Halpins in Westmeath

[kaligirl]

And I GREATLY appreciate your help.

I went back and looked @ the scrapbook and (my) Gma has Patrick and Bridget as Thomas' parents, so I just need to keep digging.
I also plan to research Christopher J. Halpin and Kathrine Corrigan as grandparents as well as Richard G. Heslin and Mary Donnelly.

BTW - I thought you might enjoy a picture of my grandfather and his children sans one. Ida was married and in California. (My dad is the guy with glasses in the center.)

[Feichin]

Kaligirl,

Thank you for the picture of your grandfather. It’s nice to put a face to the name.

I’m afraid that I don’t know who exactly you mean by Christopher J. Halpin and Richard H. Heslin.

Thomas was Patrick’s son. Patrick said he was on the 1901 census form. I have no reason to doubt the man. In the 1911 census form Bridget said that she had nine children, all of whom survived. This made things easy as I knew the number of children to look for, although I did spend some time figuring out that Amice was Catherine.

With the generations of families I have dealt with I am sure that I missed some of the children, it is why I continually go back over my research. You recall that I found one of Patrick’s brothers only a few days ago while searching for someone else.

There currently is no sign of a civil record for Thomas. This could be for any number of reasons. However, I am also looking for the civil record for someone who was born in the same area and at the same time as Thomas. There is no civil record of this person at present either. Perhaps there was a mis-transcription of the records for that time and place or perhaps they were overlooked or lost. Perhaps they may yet appear or perhaps they never existed. I believe that there may be a church record for the person but that record is not publicly available, I may get to check eventually. I have on occasion notified errors in transcriptions to the relevant websites, the most recent was just last week.

I started my research in the days when you paid for civil records and the church records were not available on-line, even if you had a computer. It took me some time and some expense to put together my initial research. I learned to be patient and thorough. I find it stunning that a lot of information can now be checked and researched immediately and for free.

My research may not be absolutely correct, I don’t think that anyone could say with certainty that theirs is. I would love if someone provided me with proof that I am wrong, it would open up new avenues to explore. I have spent years researching this family, as have others. I am fairly confident of what I have found so far.

[kaligirl]

Feichen,

I too believe your research is impeccable and really appreciate you leading me to connect the dots.
My thanks again.

[Feichin]

Kaligirl,

I sent you some photographs taken in Castlepollard today which may be of interest.

[kaligirl]

The photographs are wonderful - thank you!
I will get there someday...
 

[Feichin]

Kaligirl,

I have sent you a photograph of Patrick Halpin’s grave in Castlepollard. Patrick was your grandfather’s brother. Also in the grave are Patrick’s wife Annie and some of his children. Patrick married Annie Mullvaney on 23rd June 1919 in Coole, a village a few miles from Castlepollard.

[kaligirl]

Thank you again.
It becomes more evident that Thomas Halpin was born in 1883 as opposed to 1886 as noted on his headstone.
Each piece of information is so helpful and appreciated!

[kaligirl]

Feichen,

While I've hit a bottleneck (as opposed to a brick wall) finding birth information for either my great-grandfather Christopher or my grandfather Thomas, I have found some relatives in the US.

From their research, Patrick Halpin - (Christopher's brother) immigrated around 1839 to Cedarburg Wisconsin.
Catherine (Thomas' sister) did not remain single, but has a granddaughter in California.
And finally a Christopher Halpin, whose father's first cousin was Kathy Halpin of Church St. Castlepollard, has just moved, but will be digging into his archives as he visited her and the cemetery in Fore.

He told me a wonderful story about my grandfather: "The story I heard about Joseph (meaning my grandfather - I think) was that he was studying for the priesthood in Ireland (Maynouth) and was expelled because he would not tell on other seminarians who were smoking. Then his uncle brought both of them to Iowa. Just a story by Kathy and since she is no longer with us, we can't confirm."

[Feichin]

Hello Kaligirl,

That is excellent.

That Patrick Halpin is a new name to me so it is a new avenue to explore.

I often wondered what became of Catherine. The last reference that I could find for her (assuming she was called Kathleen) was that she was at her sister’s wedding in 1925.

I was aware of Christoper Halpin having  seen some of his posts on the internet. I’m glad that you are in contact with him. I love the story that he told you. Old memories and stories such as that bring genealogy to life.