The Hayes Family History Site

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.

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Today, I was going through some old records which I had considered “duds”, when I came across a copy of a death record from England for a Robert John Beattie. I initially had discarded the record because the approximate birth year for the person did not match any Robert Beattie I had in the family tree. As I looked over the death certificate, I suddenly remembered an e-mail that Cousin Janice Beattie had sent me telling me that there was a Beattie family member who was born in Hong Kong, China and his name was Robert John Beattie. I didn’t have him in the tree yet, because I knew virtually nothing about him.

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On April 27, 1893, a Francis Dillon was buried in a plot at Holy Cross Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY.  On  December 16, 1897, he was removed from that original plot and moved to the Beattie family plot. I was easily able to find the death certificate for  Francis Dillon, who died April 23, 1893 and was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery. He was 43 years old.  That makes his year of birth around 1848.  It gives the cause of death as Pneumonia.  He was a single plumber who had been living in the United states for about the last 33 years.  According to the Death Certificate he was born in Scotland and is the son of Francis and Sarah Dillon.  It looks like he died at a tenement located at 88 New Chambers St.

When searching Census records for a Francis Dillon who was born circa 1848 in Scotland, I came across just one possible match and it was in the the 1861England Census.  In it, we find a family of Dillon’s living in Liverpool, England.

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Several branches of the Beattie family have been told of Jonathan J. Beattie’s time in the Navy during the Civil War.  Unfortunately, none of us have any details of his experience there.   My Uncle Lloyd only documented that he believed that Jonathan “Was a Seaman in the US Navy  in the Savannah, Georgia area”.

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On Sunday we attended the first  “Beattie Mini-Reunion” in Manhasset, NY at the home of Patricia Celmency, my third cousin.  Myself, my wife Colleen, Philip Jr, Kevin, my brother Jerry and mother Jeanne all headed down to Pat’s house which is just 50 minutes away from mothers house in Katonah, NY.  We arrived at 1 PM and were warmly greeted at the door by Patricia and the rest of her side of the family. In attendance from the John Beattie side of the family were my Moms second cousins Regina Haffey and Angela Dolores Hughes; my third cousins Patricia Clemency, Anne Haffey and Regina O’Connell;  as well as Philip and Kevin’s fourth cousin Kevin Clemency.

It was the most incredible experience.  Although we had never met before, we all started in conversation as if we had known each other since we were born.  It it a very hard experience to describe in writing, but all who were there, agreed that the bloodline must have something to do with it.

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Recently received Marraige Certificates reveal some missing information from the Beattie’s who move to the Birkenhead area.

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This letter has been handed down through the generations and wound up in my mother’s possession.  The envelope that the letter was in was addressed to a Mrs William Russell of Miami, Florida.  Across the top of the envelope, it had “Record of Beattie Family from Edith” written on it.  I don’t know who she is yet, but suspect that she is a descendant of one of the Edith Beattie’s born in Birkenhead.  She also wrote her own notes on the original letter.

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I found a nice map of Historic High Street in Kircudbright, Scotland.

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Finding distant cousin’s most certainly has it’s advantages in genealogy.  After a brief introduction, my newest found Beattie cousin (John, of Toronto, Canada) sent me one of the most exciting things I have seen in quite some time!  Pictures of the gravestone for Eliza Gordon, Robert Bettie and…. drum roll please….David Beattie.  The gravestone overlooks beautiful Kirkcudbright and the River Dee.

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The other day I was contacted by a John Beattie who responded to my online inquiry about Beattie’s in and around the Birkenhead area of England. He confirmed that his grandfather was John Beattie, son of Charles Belford Beattie of Kirkudbright. Charles had moved to Birkenhead, England along with the many of his siblings (see: The Great Beattie Migration to Birkenhead and Liverpool, England). According to English Census records, John was living with Charles in 1901 and was listed as a dock labourer.

Today, John followed up with some very exciting information about the Beattie’s, including pictures of the gravestone belonging to Elizabeth and Robert Beattie in Kirkcudbright I’ll post them separately. The picture also explains another mystery which I will explain when I post those pictures.

John Beattie (b. 1884 in Birkenhead), son of Charles, had three sons; Jack, William, Edward (b. Dec 28 1910); and three daughters; daughters Peggy, Ann and Ivy. All are now deceased. Edward was this John’s father.

This John was born in 1951 in Birkenhead and emigrated to Toronto after he was married in December of 1976. John and his wife Gill had two sons who are living in Toronto also.

The Beattie family keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger.  How exciting!