Part 702d – Brunhammer Doherty Genealogy – 1861 Death – GG-Granduncle Bernerd Doherty – Wilmington, Delaware

Good Day,

One never knows what surprises lurk around each corner of this genealogy thing. All I can say is that  I am not pressing any leaves and getting an immediate revelation.

Genealogy does take time to search, research, investigate, read, understand, and formulate the mire of intricate relationships that are revealed and unearthed from discovered data and information. I believe that this is the intriguing and inspiring part of genealogy on which I tend to thrive.

Most recently I came across and discovered the 6 November 1861 Death Return of one Bernerd Doherty. Apart from the tragedy of being taken at 23 years of age by Consumption, Tuberculosis, this new document is a definite helping key to the re-creation of the Doherty Family Line.

Source Citation - "Delaware, Death Records, 1855-1955," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FNG1-X5L : accessed 1 June 2012), Bernerd Doherty, 1861.

This 1861 Death Return has three key elements that are critical to the Doherty Family Line and Ancestry. These are:

1. Bernerd’s surname is written "Doherty",

2. Bernerd lived on Madison Street in Wilmington, and

3. Bernerd’s parents were Gerrett and Ellen Doherty.

From gg-grandmother Margaret (née Doherty) Doherty's 30 December 1919 Certificate of Death we learned that her parents were ggg-grandparents Gerald and Ellen (née McGuiness) Doherty. (See Part 663d.) All-things-being-equal ggg-grandparents Gerald and Ellen it seems more than likely that ggg-grandparents Gerald and Ellen could be the same persons as Gerrett and Ellen Doherty, the parents of Bernerd Doherty.

On this supposition, Bernerd Doherty would have been gg-grandmother Margaret (née Doherty) Doherty’s brother. He would have been Andy’s gg-granduncle Bernerd. I would be inclined, but I do not have any documentary proof at this junction, that his name could have also been spelled Bernard.

As gg-grandmother Margaret passed away, as written on her 1919 Certificate of Death, at the age of 80 years, it could be calculated that she was born about 1839. GG-Granduncle Bernerd, based on his death on 6 November 1861 and that he was 23 years old, was born about 1838. He would have been gg-grandmother Margaret’s elder brother by approximately one year.

Another key factor from gg-granduncle Bernerd’s Death Return is that his Residence is listed at “Madison St.” This is the same street where gg-grandparents Philip and Margaret Doherty lived with their family in 1880. GG-Grandfather Philip is listed in the 1874 Wilmington City Directory living at 731 Madison Street. Both GG-Grandfather Philip and the single Fannie Doherty (Part 696d) passed away at 731 Madison Street in 1897 and 1895, respectively.

The Residence fact, tied in with the above arguments, and that gg-granduncle Bernerd’s surname on the 1861 Death Return is “Doherty”, corresponds to the surname of Doherty of the 1863 Marriage Registration of gg-grandfather Philip Doherty and gg-grandmother Margaret Doherty. (See Part 674d.) This provides additional corroborating proof and evidence that the spelling of Doherty, at least as far back as 1838, was/is the approach to spell the surname.

But I do continue to have a puzzler.  Who actually was Fannie Doherty, who lived at 731 Madison Street, and passed away there on 24 May 1895? And I'll keep looking.

Any questions, thoughts, ideas, and comments, please contact me. Also stay tuned… more definitely to come.

Enjoy,

Jim