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Married:

26 January 1806, Templemichael, Longford, Ireland

Children:

Francis Byrne (b. 1806 Longford, d.1891 Stradbroke Is, Queensland), partner of Mary Wilson (1820-1864)

Mary Beirne (b.1809 - d.bef 1813, Longford)

Mary Beirne (b.1813 Longford )

Margaret Beirne (b.1815 Longford)

Catherine Beirne (b. 1818 Longford)

Michael Byrne (b.1820 Longford)

Common surnames in Ireland are often spelled in multiple ways (a problem for family history researchers!), and Byrnes is one of those.  So far, we've found it with and without an "s" at the end, or spelled 'Burns", 'Byrne', or even 'Beirne'.  And it's not just carelessness or unability to spell.  Researchers generally attribute it to the lack of literacy of the times, when spelling was done according to how it sounded to the ear of the clerk writing it down.  And almost certainly, our many times great-grandparents Michael Byrne and Anne Fennan would have been illiterate, and the spelling of their name would have been the least of their concerns.

This resulted in the surnames of their six children being recorded according to the preference of the local parish priest, who sometimes added to the confusion by rendering them in a form of Latin.  But, for the record, we've listed Michael and Anne's family by the name they were first noted, in this case, their baptism details.  We're not 100% sure of when or where Michael and Anne themselves were born - going back, Irish Catholic records generally peter out by 1800, and since the young couple were married in Longford, in county Longford, Ireland, in 1806, they were obviously born well before the turn of the century.  

However, a Michael Byrne was born in the right time frame, 1776, in Westmeath, a neighbouring county to Longford, in the town of Castlepollard, 40km from Templemichael the parish in Longford, where Michael and Anne were married - an insignificant distance in the 21st century, but far enough in the 18th century to make it uncertain as the baptism we're looking for..   There is also a record in the same county for the baptism of an Anne Fennan, in Mullingar in 1780 who may or may not be our Anne.  Mullingar also  is only 40kilometres away from Longford.  So, are these baptisms our Anne and Michael?  Perhaps.

Longford has at least one major claim to fame in Irish history - it was the scene of a major battle of the uprising of 1798, a time when Michael was a young man, but if he had any involvement in that struggle, it's disappeared into the mists of history.

Michael and Anne's wedding would have taken place in the simple Catholic chapel in Longford, which preceded the building of the town's Cathedral in the 1840s, and presumably, this was where all their children were baptised. 

Their first child, Francis is the subject of our primary interest.  When he was 19 in 1825, Francis joined the British Army as a tailor, an enlistment which eventually took him to New Zealand and Australia, where he was the forefather of scores of Byrnes  descendants. Five children followed in the next 14 years.  The next child, a daughter Mary, didn't survive childhood, and as was the custom of the time, that name of 'Mary' was reused for the next girl to arrive. The four girls, born between 1809 and 1818, were all baptised under the 'Beirne' name, a common variation of Byrne.  Their last child, a boy Michael, born in 1820, was listed as a 'Byrne'. 

There are several more mysteries confronting us with the Byrne family, ones we are unlikely to ever resolve. We don't know what occupation Michael had - if he was an agricultural worker, or a worker in the town, or.....??    One possibility is that he was involved in the linen industy, as a flaxmaker, a product that Longford was known for at that time. 

Anne probably died in November, 1838, but Michael's death and burial can't be found with any certainty.  The name 'Michael Byrne' is a relatively common one, so with deaths of half a dozen Michael Byrnes recorded in central Ireland in the next few decades, we can't pinpoint with any certainty which one is our Michael.