Bridget Hamill Kirley: The Sister Who Stayed in Beagh
Bridget Hamill Kirley
While her brothers Patrick, Peter, Henry, and James crossed the Atlantic to build new lives in Missouri and Montana, and her sister Anna married and remained near Dian, Bridget Hamill married a farmer from the neighboring townland of Beagh. Her own children would scatter in turn—one son to Toronto, and grandchildren to San Francisco, Ontario, and Australia—but Bridget herself never left Donaghmoyne parish. DNA connects her descendants to family in Montana more than a century later.
Part I: Birth in Drumaconvern
February 1872, Near Dian
Bridget Hamill was born on February 8, 1872, in the townland of Drumaconvern, Donaghmoyne parish, County Monaghan. This townland sits adjacent to Dian, where her parents James Hamill and Anne Gartlan had established their farm. The birth registration—entry number 225—records her father as "James Hamill, Drumaconvern" and her mother as "Anne Hamill formerly Gartlan."
Notably, the informant was Anne Hamill herself, who made her mark (×) on the registration—indicating she could not write. This detail matches what we know of the family: her husband James was literate, but Anne left only her mark on official records.
The location of Drumaconvern rather than Dian is significant. The Hamill family may have held land in both townlands, or the birth may have occurred at a relative's home. Regardless, Bridget was raised in the same Donaghmoyne community as her siblings.
Entry: #225
Child: Bridget, Female
Father: James Hamill, Drumaconvern
Mother: Anne Hamill formerly Gartlan
Informant: "Anne Hamill, Mark [×], Mother, Drumaconvern"
Registered: March Eighteen 1872
District: Donaghmoyne, Union of Carrickmacross, County Monaghan
Born in 1872, Bridget falls in the middle of a large family. Her older siblings included Patrick (born about 1862), Peter (1864), Anne (January 1864), Hugh (December 1865), Daniel (1867), and Henry (1868); her younger siblings included James (1873), John (1875), Martha (1878), and Margaret (about 1880). Of the eleven children documented for James Hamill and Anne Gartlan, four sons emigrated to the United States and the remainder stayed in Ireland.
Part II: The Kirleys of Beagh
The Family Bridget Married Into
The man Bridget married in 1901 came from a farming family established a short distance away in Beagh townland. The 1901 marriage register names his father as John Kirley, farmer. The Donaghmoyne parish registers confirm that a John Kirley and Judith Murtagh of Beagh were raising a family there through the 1850s and 1860s, and identify at least three of their sons.
Owen Kirley's baptism is indexed in the Donaghmoyne parish records for 1855, naming his parents as John Kerley and Judith Murtagh. Two younger brothers appear in the surviving parish register itself: Patrick, baptized March 2, 1864, and James, born March 23, 1866. Both entries record the family at Beagh. Patrick is the brother who would still be living in the household on census night in 1901, six weeks after Owen's wedding.
The Murtagh connection is visible in the sponsorship pattern. John Murtagh stood as godfather to James in 1866—almost certainly a relative of the children's mother, following the common Monaghan practice of drawing sponsors from both sides of a family.
Owen Kirley — baptism indexed 1855, Donaghmoyne parish. Parents: John Kerley and Judith Murtagh.
Patrick Kirley — baptized March 2, 1864, Donaghmoyne. Parents: John Kirley and Judith Murtha, Beagh. Sponsors: James Finegan and Anne Corrigan. Officiating: Rev. James Forde.
James Kirley — born March 23, 1866, Beagh. Parents: John Kirley and Judith Murtagh. Sponsors: John Murtagh and Catherine McGarrell. Officiating: Rev. T. Smollen.
Register entry for James, 1866: "Jacobus Kirley, Joannis Kirley et Judithae Murtagh de Beagh — natus 23° — patrini Joannes Murtagh et Catharina McGarrell."
Owen Kirley's age was recorded differently on nearly every document that asked for it: thirty-seven in the 1901 census, sixty-two in 1911, seventy-five years and seven months on his own 1926 household return, and sixty-four on his 1936 death registration.
