A: John Bourne, born circa 1801 probably in Ireland, died in Union Hall, West Cork the 7 March 1867, married (1) A Unknown, (2) Euphemia Ellis (born the 21 September 1821 in Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland and died the 24 December 1904 in Ingleside Hospital, San Francisco, daughter of William Ellis and Helen Lawrie).
John was a boatman with the coastguard, joining the service sometime before 1820. He was stationed at Kinsale and Kilmore Quay. Between 1825 and 1840 he was stationed at various locations in England. On the 4 July 1840 he was appointed as boatman to the coastguard station in the village of Union Hall in West Cork and he lived there for the rest of his life. He retired from the coastguard service on the 31 July 1858. On his death cert his occupation is given as a coastguard officer, cause of death was given as bronchitis.
Family lore states he married a Catholic girl and became a Catholic. They had one daughter, Catherine, who was sent to a convent boarding school in London after her mother died. She brought home a 17 year old schoolmate Euphemia Ellis from Edinburgh, who later married her father. They had seven sons and four daughters, the tradition within the family is that the sons were brought up as Catholic and the daughters Presbyterians. To date I have found four records of Bourne baptisms in the Catholic records for Union Hall (Castlehaven parish) and neighbouring Leap (Kilmacabea parish), that supports the idea that the sons were raised as Catholic. However, two daughters, Ellen Elizabeth and Martha, were also baptised in the Catholic Church. Unfortunately the Protestant records for the area do not survive.
After John died Euphemia married, on the 6 December 1870, John Sweeney of Union Hall. In 1883 Euphemia emigrated, with her daughter Henrietta, to San Francisco. In the US census of 1900 she describes herself as a professional nurse.
He had 12 children:
B.1: (1) Catherine Bourne, married a Walsh. Family lore states that Catherine was the only child of John Bourne’s first marriage and that she married a man named Walsh in London. To date I have found no record to verify any of this.
B.2: (2) William Bourne, born in 1843, died the 20 August 1902, married Mary Desmond, (daughter of Daniel and Sarah Desmond) in 1878 in San Francisco, CA (born in 1862 in Boston and died in 1939).
It is believed William ran away from home (in Union Hall, Cork) when he was young, perhaps 14 or 15 years old. The story is that he took his father’s greyhounds out one day, without permission, and a dog was injured and died. The young boy was so frightened at the prospect of his punishment that he ran away and went to sea. Eventually he worked his way up the ranks to become a merchant captain.
William settled in the USA around 1868 and was naturalized an American citizen on October 30, 1873 in Cook County, Illinois. He finally settled in San Francisco with his brother Robert about 1876.
He had 6 children 3 surviving to adulthood:
C.1: Robert Bourne born the 24 December 1883, married Margaret Lagan, died the 7 September 1957.
He had 2 children:
D.1: Evelyn Bourne born 1916, died 1997.
D.2: Robert Bourne born 1919, died 1990.
C.2:William Patrick Bourne, born the 30 August 1885, died the 22 December 1952, married Alice Jones, in 1905 in San Francisco, CA (born in 1884? in CA and died 3 June 1979, daughter of Thomas Augustine Jones and Margaret Kelly).
He had 5 children:
D.1: Robert D. Bourne, born the 13 March 1906, died the 10 March 1986.
D.2: Beatrice C. Bourne, born the 25 November 1907, died the 20 February 1989, married Fred Stange.
D.3: Lorraine Bourne, born 1908, died the 10 March 1995.
D.4: William Bourne, born the 2 November 1915, died the 24 April 1976. William Francis was Deputy City Attorney and Chief Utilities Counsel for the City and County of San Francisco, CA.
He had 2 children :
E.1: Kathleen Anne Bourne.
E.2: William Patrick Bourne.
D.5: John Wesley Bourne, born the 11 October 1922 in San Francisco, died the 21 May 1993.
C.3: Euphemia Bourne born the 4 February 1888, married Luther Jenkins in 1907, died the 8 February 1977.
She had 3 children:
D.1: Helena Jenkins born 1909
D.2: Warren Jenkins born 1915, died 1997.
D.3: Evan Jenkins.
B.3: (2) Ellen Elizabeth Bourne born 1844, baptised in Kilmacabea parish on 19 February 1844, died 1882, married Charles Harcourt, the 26 February 1867 in Union Hall (born in 1832 in England, son of Charles Harcourt). Charles Harcourt served in the coastguards. He spend his retirement years living in Rock Island near Crookhaven, Co Cork. Charles died on the 14 August 1902 and is buried in the churchyard of the Church of Ireland church in Goleen.
