./2018-10-09T00:00:00-04:00Family history2018-10-09T00:00:00-04:002018-10-09T00:00:00-04:00Ed Hamiltontag:None,2018-10-09:./anastasia-lawton-hankard-of-cork-and-east-boston-massachusetts.html

<p>In the first article in this series, we identified John Aloysius Hankard's paternal grandparents as John Hankard and Anastasia Lawton, both born in Ireland. On her marriage record, Anastasia said her father's name was John. Could we find Anastasia's Irish county of origin?</p>

<p>In the first article in this series, <a href="john-aloysius-hankard-east-boston-massachusetts.html">John Aloysius Hankard, East Boston, Mass</a>, we identified John Aloysius Hankard's paternal grandparents as John Hankard and Anastasia Lawton, both born in Ireland. On her marriage record, Anastasia said her father's name was John. Could we find Anastasia's Irish county of origin?</p> <p>Anastasia named her daughters Caroline, Dora, Mary, and Louisa. Was one of them named after Anastasia's mother? I tried Caroline first but didn't find anything. Then I looked at familysearch.org for any Lawtons in Massachusetts with a father named John and mother Dora. I found a William Lawton who was married in Boston in 1885 to Margaret Meade. His parents were John and Dora. The marriage was also registered in Taunton.¹</p> <p>Anastasia (Lawton) Hankard died in Taunton in 1876, and her husband John was in the Taunton City Directory for that year. I looked in the directory again, this time for William Lawton. In 1876 William was at the same address as John and Anastasia Hankard.² So it is almost a certainty that Anastasia and William Lawton were brother and sister. This could explain why Anastasia's death record said her father's name was William, not John.</p> <p>When William Lawton died in 1911, his death record said his parents were John Lawton and Dora Cashman.³ The names Lawton and Cashman occur together on Griffith's Valuation only in Cork and Waterford.⁴</p> <p>Anastasia was born about 1831 according to her American records. I looked at rootsireland.ie for "Lawton, An*", father's name = John, born from 1826 to 1836, born anywhere in Ireland. There were two listed:</p> <p class="centerblock"> Church Baptism Lawton Anastatia 1830 Co. Cork <br> Church Baptism Lawton Anastatia 1832 Co. Cork </p> <p>One of these is probably "our" Anastasia Lawton. I didn't find William Lawton's baptism.</p> <p>I also came across a posting from August 2000 on the Cork message board at rootsweb.com, that might refer to Anastasia's extended family. If so, she is from Kilmacahill in the Parish of Cloyne, in East Cork. The message mentions an Anastasia Lawton and a Dora Cashman who are probably relatives. Given names run in families and in localities. These aren't the two women we have been discussing, but I don't think this is just a coincidence.⁵</p> <p>Also, there is a John Lawton in Kilmacahill on the Tithe Applotment Books (1823-1837) and also in Griffith's Valuation.^{6, 7}</p> <p>Finally, there is an Anty Lawton, age 17, who arrived in Boston on July 7, 1848, aboard the Britain, of St. John, New Brunswick. She had departed from Cork. This could also be "our" Anastasia Lawton.⁸</p> <p>So if one of my ancestors were Anastasia Lawton and I was looking for her townland of origin, I would definitely start my search in the area of Kilmacahill, East Cork.</p> <h3>Footnotes</h3> <p>Sources not mentioned here are given in the first article.</p> <ol> <li> "Massachusetts, Marriages, 1841-1915," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N49T-9MR : accessed 06 Jan 2014), William C. Lawton and Margaret Meade, 1885.</li> <li> 1876 Taunton City Directory, at ancestry.com</li> <li> Massachusetts, Deaths, 1841-1915," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N4D2-7Y3 : accessed 06 Jan 2014), William C Lawton, 1911.</li> <li> Irish Times, Irish Ancestors -- Surname Search.</li> <li> zzwrigm, "Lawton", 26 Aug 2000, at Rootsweb, Cork, General, Message Board.</li> <li> National Archives of Ireland, Tithe Applotment Books, for Kilmacahill.</li> <li> Griffith's Valuation at ancestry.com.</li> <li> Boston, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1820-1954, about Anty Lawton, at ancestry.com.</li> </ol>2018-10-09T00:00:00-04:002018-10-09T00:00:00-04:00Ed Hamiltontag:None,2018-10-09:./john-aloysius-hankard-east-boston-massachusetts.html

<p>On November 22, 1902 in Boston, Massachusetts, my wife's great aunt, Abigail Ellen "Abbie" (Page) Heise married John Aloysius Hankard. John's parents were recorded as John Hankard and Hannah Keegan. I recognized Keegan as an Irish name, assumed Hankard was also, and decided to see if I could trace either family back to at least the county of origin in Ireland.</p>

