52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks-Week 7: An Unusual Source

 

My grandmother, Gertrude McDonough (daughter of Frank McDonough and Mary Doris), had an autograph book (entries dated 1907-1920), which provided the evidence that linked Mary Doris to her brother and subsequently confirming the parents of Mary Doris and her birthplace in Ireland.

 

 

My grandmother was born in Greenwich, Connecticut on 22 July 1891. Her parents, Frank McDonough and Mary Doris came separately to the U.S. from Ireland about 1881 and were married in Greenwich on 25 September 1887.

 

The Irish birthplace of my g. grandmother, Mary Doris, was a mystery.   After several years of research, I did discover a few things:

• She was born circa 1860 based on the Federal census records, age at her marriage, age at the birth of her children, and age on her death certificate (which had the name of her parents wrong, but that’s another story!)
• The Doris surname was prevalent in County Longford, Ireland. A search of the available indexes settled on a Mary Doris baptized 12 April 1860 to James Doris and Catherine Lackey in Ballinalee, Clonbroney Parish, Co. Longford. This family was also suggested by a genealogist that was hired working in Ireland. There was no one else named Mary Doris of the right age in Ireland, except for this family. 

 

• The death, in November [year obscured], of a Catherine Doris, was recorded in Mary Doris’ family bible having died in Brooklyn, NY. She did not indicate a relationship, but it was the only Doris name mentioned in her Bible.

• The death certificate of a Catherine Doris in Manhattan, New York on 3 November 1898 indicated that her husband was James Doris and that her parents were William Lackey and Bella Lackey. 

So I had good reason to suspect that my g. grandmother was the same as this Mary Doris, born in Clonbroney Parish, Co. Longford in the town of Ballinalee to James Doris and Catherine Lackey and that she had a brother, Patrick Doris.

 

But was that enough to say that this Mary Doris born in 1860 in Ireland was my g. grandmother?

 

Enter my grandmother’s autograph book.  I had this little book in my possession, which was given to me by my mother. I had looked through it and tucked it away (trying careful to keep it in an archive-safe storage). The pages in this book contains sentiments, witty poems, and well wishes from friends and family from about 1907-1920.  

 

On several pages were writings and sentiments from a Marguerite Doris (sometimes called Rita), which she signed as “your cousin.” On another page were the signatures of Marguerite as well as Katherine Mary and Francis Doris, which were assumed to be Marguerite's siblings.

 

 

Who were these cousins? I went looking for a family that had these three siblings together in the same household.

 

Research in the NY State census and Federal census for New York identified one such family:  the 1905 state census as well as the 1900 and 1910 Federal census for Manhattan has the family of Patrick and Katherine Doris and three of his children: Marguerite, Katherine M., and Francis.

Patrick was born about 1865, about the right age to be Mary’s brother. Furthermore in the 1900 census his father, James Doris, age 70, is living with Patrick’s family.  

 

Is this the brother of Mary Doris and my grandmother’s cousins Marguerite, Katherine Mary and Francis that wrote in her book?

 

Using the clue of the cousins in my grandmother’s autograph book led me to this Patrick Doris and I was able to find his marriage record, which records his parents as James Doris and Katherine Lackey. He was baptized 13 May 1866 in Ballinalee, Cl.onbroney Parish, Co. Longford, the same village, parish and parents as Mary Doris.

 

Finally, a gravestone was found in Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York, erected by Patrick Doris, naming his parents as from Co. Longford, Ireand. The stone reads:

 

“ERECTED BY

PATRICK DORIS

IN MEMORY OF

HIS BELOVED MOTHER

CATHERINE DORIS

DIED NOV 3RD 1898

A NATIVE OF

CO. LONGFORD, IRELAND

FATHER

JAMES DORIS

DIED MAY 28, 1918

SISTER

CATHERINE DORIS

DIED OCT. 21, 1934.”

 

So, an unusual source, an autograph book, led to the confirmation that my grandmother’s cousins were the children of Patrick Doris, brother of Mary Doris, who were in turn the children of James and Catherine Lackey of Co. Longford, Ireland.