The Hayes Family History Site » Found Treasures

Surprise Party For Reginald Parrett… A Family Affair

Philip Hayes — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 14:04:33 +0000

This article was published in the Newtown Register on Thursday, February 9, 1911. According to this brief article, on Saturday, Jan 28, 1911 there was a surprise birthday party for Reginald W Parrett. Reginald was married to Irene Tierney. Irene is a daughter of Mary Jane Kinneary and Thomas W Tierney. They lived at 9 Chestnut Street in Corona, Queens. Corona is a dense neighborhood in the former Township of Newtown in the New York City borough of Queens. It is neighbored by Flushing to the east, Jackson Heights to the west, Forest Hills and Rego Park to the south, Elmhurst to the southwest, and East Elmhurst to the north.

The party was attended by numerous relatives and friends….

Mr and Mrs Reginald Parrett.
Mrs Reginald Parrett is also known as Irene Tierney Parrett . Irene was 21 years old. She was Reginald’s third wife and sister of Reginald’s second wife… got that? Yea it took me a while too. Irene’s sister Mary, was Reginald’s second wife. She died unexpectedly in 1909. Reginalds first wife died in 1908. Talking about a string of bad luck…. wow!

Mr and Mrs F. J. Parrett
F.J. Parrett is presumably Reginalds brother or son from his first marriage. I’m not really sure yet.

Margrite Parrett
I’m not sure who Margrite is. She could be his daughter from Reginalds first marriage.

Mr and Mrs James Sproul Tierney (James is about 28 years old)
James is a brother of Irene and the son of Mary Jane Kinneary and Thomas W Tierney. He was a NY Police Officer . He was married to a Sarah Gray. I don’t know if they had any children.

Mr and Mrs Simeon LJ Tierney (Simeon is about 25 years old)
Simeon is a brother of Irene and the son of Mary Jane Kinneary and Thomas Tierney. He may have been a Police Officer and possibly a private detective later in life. Simeon was married to Anna Smith. They had just married at the time of this party and had their first of four kids the following year. I don’t know if there are any living decendants of this branch of the family tree.

Mr James Tierney (about age 18)
James is a first cousin of Irene and is the son of Sarah Beattie and James Tierney. He married Adelle Lehr in 1927, but died in 1931 when the car he was driving went out of control on Edgecombe Avenue, 25 feet south of the Middle Bridge Viaduct. The car plunged 100 feet into Colonial Park, landing upright, but killing him.

Miss Grace Elinor Tierney (about age 19)
Grace is a first cousin of Irene and is the daughter of Sarah Beattie and James Tierney. She sang a vocal solo for the event. Grace later became Grace Dunn. They had no children.

Miss Isabelle Tierney (about age 14)
Isabelle is a first cousin of Irene and is the daughter of Sarah Beattie and James Tierney. She later became Isabelle Lewis. She is my Grandmother.

Mr Charles Beattie (about 43 years old)
Charles is the brother of Sarah Beattie Tierney.

Also in Attendance….
Mr and Mrs J F Dobbs (Capt. Dobbs made some humorous speeches)
Mr and Mrs R L Robins of Northport, Long Island
Maria Flood
Mr and Mrs Daragh – Police Officer
Mr and Mrs J Adams
Mr Lawrence McCaughery (played a musical instrument for the event)
Miss Precella Dobbs
Mr and Mrs John N Perkins of Boston
Mr and Mrs F.A. Kuell (Mrs Kuell played a musical instrument for the event)

A “Chip Off The Old Block”…Raymond A Tierney Jr.

Philip Hayes — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 02:32:32 +0000

The following article was published on November 12, 1952 in The Brooklyn Eagle. It tells the story of Raymond A Tierney Jr sterlings high school sports experience and the sports successes of numerous family members. The article mentions that Raymond is the grandson of Police Inspector Frank A. Tierney. Grandfather Frank was one of the outstanding rowers with the Dauntless on the Harlem River and won numerous titles.

Click To Enlarge

Jane Lewis Hunter Portrait

Philip Hayes — Tue, 18 May 2010 20:36:06 +0000

I was recently contacted by Peter Aubrey-Smith. He is my third cousin, once removed on the Lewis branch of my family tree. He had seen my research on ancestry.com and decided to contact me. We have since been sharing information back and forth, but the grand prize came the other day when he shared with me a portrait picture of a woman that his family firmly believes is Jane Lewis.

Circa 1880

Jane Lewis is the sister of Henry William Lewis who is my great, great grandfather. Jane (b. circa 1844 in Llanmdock, Wales) married William Henry Hunter (b. circa 1844 in Barstaple, England) on October 16, 1865. Together they had at least 5 children. Peter is the descendant of their fourth child, Margaret Grace Hunter.

My cousin in Pennsylvania has letters from Jane to the Lewis family in New York I have not seen them yet, but now I am excited to get my hand on them now.