<p>On November 22, 1902 in Boston, Massachusetts, my wife's great aunt, Abigail Ellen "Abbie" (Page) Heise married John Aloysius Hankard. John's parents were recorded as John Hankard and Hannah Keegan.¹</p> <p>I recognized Keegan as an Irish name, assumed Hankard was also, and decided to see if I could trace either family back to at least the county of origin in Ireland. We'll start with the Hankards.</p> <h3>John and Anastasia (Lawton) Hankard</h3> <p>Abbie's husband, John A. Hankard, was born at 4 Endicott Street, Boston, on July 11, 1881. His parents had been married in Boston on March 30, 1880. On the marriage record, John's parents were listed as John and Anastasia.^2,3</p> <p>This couple appears on the 1860 and 1865 censuses of Ward 2, (East) Boston, with children John, Thomas, Caroline, James, and William. In 1870 they were living in North Providence, Rhode Island, with two more children added: Michael J, and Dora L. Both parents were born in Ireland.⁴</p> <p>In the 1876 Taunton City Directory, John Hankard and son Thomas are living on Broadway at the corner of Randall. It is in Taunton that John's wife Anastasia dies on May 8, 1876. Her death record tells us that her maiden name was Lawton, and her father's name was given as William. Her mother's name was unknown.^5,6</p> <p>This maiden name helps us to identify the marriage record of "John Hankin" and "Anstis Lawton" in Boston on October 5, 1852, as being for this couple. John was 25 at the time and Anastasia was 21. John's father's name was Thomas, and Anastasia's father was named John. I would favor the marriage record for the correct name of Anastasia's father, since Anastasia herself would be providing the information, not one of her survivors.⁷</p> <p>Continued in <a href="john-hankard-of-east-boston-massachusetts.html">John Hankard, of East Boston, Massachusetts</a>. See also <a href="anastasia-lawton-hankard-of-cork-and-east-boston-massachusetts.html">Anastasia (Lawton) Hankard of Cork and East Boston, Massachusetts</a> and <a href="peter-and-mary-ann-mcmahon-keegan-of-boston-massachusetts.html">Peter and Mary Ann (McMahon) Keegan of Boston, Massachusetts</a>.</p> <h3>Footnotes</h3> <ol> <li> Mass Register of Vital Records, Marriages, 1902, Vol. 527, Page 236, and "Massachusetts, Marriages, 1841-1915," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N4QT-5H3 : accessed 24 Dec 2013), John Hankard and Abbie E. Page Heise, 1902.</li> <li> Partially transcribed at: "Massachusetts, Births and Christenings, 1639-1915," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F4YB-LB5 : accessed 25 Dec 2013), John Hankard, 11 Jul 1881.</li> <li> "Massachusetts, Marriages, 1841-1915," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N43X-WPJ : accessed 25 Dec 2013), John A. Hankard and Hannah Keegan, 1880.</li> <li> 1860 Census of Ward 2, Boston, MA, Series M653, Roll 520, Page 677, East Boston Post Office.</li> <li>1865 Mass State Census, Ward 2, Boston, taken May 1, 1865, "Massachusetts, State Census, 1865," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MQH7-2XR : accessed 25 Dec 2013), John Hankard, 1865.</li> <li>1870 Census, North Providence, Rhode Island, Centerdale Post Office, "United States Census, 1870," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MFFW-H2S : accessed 25 Dec 2013), John Hankerd, Rhode Island, United States; citing p. , family 13, NARA microfilm publication M593, FHL microfilm 000552975.</li> <li> Taunton City Directories, at ancestry.com</li> <li> Deaths registered in the city of Taunton:</li> <li>Anastasia Hankard (Lawton)<br> Died May 8, 1876, in Taunton, Mass<br> female, married, age 43, residing in Taunton, born in Ireland<br> cause: consumption<br> father: William, born in Ireland<br> mother: unknown, born in Ireland<br> "Massachusetts, Deaths, 1841-1915," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NWHT-WX3 : accessed 25 Dec 2013), Anastasia Lawton Hankard, 1876.</li> <li> Transcription only at "Massachusetts, Marriages, 1695-1910," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FHGK-T92 : accessed 25 Dec 2013), John Hankin and Anstis Lawton, 05 Oct 1852.</li> </ol>2018-10-09T00:00:00-04:002018-10-09T00:00:00-04:00Ed Hamiltontag:None,2018-10-09:./john-hankard-of-east-boston-massachusetts.html

<p>Having found John Hankard's father's name (Thomas) and a range of years for his birth (1820-1830), I started to look for his county of origin in Ireland. The first thing I did was to try the Irish Times surname search page for "Hankard". The results said ...</p>

