for Dublin city, and that was my great-great-grandmother’s marriage to John Byrne in 1867. And, when paired with parents Michael and Bridget, the only marriage of a Mary Leahy found was that of my great-great-grandaunt to Christopher Radcliffe in 1866. Sometimes, what you don’t find is as informative as what you do, and I didn’t find another potential Leahy family in the city.

There was no sign of a subsequent marriage for Timothy christened in 1840, but a one-year-old infant with the same name, and an address in Leeson Lane in St Andrew’s parish, was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery in 1841.[2] Which leaves only Michael to trace forward…

And, a Michael Leahy of 26 Cuffe Street, Dublin, married Ellen Hyland on 6 December 1854, in St Peter’s Church of Ireland. His father was also Michael Leahy. They both worked as servants.  

However, Michael claimed he was ‘of full age’ when he married Ellen, i.e. over twenty-one years old, and the Michael christened in 1835 would have been barely twenty. Still, he could have overstated his age. Minors required parental consent to marry and it might not have been forthcoming. Perhaps his parents were already dead, or maybe they objected to him marrying a Protestant.

It wasn’t uncommon in mixed marriages then for some of the children to be baptised Protestant and others Catholic, and this was the case here. I’m not sure yet quite what to make of the delayed baptism dates.

Child	Birth date	Baptism	Home Address	Parish
Elisha	23 Mar 1857	27 Mar 1857	27 Cuffe St	St Nicholas, RC
Helena	27 Aug 1860	26 Sep 1862	19 Albert Pl	St Andrew, RC
Mary Bridget	1 Feb 1863	16 Feb 1863	35 Erne St	St Andrew, RC
Mary Anne	15 Mar 1862	6 Dec 1863	35 Upper Erne St	St Mark, COI
Michael	24 Nov 1865	6 Dec 1865	35 Upper Erne St	St Mark, COI

Nonetheless, their Godparents’ names suggest Michael belonged to my target Leahy family - Maria Leahy sponsored Elisha’s baptism, while Alice Leahy sponsored Mary Bridget’s. If these children were baptised later, after my Alicia and Mary had taken their husband’s surnames, they’d have been easier to claim as my family – or not.

More tellingly, perhaps, my great-great-grandmother was generally called Alicia, pronounced a-LEE-sha – not usually Alice - and not just in church records known to favour a Latinised form. Perhaps Michael and Ellen chose this name for their eldest daughter too, and the priest wrote it as Elisha. Both names sound similar. Plus, it’s doubtful the priest meant it as a Latinised form of Elizabeth, given the next child in that register was named Elizabetha. Maybe this is indicative of a familial relationship.  

Fathers’ occupations are normally recorded in civil marriage registers. But, when Mary married Christopher the information was omitted entirely. He was expressly described as having ‘no trade’ when Alicia married John. And on Mary’s marriage to Michael Power, in Co. Dublin in 1873, he was listed as a clerk. He was never described as a servant, like in Michael’s marriage. Yet, you must admit, my third great-grandfather’s occupation is uncertain. And, my Leahy family worked in domestic service – Alicia’s husband was a butler, and before her marriage, Mary was a servant.[3]

Finally, for now, Michael’s address in Cuffe Street at the time of his marriage creates another ‘coincidence’. The address given for my third-great-grandparents in 1867 was also Cuffe Street, though by 1873, they were supposedly in ‘Co. Meath’.

There are still too many question marks hanging over my Leahy family to offer a conclusion, but I do know, it’s the absence of these ‘little coincidences’ that usually signals the death-knell for my genealogy theories. So, I’ll keep on trucking…

Main source: Church records on IrishGenealogy.ie; Ireland Roman Catholic Parish Marriages', Findmypast.

[1] 1911 Census of Ireland, National Archives.

[2] Genealogy index, Glasnevin Trust.
[3] Copy marriage registers, General Register Office.

See previous post: Homing in on Alicia

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© Black Raven Genealogy

Leahy family research ~ Homing in on Alicia

My great-great-granny on Dad’s side was Alicia Leahy. I discovered her name only last year, when the genealogy brick wall around Michael Byrne finally crumbled. Alicia married Michael's father, John Byrne, in St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral in Dublin city, on 27 January 1867.  And although I’ve barely started to research the Leahy family, I know quite a bit about them already.

Alicia had a sister, Mary. Mary, coincidentally, is already well-documented in my family tree. You remember, Ma Power, the lady who not only raised Dad’s mother, but was also once married Mam’s great-great-granduncle? It turned out Ma Power, aka Mary (Leahy, Radcliffe) Power, was a blood-relation too – She was Alicia’s sister, my great-grandfather’s aunt. 

