Children of Richard Allen and Margaret Sweeney County Meath- Catharine Allen Byrnes 1847 Summerhill- 1916 Clonmahon

The name "Catherine" has stayed with Allen descendants through the generations. This post is dedicated to you!

It appears that the family of Richard Allen and Margaret Sweeney had only two daughters- the eldest child, Mary, born in 1826, and the youngest child, Catharine, born twenty years later. Eight brothers were born between the two girls! Hugh would have been about 12 years old when Catherine was born on May 21, 1847- at the height of the famine. Catharine's closest sibling would have been her brother Edward, who was just 3 years old when she was born.

Catherine Allen's baptismal record at Dangan Church in Summerhill Parish

As a child, Catharine would have watched her elder siblings emigrate to America in the 1850's. She grew up in the little cottage on the farm and then remained home with her brothers John and Edward to care for her aging parents. We don't know when her mother died, but her father, Richard Allen, died in 1866. 

Courting was difficult for a young girl after the famine; many of those young men who survived had no land to offer a family, or had emigrated abroad to seek their fortune. But when Catharine was 23 she married- albeit to a man twice her age. Her husband was Owen Byrne, a 45 year old grocer. Owen's first wife, Julia McNamee, had died in 1868, two days after giving birth to her son, Eugene. Owen was left a widower with five young children.

 In the spring of 1872, Owen and Catharine were married. (Note that even at age 24, she is listed on her marriage record as a spinster!) Their witnesses were Patrick Young and Mary Reilly.

Catharine Allen's marriage to Owen Byrne

After her marriage to Owen, Catharine lived in Clonmahon townland, just north of the village of Summerhill, and only a few miles from her Allen family in Great Umberstown. Her first son, Thomas Byrne, was born on May 4, 1873. A daughter, Margaret, followed on April 18, 1875. Catharine and Owen would have 5 children together.

The 1901 census shows Owen, age 78, Catherine, age 50, Thomas Byrne 26, and Edward Byrne 13, living in Clonmahon. They lived in a nice stone house with 5 rooms inside. Owen also had a farm, and Thomas was working the farm. Edward was still in school. This was an educated family- everyone could read and write.

The 1911 census, Catherine was 69 years old, and her husband, Owen was 90!
Their son, Edward, was a young man now, 23 years old. Patrick Byrne, age 50, and his wife and family live nearby.

 Catherine's son,Thomas Byrne, was no longer living with them. In the 1911 census he is shown living with his uncle, John Allen (now 76 years old) helping with the farming on the Allen family farm in Umberstown. 

Catherine died on January 11, 1912. She was 60 years old, and suffering from heart disease and "dropsy"- what we would call congestive heart failure. She died at her home in Clonmahon, with her son Thomas Byrne, of Umberstown, signing that he was present at her death. Owen lived to be 94 years old, dying in Clonmahon in 1916. Thomas was also present at his death.

Civil Death Registration for Catherine Allen Byrne age 60

What happened to Catherine's other four children? (next post)

Sources:

Ancestry.com. Ireland, Selections of Catholic Parish Baptisms, 1742-1881 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Ancestry.com. Ireland, Select Catholic Marriage Registers, 1775-1942 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.

Ancestry.com. Ireland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1620-1911 [database on-line]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Original data: Census of Ireland 1901/1911. The National Archives of Ireland. http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/: accessed 31 May 2013.

Catharine Allen Byrne's civil death record- you will have to sign in but it will then take you to the record. If you click on "image at the bottom, you can see the original entry and download this if you wish.