Bridget Johanna Stackpoole 1857-1924
Nancy Simmons
Josephine Martin - mother
Mary Catherine Cronin – grandmother
Bridget Johanna Stackpoole – great-grandmother
 |
| Bridget Johann (Stackpoole) Cronin 1857-1924 My great-grandmother |
I was so lucky when my 3rd cousin, John Mervenne, sent me an email in June 2023 with information pertaining to my Irish Stackpoole family from County Limerick. I pretty much thought I was done researching my Stackpoole line since Irish records are difficult to find. But John had hired a genealogist in Ireland to research the Stackpoole family.
John's great-grandmother, Mary Stackpoole, is a sister to my great-grandmother, Bridget Johann Stackpoole. So, both John and I share a common ancestor, John and Margaret (Barnett) Stackpoole, our great-great-grandparents. I met John on Ancestry.com a number of years ago after I posted in my Ancestry tree a picture of his great-great-grandmother, Mary Stackpoole. I found her picture in her 1924 passport application.
 |
| Mary (Stackpoole) Leahy 1852-1940 picture from Ancestry.com, U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925 |
According to my great-grandmother's death certificate, Bridget Stackpoole was born April 29, 1857, in Ireland and died November 30, 1924, at Providence Hospital in Detroit, Michigan. The certificate stated her parents were John Stroh and Margaret Barnett and she lived at 1736 Infantry Street in Detroit and was married to Denis Cronin. She was buried on December 1, 1924, at Mt Elliott Cemetery. Her marriage record states she was married June 2, 1886, in Detroit by Rev Charles Reilly at St Patrick's Catholic Church and was 26 years old.
 |
| Bridget (Stackpoole) Cronin's Death Certificate Ancestry.com, Michigan, Death Records, 1867-1950 |
Until my cousin notified me of the research he had done in Ireland, I had struggled with Bridget's birth year. I found her birthdate on her death certificate but none of the other events of her life matched it. As you can see in the chart below her birth year varies from 1857 to 1865. I believe she wanted to be younger than her husband when she was really two years older.
Bridget (Stackpoole) Cronin’s birth years based on life events
The research from Ireland had her baptismal date and that matched the date on her death certificate as 29 April 1857. She was baptized at the Roman Catholic church in Rathkeale and her Godparents were: Phillip Stack of Glin and Margaret Dealy of Riddlestown. Her baptismal date could very possibly be her birthdate since in many cases the baby was baptized on the day of their birth.
In the search for more children of John and Margaret Stackpoole baptized in the parish of Rathkeale in the Diocese of Limerick from 1845 to 1870 only records of three children were found. The children were Mary Stackpoole baptized Thursday, April 17, 1851, James Stackpoole baptized Tuesday, November 7, 1854, and Bridget Stackpoole baptized Wednesday, April 29, 1857. All the Stackpoole children were born, most likely at home, and after 1850, it was compulsory for baptisms to be celebrated in a church so they would have been baptized in the Roman Catholic church in Rathkeale. There was no baptismal record found for Bridget’s older brother, Thomas Stackpoole, who supposedly was born in 1850. The research report stated that since most Catholic families had large families it would not be surprising to find that other Stackpoole children were also unrecorded in the Rathkeale baptismal register.
Not only did the baptismal record solidify Bridget's birthdate, but it also named her parents. I had an issue with her parents' names. On Bridget's death certificate her parents, according to her husband, were John Stroh and Margaret Barrett. Her sister, Mary Stackpole’s, death certificate had her parents as Thomas Stackpole and mother unknown. And her brother, Thomas Stackpoole’s, death certificate had his parents as John Stackpoole and Margaret Barnett. Bridget's parents on her baptismal record as well as her sister were John Stackpoole and Margaret Barrett.
The information my cousin sent me also had information about Bridget’s parents, John Stackpoole and Margaret Barrett. They were married on Sunday, January 26, 1845, in the Roman Catholic parish of Athea in west county Limerick. John Stackpoole was from Glin, county Limerick, and Margaret would have been from Athea since it was traditional for the bride to be married in her parish of origin.
The research report stated:
“In terms of earlier possible research, unfortunately the parish registers of Glin only survive from 1851, so we cannot search for the baptismal record of the groom John Stackpool. Based on later records there was certainly a concentration of this surname in the parish of Glin. We are also hindered in earlier research on Margaret Barrett as the parish register of Athea only dates from 1830 and Margaret was likely born before that date. Again there were a number of Barrett families on record in the parish of Athea from the start of records.”
 |
| John Stackpoole was born in Glin, Margaret Barrett was born in Athea. John and Margaret were married in Athea and raised their children in Riddlestown. All the children were baptized in the Roman Catholic church in Rathkeale. |
Bridget’s mother, my great-great-grandmother, Margaret Barnett Stackpoole, wife of John, died at Riddlestown on Tuesday, July 13, 1897. Her cause of death was given ‘debility of age’ after 5 months, with no medical attendant. She was 80 years of age, and her death was registered by her husband John Stackpoole.
Bridget’s father, John Stackpoole, died at Riddlestown on Thursday, August 21, 1902, because of uremia (kidney failure) after twenty-one days. John was 81 years of age. Bridget, Mary, and their brother Thomas all emigrated and settled in Detroit, Michigan. Bridget’s brother, James, born in 1854, remained in Limerick, married, and took over the family farm.
So, with the “Luck of the Irish” I have a third cousin, whom I have never met in person, who shared his genealogy research report, which was researched and compiled by Catriona Crowe, Limerick Genealogy. The phrase “the luck of the Irish” was used to imply that the miners were finding success purely based on luck, rather than based on intelligence and skill!
