52 Ancesors in 52 Weeks. Oooops. Ignoring the Evidence

This is an “oops” case of ignoring evidence that was right in front of me.   It starts with my g. grandmother, Mary Doris McDonough (1866? – 1951).  I came into possession of her family bible, which had scant information in it. In fact, she just recorded family deaths for a short period of time, approximately 1890 – 1910. [1]

 

Among the names in the bible was recorded the death of a Catherine Doris in November (actual day missing or faded away) in Brooklyn, with the date that could have been “1900,” which someone had penciled in.  It was the only person with a “Doris” surname in the bible.

 

One of the first things I did was look at the death certificate for Mary Doris McDonough. Fortunately, my grandmother, Gertrude McDonough Rogers (1895-1972)  kept a copy of the original. The death record names her parents as John Patrick Doris and Catherine Duffy. The informant was her daughter, Catherine McDonough O’Connor (1896-1987). [2]

Now being a novice family historian at the time I took that as gospel truth.  My mother did also, but she didn’t really know much about the Doris side of the family. Turns out these weren’t her parents at all, but that’s another story.

 

I did assume that the Catherine Doris in her bible record was either a sister of Mary Doris or Mary Doris’ mother. Catherine Doris, Catherine Duffy. Made sense.

 

I started looking for death records in Brooklyn for a Catherine Doris that died in November 1890-1910.  I came up with several possibilities, noted the certificate number, ordered the records, paid the fees and waited.  When they arrived none of them were my Catherine Doris. Realizing that I should look at other boroughs, I eventually found a Catherine Doris that died on November 3, 1898 in MANHATTAN (not Brooklyn).  Noted the certificate number, ordered the records, paid the fees and waited. The record (handwritten, no less) arrived and was disappointed. Her parents were given as William Sacke and Bella Sacke. Not Duffy.  Oh well. I put it aside. Nothing else seemed to match or make much sense. [3]

 

Years later. And I mean literally YEARS later, after many Irish records started coming online, I eventually found, through the help of genealogist in Ireland, a record of a baptism of a Mary Doris to a James Doris and a Catherine LACKEY in Clonbroney Parish, Co. Longford. [4] By this time I knew that the Doris family and her husband, Frank McDonough came from Co. Longford.  After further research, I found that  Catherine Lackey’s parents were William Lackey and Isabella Wallace and that Catherine was baptized in the Church of Ireland in St. Johnstown, which was the old name for the town of Ballinalee, Clonbroney Parish, Co. Longford where Mary Doris was baptized. [5]

 

 

 

 

Oh no. Years ago I had found the death record of a Catherine Doris in Manhattan on 3 November 1898! What I mistook for the surname SACKE was actually LACKE. The “L” was mistaken for an “S” or at least the clerk wrote it like an “S.” There was the death record for Catherine LACKEY Doris, the same as in my g. gradmother’s bible with her father William Lackey and Bella [Isabella] Lackey. Through other corroborating research, this was indeed the mother of Mary Doris and the parents of Mary Doris were not what was on her death certificate, but actually what was in the Irish records. Again, it’s another long, winding story that eventually confirmed the identity of the parents of Mary Doris as James Doris and Catherine Lackey as well as her siblings that came to the U.S. and lived in Manhattan and in Brooklyn.

 

So I could have saved myself years of research, dead ends and false leads if I had recognized that “S” was an “L.” Ooops, but I learned a lot along the way!

 

[1] The Holy Bible. New York: Thomas Kelly, 1880. ‘Deaths”; copy privately held by Gene R. Major (Original in Rutkamp/O’Connor family).

[2] Connecticut State Department of Health, Certificate of Death, No. 13261 (1951), Mary McDonough; Bureau of Vital Statistics, Connecticut

[3] State of New York,  Certificate and record of Death, No. 31251 (1898), Catherine Doris.

[4] Catholic Parish Registers, National Library of Ireland, Clonbroney Parish, County Longford, Baptisms 14 January 1849 – 2 March 1862. Indexed at Ireland, Catholic Parish Registers, 1655-1915, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61039/); Maria Doris bapt. 12 April 1860, parents Jocobi Doris and Cath Lackey, Ballinalee.

[5] Church of Ireland, Baptism Record, Catherine Lackey, 12 Oct 1828, St. Johnstown [Ballinalee], Clonbroney Parish, Co. Longford, https://Rootsireland.ie.