Pinpointing Dennis Buggy's Irish Origins: Derby Connecticut

Showing posts with label Derby Connecticut. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

In Conclusion

I can now report with confidence the following new or corrected information. Corrected 23 March 2021.

Dennis Buggy

Dennis Buggy was born on or before 6 June 1829 to Richard Buggy and Mary Brannagan, probably at the Buggy family residence in Kyleballynamoe Townland, Tubbridbritain Civil Parish, Freshford Catholic Parish, County Kilkenny, Ireland.[1]

He was baptized 6 June 1829 in Freshford Catholic Parish, County Kilkenny, Ireland.[2]

Dennis Buggy married 1) Alice Fagan on 23 September 1854 in Derby, New Haven County, Connecticut.~~[3]~~

Dennis Buggy married Catherine Phelan on 20 January 1856 at St. Mary Church, Derby, New Haven County, Connecticut.[4] The couple may also have married on 17 January in Naugatuck.[5]

Please add this new information, along with its source information, to genealogy databases. The sources are usually found in the footnotes and can be copied into database notes.

To cite this blog, write: Judy Kellar Fox, “[title of blog post],“ Pinpointing Dennis Buggy’s Irish Origins, posted [date of post] (http://foxkellarbuggy.blogspot.com : accessed [date you read it]).

Please ask permission before copying the narrative text: foxkellarj@comcast.net.

Many thanks to Ruth McLaughlin, Matthew Whalen, Michel Ann Dobyns, and my friend and yoga teacher (a Dennis Buggy descendant) for inspiration, encouragement and sharing.

Thanks to you for joining me. It’s been a fun challenge. I learned a lot, and I hope you did, too.

THE END (until new information surfaces to require reevaluation)

[1] Catholic Church, Freshford Parish (Kilkenny, Ireland), Parochial Registers, 1773-1881, Baptisms, 1825-1847, p. 66, Denis Buggy (1829); Family History Library microfilm 926,192, item 3.

[2] Ibid.

[3] [This record is for a different Dennis Buggy, who married only Alice Fagan.] Sharon [last name not given], Town/City Clerk’s Office (Derby, Connecticut; 203-736-1462), telephone interview by Judy Kellar Fox, 8 April 2013, citing an old, fading marriage index held at the Town/City Clerk’s Office.

[4] St. Mary Church (Derby, Connecticut), marriage book, arranged chronologically, Dennis Buggy and Catherine Phelin (1857); Archdiocese of Hartford Archives, Hartford.

[5] Questionnaire 3—389, Dennis Buggy (Pvt., Co. K, 20^th Conn. Vols., Civil War), pension claim no. 1355777 (Rejected); Case Files of Rejected Pension Applications, Civil War; Records of the Bureau of Pensions and Its Predecessors; Department of Veterans Affairs, Record Group 15; National Archives, Washington, D.C.

[6] Dennis Buggy obituary, Faribault County [Minnesota] Register, 27 May 1915; Blue Earth Community Library, Blue Earth, Minnesota. See also, Questionnaire 3—447, Dennis Buggy pension claim no. 1355777 (Rejected), Civil War, RG 15, NA-Washington.

[7] “The Phelan Descendants: The Buggy Family, The Delaney Family, The Dollard Family,” privately held, 2013, 8.

Sunday, May 19, 2013

18. Loose Ends: Land and Pension Files

Dennis Buggy’s homestead and Civil War pension application files have come in. Both offer invaluable information for family history, and the pension application states County Kilenny as Dennis Buggy’s birthplace.

Homestead File Dennis Buggy’s file for his 1871 land purchase in Minnesota does not reveal his place of birth. No mention is made of his having been foreign-born or naturalized. It does describe his house and farm and the improvements he made in order to get his land patent (handwritten text in italics):

[Dennis Buggy] has built a house thereon of Logs 14x18 feet—shingle roof—1 Door & 1 Window & upper & Lower floor and has lived in the said house and made it his exclusive home from the 26” day of December, 1865, to the present time, and that he has since said settlement ploughed, ~~fenced,~~ and cultivated about 30 acres of said land, and has made the following improvements thereon, to wit: Fenced 120 acres—Built a stable & Granary & Dug 2 Wells—Planted a few hundred forest trees[1]

Civil War Pension Application Dennis Buggy applied for a Civil War pension, but was rejected. On 31 January 1907 he made several statements that bear on his personal and family history:

“My wife is ded I am a wido[we]r”

When, where, and by whom were you married? Answer: “in 1856”

“in Naugatuc Conn Jan 17= 1856”

What record of marriage exists? Answer: [blank]

Were you previously married? “none”

Have you any children living?