She had 6 children :
C.1: William John Harcourt, born the 11 January 1868, married Maria Scully in1889 (daughter of Daniel Scully and Mary Collins). They lived in Werner’s Lane, Skibbereen. William worked as a miller.
He had 4 children:
D.1: Charles Daniel Harcourt, born 1893. Circa 1910 Charles is mentioned in several newspaper reports as a player with the Skibbereen Gaelic Football team. In 1916 Charles and his brother Walter joined the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) and served in that force until it was disbanded in 1922. Afterwards, Charles and his siblings all emigrated from Ireland to the UK where they settled in the Birmingham area.
D.2: Walter Edwin Harcourt, born 1897.
D.3: Emily Agnes Harcourt, born 1901.
D.4: Robert Henry Harcourt, born 1904.
C.2: Charles Harcourt, born the 24 July 1870, died in San Mateo County, CA the 8 May 1937, married Florence. Charles emigrated to San Francisco and lived with his aunt Henrietta Bourne Kennedy for many years.
C.3: Emmaline Harcourt, born in 1874, married Dr. Robert Farrar Brideoake the 1 May 1994 in Youghal, East Cork (born in 1842 in Lancashire son of Thomas Brideoake and Sarah Farrar, died in 1905), died in Belfast in 1943. The couple lived in Rock Island, Crookhaven, West Cork, where Robert practiced as a doctor. They had no children.
C.4: Walter Edwin Harcourt, born the 2 February 1874. Walter earned his livelihood as a seaman. The 1901 British census records him as a Petty Officer 1st class on board the ship Pactolns in Gibraltar. He was still single at that stage.
C.5: Edith Maude Harcourt, born in Union Hall the 24 May 1877, married Jonathan Woodcock Wright in 1911, died the 7 August 1912. In 1901 Edith was living her father in Rock Island, Crookhaven, West Cork. The 1911 census shows her living with her sister Emmaline and states she was not married. Shortly afterward she married a lighthouse keeper named Jonathan Wright, however she died only months after her marriage. Edith is buried with her father in Goleen. Her gravestone gives her name as Edith Maude Wright.
C.6: Robert Henry Harcourt, born in Goleen, West Cork the 28 May 1880, died in San Mateo County, CA the 21 January 1940, married Nettie Hough. Robert was a lecturer in Stanford University.
He had 2 children:
D.1: Shirley E. Harcourt, born 1912, died 1969 in San Francisco. Shirley never married.
D.2: Edith M. Harcourt, born 1913, married Ernie Keener, died 1994. Edith graduated from Stanford in 1934 and worked in San Francisco until 1942 when she became secretary to former U.S. President Herbert Hoover and his wife Lou Henry Hoover. When Mrs. Hoover died in 1944 Edith joined the US War Department and was assigned to General Douglas McArthur’s staff as one of his secretaries. She went with him to Manila and then on to Japan where she worked on the Japanese constitution. After Tokyo she went to Prague as the secretary at the Defence Attach office. In 1948 she was declared persona non grata and was then assigned to Stockholm. In 1951 she was assigned to Kabul, Afghanistan. After Kabul she went to Istanbul where in 1956 she married Ernie Keener, who was from Texas. The couple lived in Florida but travelled extensively. They had no children.
B.4: (2) Robert Bourne, born in 1847, died in San Francisco, CA the 5 April 1878.
He and his brother William both sailed and worked as stevedores.
B.5: (2) Richard Bourne, born 1850, baptised in Kilmacabea parish on 30 May 1850, married Josephine Haley (born 1850, her name was also spelt Healy) on the 1 July 1873 in Chicago, died the 23 December 1903. Richard emigrated to Chicago where he worked as a painter. The family tradition is that the son of John and Euphemia that settled in Chicago, with the children named below, was Archibald not Richard.
He had 4 children:
C.1: Euphemia Bourne, born 1874, died 13 June 1905, married Eustace De Leon on 29 November 1890.
C.2: John Bourne, born 1877, married (1) Ellen Kennedy in 1899 (Ellen died in 1901), (2) Elizabeth Mina Ostenreider in 1912 (Mina died in 1927).
C.3: Robert Bourne, born 1879, married Anna M Halek in 1902, died the 06 June 1936.
He had 6 children:
D.1: Joseph Bourne, born 1904.
D.2: Frances Bourne, born the 12 October 1905, died 1912.
D.3: Marie A Bourne, born 1906.
D.4: Margaret A Bourne, born 1909.
D.5: Robert Bourne, born the 1914, died 1918.
D.6: Andrew J Bourne, born the 13 August 1916, died 1979.
