Barnes Family Tree

Kathleen’s parents were John Quinn & Margaret Hennessey. Unfortunately, I do not know a lot about either of these characters except what I can gleam from birth, death & census records.

John Quinn & Margaret Hennessey were married in Bannow, Wexford in 1906. At the time of their marriage, John's address was 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 lives together 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. 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. In his later years, he 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.

John Quinn's Family 

John Quinn was born in Newcastle, Clongeen in 1868 to parents Patrick Quinn & Elizabeth Keating. John was one of 9 children born to this family. They were Catherine, Patrick, James, John, Rose, Mary, Elizabeth, Johanna & James.

As records are not available in Clongeen parish prior to 1850, I don’t know anything about Patrick or Elizabeth’s family, unfortunately, except that Elizabeth’s father John Keating had farmed the land in Newcastle since the early 1800s & must have passed it to Patrick after his marriage to Elizabeth.

Apparently the weather in Ireland in the late 1870s was very wet (even for Irish standards!) & many crops failed. Due to this the number of evictions throughout the country rose sharply & included in these numbers were the Quinn family, who were evicted from their home in Newcastle in 1881. How tough it must have been for them with the children so young & old-man Keating very elderly. Thankfully the family were taken in by the Wexford Ladies League & sometime thereafter relocated to the gate-lodge at Leigh Estate, Rosgarland.

From the records in 1901, John worked as a coachman on the Leigh estate & his 3 sisters Mary, Elizabeth & Johanna are living with him in Rosgarland. Patrick, his brother, was an engine driver, had married & was living with his family in Rochestown. Rose, his other sister, was working with a local farmer in Garryrichard. The remaining family members had all passed away at this stage.

The 3 sisters Mary, Elizabeth & Johanna never married & lived out their lives in Wexford County. Patrick lived out his remaining years there also & most of his family still reside in Wexford. John & Margaret Hennessey were married in Bannow, Wexford in 1906 & became my dad’s grand-parents. And then there was Rose... One of Patrick’s grand-daughters, Patricia, has written a book, with the help of author Margaret Hawkins, dealing with the life of Rose Quinn. In short, the book Restless Spirit deals with how Rose was placed in the workhouse for not agreeing to a marriage arranged for her by the family. While there, she named John’s new wife Margaret, as her next-of-kin. She must have been very angry with her own siblings to have excluded them like that – or maybe not, perhaps it was common in those times. Either way, it’s a sad story & must have affected the family greatly at the time. Rose died in 1907.