His younger brother Patrick, baptized in 1864 and therefore thirty-seven on census night 1901, was likewise returned as thirty. The understatements of 1901 and the later inflation of 1911 and 1926—the years surrounding the introduction of the Old Age Pension—are a familiar pattern in Irish returns. The 1855 baptism remains the only record of Owen's birth drawn from a contemporary register rather than from a statement of age made decades afterward.
Part III: Marriage to Owen Kirley
February 15, 1901, Donaghmoyne Chapel
On February 15, 1901, Bridget Hamill married Owen Kirley at the Roman Catholic chapel of St. Michael's, Donaghmoyne. The marriage register provides detailed genealogical information: Bridget was "full age," a spinster from "Dyan" (Dian), daughter of James Hamill, Farmer. Owen Kirley was also full age, a bachelor and farmer from Beagh townland, son of John Kirley, Farmer. The ceremony was performed by Rev. Terence Conlan, P.P.
Bridget signed her own name to the register. Owen made his mark, as did both witnesses—Hugh Sheery and Maggie Hamill. The literacy pattern recorded here would be confirmed six weeks later by the census, which shows Bridget able to read and write and Owen unable to read.
Bridget was twenty-nine, a relatively late marriage for rural Ireland in this era. Her parents were both still living at Dian—James Hamill would survive until September 1914 and Anne until August of that same year—and Bridget's residence at Dian on her wedding day indicates she had remained in the family home until her marriage.
Entry: #79
Groom: Owen Kirley, full age, Bachelor, Farmer, residence Beagh
Groom's Father: John Kirley, Farmer
Bride: Bridget Hamill, full age, Spinster, residence Dyan (Dian)
Bride's Father: James Hamill, Farmer
Married at: Roman Catholic Chapel of St. Michael's, Donaghmoyne
Officiant: Terence Conlan, P.P.
Witnesses: Hugh Sheery (his mark), Maggie Hamill (her mark)
Registered: February 16, 1901, Registrar's District of Donaghmoyne, Union of Carrickmacross
The witness "Maggie Hamill" is almost certainly Bridget's younger sister Margaret, born about 1880 and therefore twenty-one at the time of the wedding. Margaret never married. She died on September 14, 1951, aged seventy-one, and is commemorated on the family headstone at Old Broomfield Cemetery alongside her parents and her brother Hughie.
Her appearance here places two of James Hamill and Anne Gartlan's daughters together in the chapel on the same afternoon—the sister who was leaving for Beagh, and the sister who would stay at Dian for the rest of her life.
Part IV: Life in Beagh
Three Censuses: 1901, 1911, and 1926
Just six weeks after her wedding, Bridget appears in the 1901 Census of Ireland as "Bridget Kirley," wife of Owen, living in Beagh townland. The census, taken on March 31, 1901, shows the newly married couple establishing their household. Both spoke Irish and English—a detail that connects them to the older Gaelic-speaking generation of County Monaghan.
Also in the household was Patrick Kirley, Owen's brother, listed as a farmer and not married. A sixteen-year-old farm servant, Patrick Callaghan, completed the household.
Location: Beagh townland, Farney Barony, Donaghmoyne Parish
Owen Kirley: Head of Family, age 37, Farmer, Married, Catholic, cannot read, born Co. Monaghan, speaks Irish & English
Bridget Kirley: Wife, age 28, Married, Catholic, can read & write, born Co. Monaghan, speaks Irish & English
Patrick Kirley: Brother [of Owen], age 30, Farmer, Not Married
Patrick Callaghan: Servant, age 16, Farm Servant
Signed by: Owen Kirley, Head of Family
Ten years later, the 1911 Census reveals a growing family. Owen and Bridget now had four children at home: John (9), Julia (7), Mary (6), and James (3). The census also records crucial information about Bridget's childbearing: she had been married ten years, with five children born and four still living—meaning one child had died young.
