A Close Look at Those Cousins

   

     After decades of researching my direct ancestors, I'm able say most of their records currently online have been found; believe me, I try searching but lately it comes to naught.  Thanks in large part to the pandemic not many new records are being uploaded, forcing me to spend time on distant relatives whose information I haven't yet exhausted, if I want to do any research at all.  And I certainly do!  Today found me looking at the children of Daniel McGarr from County Kildare.  Not my 3rd-great-grandfather Daniel McGarr, but his cousin with whom he shared the same name.  They lived in the same area of Ireland, around Rathvilly and Ballyraggan, undoubtedly knew each other, and were close in age; but while my Daniel remained in Ireland, his cousin sailed off to America, settling near Auburn, New York.

     I've written before about three of Daniel's daughters who became nuns and have found birth and death dates for all nine of his children apart from Sarah who was born in Auburn in 1847 and was raised in nearby Owasco, New York, where Daniel established a large farm which was quite prosperous.  Sarah had proven elusive the last time I looked at her but perhaps today was the day I'd discover her story and hopefully by extension, more about her father.

     I had Sarah's husband in my tree as James Bryan and a date of 1926 for her death in Essex New Jersey.  I had however, neglected to add where I found the New Jersey information.  I almost deleted it; I could think of no reason why she would have been in New Jersey.  Then again, I must have had a reason when I entered it, so I decided to look further first.  Ancestry had a social security record for an Anastacia Mee, whose parents were James Bryan and Sarah McGarr.  That made sense, Sarah's mother was Anastacia Lyons.  Mrs. Mee lived in Minnesota though, far from Cayuga County New York, I wasn't positive I had the right person.  I tried doing a search for Sarah McGarr Bryan from her Ancestry page in my tree but that didn't get me anywhere.  I find that happens a lot.  A search done from scratch will bring up records, while one done using the "Search on Ancestry" tab on the subject's page misses them.

     A visit to the Cayuga County GenWeb site yielded Sarah McGarr's marriage to James Bryan at St. Mary's in Auburn in 1872, and after much searching some census records came to light.  One would think a name like Sarah Bryan would not be hard to find, but the 1900 census mangled it to, "Sirah Beyan", which Ancestry couldn't find until I tried a more creative path, searching instead for her son James Jr., who turned out to be a law student, using only his first name, birth year, and his residence as Cayuga County.  Then I could just scan down the list of hits till finding a surname that in another iteration could have been Bryan.  Ancestry didn't come up with a hit for Sarah in the 1880 census either until I employed those creative tactics. Sarah's husband did not appear in the 1900 census, although I found him in New York's 1892 census.  Using that to narrow the date of his death he was located in the New York State Death Index with a date of 19 February 1898. 

     I checked St. Joseph's Cemetery site in Auburn, looking for a James Bryan buried in 1898 and found him along with the section and lot number of his grave.  In the same place was buried his son Daniel Bryan and two other James Bryans.  One of them died in 1905 at age 10 months, (who I later found was his grandson), the other in 1932.  The second one must be James Jr. I reasoned, so a search for some obituaries was in order.  I found a notice placed in a Auburn newspaper in 1898 by a fraternal organization extending condolences to the Bryan family on the death of their patriarch, but nothing more.  The 1932 obituary, however, was the jackpot!  It read--

   One of Rochester's best-known attorneys, James S. Bryan, died unexpectedly yesterday afternoon at his home 1011 Highland Avenue.  He was 54 years old.

Last winter Mr. Bryan suffered a stroke and was confined to Strong Memorial Hospital and his home for several months.  He was apparently on the road to recovery and had resumed his law practice...  

   Mr. Bryan was born in Auburn, the son of James and Sarah Bryan and received his early education in St. Mary's parochial school and Auburn High School.  He was a graduate of Fairfield Military Academy and Albany Law School.  Shortly after his admission to the bar in 1904, Mr. Bryan formed a law partnership at Auburn with his brother Joseph W. Bryan, now a practicing attorney at New Rochelle, NY.  In 1912 he moved to East Rochester, where he established offices...

     The obituary proved his parent's names and revealed the law student had become an attorney, as had his younger brother Joseph.  But there were more goodies in this announcement--

   He leaves his wife Margaret C., daughter Mrs. James T. Hall, and son Thomas; two brothers, Joseph of New Rochelle and Dr. J.P. Bryan of Jersey City; two sisters Mrs. Francis Mee of Minneapolis and Sister Stanislaus Sister of Saint Joseph in Rochester, and a granddaughter. Funeral Friday morning at the home with burial in Auburn.

     This obituary really pulled it all together.  It explained why Sarah McGarr Bryan had passed away in New Jersey where her son the doctor was living, it proved Anastacia Mee in Minnisota was indeed his sister, and confirmed he was one of the James Bryans in St. Joseph's Cemetery.  It also gave the names of his wife and children.  A search of census records in New Jersey showed Sarah living with her son John T. and another son Francis, both were chiropractic doctors.  Most of my ancestors were farmers and didn't get the sort of obituaries Attorney Bryan did, but it certainly is wonderful when it happens.

     I sat down a few hours ago thinking I would perhaps find a few dates and spouses and instead wound up with another family story.  Best of all, I found something I never dreamed of finding, that most coveted family treasure of all, a photograph!  Below, from his passport, is Dr. John Theodore Bryan--

John T. Bryan

       The passport made fascinating reading, it confirmed all the information I'd already collected for this family and stated the reason John was going abroad.  The purpose of his trip to France and Great Britain was war relief, under the aegis of the Knights of Columbus, that charitable, fraternal, Catholic organization.   

     And then, another photo came to light; this one is of James S. Bryan the lawyer, from his obituary--

     Neither photo of the brothers is a very good image, but I'll take them.  John's passport even gave the birthplace of his father.  Not just "Ireland" as is usually the case, but a real place, Monavothe, Rathvilly, Carlow, Ireland!  James Bryan Sr. was from the same vicinity as the McGarrs.  As I've been investigating these far-flung relatives lately, I've found myself enjoying it much more than I thought I would--that flash of recognition when I realize the name of a newly found spouse is already somewhere in my tree.  It's been fascinating to see my cousins from different parts of Ireland meeting and inter-marrying in America and their children doing the same, my tree branches are beginning to cross.  I love discovering others in their adopted neighborhoods in America who were unrelated, but from the same townlands and parishes in Ireland and had known each other in the old country, long before they arrived in New York.  Maybe being reduced to studying distant relatives isn't so bad after all.