Patrick Kennedy (1823-1858), an immigrant from Dunganstown, parish of
Whitechurch, Co. Wexford, great-grandfather of the president and
founder of one of the major families in American political history, was
featured in NEXUS 7(1990):102-4; his descendants are
authoritatively covered in the Register 139(1985):21 1-24 (repr.
in The Irish in New England [NEHGS, 1985], pp. 25-38). Patrick
married Bridget Murphy at Holy Cross Cathedral in Boston 26 September
1849. There is no civil record for this marriage, and no ages or
parents’ names are given on the church register. Bridget’s death record
in Boston, 20 December 1888, gives her age as 67 (probably an
exaggeration), born in Ireland, daughter of Richard and Mary (___)
Murphy (Mass. VRs 393:427). Censuses (1855 through 1880) indicate
a birthdate of ca. 1827. No American records indicate her exact place
of birth, but family tradition claims Bridget also came from County
Wexford, where Murphy, the most common Irish surname, is widespread.
Bridget’s presumed sister, Margaret Murphy, who lived with the
Kennedys, was born ca. 1832, married Patrick Cleary (another Wexford
surname) in East Boston 20 September 1857 and died there 3 October 1880 (Mass.
VRs 110:89,321:249). Her father is given as Richard on marriage and
death records, and her mother as Mary on the death record. No other
siblings of Bridget have been found in the Boston area; nor have census,
city directory, or death data been found for her parents, who probably
did not come to America.
Among the godparents of the children
(born in the 1850s) of Patrick and Bridget (Murphy) Kennedy were Patrick
Barron, Johanna Barron, Nicholas Aspill and Bridget Aspil. The 1850
census of Ward 12, Boston (p. 268, family #587) shows Patrick “Barns,”
75, with Mary, 72; James, 34; Patrick, 30; and Joanna, 20, with Nicholas
Aspell, 40, also in the household. Patrick, Jr. and Nicholas were
employed as coopers (as was the immigrant Patrick Kennedy.) A Thomas
Barron who lived in Boston from the 1840s to the 1890s has also been
shown to be a son of Patrick and Mary. The senior Patrick Barron died in
Boston 20 September 1852, aged 74 (Mass. VRs 68:59), and Mary
Barron died in Boston 30 December 1856, aged 75 (Mass. VRs 104:76).
No parents’ names, nor Mary’s maiden name, are given in Patrick or
Mary’s death records; death records of her children Johanna and Thomas
give their mother’s name as Mary Aspell. Patrick and Mary (Aspell)
Barron were probably born about 1778 and 1780, respectively; their
daughter Joanna may have been born closer to 1825 than 1830. Her death
record in East Boston 23 June1916 (Mass. VRs, Boston, 2:49) gives
her age as “89?”.
No connection was found in American or Irish
records between Patrick Kennedy and the Barrons or Aspells, so some
kinship between the latter and Bridget (Murphy) Kennedy seemed likely.
Moreover the death record of Bridget’s son Patrick Joseph Kennedy, in
Boston (VR 1929:1:414), gave his mother’s maiden name as Bridget Barron,
not Murphy, a very suggestive error. It is highly probable that
Patrick and Mary (Aspell) Barron were either the maternal grandparents
of Bridget (Murphy) Kennedy or her aunt and uncle. If the former,
Bridget’s mother Mary (Barron) Murphy would have been born ca. 1800-5
and married Richard Murphy probably by 1825.
Naturalization
records have been found for Patrick Barron, Jr. and James Barron, as
well as for a third brother, Thomas Barron. Nicholas Aspell’s
naturalization, and post-1850 records of him, were all found under the
surname Archibald (a derivative of Aspell, a name exclusive to Co.
Wexford). James Barron, born 20 October 1809, arrived in Boston 14 July
1839; Thomas Barron, born 15 June 1813, arrived in Boston 7(?) November
1839; Patrick Barron, born 24 December 1820, arrived in Boston 3
December 1848; and Nicholas Archibald, born 24 December 1817, arrived in
Boston 9 June 1834. All four were born in Co. Wexford, Ireland (U.S.
Circuit Court 13:263; U.s. Circuit Court 4:561; U.S. District Court
18:173; U.S. District Court 123:186; all at Boston).
Nicholas
Aspell/Archibald was apparently a widower by 1850; he had at least one
daughter, Bridget (Archibald) Hickey (ca. 1840-1894) whose death record
gives her mother as Ann Hanlon (Mass. VRs 447:398). The 1860
census of Boston Ward 7 (p. 223) shows the family of James Barron, aged
51, with several boarders in the household including Nicholas Asbel, a
cooper, aged 55. Nicholas himself died in Boston 17 March 1891 (Mass.
VRs 420:88), aged 84, son of John and Bridget (Hanlon) Archibald.