In addition, Alicia’s parents were consistently named as Michael and Bridget Leahy, not only at the time of her marriage to John Byrne, but also in the record of Mary’s marriage to Christopher Radcliffe in 1866, and again when Mary married Michael Power in 1873.  Plus, one record - Mary’s 1866 church marriage register - revealed Bridget’s maiden name was Lynch.

So far, I’ve only found a single estimate of when Alicia was born and that was in the register of her death. She died on 9 January 1869, supposedly aged twenty-nine years, suggesting her birth occurred in or around 1839. Elizabeth Cullen was the informant, but it is not known how well Elizabeth knew Alicia or how accurately she could estimate her age - they may have been merely sharing a house while Alicia’s husband, a servant, resided with his employer.

Mary Power, on the other hand, survived the two extant Irish census returns. In 1901, she claimed she was fifty-four years old and born in Co. Dublin (in about 1847) and in 1911, she said she was sixty-nine years old and narrowed her birthplace down to Dublin city (in about 1842).

So, that’s four people in my Leahy family we can be sure of – my third-great-grandparents, Michael and Bridget Leahy, and their two daughters, Alicia and Mary. Couple that with the indication Alicia and Mary were born in the 1830s and 1840s, perhaps in Dublin city – it makes for a good start.

Especially as there was a Leahy family living in Dublin city around that time who look particularly promising…

1. Alicia Lehey, the daughter of Michael and Bridget Lehey, was baptised in St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral on 9 January 1833, sponsored by Patrick Hatigan and Honor McAllister.
2. Michael Lahey, the son of Michael and Bridget Lahey, was baptised in St Andrew’s on 12 January 1835, sponsored by Margaret Reddy.
3. Timothy Lahy, the son of Michael and Bridget Lahy, was baptised in St Andrew’s on 13 January 1840, sponsored by Patrick Askens and Anne Hyland.
4. Mary Leahy, the daughter of Michael and Bridget Leahy, was baptised in St Andrew’s on 28 March 1842, sponsored by Anne Levy.

Alicia Lehey, Baptism register, Pro-Cathedral, Dublin, 9 January 1833

Was this the baptism record of my great-great-grandmother Alicia, in 1833? – It would make her six years older than estimated when she died, and eight years older than her husband. She would have been nearly thirty-five when her son Michael was born and thirty-six when baby Thomas came along.  It’s not an unreasonable proposition.

Given Bridget’s maiden name was not provided in the baptism registers, there is a chance these records relate to two (or maybe more) separate families, especially as the Pro-Cathedral and St Andrew's are on opposite sides of the River Liffey.

Still, let’s see what else I can find out.

Continued at More Leahy family research

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© Black Raven Genealogy

Q.E.D.

If I'd any lingering doubts that Michael Byrne was a nephew of Mary Power, here it is confirmed it in writing.

Mary Power, 1919, Death certificate, General Register Office

Michael Byrne – nephew - registered Mary Power’s death in 1919.

Q.E.D.!

You may be wondering why this is significant. Well, until recently, my great-grandfather Michael Byrne was my longest standing genealogy brick wall. The search for him has been an ongoing saga here at Black Raven. And, discovering his relationship with Mary (Leahy) Power was crucial to uncovering his past.  You can catch up on how this brick wall finally collapsed, by reading:  

• Another attempt to outfox an elusive great-grandfather
• A glimpse over the brick wall
• Chasing the elusive Michael Byrne, again
• The brick wall crumbles 

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© Black Raven Genealogy

A storm in a teacup

In 1906, ‘Ma Power’, Granny’s foster-mother, got into trouble with the authorities and faced prosecution by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and the Board of Guardians of Balrothery Poor Law Union. It was all a big storm in a teacup really, but the whole sorry saga was recorded in the minutes of the Board of Guardians and provides my only insight into Granny Lena’s life in foster care.  

Following her father’s death in April 1895, Lena O’Neill and her elder sister Joan, the two babies of the family, were placed in foster care with Mary Power in Malahide, Co. Dublin. Lena’s older brothers and sisters were less fortunate and ended up in various orphanages and industrial schools across Ireland.

Presumably, their mother was unable to provide for them, despite working as a musician and despite her remarriage to Thomas Ellis. All I know is, at some point between their father’s death and the 1901 census, the unthinkable happened, and Mary Agnes O’Neill/Ellis lost her children to the care of the state (and the church). And, even though the Victorians documented everything, until now, I’ve found no record of the family’s plight during this time.