The Brother’s Tierney

Philip Hayes — Fri, 29 May 2009 09:32:05 +0000

Several weeks ago, I received a phone call from Lynn Williams in response to a letter I had sent her, telling her that I believed we were cousins through the Tierney branch of our family tree. She confirmed that she was the granddaughter of Irene Tierney. Irene is the daughter of Thomas W. Tierney. Thomas W. Tierney is the brother of my great grandfather James F. Tierney. That makes us second cousins, once removed.

We had a wonderful conversation, exchanging stories of what we knew of the Tierney’s. Then she dropped the bomb. She has a picture of her great grandfather… AND HIS FATHER! “His Father” is James Tierney (b. 1835 in Ireland, d. Feb 1888 in Manhattan) and is our shared relative.

Today I received color copies of the photo’s. In my humble opinion, no further relationship validation is needed. Just look at the photo’s (especially the nose’s).

	Father James Tierney b. 1835 in Ireland d Feb 1888 in New York City
James F Tierney b abt 1860 in New York d. 4 Nov 1896	Thomas W Tierney B. Nov 1856 in New York	Frank A Tierney b. 24 Sep 1864 in New York d. 12 June 1936 in New York
James F Tierney Younger years

She also sent me several other pictures and a different newspaper article about the death of Police Captain Frank A. Tierney. Below is a picture of Mary Tierney, wife of Thomas W. Tierney.

Mary Jane Tierney (nee Kinneary )

Unbelievable Twist In The Story of William B Yerks

Philip Hayes — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 04:08:29 +0000

Tonight, while doing some random research on the web, I came across the most incredible story about the William Yerks, brother to James Leroy Yerks I and Ralph Yerks. James L Yerks I did not serve in World War I, but William and Ralph did. Ralph Yerks was killed in action in France on 13 Sep 1918 and is buried over there. That makes this story even more incredible.

Take a look in the upper left had corner of the newspaper. Look for the article entitled “HER SON, THOUGHT DEAD, IS ALIVE IN A FRENCH HOSPITAL”. The newspaper does incorrectly identify Williams mother as Mrs. James Yerks. It should have read Mrs George Yerks.

The Putnam County Courier (Friday, July 18, 1919)

A True Treasure Found!

Philip Hayes — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:24:02 +0000

Last weekend, I took a trip to visit my Mom in Katonah, NY. Every time I see my Mom, I interrogate her with questions about the family. Frankly, she should be pretty sick of me by now, but she keeps on entertaining me with a smile.

So I decided to ask her about some jewelry I remembered belonging to my Grandmother, Isabelle Lewis. I was thrilled to find that there were many pieces of family jewelry in my Moms possession that I had never seen or heard of. So I asked her for permission to have some of the items appraised. The story behind all the items will remain for another post on another day.

So while I was at the Jewelers, we had an in-depth conversation about the engraving script used to display the initials on the many of the pieces.

The assistant told me that in those days, the letter that represents the last name is usually found in the middle of the initials. That explains the reason I was having such difficulty reading some of the initials. But on this particular one, it did not make much sense.

Now I hadn’t taken a close look at any of these items before brining them to the jeweler, so imagine my surprise when the one piece that confused me the most, a locket, contained the pristine pictures of two people. One male and one female. Now I really strained to read the script initials to no avail. The locket did have one clue though. On the back it read, December 25, 1917.

As I was leaving the store, I remembered that there was a 3×5 card with some notes on it in one of the jewelry bags that I had left in the car. So I rushed outside.

To my delight, there were actually two index cards, full of details of my Grandmother’s jewelry collection. The card named whom each piece belonged to in the family and provided a general description of the item. I quickly scanned the cards. On the second card, I found:

Harry’s gold charm from Harry’s Mother and Dad – 1917

WOW! I’m looking at parents of my Grandfather, Harry Lewis. Thomas F. Lewis (1857-1924) and his wife Catherine Hanley Lewis (1862-1952) gave this locket to Harry when he was 25 years old (in 1917) as a Christmas gift. This is the first picture I have ever seen of Thomas. And I have only one other picture of Catherine, which was in her later years.

So the moral of this story… You just never know when you are suddenly going to find something you never expected to see. Check those lockets out!

Thomas F. Lewis and Catherine Hanley Lewis

Click image to enlarge

A New Found Picture Of A Tierney (or Beattie) Ancestor

Philip Hayes — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 16:04:45 +0000

This picture comes to us from the estate of Virginia Tierney Bishop, my Mom’s first cousin. She died in April of 2008 and left us quite a bit to investigate. This picture is a scan of the original that I found in a little protective picture frame, stashed away in her desk. A little note inside states that the picture and or frame was fixed of damage in 1996. It goes on to state that this picture is circa 1860 of a Tierney (or Beattie) ancestor.

Click to enlarge it.