<p>Continued from <a href="john-aloysius-hankard-east-boston-massachusetts.html">John Aloysius Hankard, East Boston, Mass</a>.</p> <h3>John Hankard's county of origin</h3> <p>Having found John Hankard's father's name (Thomas) and a range of years for his birth (1820-1830), I started to look for his county of origin in Ireland. The first thing I did was to try the Irish Times surname search page for "Hankard". The results said:</p> <p>Hankard: Very rare: E Cork. English, 16 cent.</p> <p>There were only 11 Hankard households in Ireland on Griffith's Valuation. Nine were in Cork, and one each in Waterford and Limerick.</p> <p>AskAboutIreland.ie is the place to go for details from Griffith's, but it was off line for maintenance, so I had to search at ancestry.com. All the Hankard households in Cork were centered on a point about halfway between Cork City and Youghall. The two in Waterford and Limerick were just over the county borders. Unfortunately for the genealogist, none of these households were headed by a man named Thomas.</p> <p>I also used stevemorse.org to look at the Ellis Island records. There were five immigrants named Hankard listed and all of them were from the same area in East Cork.</p> <p>Finally, there was a John Hankard on the New York Port Arrival Records who was age 20 when he arrived aboard the Nisidi Stewart, on April 8, 1850. He had left from the port of Cork.¹</p> <p>My next stop was the baptism records at rootsireland.ie. They did not have a John Hankard baptized anywhere in Ireland between 1820 and 1830 with a father named Thomas. But they did have these three children whose father was named Thomas:</p> <p class="centerblock"> Michael baptized 1829, Cork<br> Honora baptized 1832, Cork<br> Thomas baptized 1834, Cork</p> <p>There were no baptism records for Hankard children whose father was Thomas in any other counties.</p> <p>The records for Killeagh parish in East Cork do not start until 1829 and John Hankard was most likely born before that. The three children listed above might be John's younger siblings. We will discuss Michael and Honora in the next article.</p> <p>Continued in <a href="other-hankards-in-eastern-massachusetts-in-the-1860s.html">Other Hankards in Eastern Massachusetts in the 1860s</a>.</p> <h3>Footnotes</h3> <ol> <li>Irish Immigrants: New York Port Arrival Records, 1846-1851 about John Hankard, transcription only. http://www.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=5969&amp;enc=1.</li> </ol>2018-10-09T00:00:00-04:002018-10-09T00:00:00-04:00Ed Hamiltontag:None,2018-10-09:./other-hankards-in-eastern-massachusetts-in-the-1860s.html

<p>Another way to find a Irish townland of origin is to trace the brothers and sisters of the person you are interested in, in this case the John Hankard who married Anastasia Lawton. His siblings' records might have the information we are looking for. There were a few other Hankards in the Boston area at the same time as John. Were they related?</p>

<p>Continued from <a href="john-hankard-of-east-boston-massachusetts.html">John Hankard, of East Boston, Massachusetts</a>.</p> <p>Another way to find a Irish townland of origin is to trace the brothers and sisters of the person you are interested in, in this case the John Hankard who married Anastasia Lawton. His siblings' records might have the information we are looking for. There were a few other Hankards in the Boston area at the same time as John. Were they related?</p> <p>The New York Passenger Lists at familysearch.org have a record of a Michael Hankard, 24, and Honora Hankard, 22, arriving in New York in 1853. They are listed immediately after each other.¹ The ages match the two children baptized in Cork that we mentioned in the previous article.</p> <p>There is a Michael Hankard, 26, living with John and Anastasia in 1855.² He may be the same Michael Hankard living in Lynn in 1860.³ But when he died in 1862, his death record says his father's name was Edward,⁴ and he named a son Edmund. It would have been nice to find his marriage record, but I couldn't.</p> <p>Also in Lynn in 1862 and 1863 is a William Hanker (Michael's surname was spelled the same way in the directories).⁵ This William Hankard was married in Lynn in 1854 to Ellen Ahern. His marriage record said his father's name was Edmund.⁶ So we can be reasonably sure that William and Michael were brothers, but probably not the brothers of our John Hankard.</p> <p>There is a Honora Hankard, 20, who marries John Foley, 27, in Boston on November 30, 1854. The marriage record says that her father's name was Thomas.⁷ She could be the child baptized in Cork in 1834 and the young lady who arrived with Michael Hankard in 1853. She might be John Hankard's sister. Unfortunately, I can't find any record of her after the marriage.</p> <p>So although we did not find the townland of origin using only the online records, it is pretty safe to say that John Aloysius Hankard's paternal line was from East Cork, Ireland, with a possibility of being from Killeagh parish.</p> <p>Some other places to look that might turn up a better answer are:</p> <ul> <li>Death notices for John, Michael and William Hankard and Honora (Hankard) Foley.</li> <li>Naturalization records for the male Hankards.</li> <li>The church marriage record for John Hankard and Anastasia Lawton, which might say "of County such and such"</li> <li>Search for Missing Friends, at AmericanAncestors.org or Ancestry.com.</li> </ul> <h3>Footnotes</h3> <ol> <li> "New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1891," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/275L-BL6 : accessed 03 Jan 2014), Honora Hankard, 1853.</li> <li> "Massachusetts, State Census, 1855," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MQWN-497 : accessed 25 Dec 2013), John Hankerd, 1855.</li> <li> 1860; Census Place: Lynn Ward 6, Essex, Massachusetts; Roll: M653_495; Page: 872</li> <li> Ancestry.com, Massachusetts, Death Records, 1841-1915 about Michael Hankard</li> <li> Lynn City Directory at ancestry.com</li> <li> "Massachusetts, Marriages, 1841-1915," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N4MP-XSB : accessed 04 Jan 2014), William Hankard and Ellen Ahern, 1854.</li> <li> "Massachusetts, Marriages, 1841-1915," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NW5R-BWW : accessed 03 Jan 2014), John Foley and Honora Hankard, 1854.</li> </ol>