The fuss with Ma Power kicked off in March 1906 when Miss Boylan, the Inspector appointed under the Infant Life Protection Act, carried out her first home inspection visit in Malahide. Miss Boylan complained to the Board that ‘Mary Power, Yellow Walls, refused to allow her to inspect the children stating that she had received instructions from the nuns of St Bridget’s [sic] Orphanage that no person should be allowed to inspect the children, the ages of the children were 12 and 10' [the same ages as Joan and Lena].’

Miss Boylan further reported ‘Mary Power, Yellow Walls, has four nurse children. The home has only two apartments, a room 10 x 15 feet and a kitchen. The Inspector points out that this woman keeps 7 dogs, and states that she had great difficulty making an inspection as the woman at first refused to allow her to do so.’

The Board then ordered ‘Copies [of the report] to be sent to the convents and orphanages from which these children were sent out to nurse, also to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and the Board’s solicitor (Mr Early) to take proceedings against Mrs Power...’

Obviously, having seven dogs wasn’t an offence under the Act, for the solicitor wrote back to the Miss Boylan seeking ‘sufficient particulars to enable him to decide what proceedings should be taken against Mrs Power.'

And, somewhat strangely, the Superioress of St Brigid’s Orphanage replied stating ‘Mrs Power of Yellow Walls has not been on their staff of nurses for the past 3 years.’

In any case, Miss Boylan soon had a change of heart for her next monthly report to the Board was far more conciliatory in tone. She said ‘on revisiting these people they apologised for refusing an inspection in the first instance as they were not aware the Guardians had appointed an Inspector under the Infant Life Protection Act, and they promised to facilitate her in the discharge of her duties in the future.’

And with that, the Board ordered all prosecutions to be withdrawn.

There's lots of interesting information in these minutes that I’ve yet to digest, but more than anything else, I’d dearly love to hear what Ma Power and Granny Lena had to say about Miss Boylan and the complaint to the Board. I can imagine it was not complimentary. They probably thought she was an interfering old busybody.

Source: Balrothery Poor Law Union, Board of Guardian’s minute books A119 - A120, October 1905 to September 1906, accessed on Findmypast.

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© Black Raven Genealogy

Ma Power

Today, I’d like to remember Mary (Leahy, Radcliffe) Power. Mary was a mother to so many different generations of my family – my great-grandfather, my grandfather, and my grandmother – but few people alive today have ever heard of her. According to my Aunt Maisie, she was known in the family as ‘Ma Power’.

In January 1869, soon after my great-grandfather’s first birthday, his mother died suddenly. Michael Byrne and his baby brother Thomas then went to live with their Aunt Mary. Mary became the only mother they ever remembered. She never had any babies of her own, yet the sound of children at play always filled her home.

Born Mary Leahy about 1842, Mary first married Christopher Radcliffe in 1866 and moved to his home village of Malahide, Co. Dublin. Christopher died in 1873, leaving Mary alone with the two boys and the following year, she married Michael Power. Over the subsequent decades, Mary Power continued to take in and care for children in need.

The 1901 census shows her, as a widow of fifty-four years, caring for five ‘orphan’ girls between the ages of six and eighteen years. Helena and Johanna O’Neill, the two youngest, may have been with Mary since their father died in 1895. Helena was my grandmother, later marrying Michael Byrne’s eldest son, but she could have been as young as three months old when she first arrived in Malahide. Perhaps this was when Mary acquired the name ‘Ma Power’.

In March 1903, Michael Byrne’s young wife Elizabeth died of phthisis (tuberculosis). Elizabeth's father, James Mahon, having watched his only child waste away before his eyes, was spared the final agony of seeing her die and passed away himself a month before her. At the age of only thirty-five years, Michael suddenly found himself alone in the house they had all shared, caring for his four young children.

Michael never remarried. I’ve often wondered how he managed to raise four children on his own and at the same time hold down his labouring job. When their mother died, they were all too young to take care of themselves. My grandfather, James Byrne, was only nine, his brother John was eight, their sister Margaret was six and the baby of the family, Michael, was three years old.

Neither Michael nor Elizabeth had any surviving siblings, so there were no aunts or uncles to offer assistance. Michael had no other relatives in the area at all, apart from his Aunt Mary. So, it must have been Mary who stepped in again and helped him raise his family. She lived just a few minutes’ walk up the road. 

And, there is some evidence this was the case. The 1911 census shows Mary’s grandniece, Margaret Byrne, staying in her home. You could argue it was only for one night, but it was probably a regular occurrence, suggesting the close relationship between them.

