Barnes Family Tree

The Nanny I knew: 

As the Barnes family are known to be musical, I find it quiet funny that nanny couldn’t sing a note, bless her. She was gifted in other ways though & was very proficient at all needlework including knitting. I remember her despair at my sister's & my attempts at knitting. We were hopeless & not at all interested but she persevered & even tried to teach me embroidery. I suppose she came from a different world. But I’m sure if she were alive today she’d be thrilled to see it becoming trendy & popular again.

I suppose our family were lucky that Nanny would come to stay with us for maybe a month or so at a time every year so we got to know her very well. What I remember about her most was her soft skin with downy fine hair; that she always wore a pinny (housecoat) & her hair was always in a hair-net. In fact, we always bought her hairnets for her birthday & probably Christmas too. Not very imaginative of us but I suppose if that’s what she wanted… She fussed with her hair a lot, I remember, & taught me several hairstyles that the ladies of her time used to wear. I don’t know if this was herself & friends or the ladies she may served but either-way, I thought it was very grand! As I had rubbish hair, I used to practice on my dolls, until I got the notion that they would look better with short punky hairstyles…

She was a tiny little woman & her husband, Joe, towered over her. What I didn’t understand as a child was that nanny had diabetes but I remember her having a stash of chocolate bars in her handbag all the time – the rascal! She also had a little blue box of sugar tablets that she would add to her tea. Hermesetas, & the likes, were not as common as today, so this was very unusual to us. If memory serves me right, she used to put in 3-4 per cup so I think we can safely say that she had a sweet tooth!

She was a devil for the Bingo & used to go weekly with one of our neighbours whenever she came to stay. We used to tease her about a gentleman neighbour of ours that would drive her home & she always played along with the tease, showing her great sense of humour. One night in 1973 she didn’t have anyone to go with & dragged my mum with her. My mum won £100 so she didn’t mind too much - £100 was a whopping amount of money in those days!

After Nanny died in 1986, I had never been back to visit Hillbrook & a large part of me was dreading that when I would return, it wouldn’t be as I remembered it. But in July 09 I travelled there & was struck by the absolute beauty & tranquillity of the place. It was even more beautiful than I had remembered

Kathleen's Family:

Kathleen's parents were John Quinn & Margaret Hennessy & they were married in Bannow, Wexford in 1906. On their wedding certificate, his address is given as Rosgarland & his profession is listed as a coachman for the Leigh family. Maggie’s profession is listed as a domestic servant in Bannow & there is some talk within the family that she was the priest’s housekeeper there.

I don’t know much about their family life at this stage except that their 1^st set of twins, James & John (Jackie), were born in Donadea in Co. Kildare in 1907 & Maggie required the assistance of a nurse to deliver them, which was very unusual for those times. There was a large estate in Donadea but John’s profession is listed as a labourer so I cannot gleam anymore information as to why they moved from Clongeen & why for such a short time.

Their next sets of twins Kathleen & Cissie were born in 1910, James & Susan born in 1913 &, their only single child, Nora was born in 1916. All were born in Rosspile.

In the 1911 census, John’s profession is listed as coachman, again for the Leigh family & Maggie’s profession is listed as housekeeper so perhaps she also worked for the Leigh’s. John & Maggie’s home in Rosspile was a 3-roomed cottage with 2 front windows, a thatched roof & a hen-house. Sometime about 1916 John received a promotion as his profession is listed as chauffeur.

Some years later, John began working for the Walker family in Tykillin so the family re-located there. John was the groomsman & family chauffeur & had the privilege to drive the 1^st thrashing machine in Wexford. His son Jimmy also worked with him on the Walker estate. In his later years, John was their gardener & he continued working for this family until his death in 1952.

It is widely said within the family that their marriage wasn’t a happy one & the reason why went to the grave with both of them.  Although they lived in the same house in Crossabeg, Maggie lived in the kitchen area of the house & John in the parlour. My dad remembers being in the house & visiting each of them separately. After John’s death, Maggie moved into a house in Wexford town & remained there until she died in 1954. She is buried in Crossabeg with her sons Jackie & Jimmy & Jimmy’s wife Bridie.

John was the 1^st person to be buried in ‘new’ Clongeen cemetery & is buried alone, although Rose's name, his sister, has been added to his Headstone.

Kathleen's siblings: 

John & James were the 1st set of twins. James died shortly after birth. John became known as Jackie & lived in Co Wexford & surrounding counties after marrying Nellie O’Connor. They had 5 children together; John, Peg, Sadie, Tom & Pat. {Pat’s son is the famous jockey Jimmy Quinn}.

Eliza was Kathleen's twin & was known  as Cissy. She emigrated to the UK in the 20s with her 2 sisters Nora & Susan. She lived in Devon with her husband, Stephen Byrne, from Dublin & they didn’t have any children together. She passed away in ’87 & is buried in Devon.

The next set of twins were Susie & Jimmy.  Susie emigrated to Gloucestershire in UK & married a widower William Nelson, who was from Scotland. They didn’t have any children together. Susie passed away in 1985 & is buried in Gloucestershire. Jimmy stayed in Wexford & married Bridget Murphy in 1936. Like his father before him, Jimmy worked for the Walker family in Tykillin; firstly as a pantry boy but ending his working days with them as the steward. Jimmy & Bridget had 2 children; Seamus & John - John has helped me greatly with this side of the family. Jimmy is buried with his wife, his brother Jackie & their mother Margaret in Crossabeg.

Margaret was born in Rosspile in 1916 but was known as Nora. She emigrated with her 2 sisters to the UK, having first worked in The Wooden Bridge Hotel in Avoca. She married an Irishman Harry Flynn in the UK & had 4 children: Michael, who died aged 6 weeks; Michael who died aged 19 in a motorcycle accident; Margaret (known as Mary) & Joseph, who are both still alive today. Nora is buried in Hamel Hampstead.