C.4: Archibald Bourne, born 1881, died the 23 October 1933, married Lillian Synders on the 5 October 1904. Archibald was an undertaker.
He had 2 children:
D.1: Archibald Bourne, born the 1 February 1907, died 1980, married (1) Helen Werner in 1928, (2) Evelyn Kathryn Kochli, the 30 March 1931.
He had 1 child:
E.1: (2) Archibald James Bourne
D.2: Henrietta Bourne, born the 10 February 1909.
B.6: (2) Martha Henrietta Bourne, born in March 1853, baptised in Kilmacabea parish. There is no tradition of a Martha within the family. It is probable that she died in early childhood.
B.7: (2) John Ellis Bourne, born in 1855 (baptised 29 September 1855), died in 1909, married (1) Hannah Coppinger, the 16 December 1876 (born 1852, daughter of Mark Coppinger and Mary Casey of Skibbereen, died 1884 after childbirth), (2) Mary Anne Casey, the 3 February 1885 in Kilcoe Church, Aughadown, West Cork (born in 1855, daughter of Dominic Casey and Mary Regan) John E. Bourne was a sea captain. He is recorded on the 1891 census of Wales as been the captain of the boat the “Problem” out of Skibbereen berthed in Pembroke Harbour. An article in the “Southern Star” newspaper of April 1901 mentions him as the captain of the boat the “Alfred and Emma”. The 1901 Irish census gives his occupation as a Naval Pensioner. At the time the family lived in Mardyke Street, Skibbereen.
In 1908 John emigrated from Ireland to the US. He died in Chicago on 31 December 1909 at the residence of his daughter Rose and is buried in Concord, N.H.
He had 7 children :
C.1: (1) Marcus Valentine Bourne, born in 1880, died in 1940, married Mary Ellen Collins the 3 September 1902. Marcus immigrated to the USA in the late 1890s. The 1920 census states the family lived in 165 Rumford Street, Concord, NH and that he worked for the Post Office. His stepmother Mary Anne Casey Bourne also lived with him after his fathers death. Mary Ellen was born in 1873 and died in 1956, daughter of Mike Collins and Margaret Casey.
He had 3 children :
D.1: John Ellis Bourne, born the 24 August 1907, died in Scranton, PA the 19 September 1992, married (1) Patricia Callanan, (2) Helen Nichols vonStorch.
John was a professor of child psychiatry at Scranton and Columbia Universities. When he retried he and his first wife Patricia moved to Schull, West Cork. After Patricia’s death John married an old friend and the couple returned to the USA. His second wife Helen had 3 children from an earlier marriage.
D.2: Hannah Euphemia (Effie) Bourne, born the 20 November 1903, died in Arlington, MA the 7 April 1998, married Joseph F. Donahue the 30 June 1930.
She had 3 children :
E.1: John Bourne Donahue.
E.2: Robert Mark Donahue, married Julie Halloran.
He had 4 children :
F.1: Robert Donahue.
F.2: Alexander Donahue.
F.3: Kara Donahue.
F.4: Marcia Donahue.
E.3: Mary Ellen Donahue.
D.3: Mary Florence Bourne.
C.2: (1) John Coppinger Bourne, born 1881, died in New York in 1916. John was a seaman and later a steeplejack and he died in an accident in NY.
C.2: (1) Rose Bourne, born 1883, died in Chicago in 8 June 1933, married John Moore in 1903.
She had 3 children :
D.1: Eileen Bourne, born 1901, died 1996.
D.2: Lora Moore, born 1904, married (1) William Clayton, (2) Harold Johnson, died 1987.
She had 2 children:
E.1: (1) Bonnie Rose Clayton married Ronald Edwards
She had 4 children:
F.1: Pattie Edwards.
F.2: Ronnie Edwards.
F.3: Lynn Edwards.
F.4: William Edwards.
E.2: (1) William Clayton.
D.3: Mary (Mamie) Moore.
C.4: (2) William Bourne, born 1886, married Annie Hayes the 27 August 1912. William was a blacksmith. He emigrated to Concord, NH
He had 1 child :
D.1: Mary Bourne born 1914, married Robert Roers the 5 April 1935.
C.5: (2) Richard Bourne, born 1887, married Mary Joyce the 7 October 1914. Emigrated to Concord, NH where the 1920 census shows him working as a truck driver.
He had 4 children:
D.1: Rose D Bourne, born 1915.
D.2: John A Bourne, born 1917.
D.3: Mary E Bourne, born 1918.
D.4: Richard Bourne, born 14 April 1920, died when he was just 18 days old.