Location: Beagh townland, Farney Barony, Donaghmoyne Parish
Owen Kirley: Head of Family, age 62, Farmer, Married, Catholic, can read only
Bridget Kirley: Wife, age 42, Married 10 years, 5 children born, 4 living, Catholic, can read & write
John Kirley: Son, age 9, Scholar, can read only
Julia Kirley: Daughter, age 7, Scholar, cannot read
Mary Kirley: Daughter, age 6, Scholar, cannot read
James Kirley: Son, age 3, cannot read
Signed by: Owen Kirley, Head of Family
A third census survives for this family. The 1926 Census of the Irish Free State—the first taken after independence, and released to researchers only in recent years—finds Owen and Bridget still at Beagh, on a holding of thirty-six statute acres farmed on their own account. Bridget, at fifty-four, gave her birthplace as Dian: a quarter-century after leaving it, she still named her father's townland as home.
The household in April 1926 had contracted. Julia had married and moved to Monalia five years earlier. James, then nineteen, was not at home on census night. John, at twenty-three, was working his father's farm—the son in place to inherit, though within three years he would sail for Canada instead. Mary, nineteen, was keeping house. And a fifth child appears who had not yet been born in 1911: Annie, thirteen years and five months old, still at national school.
Location: Beagh townland, Donaghmoyne D.E.D., County Monaghan — Schedule 6
Owen Kerley: Head, age 75 years 7 months, Married, born Co. Monaghan (Beagh), Catholic, Farmer, own account
Brigid Kirley: Wife, age 54, Married, born Co. Monaghan (Dian), Catholic, home duties
John Kirley: Son, age 23 years 5 months, Single, born Beagh, farmer's son working on Owen Kirley's farm of 36 statute acres
Mary Kirley: Daughter, age 19 years 11 months, Single, born Beagh, home duties, speaks English & Irish
Annie Kirley: Daughter, age 13 years 5 months, born Beagh, at National School, speaks English & Irish
Holding: 36 statute acres
Signed by: Owen Kirley, Head of Household
Part V: The Next Generation
Beagh to Monalia, Beagh to Toronto
Owen Kirley died at Beagh on February 19, 1936, of acute pneumonia after an illness of five days. He was recorded as a married farmer. The informant was his daughter Mary Kirley, present at the death—the daughter who had stayed at home, and who was still at Beagh a decade after the 1926 census recorded her there keeping house. Bridget survived him. Her own death has not been located, but she was living at the time of her husband's death and appears to have remained in Donaghmoyne parish.
Entry: #328, Registrar's District of Donaghmoyne, Union of Carrickmacross
Deceased: Owen Kirley, Beagh, Male, Married, Farmer
Age at last birthday: recorded as 64 years
Cause of death: Acute pneumonia, 5 days, certified
Informant: Mary Kirley, Daughter, present at death, Beagh
Registered: March 10, 1936
Bridget's eldest daughter Julia married on August 30, 1921, at the Roman Catholic church of Lisdoonan. Her husband was James Duffy, a farmer of Monalia townland, son of Patrick Duffy, farmer. Julia was recorded as "full age," though she had turned seventeen the previous January. The witnesses were Patrick McBride and Mary Kerley—Julia's sister, the same Mary who would stand at their father's deathbed fifteen years later.
Julia moved less than a mile, from Beagh to Monalia, and stayed there for the rest of her life. She raised ten children who lived to adulthood and died at Monalia on March 18, 1984, aged eighty. Her children scattered far further than she had: to San Francisco, to Ontario, and to Australia.
Entry: #162, Registrar's District of Rafeagh, Union of Carrickmacross, County Monaghan
Groom: James Duffy, full age, Bachelor, Farmer, residence Monalia
Groom's Father: Patrick Duffy, Farmer
Bride: Julia Kerley, full age, Spinster, residence Beagh
Bride's Father: Owen Kerley, Farmer
Married at: Roman Catholic Church of Lisdoonan, by Rev. P. Ward, C.C.
Witnesses: Patrick McBride, Mary Kerley
When Julia's daughter Maeve died in San Francisco on March 11, 1980, her obituary named her surviving brothers and sisters—and in doing so listed all ten of Julia and James Duffy's children in a single published source. Maeve was described as a native of Monalia, Donaghmoyne, County Monaghan, and as the daughter of Julia and the late James Duffy.
Her siblings were Paddy, James, Michael, and Eugene Duffy; and Mary Duggan, Dympna Smyth, Anne Carragher, Agnes Kelly, and Hannah Caplan. The married surnames of the five sisters, recorded nowhere in the Irish civil records, made it possible to trace Bridget's granddaughters forward across three continents.
