I'm trying to document part of my family tree, and while it's been a great help that John O'Hart is a 3x great-grandfather, I'm a bit puzzled by a section that shouldn't be subject to any ambiguity given its closeness to his family.
To start with - Crossmolina parish records don't include 1845 marriages and he gives 25 May 1845 as the date of his marriage to Eliza Burnett. However, there is a marriage of John Harte to Eliza Barnett or Barrett
recorded 25 June 1846; it seems very possible this is the relevant record despite the ambiguity of Eliza's surname spelling/transcription. Perhaps it is actually just another John Harte from Crossmolina and actually an Eliza Barrett. Alternatively, a reason perhaps to record their marriage as 1845 rather than June 1846 is that Fanny Mary Harte was born 15 April 1846 if we rely on the Clontarf parish records. (Residence: Artane, Father: John Harte, Mother: Elizabeth Burdett, sponsors James Rowan and Fanny Callaghan). Fanny married Michael Devine in 1868 (The Tipperary Vindicatory and Limerick Reporter, Tuesday Evening, August 4, 1868: Marriages: On Thursday July 30th, at the Roman Catholic Church Kilkee, by the Rev M Cleary P.P., Fannie Mary, eldest daughter of John Harte, Kingsend, Dublin, to Michael J Devine of Kilkee.). Kingsend should read Ringsend.
To return to the marriage, although Eliza may have married younger than 21 as some did, we can nevertheless expect her birth to have been around 1824 unless she married older than 21 (certainly possible too - but 21 is a reasonable starting point). From
the 1901 census, this also places Eliza's birth year about 1824.
Regarding Eliza's parents; here is John O'Hart's text: "7. Patrick Burnett, of Enniscrone: fourth son of Richard; m. Margaret Bourke, of Coolcarney, near Ballina, Mayo, and had one surviving child:"
I have not found any records definitively relating to either, so I switched to looking at the preceding text, where we find Eliza's uncle, Peter Burnett: "V. Peter, of Newry, co. Down, died on the 30th Aug., 1887, m., in Swinford, co. Mayo, in 1851, Maria, dau. of Michael Maloney, and his wife Elizabeth Syran, of Crossmolina, in said county. He had issue four sons and three daughters:"
I've found Peter's
death record mentioned above and it ties in the with other details that follow regarding his children (Eliza's cousins). Also
their marriage 26 August 1851 (Maria Mullowney). One issue here is that though Peter is a younger brother to Patrick, the death record records his age as 62 (not that people were reliable about ages!) All the same, taken at face value this would mean born in 1825, almost the same age as Eliza - and in any case their weddings about 5/6 years apart.
So even without details about Patrick Burnett and Margaret Bourke, could Patrick really have been so much older than his brother Peter? Especially as three older brothers John, James and Michael (who married Eliza Greer) are listed by John O'Hart (as having emigrated to USA). Any records on these brothers or descendants would be interesting.
I think we can take it that Eliza certainly knew Peter as her uncle and his children as her cousins, as the marriages etc. are all contemporary with when John O'Hart wrote Irish Pedigrees (I mean, they presumably actually were in attendance - or at least corresponded). For example, John Burnett
married in 1875 to Margaret Browne in Newry, and Elizabeth Burnett
married in 1887 to Edward Durnan. Note here that Peter Burnett is identified as ex-RIC sergeant (per his death record). Mary Burnett is a witness at both weddings; John O'Hart lists her as born 1 May 1855, older sister to Elizabeth born 13 Jan 1861.
Any ideas on the above, or records on Patrick Burnett and Margaret Bourke would be welcome - given that would fill in some more history for two of my 4x great-grandparents (still got quite a few to even identify!)
Just a final note about John O'Hart - the older records (e.g. his other children's baptisms, etc.) all have him as John Harte, even up to 1868 when he first appears in the papers as secretary to the nascent INTO and published "The duties and obligations of every system of primary education in Ireland : or, the Irish teachers' grievances" (
link). Evidently he started to use the form O'Hart around the time of compiling Irish Pedigrees; and indeed his son Patrick did too with the partnership O'Hart, Cunningham & Co public auditors & accountants.
