SEARCHING FOR THE CONNECTION

Recently I was told that there was a branch in my Sherlock-Caffrey family tree that was named Everard.  Well, I love finding new branches in my family trees.  In fact, I wished it happened more often!  So, I began some researching.

I found a Mary Ann Caffrey (born about 1847) who married James Everard (1837-1909).  They had eight children -- Patrick, James, Edward, Bridget, Thomas, Peter, Richard and Maggie.  They resided in Navan in County Meath from 1901 to at least 1911.

My 2nd great grandmother is Margaret Caffrey and she married Bryan Sherlock.  She had a sister named Bridget Caffrey, who married Peter Beggan.  I don't have exact birthdates for Margaret and Bridget but it was about 1835.  On the other hand, Mary Ann was born about 1847.  I can't find out who Mary Ann's parents were to see if she was the sister of Margaret and Bridget.  Some times this Irish research gets a bit frustrating.  Until I can figure out for sure the family connection I will have two trees - one for the Caffreys/Sherlocks and another for the Everards.  Here 's to hoping that the two can become one some day soon!

I KNOW HE'S RELATED BUT WHERE'S THE CONNECTION?

          For those of you who have been following the story of Charles Sherlock, in this post, I am going to discuss his father Edward Thomas Sherlock (who was my great grandfather).  

          Edward was born on January 6, 1869 in Navan, County Meath, Ireland to Bryan Sherlock and Margaret Caffrey.  I had very little information on Edward, except that he was a butcher, came to the US and lived in Chicago and then died at an early age in 1901, when my grandfather was just a baby.  Edward died of tuberculosis, which according to his death certificate he had for six months.  I did have the above photo of Edward.  I also knew my Dad’s cousin who somehow was related to us on the Sherlock side – his last name, in fact, being Sherlock.  What I didn’t know was where his branch intersected our family tree?

          I will readily admit that I am not very experienced in family history research outside of the U.S.  In fact, I am still learning how to do family history in the U.S.  But thanks to Ancestry.com and Familysearch.org, I was able to locate some birth record information that listed Bryan Sherlock and Margaret Caffrey as parents to Edward’s siblings.  So, I found Irish birth/baptism records for the following of Edward’s siblings – Mary (born in 1865), Bernard (born in 1867), Bridget (born in 1871), John (born in 1873) and Patrick Joseph (born in 1876).  However, none of them were my dad’s cousin’s grandfather Christopher Bartholomew Sherlock.  I couldn’t find a baptism/birth record for Christopher, but I did find 2 marriage certificates for Christopher that listed his parents as Bryan Sherlock and Margaret Caffrey.  I also found an Australian death record for a Nicholas Sherlock (also with his parents listed as Bryan Sherlock and Nicholas Sherlock) but no birth/baptism record for Nicholas.  It is puzzling to me why I can’t find a birth/baptism record for either Christopher or Nicholas.  

          I do also wonder what happened to the rest of Edward’s siblings since the only descendants I ever knew of were from Christopher.   I guess I have a lot more research to do.  Thanks to the online class on Irish Research that I took through Family Tree University, I do feel more prepared to tackle this quest to find the connecting branch of our family trees.