An Edward Barron who witnessed Thomas Barron’s 1851 naturalization was
also probably related. Edward’s naturalization, at Boston 23 October
1840, gives his birthplace as Tintrine (Tintern), County of Wexford,
Ireland 15 April 1797; he arrived at Boston 10 December 1824 (Municipal
Court, Suffolk Co., 2182, vol. 28,1840). In the 1844 Boston city
directory Edward Barren (a ship-wright) and Thomas Barren (a cooper)
both lived at Gold Street between D and E Streets. By the late 1840s
Edward and Patrick Barron lived on Atkinson Street in South Boston. On
21 October 1853 Edward Barron, carpenter, [24] aged 52, married
(as his second wile) Hannah Desmond at Boston (VRs 71:148).
Edward Barron, Jr. was most likely a nephew of the senior Patrick
Barron.
A search of the Tithe Applotrnent Books (the Irish
householder survey of the 1820s) was made for Murphy, Barron and Aspell
families for Tintern and nearby Co. Wexford parishes. A close match was
found in the townland of Cloonagh, Parish of Owenduff, where Richard
Murphy and Patrick Barren had adjoining holdings in 1833 of 16 and 17
acres (Tithe Applotment Book, Parish of Owenduff, p. 12). Also in
Cloonagh were Thomas and Patrick Aspill. Griffith’s Valuation of
Ireland, taken in 1854, finds no Patrick Barron (consistent with
emigration to Boston), but Richard Murphy still in Cloonagh with 16
acres, along with Patrick, Nicholas and Thomas Archbold. The Tithe Books
also show a John Aspill in nearby Rathumney.
The parish of
Owenduff, Barony of Shelburne, Co. Wexford is served by the Catholic
parish of Ballycullane (Tintern) whose baptismal register dates from
1827. The Wexford County Library staff searched it for all Murphy,
Barron and Aspell data through the 1850s and found the following:
18
May 1831, baptism of Edward Murphy (parents: Richard
Murphy, Mary Barron; sponsors: James Dunn, Mary Scot; townland:
not listed)
18 Nov. 1835 (b. 16 Nov.) baptism of
Brigid Aspel (parents: Nicholas Aspel, Ann Hanlon; sponsors: D.
Dunn, Brigid Hanlon; townland: Nash)
No baptisms were
found for Bridget or Margaret Murphy, but it seems almost certain that
the Edward Banon above was their brother and that the parents of Bridget
(Murphy) Kennedy were Richard and Mary (Barron) Murphy of Cloonagh.
This townland is only a few miles east of Dunganstown, Patrick Kennedy’s
birthplace and now the site of Kennedy Park. Further search in the
registers (dating from 1778) of Cushinstown, one parish north, may
reveal more Barron and Aspell data.
Brian J. Cantwell, Memorials
of the Dead, vol.7, covering southwest Wexford, does not transcribe
tombstone inscriptions for Richard Murphy’s or Patrick Barron’s
families, but the following in Owenduff parish are of interest:
“Erected by Thomas Aspel of Ramsgrange in memory of his father James
Aspel who died 9 September 1858 aged 79, also his mother Bridget Aspel
who died 10 February
1862 aged 78.”
“Laurence
Barron of Rathemney [listed under Nash townland] for his wife
Bridget Barron alias Aspel who died 8 November 1835, aged 55.”
There
are other mid-1800s Barron inscriptions in Owenduff, and an ancient
Archbold tombstone in Rathumney.
It may be difficult to connect
Richard Murphy, with his common surname, to others in and around
Owenduff. The name “Barron” is of great antiquity in this area and
according to MacLysaght’s Irish Families descends froma branch of
the FitzGeralds whose head was known as the Palatine baron of
Burnchurch in the fourteenth century. Burke’s Irish Family Records includes
the Barrons (Fitzgerald) of Burnchurch, but does not cover the Killesk
branch, who were probably the president’s ancestors. A list of knights’
fees of 1307, found in Kevin Whelan, ed., Wexford: History and
Society (1987), p. 99, shows the Barrons (FitzGeralds) holding
lands in Killesk parish, next to Owenduff; Barrons (FitzGeralds) still
held land there in 1640, as per the Civil Survey of Ireland. W.P.W.
Phillimore [and Gertrude Thrift], Indexes to Irish Wills, vol. 1
(1909, repr. 1970), p. 64, includes the will (proved in 1630 in the
diocese of Ferns) of a Pierce Barron of Tolleraght (Tellarought), just
north of Owenduff and Killesk. The index to Ferns admin. bonds
(unpublished, at the Public Record Office, Dublin) includes a Patrick
Barron of Carnross in 1794. Much of the area, including Owendulf parish,
belonged to the Coldough family of Tintern; most of their estate
records including a 1755-57 rent roll which could list earlier ancestors
of the president - are still in private custody (Analectica
Hibernica m. 20 [1958]: Colclough Papers, relating to lands in Co.
Wexford from 1538; also National Library of Ireland report on private
collections, m. 124).
Richard Andrew Pierce, a professional
genealogist in Boston, specializes in Irish and nineteenth-century
research and works with the NEHGS Enquiries Service. His articles on the
above Patrick Kennedy, and on Fitzgerald ancestors of the 35th
president, appeared in NEXUS 7 (1990): 102-4, 8 (1991): 61-62. He
also contributed to Ancestors of American Presidents (1989) by G.B.
Roberts.