The goal of finding Dennis
Buggy’s marriage record was to learn if it mentions his place of birth in
Ireland. The Phelan family book
asserts that Dennis was married to Catherine Phelan on 17 January 1856 in
Naugatuck, Connecticut.[1] Research in Naugatuck town records led
to a wider search in the Naugatuck River Valley area (map below) that yielded two marriage records for Dennis Buggy. Neither marriage took place on 17
January 1856, neither in Naugatuck, and neither record offers any information
on Dennis’ birthplace in Ireland.
What they do offer is a
correction of the Phelan family book’s date and place for the Buggy-Phelan
marriage. They also offer a marriage record for a different Dennis Buggy, who married Alice Fagan two years before the Buggy-Phelan marriage.; 2) a date and place for Dennis Buggy’s first marriage and a name for
his bride; and 3) new information on Dennis Buggy’s whereabouts in Connecticut
before the Civil War.
The
Buggy-Phelan Marriage Record Correction comes from the Archdiocese of Hartford Archives. Dennis Buggy and Catherine Phelin [sic] were married 20 January 1857 1856 in
Derby, New Haven County, Connecticut.[2] [See a discussion of the correct year in a later post, Judy Kellar Fox, “18. Loose Ends: Land and Pension Files,” Pinpointing Dennis Buggy's Irish Origins (http://foxkellarbuggy.blogspot.com/2013/05/18-loose-ends-land-and-pension-files.html), posted 19 May 2013.]
Derby lies some twelve miles south of Naugatuck on a route along the Naugatuck River to its confluence with the Housatonic River. See map below.
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Derby lies some twelve miles south of Naugatuck on a route along the Naugatuck River to its confluence with the Housatonic River. See map below.
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1857 [penciled in on photocopy, 2013]
On
this 20 day of January I married Dennis
& Bridget Rily Jas
Lynch
This terse record gives no hint
of the origins of the bride and groom.
It does offer, however, the names of the witnesses, James Hanly and
Bridget Rily. Future research
efforts could focus on these two, in case they are friends from home in
Ireland.
The other marriage record is for the Dennis Buggy who resided in Ansonia, near Derby, and married only Alice Fagan. The Buggy-Fagan Marriage Record turned up in a search of Derby town records for the Buggy-Phelan marriage record. While there is no information about the Buggy-Phelan marriage, the Town Clerk found an earlier Buggy entry in an old index. The marriage record no longer exists, only the index. It is so faint she did not recommend copying it, but was willing to dictate the information:[3]
Date: 23 September 1854
Groom: Dennis Buggy, age 26
Occupation: laborer
Birthplace: Ireland
Residence prior to marriage:
Oxford [Connecticut]
Residence when married: Oxford
Bride: Alice Fagan, age 23
[No further information on the bride]
Person who married the couple:
James Lynch
The person who married the
couple, James Lynch, is the man who would later marry Dennis Buggy
and Catherine Phelan at St. Mary Church, Derby (above).
Dennis
Buggy’s Whereabouts in Connecticut The Buggy-Phelan marriage record shows that while Dennis Buggy married in Derby, he lived in Naugatuck. The Buggy-Fagan marriage record has no bearing on Dennis Buggy of Naugatuck.The marriage records show that rather
than residing continuously in Naugatuck, he lived for a time in Oxford
(immediately southwest of Naugatuck) and married twice in Derby before moving
to Naugatuck. This moving around
is not unusual for a young immigrant attempting to establish himself in a new
country. It is also consistent
with his employment as a railroad laborer.[4]
Sources
of Information
 |
| Map courtesy of the Council of Governments of the Central Naugatuck Valley |
Connecticut.
Department of Public Health.
Vital Records Office, Hartford (860-509-7952). Dave
Antolini telephone interview by Judy Kellar Fox 5 April 2013. Hartford
Vital Records begin in 1857 [so would not have an 1856 marriage record]. Suggested calling Connecticut State
Public Library.
Connecticut, Derby.
