Hi. Morris and Catherine were my great-great-grandparents. Morris was born in County Mayo. They were married in 1838 in Saint Andrew's Church, in Kilfinnane. They had five surviving children: Ellen, Morris Jr., Cornelius, John (born in Ireland) and Michael (born in the U.S.). In 1850 Morris emigrated by himself to Hudson, New York and got a job at the Hudson Gas Works, which had just opened. In 1853 he sent for Catherine, Morris Jr and John, and in 1854 he sent for Ellen and Cornelius. The family lived on 12 North Front Street. In 1854, their last child, Michael was born. Michael was my great-grandfather. Catherine died in 1863 and Morris in 1879.
Ellen never married and John was killed in action in the Civil War. Morris Jr and Cornelius married, had children and eventually moved to Connecticut. Michael was married twice, once to Bridget Gillespie, who died in 1884, and again to Anne Keyes in 1885. In 1886, Michael, Anne and their son William moved to New York City. They had two more surviving children, Edward (my grandfather) and Anne Josephine.
Clue: There was a Patrick Higgins living in Hudson when Morris settled there, and Patrick owned one of the family cemetery plots. I don't know Patrick's connection to Michael but I'd like to find out.
Anne Keyes Higgins died in 1895 and Michael in 1921. I'm attaching a photo of Michael Higgins in his office after he was promoted to detective. The second photo, "Couple1" is of Morris Jr. and his wife, Mariah Braser. If anyone has any information about this family, and/or photos, letters, etc., please be in touch. Thank you.
Cheers,
Clare Higgins
HIGGINS
Saturday 23rd Apr 2022, 02:52PMMessage Board Replies
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Clare:
You mention that Morris and Catherine were married in 1838 in St. Andrew's Church in Limerick. The RC parish was actually Kilfinnane was is in Co. Limerick a good deal south of Limerick city. The subscription site Roots Ireland has transcribed the name of groom as Matthew Higgins. I went to the parish register and the record is hard to read and I could not determine if the written word was Matthew or Morris. I assume the transcribers had a closer look at the register. https://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000634905#page/122/mode/1up
I was not able to find any baptismal records for the children and the Kilfinnane baptismal records are available on Roots Ireland.
Also, you posted in the Co. Mayo page so I did not know if there was a Mayo connection or you made a mistake.
In any event, the parish where the baptisms occurred must no longer have records back to the 1840s.
Have you tested your DNA?
Roger McDonnell
Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘
Saturday 23rd Apr 2022, 05:41PM -
Hi, Roger. Thank you for pointing out my error. Yes, the Saint Andrew's Church where Morris and Catherine were married was in Kilfinnane, and I'll correct it in my message. That church is now a ruin, but I actually have a copy of the marriage record, because I wrote to the new Saint Andrew's Church and they kindly sent me a copy.
There is a Mayo connection: my grandfather's research notes say that Morris was born in County Mayo, but he married in Kilfinnane. I believe Catherine must have been from Kilfinnane because someone told me that brides usually married within their own parishes.
I found baptismal records for some, but not all, of the children, which is puzzling.
I did take the Ancestry DNA test and it said I'm 94% Irish and 6% English, Scotch and Welsh.
Thank you very much for the research you did.
Sincerely,
Clare
HIGGINS
Saturday 23rd Apr 2022, 09:08PM