Blunt Family of County Sligo, Ireland

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Permalink Reply by Christopher J. Valin on September 24, 2009 at 4:06pm

Hi Gene,

Thank you so much for offering to help. I'm a fairly experienced family researcher when it comes to the Internet, but outside of that I'm a novice. I'll tell you everything I know so far:

My great-great uncle (and Patrick's son), Monsignor Hugh Francis Blunt (who was a fairly notable author for the Catholic Church) wrote a family history, of which I have a copy. It has a great deal of information about Patrick Blunt (1834-1892), who came to America and fought in the Civil War as a sergeant of the "Irish 9th" Massachusetts Regiment. He lived in both Medway and Milford, Massachusetts throughout his life. Through Ancestry.com, I have obtained copies of his military records and census records for him and his wife and children, and they all state that he was born in Ireland and match the information in Father Blunt's family history. The history states that Patrick was from a place called Barroe in County Sligo, Ireland, which I have been able to locate on Google Earth, although I'm not quite sure if it's actually a town or just an area of a town. However, a history of the 9th Mass. Regiment states that he was born in Mayo, Ireland, so he may have moved to Sligo later. I have also found entries in Griffith's Valuation for other Blunts in a place called "Powell's Lower Barroe" in Sligo, but I have not found anything for Patrick (who came to America when he was a teenager), or John Blunt, which the history says was his father's name. I suppose the history could be incorrect as to his father's name and/or the date of his death (said to be 1847), but everything else I've checked so far is accurate. Plus, Hugh went to Ireland and visited the places he talked about, and spoke to relatives over there. It also says that John married a "Miss Kelly," but I don't know if that refers to her first name or her maiden name. Their other children were named Bridget, John, Mary and Margaret. Father Blunt also says in the history that the family came from England (and originally Normandy) and was formerly wealthy and important, which leads me to believe that they probably came to Ireland as part of the Cromwellian settlement.

Thanks!

Permalink Reply by Christopher J. Valin on September 24, 2009 at 5:09pm

I got the birth date of 1828 and the location of Ballymote from the One World Tree several years ago, and I've since seen 1834 in many different places, so I believe 1828 to be incorrect. As for Ballymote, it's also in County Sligo (less than 30 miles from Barroe), so it may be the place where he was actually born.

Permalink Reply by Christopher J. Valin on September 24, 2009 at 9:40pm

Another bit of information I just discovered in the family history is a note that Patrick worked in Hopkinton as a shoemaker when he first arrived in Massachusetts. His son (my great-grandfather), John Joseph Blunt, was also a shoemaker.

Permalink Reply by Christopher J. Valin on September 24, 2009 at 4:52pm

This is great information! I apologize for repeating information in my original reply, but I didn't realize there were already more responses to my query when I wrote it. I don't subscribe to that site, but it sounds like it has a great deal of information that could help me. As you can see in my other reply, he was from Medway, so that is him. His wife was named Ann Mahon, and their children were Hugh Francis, Margaret, John Joseph, Michael, Peter William, and James. If Patrick's father was named Patrick also and not John (and it sounds like that's the case), that would definitely explain my brick wall!

By the way, my Blunt Family Tree on Ancestry was something I started several years ago to share with members on my mother's side, but I've since started only keeping records on another tree with all of my ancestors on both sides. That one lists the siblings and children of Patrick Blunt, and all the other information I have about them.

Thanks again!

Permalink Reply by Christopher J. Valin on September 24, 2009 at 9:37pm

I cannot tell you how much I appreciate all of this help, Gene. I just pulled out the family history by Father Hugh, and sure enough (I don't know how I missed it), it says Patrick married Ann Mahon at St. Charles Church in Woonsocket, Rhode Island! He also states that his parents, maternal grandparents, and brothers were buried at the "family plot" in Medway. You are correct about Ann living longer. In looking at the family history, it was Patrick's sister who died the same year he did. I'm not sure how or when I got it confused.

I will order those records, but I have never done it before, so I will have to figure out what to do.

By the way, if you enjoy seeing people write about their ancestors, you will be interested to know that my 5x-great-grandfather on my father's side, Sir Charles Douglas, was the subject of my masters thesis in military history, which I have expanded into a book that will be published shortly.

Permalink Reply by Margaret Dale on September 24, 2009 at 3:44pm

Is this who you are looking for? I have attached a file.

Attachments:

• FamilySearch_org - Search.mht, 112 KB

Permalink Reply by Christopher J. Valin on September 24, 2009 at 4:58pm

Thank you both so much. This is such a great help to me.

Permalink Reply by Christopher J. Valin on September 24, 2009 at 4:22pm

Yes! I believe that would be him. He was married to Ann Mahon, so it is probably either a typo or a transcription problem.