Bridget's eldest son John Kirley (1901–1986) emigrated to Canada in 1929, sailing on the S.S. Regina from Belfast to Quebec. His immigration record lists his father as "Owen Kirley of Beagh, Carrickmacross"—confirming the family connection. John settled in Toronto, where he married Agnes Lenagan on January 25, 1930. His marriage certificate lists his mother as "Bridget Hamill"—providing independent confirmation of his parentage decades later and thousands of miles away.
Groom: John Kerley, age 28, Laborer, Bachelor
Residence: Trafalgar 24, Toronto
Birthplace: Donaghmoyne, Ireland
Father: Owen Kerley
Mother: Bridget Hamill ← Key confirmation
Bride: Agnes Lenagan, age 39, Spinster, Nurse
Date: January 25, 1930, County of York, Toronto
Part VI: DNA Validation
Connecting Beagh to Montana
The documentary evidence establishes Bridget Hamill as the daughter of James Hamill and Anne Gartlan—the same parents named in records for her siblings Patrick (Missouri), Peter (Missouri), Anna (Ireland), Henry (Missouri), and James (Montana). DNA testing confirms these relationships across the generations.
A descendant of Bridget's daughter Julia Kirley Duffy (1904–1984), identified here by the initials J.S.G., shares autosomal DNA with descendants of James Hamill (1873–1951) of Anaconda, Montana. The genetic evidence supports what the documents indicate: Bridget was the sister of the man who crossed the Atlantic to work in Montana's copper country.
"Other cousins reside in Missouri and Ireland."
When James Hamill died in Montana in 1951, his obituary mentioned cousins in Missouri and Ireland. Bridget's family in Beagh—and Anna's family nearby—were among those Irish connections that James and his family maintained awareness of, even across an ocean and several decades.
Bridget's Immediate Family
Part VII: Document Verification
The Evidence Chain
Identity confirmed by:
• 1872 Civil Birth Registration: Father James Hamill, Mother Anne Hamill formerly Gartlan, Drumaconvern
• 1901 Marriage Record: Bridget Hamill, daughter of James Hamill, Farmer, of Dian
• 1901 Census: Bridget Kirley, Wife, age 28, Beagh townland
• 1901 Birth Registration (son John): Mother Bridget Kirley formerly Hamill
• 1904 Birth Registration (daughter Julia): Mother Bridget Kirley formerly Hamill, Beagh
• 1911 Census: Bridget Kirley, Wife, age 42, married 10 years, 5 children born, 4 living
• 1921 Marriage Record (daughter Julia): Bride's father Owen Kerley, Farmer, Beagh
• 1926 Census: Brigid Kirley, Wife, age 54, birthplace given as Dian
• 1930 Marriage (son John, Toronto): Mother listed as "Bridget Hamill"
• 1936 Death Registration (husband Owen): Beagh; informant Mary Kirley, daughter
• DNA match between a descendant of Julia Kirley Duffy and descendants of James Hamill of Montana
This evidence chain confirms Bridget Hamill Kirley as the daughter of James Hamill and Anne Gartlan of Dian and Drumaconvern—and sister of Patrick J. Hamill (Missouri), Peter Hamill (Missouri), Anna Hamill Keenan (Ireland), Henry Hamill (Missouri), James Hamill (Montana), and Margaret Hamill (Ireland). Two records name her maiden name independently of the Irish parish system: her daughter Julia's 1904 birth registration at Beagh, and her son John's 1930 marriage certificate in Toronto.
Timeline
A Life in Donaghmoyne — The Sister Who Stayed in Beagh
February 8: Born at Drumaconvern, Donaghmoyne, County Monaghan. Daughter of James Hamill and Anne Gartlan.
February 15: Marries Owen Kirley at St. Michael's, Donaghmoyne. Officiant Rev. Terence Conlan, P.P. Witnesses: Hugh Sheery, Maggie Hamill. Moves to Beagh townland.
March 31: Census of Ireland: Bridget Kirley (28), Wife, living in Beagh with husband Owen and his brother Patrick.