  

A modern picture of Ma Power’s house,

where many generations of my family spent their childhood

Mary Power died early in 1919, and although she did not leave a written will, at least none I could find, the Byrne family were her heirs. According to family lore, her house was left to my grandfather. He may have inherited it directly from Mary herself, or indirectly from his father. Either way, following Michael Byrne’s death in 1927, his daughter Margaret and her husband Peter Dignam moved into Mary’s house. There, they raised their family and spent the remainder of their days.

Mary Power was also fond of dogs, particularly terriers. Some years she kept as many as four dogs and was usually one of the first people to visit Swords courthouse each year to purchase her dog licences.

That’s not a lot to know about my great-great-grandaunt, a mother figure of such importance in my Dad’s family, but it’s a start.

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© Black Raven Genealogy

His first family

If you’ve been doing genealogy for any length of time, you’ve probably already uncovered some family secrets. Occasionally these secrets are still shocking, even today – like bigamy, for example – that would probably still cause a stir.

There are no skeletons in our family closet, at least none I’ve found. And, maybe I wanted to liven things up a wee bit. Maybe, I just wanted to make some family skeletons dance. So, perhaps it was wishful thinking, when, for a brief moment, I wrongly suspected my great-great-grandfather of this woeful crime.

John Byrne married Mary Markey in Dublin city in January 1860, a couple of weeks after their daughter Mary was baptised.[1] No further record of the family was found in Dublin. So, when John married my great-great-grandmother, Alicia Leahy, in the city, in January 1867, I assumed Mary had died - without having any more children. This was not the case, though.

While searching for what might have happened to their daughter, Mary, I came across another son, James. James Byrne was born on 16 August 1864 in Athgarvan, a small village near Newbridge in Co. Kildare.[2] John was from Athgarvan originally, so, after his marriage, he must have taken his young family home.

Four years and eight months separate the births of Mary and James, suggesting there were probably more children. And, the Newbridge Parish registers revealed a son Andrew was baptised on 24 August 1862 and a son John on 16 August 1863. The family’s address was recorded as ‘Kingstown and Athgarvan’ in 1862 and ‘Monkstown and Athgarvan’ in 1863.[3] Presumably, Mary lived in Athgarvan and John lived in Monkstown. He lived in Monkstown when he married Alicia, so this made sense.

Then, I searched forward in the baptism register and began to wonder just how long John and Mary were married. It was getting close to the time John met Alicia in Dublin. On November 1865, fifteen months after James was born, they had a daughter - Mary Anne Byrne.[3]

I admit; I held my breath as I searched forward once again. But, no more children were found. I probably owe a huge apology to my great-great-grandfather, but I did have a few reasons to fuel my suspicion:  

First, when John Byrne married Alicia, he incorrectly claimed to have been a bachelor, even though he was married to Mary for six years and had a bunch of kids with her. What was that about?

Secondly, Alicia did not live with John during their marriage. She lived in Kingstown, when he lived nearby in Monkstown. Add to that the fact John and Alicia lived in Co. Dublin, when John’s first family were in Co. Kildare!

Finally, until very recently, I knew nothing about my great-grandfather’s family or where he came from. That in itself was strange in the little village of Malahide, Co. Dublin, where Michael Byrne married my great-grandmother, and where everyone knew everything about their neighbours. So, I already half-suspected there was something to hide in my great-grandfather’s past.  

But, I was wrong. John’s first wife died in Athgarvan on 28 December 1865, a year before he married Alicia. Mary died of lung congestion after a six-week illness. John was with her at the time, and registered her death.[4]

I do feel sorry for John Byrne; he buried two wives before he reached his twenty-eight birthday. I wonder how many of his children survived, or did he bury most of them too. And, I wonder if my great-grandfather knew, or at least knew of, his (half) brothers and sisters. 

  

Genealogy Quick Tip:

Don't trust the index. If you know the Irish parish where a marriage or baptism likely occurred, always check the registers on the NLI website.  The transcriptions contain numerous errors and the identification of surname variants is not yet sufficiently comprehensive to be reliable. As a result, none of John Byrne and Mary Markey’s children were found using the Catholic Parish Registers on FindMyPast or Ancestry. Yet, all the baptisms were recorded.

More about John Byrne's origins: Escape to the Country.

[1] Church records, Parish of St Nicholas, 1859-60, IrishGenealogy.ie. 

[2] ‘Ireland Births and Baptisms, 1620-1881’, FamilySearch, citing Irish Civil Records. 

[3] Newbridge Parish baptism register, microfilm 04209/06, Andrew Byrne, p. 8; John Byrne, p. 13; Mary Anne Byrne, p. 23, NLI. 

[4] Copy death register (Mary Byrne, Naas, 1865), General Register Office.

Image adapted from one on Pixabay.

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© Black Raven Genealogy