Bridget Murphy

 

Bridget (Murphy) Kennedy (abt.1821-1888) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree

Biography

Bridget (Murphy) Kennedy, the paternal Great Grandmother of John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States

Bridget was born about 1821[1] at Cloonagh townland, near Gusserane village, in the Ballycullane Catholic Parish, Co. Wexford to parents Richard Murphy and Mary Barron.

She was born in a house which was 'a single room' as were most dwellings of the subsistance farming families. The farm described in Griffith's valuation house books in 1845 as 36 feet long by 16 feet deep and 11 feet high, on a farm of less than 30 acres.[2][3][4]

Bridget Murphy immigrated to America in 1849 to Boston, Massachusetts. It is not known if she immigrated alone or with family members.

Bridget married her fiancee, Patrick Kennedy, on September 26, 1849 in the Holy Redeemer Church, Boston. The celebrant was Father John Williams, who later became Boston's Roman Catholic Archbishop."

She was widowed after nine years of marriage to Patrick Kennedy, a cooper from Dunganstown townland, Whitechurch civil parish, County Wexford. She raised her children, on her own on Noddle Island, one of the many islands that made up East Boston's dockland.

Children:

1. Mary born 6 Aug 1851 at Meridan street, Boston [5]
2. Johanna
3. Margaret
4. John died in infancy of cholera
5. Patrick Joseph, JFK's grandfather

Census

Patrick Kennedy 32 yrs cooper, Bridget 28 yrs, Mary 4 yrs, Joanna 3 yrs, John 1 yrs, Mrgaret Murphy 20 yrs, resided in 1855 in ward 2, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts. [6]

Bridget Kennedy 30 yrs, Mary 8 yrs, Joanna 7 yrs, Margaret 6 yrs, Patrick 2 yrs, Mary Roach 18 yrs, Michael O'Brien 6 yrs, resided in 1860 in ward 2, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts. [7]

Bridgett Kennedy 50 yrs widow bakery, Mary 27 yrs, Patrick J. 21 yrs and 3 boarders, resided in 1880 at 25 Border street, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts. [8]

Death

Bridget Kennedy (maiden name Murphy) died 20 Dec 1888 at 25 Border st, Boston (aged 66–67) in East Boston, aged 67, parents Richard, Mary born in Ireland. [9][10]

Death Place: Massachusetts, USA

Burial Holy Cross Cemetery and Mausoleum, Malden, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA PLOT 21 No. Monument Ave., Lot 41 East.

Research

The true story of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy's great grandmother Bridget Murphy which was shrouded in mystery and myth for over a hundred years, was revealed for the first time by Wexford county senior librarian, historian and genealogist Celestine Murphy at the Kennedy Summer School in New Ross last weekend, in Sept 2018.[11]

Sources

1. ↑ based on her age recorded on the death certificate Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts.
2. ↑ 01 Jul 1845 http://census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/vob/IRE_CENSUS_1821-51_007246834_00803.pdf
3. ↑ 23 May 1851 http://census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/vob/IRE_CENSUS_1821-51_007246834_00774.pdf
4. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G979-Q9DS-5?cc=2061550&wc=Q4D4-3Y3%3A353350401%2C353366201%2C355017701 : 20 October 2020), Suffolk > Boston > Births 1851 no 1-5375 > image 112 of 145; citing Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston.
5. ↑ "Massachusetts State Census, 1855," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-D199-HLJ?cc=1459985&wc=M6PF-TMS%3A42491501%2C42507201 : 1 April 2016), Suffolk > Boston, Ward 02 > image 28 of 226; State Archives, Boston.
6. ↑ "United States Census, 1860," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9BS3-RL6?cc=1473181&wc=7QGH-YTS%3A1589422209%2C1589428987%2C1589429259 : 24 March 2017), Massachusetts > Suffolk > Ward 2 City of Boston > image 203 of 486; from "1860 U.S. Federal Census - Population," database, Fold3.com (http://www.fold3.com : n.d.); citing NARA microfilm publication M653 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
7. ↑ "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YB6-93B8?cc=1417683&wc=XCX2-168%3A1589405656%2C1589405860%2C1589397775%2C1589406907 : 24 December 2015), Massachusetts > Suffolk > Boston > ED 590 > image 23 of 39; citing NARA microfilm publication T9, (National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C., n.d.)
8. ↑ "Massachusetts Deaths, 1841-1915, 1921-1924," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DYCS-H22?cc=1463156&wc=MJCF-FM9%3A1043014101 : 22 May 2019), 0960239 (004224889) > image 462 of 673; State Archives, Boston.
9. ↑ FIndAGrave: Bridget Murphy Kennedy: Memorial ID: 86143118 Created by: Jeff Harvey Added: 2 Mar 2012. Last accessed Dec 12, 2018.
10. ↑ According to Celestine, her research was founded on the work of R. Andrew Pierce, a Boston-based professional genealogist who was a speaker at the 2013 Kennedy Summer School in New Ross. 'In a published article on the Murphy and Barron families, Pierce offered persuasive evidence that the parents of Bridget Murphy were Richard Murphy and Mary Barron and that they lived, at least from 1834, in Cloonagh, Ballycullane, she said.

See also:

• Roberts, Gary Boyd., Christopher Challender Child, and Julie Helen. Otto. Ancestors of American Presidents. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009. Print.

Source: Burke's Presidential Families. Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh. Burke's Presidential Families of the United States of America. London: Burke's Peerage, 1981. Print.