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Archiver > IRL-LIMERICK > 2004-07 > 1089925046


From: "John Burke" <>
Subject: Research dilemma :(
Date: Thu, 15 Jul 2004 16:57:44 -0400


Hello all,

I'm posting this to both the Limerick and Tipperary lists because it
involves both. I would like to get the opinion of experienced researchers on
how to interpret what I discovered. Any opinions are welcome, and I truly
appreciate any time you spend on it.

About two years ago I hit gold in my research. I obtained my
g-g-grandfather's US Civil War pension records. Included was a letter from a
parish priest in Nicker, Pallasgrean, Limerick (in the Cashel & Emly
diocese). It attested to his baptism taking place on August 5, 1840, and
gave his parent's names. Based on that I hired the Tipperary FHR center to
find his siblings, which they did. Things were looking good.

There is just one nagging problem. The letter from Ireland was received in
1910 when he was applying for the pension benefits. There are a few
documents in the file prior to 1910 (1904-1907) and they have birth dates of
March 16, 1841, March 21, 1841, and March 22, 1841 -- not August 5, 1840.
And on one form there is a question "Where were you born?" The answer is
County Tipperary, not Limerick. Every document after 1910 has his birth date
as August 5, 1840. Let me add that documents indicate that he was
illiterate, so he did not personally fill out the forms. I believe his wife
may have been literate, but I'm not sure. They lived in Brooklyn, NY. His
name was Patrick Ryan.

Now here's the question... Were the earlier documents just plain incorrect?
Or, my great fear, is the baptism record that was attested to in the letter
not his? Imagine this -- you've been waiting forever for the baptismal
record to arrive from Ireland, but when it does, it's the wrong one. What do
you do? Send another request, by slow boat, hoping for the correct one, or
"adopt" it as yours? Could the wrong one have been sent from Ireland?
Wouldn't the family have been involved (he had left Ireland 60 years
earlier)? He came to the states when he was eight, but would an
eight-year-old be seven months off on their birthday? He came with siblings
and I assume they were older, although family lore has that they were killed
in the Civil War. So for the 45 years prior to 1910 he had no immediate
family with him that would have known his birthday.

His Brooklyn, NY, death certificate was also in the file. It has August 5,
1840, and it has his parents as the same ones on the baptismal record
received from Ireland. But, his wife was going to apply to continue
receiving the pension after he died (there are papers for that), so wouldn't
she continue the little deception in order to obtain the pension? It would
be anathema to those on this list to put the wrong names on a death
certificate, but what if she really needed the money?

Anyway, there's my dilemma. I will of course try to somehow independently
verify on this end who his parents were, which could answer the question.

So, am I some sort of paranoid conspiracy theory nut, or does something seem
a bit fishy here?

If you have read this far, again, I truly appreciate your time and
consideration. I hope I can help you out one day.

Thank you.

All the best,
John Burke



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John Burke
FSB Associates
<http://www.fsbassociates.com/>; http://www.fsbassociates.com
Phone (908)204-1224
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