Baptismal records for four of the O'Flaherty family were found on Find My Past recently by my cousin's husband (Thank you, Ed!). His wife is descended from my 2nd Great Aunt Mary Theresa O'Flaherty Rogers. I do tend to rush into talking when I'm excited about a new discovery or new documentation so let me back up a moment.
Patrick O'Flaherty and Martha Durkin are my 2nd great grandparents. That is to say, they are my great-great grandparents. They married here in America, settled down in Phoenixville, Chester County, PA and had eight known children.
Those children are:
1. James
2. Mary Theresa
3. Hugh
4. Michael
5. Dennis
6. Margaret A
7. Martha M
8. Catherine <-- my great grandmother
Today, I am going to talk about four of them: Mary Theresa, Hugh, Martha, and Catherine.
Mary Theresa, born 31 March 1868, married Patrick Rogers in 1891, at the age of 23. Patrick was born in Ireland and had immigrated in 1885. They had five children and lived in Philadelphia, where Patrick was a fireman boiler (according to the 1900 census). After her husband passed in 1935, Mary Theresa lived with her son, Joseph, who was also a fireman for the City. Mary Theresa passed on 1 May 1945, at the age of 77.
Cousin Ed found her baptismal record at St Mary's of the Assumption Church in Phoenixville. Well, he found the record on Find My Past but she was baptized at the church. Hers is probably the more difficult to read, in my opinion, due simply to the handwriting. While I cannot make out her male sponsor, her godmother was Anne Durkin.
Hugh was born 31 March 1869, exactly a year after his elder sister. He married Katherine Dee and they had six children, one of whom sadly was stillborn. His baptism record (below) confirms his parents, date of birth, and date of baptism. Note the spelling of Dennis! I've seen Atty with Martha's name before on other records. His sponsors - in the Roman Catholic tradition the sponsors should both be Catholic as well. In addition, sponsors were someone you essentially entrusted your child to in the event of your passing, so they were generally someone close, like a family member. I have never seen a connection before with a Patrick Bradly or Maria Lynch. The baptism records also note the priest who performed the Sacrament of Baptism.
Martha was born two years later in 1879. She too died young, on 27 November 1897, at just 18 years of age. She never married or left home either. Neither her nor Margaret's death notices gave a cause of death. Both girls are buried at Black Rock Cemetery though.
Catherine is my great grandmother. She was the youngest of the O'Flaherty clan. She was born 2 August 1880. She married Martin Walsh (over time changed to Welsh). They had 10 known children, though one was stillborn and two died in infancy. She remained in Phoenixville, surviving her husband. She died 20 August 1949. Her baptism record below lists a Jacob Durkin as one of her sponsors.
Family - please add your comments, recollections, or questions, either here in the comments or email or Facebook me and I will research, confirm, and post the answers! Thank you again, Ed. Now ... off to track down Jacob Durkin and Anne Durkin, as well as immigration records for everyone.
© Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2018.
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