Seeking descendants of James Power of Buckingham Place, d. Easter Rising 1916

[mwdv]

Hi,
I'm assembling a tree of descendants for James Power of 9 Buckingham Place, who was killed during the Easter Rising of 1916 according to the Sinn Fein Handbook.  I'm hoping to establish some connection with my grandfather, who left Dublin for Canada soon after the Easter Rising. A post from 2010 by a poster named "genealogymaster" referred to James Power as his 2X great grandfather. If he or any other posters has knowledge of this family, I'd very much appreciate receiving a reply.

Thanx for your attention,
Mike

[myluck!]

Just searched a little for you and found the following:
James Power was married to Catherine Warren
Children to this marriage which should help with descendants
Match the following census records James Power on 1911 Census with sons James and Richard, and extended family
James Power on 1901 Census with wife Kate and four sons and one daughter; the eldest is shown as 31 implying that he was married before 1871
This could be the son James Power on the 1901 census, his occupation, the children’s names and ages are a match but the wife’s name is not but he may have been married twice as the Baptisms for eldest daughters shows the name Warren as a sponsors

[mwdv]

Many thanx for your reply and search, you seem to have found the remainder of the 12 children of James Power and Kate Warren that I'd missed.

The child that most interests me is the junior James Power, who does seem to have married twice. At least the first two of his children were with Mary Comiskey but by 1911, his wife is a somewhat younger Bridget although the census form states they had been married for 15 years and with 7 children. However, my interest in James Power junior is whether he remained in Ireland the whole of his life.

My grandfather, as far as we know, was named James Power. He died in 1930 at roughly 65 years of age, in Montreal Canada. Family lore has him leaving Dublin soon after the Easter Rising, as a family member was shot. We know little else - all pictures & documents were lost or stolen 70 years ago. I've not found any formal record of marriage between my grandfather and grandmother, so he could well have left a family behind in Dublin. Unfortunately, he didn't sign any of the baptismal records that we've found so far, so I can't compare signatures on the 1911 census forms.

I'm grasping at a thin straw but if I can't connect this family with my grandfather, at least a tree will be available for someone.
Thanx again,
Mike

[hasta]

The 1939 electoral Register shows a Power family at 8a Buckingham place,
http://www.dublinheritage.ie/electoral/index.php
so going on the basis that the family had this address for a long time I did a search at Glasnevin Cemetary
http://www.glasnevintrust.ie/genealogy/
for James Power with BUCKINGHAM PLACE in the address box and can see James Snr - buried in 1916 and another James Power of BUCKINGHAM PLACE  buried in 1925. He is aged 52 so would fit the profile of James Jnr. but only way to find out is the purchase the burial or death record.
  (I do hope It's not him)

Edit - In my experience the 20th century Galsnevin records are not very good in terms of detail compared to the 19th c. I'd go for the Death Cert which would seem to be

Jan - Mar 1925
Death Age:    53
District: Dublin North
Volume:    2
Page:    299

[myluck!]

The family shown in Buckingham Place in 1939 on the Register of Electors looks like the same family on the 1911 census
Bridget M., Margaret, John, Richard and Eileen POWER and Mary A. Ryan (also of 13a Buckingham St Upr); Mary A ties in with the marriage on irish Genealogy

With Hasta's find in Glasnevin Cemetery it would look like your James and this James were not the same man, unfortunately for your research.

How extensively have you researched to date?
Do you have the birth certificate of the parent that James is the father of?
Can you locate emigration papers for him?
If we can help further - test us out! -

[mwdv]

I believe you and Hasta are quite right, that the James Power of Buckingham Place is not my grandfather. I'll not drop this tree altogether - I'm still curious to identify Bridget, the presumed second wife.

I've been researching my grandfather off and on for several years, but the lack of documentation makes the search daunting. My mother, now 84 years old, was only 2 when James Power died so many of her stories are second-hand. I do not have access to her original birth record. In Quebec, civil registration of all births was initiated in the 1990s - prior to then, baptismal records served as birth certificates. These have been collected and microfilmed (the Drouin collection) and are available at Ancestry.com. Unfortunately, several of the children of James Power and my grandmother were baptised at a City Mission rather than an actual parish, and some of those records were lost and never microfilmed. I have baptismal records for two of the four children. I have James' burial record, but not his death record. His uncertain marital status has caused problems in obtaining the death record from the Quebec government. They did undertake a search and informed me that they had no record of a marriage between James and my grandmother. I've not searched for emigration documents from Ireland, and the few passenger list entries of James Powers entering Canada during the period 1916-1918 have been uninformative.

A considerable amount of searchable Irish data has become available lately, allowing me to employ some new strategies. I'm searching probate indexes now and will be considering other Power families for whom a death was recorded  in Dublin between 1916 and 1918,  but some luck will also be required. I'll indeed take you up on your offer to be tested. Your interest and ideas will be most appreciated.

Kind regards,
Mike 

[Oliverd]

Couple of questions spring to mind

1.) Could James Power have used a different name to exit the country ? Especially if he felt he was under threat.

2.) After 1916 in reality could mean up to 1922/23 and just as easily be using Liverpool or another UK port. A lot of people left during and after civil war.

Sorry to add in more variables

[mwdv]

Hi,

The answer to Q #1 is yes, he may well have used another name for the voyage. In fact, his first child (in Canada) was baptised as Powers rather than Power. We believe he was trying to alter his name intentionally. By 1925, when the 3rd child was born, the surname Power was used.

Regarding Q #2, James' first child was born in April 1919, so he would have arrived in Canada no later than autumn 1918. The vast majority of transatlantic traffic during the two year window in question consisted of Canadian military personnel. Considering that the United States didn't enter WWI until 1918, I've also searched American passenger arrivals. I have found one other James Power family identifiable from the 1911 census for Dublin, but have ruled that James Power out as he apparently lived in Chicago in 1920. I've pretty much given up on finding my James Power from passenger lists.

Thanx for your interest,
Mike

[Oliverd]

What was his occupation ?

Reason is that while someone may change name / dob they probably wouldn't feel they needed to change occupation................