DNA test culminates in reunion of Athlone and UK cousins
Members of the extended Barry family, originally from Athlone, gathered in the town recently for a long-awaited reunion.
An Athlone Pipe band piper and member of the Barry family, Paula Sullivan, and her cousin, Mary Kilmartin, arranged the event.
The local pipe band played a few tunes to the rear of Athlone Castle and then attendees met in a private room in the Castle Inn where many photos, documents and stories were shared.
Paula said it was a “wonderful event” and the visitors were “absolutely delighted” to be in Athlone where they took a trip on the river and explored the sites.
She explained the origin of the event. “A couple of years ago I decided to have a DNA test done with My Heritage DNA site. Some time afterwards I was contacted by Fran Valentine who explained that we were related and she and her family in North Yorkshire had been trying to work out their Irish connections here in Athlone. I invited my cousin Mary Kilmartin in Athlone to join in and between us we began making regular contact and all of the ancestral history began to unfold.”
Paula's great grandmother and great grandfather John and Ellen Barry were married with five children and were documented as living in The Bawn, Athlone during the 1901 census.
At this point they had five children with Mary being the eldest. They went on to have identical twin girls Norah and Rosie and a few years later they moved to St Kieran's Terrace.
Norah was Paula's grandmother while Mary was the grandmother of the English contingent of Fran Valentine and her extended family.
Paula said: “My grandmother Norah married Patrick Kearney here in Athlone and there are many family connections today. Fran's grandmother Mary moved to England in order to make money to send home to the family.”
Fran made contact with Paula and Mary Kilmartin earlier this year to see if the family in the UK could come to visit Athlone.
Speaking about her experience visiting Athlone recently, Fran said: “Our reunion is a celebration of cousins who all share the same great grandparents, John and Ellen Barry.”
“For many years our late brother, Stephen Holt, had researched our family tree but with little success on our Irish side. We knew our grandma was from Athlone as our grandma told us stories of her life there and our Mum had spent many childhood holidays there too. We heard stories of auntie Rosie and Norah who were the youngest of the nine siblings, but over the years it became difficult to trace our remaining relations,” stated Fran.
She then decided to buy a DNA kit and discovered Paula was her second cousin which Fran said she “couldn't believe.” Paula put Fran in touch with her first cousin, the aforementioned Mary Kilmartin, and they began speaking regularly on the phone.
“After a year of correspondence we thought it was about time that we five cousins made a trip across the water to see the rest of the clan,” remarked Fran.
“We have been made to feel very special since our arrival, from Athlone's Pipe Band playing especially for us and also being photographed for the newspaper. I can honestly say we have been bowled over, not only by the warmth and friendship of our cousins, who we feel we have known all of our lives but also by the people of Athlone. We can't wait to return,” concluded Fran.
Fran's grandmother Mary was born in 1888 and she met Thomas White, a soldier from Windsor, when he was stationed in Athlone. She went with her father John Barry to work in a mill in Slaithwaite, near Huddersfield and Thomas joined her later. Mary had three children, Frances, Chrissie and Thomas.
Her brother Denny moved to the UK with his two sons John and Frankie, after his wife had died. John Barry was later killed in Salerno in WWII in 1942 and is buried at Bones Cemetery in Algeria.
Another member of the family, Peter Lockwood, also recently attended the reunion and recounted his ancestral connection to Athlone.
“Our grandma used to tell us there was some connection between her family and the Lascelles family. The Lascelles being a very rich family based at Harewood House in Yorkshire, in fact the previous Lord Harewood was a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II,” said Peter. His grandmother never told him what this connection was.
Peter continued: “I believe John and Ellen had nine children altogether, our grandma Mary being the eldest, (Paula's) grandma being one of the youngest twins. Sometime around 1912, Mary met an English soldier, Thomas White, who was in the Royal Artillery and, we assume, must have been stationed at Athlone Barracks.”
He also mentioned his grandmother Mary's move to England alongside her father John. “I can only imagine that John's motivation for the move would have been better wage prospects, whereas Mary's being possibly three-fold; better wages, getting away from a very crowded small house in Athlone and, probably mainly, that her boyfriend Thomas was now based back in England.”
Thomas and Mary were married and lived in Slaithwaite and had three children.
In the meantime, Peter's grandmother's brother Dennis (Denny), John and Ellen's second child, had moved to England and was living with Thomas and Mary in Slaithwaite. He married and had two sons John and Frankie. John having been born in 1921, the same year as Peter's father Eric, was just 18 years old when the 2nd World War broke out.
Peter said: “My Dad joined up and was in the Ordnance Corps, whereas John was in a commando unit. My Dad, fortunately for me, came through the war unscathed, whereas, unfortunately, John did not. He took part in the battle of Salerno 1943, where the Allies were developing a bridgehead on the Italian mainland, and was seriously wounded in the battle. He was taken back to the field hospital at their base in Algeria but died six or so days later.”