C.6: (2) Robert Bourne, born 1889, married Mary Murphy in 1909. Bob and his wife Mollie worked for Skibbereen Urban Council and lived in High Street, Skibbereen. Bob was the last member of the Bourne family to live in West Cork.
C.7: (2) Alexander Bourne, born 1891, died 1915 in Concord, NH.
B.8: (2) Alexander Bourne, born 1859 (baptised 2 February 1859), married Helena Attridge from Castlehaven (daughter of James Attridge and Elizabeth Regan), died 8 June 1889. Alexander emigrated to East Orange, NJ, where he was a police officer. In the 1900 census his widow Helena’s occupation was given as a grocer.
He had 5 children:
C.1: Euphemia Bourne, born June 1879, died May 1969, married Harry C Mills in 1898.
She had 1 child :
D.1: Harry Mills, born 1903.
C.2: Mary Bourne, born 1885, married William Byrne. (Mary appears as Mary, Margaret and May in official records.)
She had 3 children :
D.1: Gordon Byrne, born 1906, died 2001. Gordon was ordinated was a Catholic priest on 21 May 1932 and worked in the diocese of Newark, NJ. During World War II he served as an army chaplain in North Africa and Italy as well as landing with the second wave at Omaha Beach on 6th June 1945.
D.2: Genevieve Byrne, born September 1908, married James Dante.
D.3: Donald H Byrne, born 7 August 1917, died 13 December 1987.
C.3: James Bourne, born 1884, married Catherine.
He had 2 children:
D.1: James Bourne, born 1907.
D.2.: John Bourne, born 1917.
C.4: John Archibald Bourne, born 1886, married Alice Donnelly (daughter of Thomas Donnelly and Bridget McCullough).
He had 3 children :
D.1: Alice Bourne, born 1908.
D.2: Iris Bourne, born 1909.
D.3: Phyllis Bourne, born 1918.
C.5: Genevieve Bourne, born May 1889, died Dec 1972, married Michael O’Malley.
She had 1 child:
D.1: John O’Malley, born 1914.
B.9: (2) Archibald Bourne, born in Union Hall the 1861 (Baptised 25 December 1861). Family tradition was that Archibald emigrated from Ireland to Chicago. However the details associated with him corresponds to the family of his brother Richard above. I can find no record for Archibald other than his baptism record in Castlehaven.
B.10: (2) Henrietta Bourne, born in Union Hall the 8 January 1865, died in San Francisco the 19 June 1925, married Thomas Kennedy, in 1884 in San Francisco, CA (born in 1856 in Scotland and died the 15 September 1936). Henrietta emigrated with her mother in 1883.
She had 5 children :
C.1: Andrew G Kennedy, born the 6 February 1885, died the 11 April 1918, married Margaret Lynch in San Rafael, CA (born in 1895 and died in 1939). Andrew was a fireman in San Francisco and he also worked on the Panama Canal where he contacted TB.
He had 1 child:
D.1: Joseph Thomas Kennedy, born the 8 May 1913, died the 8 January 1989, married Helen Lorraine Gracia, in 1946 in Santa Cruz, CA (died the 6 March 1998). Joseph served in the US Navy during World War 2.
He had 2 children :
E.1: Patricia Margaret Kennedy, married (1) Michael Allen Nichols, (2) Roger Dean Jewett.
E.2: Joseph Thomas Kennedy, married Patricia Riordan.
C.2: Euphemia (Effie) Kennedy, born the 28 January 1889, died the 1 June 1978, married Ludwig Wertheim.
She had 1 child :
D.1: Bernice Bourne Wertheim, born in 1911, married Adolph Grantz.
C.3: Alexander (Alick) Kennedy, born the 5 January 1893, died the 21 January 1972. Alick worked the US Postal Service.
C.4: Marguerite (Rita) Kennedy, born the 13 November 1899, died the 1 December 1977, married William Coyle.
C.5: Charles (Pop) Kennedy, born the 25 February 1901, died the 1 October 1971, married Diana. Charles was a labour leader, being president of the Musician Union up to the time of his death. He lived his entire life in San Francisco.
B.11: (2) Euphemia Bourne. Family lore says Euphemia emigrated to San Francisco. However I believe she did not exist and that the Euphemia in San Francisco was John Bourne’s wife Euphemia Ellis Bourne, who did emigrate to San Francisco and outlived her husband by 37 years.
B.12: (2) James Bourne. Family lore states that John and Euphemia had a son named James, but no other details were passed down. In 1870 a James Bourne, born in July 1842 joined the coastguards. However the place of birth is only given as Ireland, so I cannot be certain if this is our James.