The Centenarian

OK, so she might have been off by a few years.  But given that she saw virtually all of the 19th century firsthand, I'll spot her a couple.  She was my third great grandmother, and her life spanned from the end of the Georgian Era, through the Regency Era, and to the very end of the Victorian Era. Her parents John Kierce and Catherine Kane were probably born during the American Revolution or not too long after it began.

Bridget Kierce was born in 1805 in Ireland, likely in Mollaneen, Dysart, Corofin area of County Clare:

[Corofin] is situated on the River Fergus ten kilometres from Ennis.The village takes its name from an ancient fording place on the river Fergus,associated in legend with the romantic hero,Fionn Mac Cumhail and his chivalrous warrior band - Ireland's answer to King Arthur and his Knights. The hinterland is known as Clare Lakelands and Lake Inchiquin beside the village-often referred to as the "Killarney of Clare" was the setting for Barker's well known An Angler's Paradise.

Set in the unique Burren landscape, Corofin is an old settlement of considerable historical importance having its roots in an estate village created to service the O' Brien barony of Inchiquin. Catherine Keightley, wife of Lucius O' Brien and first cousin to the two English monarchs, Queen Mary and her sister Queen Anne, built St Catherine's Church in the early eighteenth century.

The area of Corofin, in County Clare, Ireland

Bridget was married at 18 to James Burns.  They had eight children (that we know of), all born in Ireland between 1824 and 1850.   The Potato Famine was at its height in 1845-55 and she and James lived in an area that was heavily affected by the Potato Famine and the emigration that resulted from it:

Population percent decrease  for years
1841 - 1851 during Potato Famine.

How they fared during the famine years is unknown, but by the time she emigrated to the US in her sixties, the worst of the famine had passed. I imagine she migrated after she was widowed, since her husband James does not show on any records I could find nor was he mentioned in her obituary.  Some of her children were already here, but not all of her children followed her to the States. One of her children who stayed behind was my Second Great Grandmother Bridget Burns Meehan.

Bridget moved in with her son Malachi in Dracut and then followed him again when he moved to Lowell.  In 1870 she was working as a housekeeper and continued to "keep house" well into her old age.  And though she spoke English, she enjoyed speaking Gaelic any chance she got.

Bridget was 96 years old when she died on the 19th of Feb 1901.  Her obituary states that she was remarkably active for one so advanced in years,

and up to the time of her illness a few days ago was able to be out.  She was taken ill last Wednesday, and each day her condition grew worse until the end came.  She resided in Belvidere twenty five years and prior to her taking up residence in that section she lived at the Dracut Navy Yard* where she had many friends. During her residence in Lowell she worshiped at the Immaculate Conception church of which she was a devout member.

Some events she was alive to witness (or hear about):

• War of 1812
• Battle of Waterloo
• Washington D.C. burned by the British
• The Death of Napoleon
• The Emancipation Proclamation
• Lincoln Assassination
• Dawn of Electricity

 *A Navy Yard in Dracut? Apparently the Dracut Navy Yard wasn't a Navy Yard as I'd imagine it. It was a section of Dracut with textile mills that had at one time made uniforms for the navy.  Or so someone said online, and it sounds like a likely explanation.