December 18: Son John born at Beagh. First child.
January 14: Daughter Julia born at Beagh. Registered March 1, 1904; informant Owen Kirley, father, by his mark.
Daughter Mary born.
Son James Joseph born, named for his maternal grandfather James Hamill.
April 2: Census of Ireland: Bridget Kirley (42) with Owen and four children: John (9), Julia (7), Mary (6), James (3). Married 10 years, 5 children born, 4 living.
Daughter Brigid Anne ("Annie") born, about November, after the 1911 census.
August 25 and September 14: Bridget's parents die within three weeks of each other at Dian — Anne Hamill aged 72, James Hamill aged 87. Both buried at Old Broomfield Cemetery.
August 30: Daughter Julia marries James Duffy of Monalia at Lisdoonan. Witnesses: Patrick McBride and Mary Kerley.
April 18: Census of the Irish Free State: Brigid Kirley (54), birthplace Dian, at Beagh with Owen, John (23), Mary (19), and Annie (13). Holding of thirty-six statute acres.
Son John emigrates to Canada on the S.S. Regina. Lists father Owen Kirley of Beagh, Carrickmacross.
January 25: Son John marries Agnes Lenagan in Toronto. Marriage certificate lists mother as "Bridget Hamill."
February 19: Husband Owen Kirley dies at Beagh of acute pneumonia. Daughter Mary present at the death. Bridget's own death date remains unknown.
March 18: Daughter Julia Kirley Duffy dies at Monalia, aged eighty — a mile from the house where she was born.
Document Gallery
1872 — Civil Birth Registration
February 8, Drumaconvern. Father: James Hamill. Mother: Anne Gartlan.
IRISH RECORD
1855 — Baptism, Owen Kerley
Donaghmoyne. Parents: John Kerley and Judith Murtagh
IRISH RECORD
1864 — Baptism, Patrick Kerley
March 2, Beagh. Brother of Owen. Sponsors: James Finegan, Anne Corrigan
IRISH RECORD
1866 — Parish Register, James Kirley
Born March 23, Beagh. "Joannis Kirley et Judithae Murtagh de Beagh"
IRISH RECORD
1901 — Marriage Record
February 15, Bridget Hamill to Owen Kirley, Donaghmoyne Chapel
MARRIAGE
1901 — Census of Ireland
Bridget Kirley, Wife, age 28, Beagh townland
CENSUS
1901 — Census Form N
Enumerator's Abstract for Beagh townland
CENSUS
1901 — House & Building Return
Form B1 showing Kirley household in Beagh
CENSUS
1901 — Out-Offices & Farm-Steadings
Form B2 showing farm buildings
CENSUS
1901 — Birth Registration, Son John
December 18, Beagh. Mother: Bridget Kirley formerly Hamill
VITAL RECORD
1904 — Birth Registration, Daughter Julia
January 14, Beagh. Mother: Bridget Kirley formerly Hamill
VITAL RECORD
1911 — Census of Ireland
Bridget Kirley, Wife, age 42, with four children
CENSUS
1911 — Census Form N
Enumerator's Abstract for Beagh townland
CENSUS
1911 — House & Building Return
Form B1 showing Owen Kirley household
CENSUS
1911 — Out-Offices & Farm-Steadings
Form B2 showing farm buildings
CENSUS
1921 — Marriage, Daughter Julia
August 30, Lisdoonan. Julia Kerley of Beagh to James Duffy of Monalia
MARRIAGE
1926 — Census of the Irish Free State
Beagh, Schedule 6. Brigid Kirley, age 54, birthplace Dian
CENSUS
1929 — Immigration to Canada
John Kirley, S.S. Regina. Father: Owen Kirley, Beagh
IMMIGRATION
1930 — Marriage, Son John in Toronto
Mother listed as "Bridget Hamill"
MARRIAGE
1936 — Death Registration, Owen Kirley
February 19, Beagh. Informant: Mary Kirley, daughter, present at death
DEATH RECORD
1980 — Obituary, Granddaughter Maeve
San Francisco. Names all ten Duffy children and Monalia as her birthplace
NEWSPAPERAre You Connected to the Donaghmoyne Network?
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