Irish born John Bennett and Mary Moran married in Saugerties, Ulster, New York about 1870. Mary had arrived with her mother Elizabeth and older brothers in 1853 joining her father Michael who had emigrated 2 years earlier. The Morans all worked in the local brickyard as did John Bennett. I have discovered no immigration information for John and wonder if the younger (by 12 years) Thomas Bennett listed with he and Mary in the 1870 census might be a brother or other relative. No record of the three has been found after that census.
Curiously, Mary’s parents, Michael and Elizabeth Moran, have two young Bennett grandsons with them in the 1880 census, James 8 and Michael 3. I assume they must be the sons of their only daughter Mary and her husband John Bennett. But what happened to the couple?
The Moran grandparents died in 1881 and 1882, when the boys were both under 10 – so, who took them in then? Mary Moran Bennett’s brothers had problems of their own and may not have been able to step-in to care for the boys.
Her brother James was murdered in 1879, leaving his wife with 5 young children.
Her brother Michael Jr died in 1882 also leaving 5 children.
Her brother Patrick married in 1881 leaving no further record of he and wife Mary.
Her youngest brother Thomas married in 1880 and soon had several children himself.
So the mystery of the Bennett brothers is still open. The older son, James, has not been found in any record after 1880. Michael, however, seems to have joined the military in 1899 serving in the Spanish American War in the Philippines. In 1901 he married Irish immigrant Emily Catherine Blue in Brooklyn. And then their trail ran cold …..
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