Town Clerk’s Office
(203-736-1462). Sharon
[last name not given] telephone interview by Judy Kellar Fox, 8 April
2013. Sharon dictated the Buggy-Fagan
marriage index entry.
Connecticut, Naugatuck. Town
Clerk’s Office (203-720-7055). Telephone
voice message from unidentified person to Judy Kellar Fox 1 April 2013. The
Town Clerk’s Office has no record of a Buggy marriage.
Connecticut, Naugatuck. Town Clerk, Records of births,
marriages, and deaths, v. A-D, 1844-1862.
Town Clerk’s Office, Naugatuck. FHL microfilm 1,412,958. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah. This
microfilm of original records shows no Buggy marriages at all from 1849-1859,
confirming information from the Town Clerk’s Office.
Connecticut, Oxford. Town Clerk’s Office
(203-888-2543). Rosemary Harner
telephone interview by Judy Kellar Fox 9 April 2013. Oxford was part of
Derby up to a certain point, so Derby should have the marriage record. Recording with the town clerk was not
always consistent. Oxford has
no record of a Dennis Buggy marriage.
They have records from only about a dozen churches. It was typical at the time that folks
did not record their marriage with the town clerk.
Connecticut, Waterbury. Office of
the Town Clerk. Vital Statistics
(203-574-6800). Elisse [last name
unknown] telephone interview by Judy Kellar Fox 5 April 2013. Waterbury
marriage records begin in 1886.
Connecticut State Library, Hartford. History and Genealogy Information
(860-757-6580). Mel Smith telephone interview by Judy Kellar Fox 5 April 2013. There
is no statewide index for marriages at that time. He consulted the Library’s newspaper marriage index to 1865
and found no Dennis Buggy entry.
There are many Phelans, but not Catherine or Katherine. Marriage registration was required at
the town level at that time period.
St. Mary Church (Derby, Connecticut). Marriage
records. Ten unnumbered photocopied pages. Supplied April
2013 by Maria Medina Paxi, Archivist, Archives of the Diocese of Hartford,
Connecticut.
Next Time: Are Dennis Buggy’s U. S. Siblings the Same as the Buggy-Brannagan Children of Freshford?
© 2013 Judy Kellar Fox, CG, foxkellarj@comcast.net.
[1] “The Phelan
Descendants: The Buggy Family, The Delaney Family, The Dollard Family,”
privately held, 2013, 8.
[2] St. Mary Church (Derby, Connecticut),
marriage book, arranged chronologically, Dennis Buggy and Catherine Phelin
(1856); Archdiocese of Hartford Archives, Hartford. The photocopy, provided by Archivist Maria Medina Paxi, bears no
identification of the book and no page number. The page was annotated by hand in 2013 with the name of the church,
the town, and the year [1857, an error].
[3] Sharon [last
name not given], Town/City Clerk’s office (Derby, Connecticut; 203-736-1462),
telephone interview by Judy Kellar Fox, 8 April 2013.
[4] Occupation
as given in an unnamed son’s birth record. See Naugatuck, Connecticut, Births, Marriages, Deaths,
1852-1856, Vol. C, p. 48, “Record of Births in Naugatuck during the Month of
October 1856,” unnamed male Buggy, Dennis Buggy, father; Town Hall, Naugatuck; Family
History Library microfilm 1,412,958.
Wondering what your thoughts are on these two marriages. Family history has Dennis married to Catherine Phalen, is it possible that the other marriage is a different Dennis Buggy? Something to ponder...
ReplyDeleteGlad to meet you, Tara! The two marriages seem consistent for one man, as they are successive (one in 1854 and one in 1856), in the same place and by the same priest. It seems reasonable that Alice Fagan died in the meantime, leaving Dennis a widower and free to remarry Catherine Phelan. Research on Alice Fagan might turn up a plausible explanation. I did not ask about this marriage at St. Mary's Church (Archivist Maria Medina Paxi, a delightful lady), so that's an avenue to pursue. Perhaps the parish has a burial for Alice Fagan Buggy. Maria's the gal to contact. See the church website for contact information.
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