52 Ancestors: #2, Patrick Bellew

For Week #2 of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge (posted a bit late because of illness), I want to introduce my Irish great-great-great grandfather, Patrick Bellew.  I’ve chosen him as my next ancestor because of the mystery that surrounds his disappearance ...

The Beginning

Patrick Bellew was born around 1810, probably in Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland.  The names of his parents and siblings are currently unknown.  We do know that on February 9, 1826, he married Rose Smyth of Mapastown, County Louth, Ireland in the Ardee Parish.  It was the first marriage for both of them.


Mapastown (also known as Maplestown) is a tiny town about 2.5 miles from Ardee on the road to Dundalk.  In 1837, it only had 458 inhabitants, most of whom were farmers.  The town was actually part of the estate of a member of the Irish gentry.  Patrick and Rose settled in Mapastown and lived in a cozy Irish cottage where they produced the first 8 of their 10 children while Patrick farmed.

Children of Patrick and Rose:

• Born in Mapastown, County Louth, Ireland
• Francis (Frank), b. __ 1829; d. May 11, 1887 (Oconto, WI)
• John S., b. Nov. 4, 1829; d. Mar. 10, 1914 (Chicago, IL)
• James, b. Jul. 19, 1831; d. Jan. 29, 1907 (Oconto, WI)
• Mary, b. Jan. 7, 1836; d. Jul. 3, 1902 (Depere, WI)
• Catherine, b. ___ 1838; d. Jul. 13, 1910 (Appleton, WI)
• Margaret L., b. Jan. 26, 1840; d. Mar. 18, 1937 (Chicago, IL)
• Patrick, b. ___ 1843; d. ___ 1899 (Bellingham, WA)
• Clara, b. Aug. 6, 1846; d. Dec. 13, 1913 (Chicago, IL)
• Born on the Ocean:
• Rose, b. Mar. 23, 1848; d. Apr. 29, 1923 (Oconto, WI)
• Born in Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA:
• Mathew P., b. Jun. 6, 1851; d. Sep. 24, 1940 (Ramsey, MN) *

Text on back:
"The home where Rose Smyth Bellew went as a bride &
where were born Frank, James, John, Mary, Kate, Margaret, Patrick, Clara
- Rose was born at sea and Mathew in Green Bay, WI, USA."

The Potato Famine

In the mid-1800’s, most Irishmen were struggling to survive on tiny landholdings leased from primarily English landlords.  They worked in the fields producing the landlord’s cash crops of grain and wheat and farmed their own tiny landholdings to produce food for their families.  In many cases, the land allotment was so small that the only crop it would sustain was potatoes and most families survived on just potatoes and milk.

Then, in 1845, disaster struck when the potato blight arrived in Ireland.  Crops across the country were wiped out.  By 1847, only one-fourth of the Irish potato crop was edible.  In the five year period that the famine lasted, an estimated 1 million Irish died from starvation or disease and another million had fled Ireland, emigrating to other countries.

The Bellew family joined this mass emigration.  Their neighbors threw a farewell dance for them at the Mapastown House barn before they left for America on the Jamestown, out of Liverpool, England.  They arrived in New York harbor after an arduous weeks long trip on March 20, 1848 as a slightly larger family than they had departed with – their daughter, Rose was born on the journey.*

Text on back:
"Road in front of Maplestown House Barn where a farewell dance
was given when Patrick Bellew's family left for America."

Off to the Big Woods and ... a mystery!

By 1850, the family was situated in Green Bay, Wisconsin where Patrick was farming along with his sons, James and John.  If you don’t know your history, Green Bay of 1850 was vastly different from what it is today.  Huge forests of tall trees covered most of northern Wisconsin and the woods were populated with bears and wolves.  Immigrants were pouring into Green Bay to take advantage of the rapidly booming logging industries and open land. 

The family grew slightly larger with the addition of their last child, Mathew, in June of 1851. The older children were getting settled in their own lives and professions.  But then, suddenly, the family fortunes took a downturn.  Patrick disappeared.

According to my mother, family lore has it that Patrick Bellew went off in the woods one day near Duck Creek (just north of the bay in Green Bay) and then was never heard from or seen again.  No trace was ever found of him.  The family assumed that Patrick had been killed by a bear; the body was never found.   There certainly is no death record for Patrick anywhere – not a government or church one.  Nor is there a gravesite.  The only mention we find of him after his disappearance is in Rose’s obituary, which states that he died in Green Bay. 

So what happened to Patrick is a mystery that probably will never be solved.  What we do know is that he produced a large family, brought them out of a brutal famine into a new country, and gave them a fruitful start at a new life in a land where many of them and their descendants became successful. (Oh, and we also know that we should probably beware of Wisconsin bears ... they have a taste for us now!).

Patrick Bellew (probably the only image that has survived)

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Notes

* There is a lot of confusion with other Bellew genealogists about the four Mathew Bellews in the family.  In a later post, I will provide proof of my conclusions but the Mathew Bellew listed on the ships’ manifest is not a child of Patrick and Rose; he’s more likely Patrick’s brother or cousin given the close bonds between the families.

**  Rose’s gravestone lists her birthdate as Mar. 23, 1848, which cannot be correct as – in very faded handwriting – the ship’s manifest indicates a child was born on the voyage next to her mother’s name.

52 Ancestors: The 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge started at the beginning of 2014, but we decided to join at the midpoint. Each week, we will be writing about one ancestor from our maternal  side on this blog, and one from our paternal side on TreeQuest: An Unexpected Journey.

Bibliography

• A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837

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