When I received the names of witnesses on Edward Higgins’ (my gg grandfather) marriage record from the Archdiocese of Boston Archives, they didn’t mean anything to me:
John Higgins and Bridget Barry. [1]
It wasn’t until I’d been gathering all of the vital records for Edward’s children that these names appeared again. I found his daughter Mary Ellen listed above two other infants, also born on Lark Street:
Births of Mary Ellen Higgins, Agnes Bridget Higgins, and Delia Barry [2]
City of Boston, MA, for the year 1876
No.
|
Date of Birth
|
Name of Child
|
Place of Birth
|
Name of Parents
|
Occupation of Father
|
1571
|
Nov. 2 [1876]
|
Mary Ellen Higgins
|
23 Lark [Boston]
|
Edward & Bridget
[both born in Ireland]
|
Roofer
|
1572
|
Oct. 22 [1876]
|
Agnes Bridget Higgins
|
23 Lark
[Boston]
|
John & Margaret
[both born in Ireland]
|
Teamster
|
1573
|
Jany. 27 [1876]
|
Delia Barry
|
24 Lark
[Boston]
|
Edward & Bridget
[both born in Ireland]
|
Laborer
|
Now the names of the witnesses meant something more. But who were they? Who were John Higgins and Bridget Barry? The year was 1876. I turned to the 1880 U. S. federal census to find (first) John Higgins, his wife Margaret, and daughter Agnes.
Notes:
[1] Higgins-Tobin marriage, 17 February 1874, St. Augustine’s Church in South Boston, Archdiocese of Boston Archives, Braintree, Massachusetts.
[2] Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841-1910 (From original records held by the Massachusetts Archives, Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2004.) Vol. 279, Page 35.
