In a previous post, we talked about finding information on ancestors in the newspaper. So, let me tell you a story…
No one in our family ever knew where in Ireland our ancestors were born. We could only imagine the story. James Brady and Bridget Daly married 10 August, 1855, in Hannibal, Missouri. Hannibal was not the county seat, so any young couple wanting to obtain a marriage license would have to make their way to Palmyra, almost 20 miles away.
James probably borrowed a carriage or buckboard from a neighbor and started out early in the morning. The two -horse drawn journey could not have been easy – mid-summer in Missouri sizzles and fries. James, strong and hearty at age 20, manfully handled the team, showing off for his future bride. What man could resist her red hair and blue eyes? He loved to see her beautiful smile and hear her laugh. It was intoxicating, even in the heat.
Bridget, barely 18, felt secure in the seat next to her handsome beau. His dark hair and dark eyes had attracted her at first, but his soft heart kept her close to him. She loved the way he lifted her to the carriage seat, held her arm, and treated her as if she was precious crystal. She knew in her heart this man was good and kind. What more could she want from a future husband?
Perhaps they stopped overnight at a friend’s farm or a local inn, but the coolness of the granite courthouse building would be a blessing in the August heat. The desk in the clerk’s office stood chest high, worn smooth by many arms leaning upon it. James would take charge, stated their purpose, and Bridget would stand at his side, proud. The precious paper in his pocket told of their impending marriage on August 10th by the only Catholic priest around, Father Murphy. On the hot return trip, she dreamed of her wedding day and her future as a wife and mother.
Irish and Catholic went together like bread and butter. Custom dictated that you marry someone within your own religion. Catholics married Catholics. Irish married Irish, and James and Bridget followed the tradition. They married and moved to a boarding house on Broadway, the main street of downtown Hannibal. She cooked in the kitchen of the house. He worked as a drayman with teams of horses and mules. It wasn’t long before she knew she was going to be a mother. Their first child, a daughter, Mary Ann, was born 9 months after their wedding.
Other children followed in quick succession – Hugh, William, James, Michael, Katherine, Daniel, Alice, Edward, and twins John and Bridget. Each of the children was dutifully baptized at Holy Family Catholic Church, and their names inscribed on yellow pages of old books in the church office. Sprinkled throughout the baptismal book were pages and pages of Irish names including the Brady children’s godparents.
The family lived in Hannibal from 1855 until the mid 1880s. James died in 1875. Most of the children were grown and lived away from home. Bridget with three of her sons and two daughters moved to Kansas City, Missouri. One son worked on the railroad, one as a butcher, and the other a livery man. The two daughters soon married. Katherine married Charles and Alice married Patrick Francis Welch (my great grandparents).
This story is partly from my imagination, partly from records I found about James and Bridget. What records?? At the Midwest Genealogy Center in Independence, Missouri, I found a journal that listed wedding records for Missouri and discovered James and Bridget’s marriage date. I then visited the actual courthouse, stood at the worn clerk’s bench, and found the marriage license from 1855. At the church, I was able to locate the wedding record. The secretary at the Catholic Church in Hannibal was very helpful in locating marriage record for James and Bridget and baptismal records for each of the children. The baptismal records gave me exact birthdates for each child and included names of godparents who were neighbors and relatives of the Bradys.
From the census records for 1860, 1870, and 1880, they showed their addresses in Hannibal, the occupations of the children, as they grew up and worked in the local hotel and grocery store. City directories were another source of information for addresses. A tax record from 1870 gave me the fact that James had been a drayman (working on hauling in wagons with horses or mules). After James died, Bridget and the children moved to Kansas City. The Kansas City directories showed that Bridget and her 3 sons and 2 daughters lived together until the daughters married.
Finding these different records helped me to flesh out the story of James and Bridget Brady, their family and my ancestors. Keep looking at all kinds of records, you never know what you will find.
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