James Barrett : Short Biography

 James Barrett (1854-c.1908) was the only son to remain on the family farm in Ballinvilla, with his mother and sisters. He was only 9 years old when his father Patrick Barrett Jr. passed away.

James would have been too young to recall his eldest brother, John Barrett, emigrating to Australia/N.Z. He probably hardly knew his brother Edward J. either, who emigrated a few years later.  By the time he was 20, all his brothers had left Ballinvilla for greener pastures. He may have resented the task of keeping Ballinvilla in the family name, when his brothers and neighbours had managed to “escape” and strike-it-rich overseas. By 1888, he too had gone to America.

In 1881 James Barrett, age 27, married Mary Coughlan. They had one son: Patrick Barrett born 16 Nov 1882 (sp: Martin Coughlan & Brigid Dowd). On June 11, 1884, Mary died of a swelling in the leg that she had endured for 6 months. We have no information about their son, named for his grandfather.

In 1884 James, age 30, “widower”, married Elizabeth Nolan (1849-1919) in Drumlion Church in a ceremony conducted by Fr. P Shanagher.  They lived in his mother's 5-room thatch house (with 3 windows to the front). Their Ballinvilla farmyard also included a stable, a cow-house, a calf house, a barn, a piggery and a shed.

James & Eliza Barrett had 3 children together:

Stephen Barrett 1886-1971

Thomas Barrett 3 Dec 1887 sp: Patrick Purr & Mary Fox

Anne aka Nancy Agnes 27 Nov 1888 sp: James Boyd & Catherine Durr

His mother, Brigid Moraghan, passed away around 1886, when James was 33.  In 1887, a maternal cousin (or uncle) Patrick Moraghan, was living with them in Ballinvilla [Petty Court Records]. That same year, the registration of the family farm transferred from “Reps Patrick Barrett” (i.e. his mother) to the name of James Barrett.

DISAPPEARED

With that, James took off for the USA, without leaving word to his wife and young family left behind in Ballinvilla.  Curiously, he didn’t join his brothers in Lousiana; all they knew was that “He had left for the US leaving no forwarding address”. Civil records reveal that neither James nor Eliza were able to write (both having signed 'X their mark'). 

On 27 November, 1888, James' wife, gave birth to a daughter Anne Barrett. Eliza Barrett (nee Nolan) registered the birth herself. The 1901 Census reveals her family alone in Ballinvilla. The last Eliza had heard was that James was in New York around this time. In 1904 James Barrett sent his brother Stephen Barrett (Louisiana) a postcard from the St Louis World Fair (which ran from May through November 1904). That was the very last anyone heard of him.

In August 1905, his eldest brother, John Barrett of Christchurch, visited home and no doubt the question of James’ whereabouts was discussed. It’s likely John left with a promise to make enquiries with relatives in the US. On March 2,1907, his family in Ballinvilla ran a search ad in the Leitrim Observer:

NEWS WANTED of James Barrett, of Ballinavilla, Co Roscommon, who left Ireland 20 years ago; last heard of in New York 10 years ago. American newspapers copy. 

 By the 1911 census, Eliza recorded herself as “widow”. In 1914, she transferred ownership of the farm to her eldest son, ‘Old Stephen’.

In 1919, during the Spanish Flu pandemic, Eliza Nolan Barrett died 'of a cold' in Ballinvilla, age 70.