Part 750g – Brunhammer Doherty Genealogy - My First Retraction – Great-Grandmother Hannah (aka Honora née Gallagher) Holmes – I Goofed!!!

Good Day,

I got carried away trying to prove a relationship connection of great-grandmother Hannah (aka Honora née Gallagher) Holmes. I wrote about this relationship in my Post “Brunhammer Doherty Genealogy – 1860 US Census – Gallagher Family – Reading, Pennsylvania”. I have since removed this Post from A Genealogy Hunt as I have since found information that actually puts the relationship connection into question. This new Post is the replacement of my previous Post.

The relationship connection that I wrote about and am referring to is:

“Today I have discovered the 1860 US Census which reports the Gallagher Family of North East Ward Reading, in Berks County, Pennsylvania. Ancestors of Andy, this is his great-great-grandparents Danl (possibly Daniel) and Bridget Gallagher. Included in the household, as of 7 July 1860, are their two children Hannah, aged 6 years, and John, aged 3 years. Hannah will eventually, also becomes great-grandmother Hannah (Honora, née Gallagher) Holmes.”

Here is the 1860 US Census which was the source of my mistake.

I am at fault to assume that great-grandmother Hannah’s parents were Danl and Bridget Gallagher as presented in the 1860 US Census of Reading, Pennsylvania.

In due course of my research I have found that there are a number of public Holmes Family Trees on Ancestry.com that indicate and use the relationship connection that Hannah Gallagher’s parents were Danl and Bridget Gallagher. What I overlooked is that not one of these Holmes Family Trees includes any source citations that may justify the relationship.

I have since discovered that there appears to be more credible details that actually prove that the 1860 US Census of Reading, Pennsylvania between Danl and Bridget Gallagher and their daughter Hannah, who was born about 1854, MAY NOT have been the parents of great-grandmother Hannah (aka Honora née Gallagher) Holmes.

Regarding the 1860 US Census Gallaghers I have discovered a number of City Directories specific to Reading, Pennsylvania. The years of the Directories range from 1866 through and including 1889. I am able to follow this 1860 US Census Gallagher family through the Directories. The most critical of this research is the 1879/1880 Reading Directory.

On Page 133 of the Reading Directory there are three entries that are key:

Gallagher, Bridget, widow Daniel, h 526 N 10th

Gallagher, Hannah, operator, bds 526 N 10th

Gallagher, John, helper, bds 526 N 10th

Here is the image of the Page 133.

As this Directory was published in 1879 it could be deduced that the information may have been gathered in late 1878 and early 1879. Since there is an entry for Hannah Gallagher, on Page 133, who is boarding at 526 North 10th in Reading, there is a high degree of certainty that this is not great-grandmother Hannah (Honora née Gallagher) Holmes.

The following is the inside cover front page of the Reading City Directory.

Great-grandmother Hannah, based on the information that I discovered in the Calvary Episcopal Church Register was living at this time in Tamaqua, Schuylkill County, in Pennsylvania. By 19 July 1879 she and great-grandfather John Eugene Holmes had had, in Tamaqua, three children: granduncle John Herbert, born 10 June 1876; grandaunt Rebecca Marian, born 22 December 1877; and grandaunt Margaret Alice, born 19 July 1879.

I have since sent out five emails to the creators of the Family Trees, which include our Holmes Family, at Ancestry.com. I am asking the question as to where they, the Family Tree owners, may have obtained the information that link great-grandmother Hannah (aka Honora née Gallagher) Holmes to Danl and Bridget Gallagher of Reading, Pennsylvania. To date I am still awaiting responses.

The lesson I learned… Check out ALL information provided on the Internet. Ensure that the source citation is credible. I am not disputing that great-grandmother Hannah (aka Honora née Gallagher) Holmes’ parents may have been named Daniel and Bridget Gallagher. All I am proposing at this point is that the 1860 US Census of Reading, PA's Danl and Bridget Gallagher may NOT be our great-grandmother Hannah’s parents and Andy’s gg-grandparents.

And does anyone have any information who may have been the parents of great-grandmother Hannah (aka Honora née Gallagher) Holmes?

The search continues...

Enjoy,

Jim