“Richard Born oct 27= 1856

“John “ oct 15= 1858

“Nellie “ aprl 10 1860

“Kattie “ aug 10 1867”[2]

When [sic] were you born? “Co Kilkiney Ireland”

Where [sic] were you born? “June 11= 1832”[3]

Dennis Buggy pension application questionnaire

The pension application provides yet another date of birth, but it is consistent with the obituary that gives County Kilkenny as his place of birth. Clearly the man did not know what year he was born or how old he really was. He claimed June 11 as his birthday, and his heirs consistently reported that date for his obituaries, death certificate, and gravestone. This date cannot be accurate, as it is after the 6 June date of his baptism.

He said, she said Dennis Buggy reported his (second) marriage on 17 January 1856 in Naugatuck, Connecticut. This conflicts with the marriage recorded in the parish register of St. Mary, Derby. The date was 20 January and the copy annotated “1857” in 2013.[4] This date is after the birth of first child Richard (27 October 1856).[5]

Update 24 June 2013: Closer examination of the marriage records

Another photocopy of the full parish register page bears a year at the top. It appears to be 1856, suggesting that the first few entries took place in 1856, and the January one, farther down the page, in 1857. On close inspection, the 6 of 1856 appears to be written over a 5.

Examination of all the parish's marriages from 1855 through 1858, ten unnumbered pages, reveals inconsistency in the entries. The few indications of years suggest that the order of pages, following the chronology of the marriages, should be 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 [including the Buggy marriage], 8, 4, 5, 10.

The key to the reordering is an agreement on 27 November 1856 that appears at the bottom of page 9. James C. Kirby agrees to allow Winifred McIntyre, “whom I am now going [to] marry,” to attend the catholic church and to raise any children they have as members of the Roman Catholic Church. The record of the Kirby-McIntyre marriage, also dated 27 November 1856, appears at the top of page 4, identifying the correct chronology of pages 4 and 5. Marriages entered on unnumbered pages 1-3 and 6-7 took place in 1855, with the transition to January 1856 (and the Buggy-Phelan marriage) on page 7. The early entries on page 7 were from late 1855 and the January one in 1856.

This Buggy-Phelan marriage in 1856 is supported by Dennis Buggy’s own recollection, as reported in his pension application: 17 January 1856.[6]

St. Mary marriage register page heading, detail

The month and year, January 1856, are probably correct. I cannot explain the discrepancy between the priest’s record and the groom’s memory of the day. Perhaps the couple married first in a civil ceremony in Naugatuck on 17 January, then, since there was not yet a Catholic church in Naugatuck, again in Derby on 20 January, a reasonable time before son Richard’s October birth.

Next Time: Dennis Buggy's Home on Antique Maps

[1] Michael Dullard and William Hunter, “Proof Required Under Homestead Acts May 20, 1862, and June 21, 1866,” Dennis Buggy (Faribault County), homestead file bearing final certificate no. 1794, 9 May 1871, Jackson, Minnesota, Land Office; Land Entry Papers, 1800-1908; Records of the Bureau of Land Management, Record Group 49; National Archives, Washington, DC.

[2] Questionnaire 3—389, Dennis Buggy (Pvt., Co. K, 20^th Conn. Vols., Civil War), pension claim no. 1355777 (Rejected); Case Files of Rejected Pension Applications, Civil War; Records of the Bureau of Pensions and Its Predecessors; Department of Veterans Affairs, Record Group 15; National Archives, Washington, D.C.

[3] Questionnaire 3—447, Dennis Buggy pension claim no. 1355777 (Rejected), Civil War, RG 15, NA-Washington.

[4] St. Mary Church (Derby, Connecticut), marriage book, arranged chronologically, Dennis Buggy and Catherine Phelin (1856); Archdiocese of Hartford Archives, Hartford. The photocopies, provided by Archivist Maria Medina Paxi, bear no identification of the book and no page numbers.

[5] Naugatuck, Connecticut, Births, Marriages, Deaths, 1852-1856, C:48, unnamed child born to Dennis Buggy and Catharine Buggy (1856); Town Hall, Naugatuck; Family History Library microfilm 1,412,958, item 3.

[6] Questionnaire 3—389, Dennis Buggy pension claim no. 1355777 (Rejected), Civil War, RG 15, NA-Washington.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

13. Dennis Buggy’s Marriage Record—Found [Once, not Twice; corrected 23 March 2021]

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.

1857 [penciled in on photocopy, 2013]

On this 20 day of January I married Dennis

Buggy to Catherine Phelin [sic] Witness James Hanly

& 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]~~

Map courtesy of the Council of Governments of the Central Naugatuck Valley

Sources of Information

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?

[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.

Pinpointing Dennis Buggy's Irish Origins