Chronicles

BRENNAN - MURRAY RECORD

MICHAEL BRENNAN, son of William and Mary Julia (O'Gaffrey) Brennan, was born on September 16th, 1804, in Old Town, Maine. He died on November 30th, 1871 and was buried in the Northwest Cemetery, Richibucto, New Brunswick.

Married by Rev. Hugh McGurke, P. P. on October 2nd, 1850, to MARY O'LEARY, daughter of Keady and Honora (Power) O'Leary, was born on March 27th, 1827, in Harcubeach, Bearhoven, near Castletown, Cork, Ireland. She died on August 17th, 1905, in Campbellton, New Brunswick.

Children:
William b.11-05-1851 d.03-05-1906 Cross Point, Quebec.
J. Keady b.08-11-1853 d.02-06-1928 Marinette, Wisconsin, USA.
John b.07-08-1855 d.12-27-1894 Campbellton, N.B.
Michael b.04-29-1857 d. 12-05-1939 Campbellton, N.B.
Mary b.02-08-1859 d. ? Richibucto, N.B.
Henry R. b.11-14-1861 d.01-17-1910 Campbellton, N.B.
Daniel E. b.12-29-1864 d.12-31-1939 Campbellton, N.B.
James b.12-21-1862 d.12-09-1939 Seattle, Washington, USA.
Katherine b.01-17-1867 d.09-02-1896 Campbellton, N.B.
Richard P. b.03-18-1869 d.02-09-1944 Campbellton, N.B.
Arthur b.03-20-1870 d. ? 1892 Richibucto, N.B.

Mary Julia (O'Gaffrey) Brennan remarried J. Michael Murray, in Prince Edward Island in 1815. She is buried in the Northwest Cemetery, Richibucto, New Brunswick.

At the marriage of Michael Brennan and Mary O'Leary in 1850, the witnesses were Martin Money and Mary Murray. The latter was the half sister of Michael Brennan. She never married.

From the records of J. Keady Murray
Written November 8th, 1907.

Here are some corrections and additions
made by Keady Murray's nephew Kerry E Price

*2001 – The name of one of the witnesses to the marriage of Michael Brennan and Mary O’Leary was Martin Mooney, and not Martin Money.

*2001 - I have been told that there is no such cemetery as the Northwest Cemetery, Richibucto, in Kent County.

*2001 - Michael Brennan, Sr. was buried in the St. Louis de Kent Roman Catholic Cemetery, St. Louis de Kent, New Brunswick. Perhaps this cemetery at one time was called the Northwest Cemetery. In the original Brennan - Murray Record, as written by J. Keady Murray in 1907, it is recorded that Michael Brennan and his mother, Mary Julia O’Gaffrey Brennan Murray, were both buried in the Northwest Cemetery, Richibucto, New Brunswick. As Michael Brennan’s grave has been located in the St. Louis de Kent

Roman Catholic Cemetery, it is possible that his mother is also buried in the same cemetery. Michael Brennan’s tombstone records that he died November 11, 1872, at the age of 57 years. The St. Louis de Kent Roman Catholic Church Records for the years, 1870 to 1874 are missing.

*2004 - No record of a marriage between J. Michael Murray and the widow, Mary Julia O’Gaffrey Brennan, has been found in Prince Edward Island.

*2004 - No birth record for Michael Brennan in Old Town, Maine, has been found.

*1983 - Theophilus O’Leary married Honora Power, as per a letter from Reverend McKenna, Parish Priest, Castletownbere, County Cork, Ireland, dated June 24th, 1983. Also as per research done by Riobard O’Dwyer, in the Marriage Records of the Bere Peninsula Families, County Cork, Ireland. Therefore, it is Theophilus O’Leary and not Keady O’Leary, as recorded in J. Keady Murray‘s Brennan - Murray Record.

*2001 - The 1901 Campbellton, New Brunswick Census records Mary O’Leary Brennan Murray’s date of birth as March 17, 1828, Ireland. Correspondence with Reverend John McKenna, Parish Priest at The Presbytery, Castletownbere, County Cork, Ireland, in a letter dated, June 24th , 1983, gives Mary O’Leary’s date and place of birth as May 30, 1830, Thornhill, Knocknascee, County Cork, Ireland. The proper spelling is Berehaven, not Bearhoven. Berehaven is the 2nd largest natural harbour in the world in west County Cork. Thornhill is very close to Castletownbere.

*2001 - The Church Records of St. Louis de Kent Roman Catholic Church, as well as other sources, reveal a number of differences in the dates of birth and death of the following children of Michael Brennan and Mary O’Leary:

1) William Brennan, born November 29, 1851. ( St. Louis de Kent Roman Catholic Church Records) According to The Events, the Campbellton newspaper at the time, William Brennan died March 20, 1906.

2) John Brennan, born July 3, 1855. (St. Louis de Kent Roman Catholic Church Records)

New Brunswick Vital Statistics, records his date of death as December 26, 1894, Cross Point, Quebec. He was buried in Our Lady of the Snows Roman Catholic Cemetery, Campbellton, New Brunswick.

3) Michael Brennan, born February 29, 1857. (St. Louis de Kent Roman Catholic Church Records) According to his daughter, Mary Christine Elizabeth “Bessie” Brennan Murray Price and the Campbellton newspapers, Michael Brennan Murray died December 5, 1938.

4) According to the records of St. Louis de Kent Roman Catholic Church, Mary Honora Brennan was born March 10, 1859 and died on February 19, 1860. She was buried in L’Aldouane Cemetery, L’Aldouane, Kent County, New Brunswick.

5) According to the St. Louis de Kent Roman Catholic Church Records, Henry Richard Brennan was born December 14, 1860.

6) According to the St. Louis de Kent Roman Catholic Church Records, the 9th child of Michael Brennan and Mary O’Leary was christened Katherine Mary Brennan.

7) According to the St. Louis de Kent Roman Catholic Church Records, the 10th child of Michael Brennan and Mary O’Leary was christened Patrick Richard Brennan, born March 21, 1869. Patrick Richard Brennan Murray died March 19, 1944.

8) According to the 1871 St. Louis de Kent Census, Peter Murray, age 1/12 months was born in March of that year. J. Keady Murray records the 11th child of Michael Brennan and Mary O’Leary as Arthur Brennan. J. Keady Murray records that Arthur died ? 1892. In a note written to my Grandmother, Mary Christine Elizabeth “Bessie Brennan Murray Price, by her 1st cousin, James Raymond Brennan Murray of Marinette, Wisconsin in 1956, he gives the year of death for Arthur Brennan as ? 1872. (James Raymond Brennan Murray was the son of J. Keady Murray.) Peter Arthur Brennan, the youngest son and last child of Michael Brennan and Mary O’Leary does not appear in the 1881 St. Louis de Kent Census Records. So I can only conclude that he died prior to the recording of the 1881 Census. The St. Louis de Kent Church Roman Catholic Church Records for the years, 1870 to 1874 are missing. Rose Marie Murray, the daughter of Delaney Murray, attests to the fact that James Raymond Murray said that the child’s death was caused by drowning.

            This page was put together by Irene Doyle Januray 2006

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