Hidden amongst all the photos and documents in my father’s stack of genealogy “stuff”, I came across a faded copy of a hand drawn O’Rourke family tree. It was barely legible in places, but I could make out quite a few names… including my great great grandfather Bartholomew!
The tree started at Bartholomew’s grandfather and included most of the male lines from Bartholomew’s father down, to about my generation. There was a key on the side for some colour-coding of those who stayed in Ireland, those who went to New Zealand, and those who went to the United States. Unfortunately, the colours have gone and it’s all sepia. However, with the tree was a letter from a relative to my father – the one who had sent the tree, and he gave the name and address of the relative who had compiled the tree originally. O happy day! The letter was written sometime in the mid 1990s, so I will need my father to check whether the people mentioned are still around.
In an earlier post, when I couldn’t find Bartholomew’s baptism record, I listed a family of possible siblings whose baptism records I did find. These are the names and baptism dates:
Mary – 10 Oct 1837
Ellen – 24 Nov 1843
Johanna – 29 Mar 1846
Margaret – 1 Oct 1848
John – 15 Mar 1850
Catherine – 18 Jun 1852
Bridget – 21 Jul 1854
Honora – 22 Oct 1856
Ellen – 24 Dec 1859
And these are Bartholomew and his siblings as given on the family tree:
- Mary Josephine b. 1837 d. 1882 (spinster)
- Jeremiah b. 1840
- m. Bridget O’Laughan [sp?]
- Bartholomew b. 1844 d. 1923
- m. Bridget Power
- Hannah (Joan) b. 1846
- m. Brian Hickey
- Margaret b. 1848
- m. Thomas Walsh
- John b. 1850 d. 1936 (changed name to John Callaghan O’Rorke around 1880)
- m. Mary Fleming
- Bridget b. 1854
- Honora b. 1856 d. 1930
- m. Bartholomew Dennehy
- Ellen b. 1859
Treasure Chest Thursday is an ongoing series at GeneaBloggers.
Kevin Roache
This is a wonderful tale. It is stories like this that keep me researching my family history.
Maggie
Thanks Kevin! It’s what keeps me going too 🙂