Person in this family
Catherine Griffis
about 1858 – 11 October 1917
Catherine Griffis was born in England about 1859 — one of very few people in this archive born there — and married Timothy Lynch. She died on 11 October 1917 at 16 West 21st Street, Bayonne, already a widow. The undertakers' book gives her parents as John Griffith and Anna Shannon, both born in Ireland. Her married daughter Catherine died at the same address a year and a day after her.
Probable
Catherine Griffis was recorded with Timothy Lynch as the mother of daughters baptized in Bayonne from 1884 to 1891.
Born at England
Recorded as: Catherine Griffin, Catherine Griffiths
Birth: From our family tree - no record found yet
Death: From our family tree - no record found yet
How is this person related?
Andrew John Leahey’s great-great-grandparent
Gina D. Cacace’s spouse's great-great-grandparent (by marriage)
Abigail Ann Leahey’s great-great-great-grandparent
Marie C. Fitzgerald’s spouse's great-grandparent (by marriage)
Kevin Leahey’s great-grandparent
Worked out from the recorded parents and marriages. No sex is recorded for anyone in this archive, so the wording stays neutral.
How this person is related to Andrew:
Catherine Griffis is your 2× great-grandparent.
Life
Catherine Griffis was recorded with Timothy Lynch as the mother of Mary, Margaret, and Catherine Lynch; our family tree identifies the pair as spouses. Mary's 1884 baptism names her parents as "Timothy" and "Catherine Griffis." The later entries for Margaret and Catherine use "Cath. Griffin," showing a second contemporary spelling of her surname.
Mary was born on 18 September 1884 and baptized ten days later. Margaret's entry records birth on 7 March 1887 and baptism on 13 March; Catherine's records birth on 9 December 1890 and baptism on 18 January 1891. These records establish Catherine's family but say nothing about her own age or birthplace.
A 1917 funeral entry for a Catherine Lynch describes an English-born widow, aged 58, whose parents were John Griffith and Anna Shannon. That woman could be relevant, but this archive does not prove that she was Timothy Lynch's wife. Catherine's own birth, marriage, and death therefore remain unsettled.
How we know this: Three baptismal records document Catherine as a mother, but her own identity and vital events are not yet proved. [1][2][3][4]
Family
Spouse
Children
See this family in the family treeWhere they lived
Use the place list first. The map below is optional.
Places listed on this page
- England
- Bayonne, Hudson County, New Jersey
- Mount Olivet Cemetery, Bayonne Cemetery or burial place
- New Jersey
- Mount Olivet Cemetery, Maspeth, Queens, New York Cemetery or burial place
- United States
The map could not load. The complete place list is above it.
The pins show approximate places. The line only joins them in time order; it does not prove the route travelled. 3 of the places listed above are recorded only as a county or country, so they are not pinned. Cemetery and burial places have red pins.
Timeline
Died at 16 West 21st Street, Bayonne
Aged 58, born England, and entered as a widow — which is the archive's only evidence that Timothy Lynch was dead by 1917. Buried at Mount Olivet. An age of 58 on 11 October 1917 puts her birth between 12 October 1858 and 11 October 1859. [3]
Proved by a record
Her daughter dies at the same address, a year and a day later
Catherine A. Asendorf, 28, married, born in the United States, of 16 West 21st Street — the house her mother had died in twelve months and a day earlier. October 1918 was the worst month of the influenza pandemic in New Jersey, and a married woman of twenty-eight is exactly who it killed, but the funeral book gives no cause of death and this archive is not going to supply one. Her row is here because it names her parents, and in doing so identifies her mother. [4]
Proved by a record
What the records say
4 records transcribed.
Record exhibit
Catherine Lynch, New Jersey Death Index, October 1917, Bayonne
An index is a list that points to where the full record can be found.
Partly proved
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
New Jersey, Death Index, 1901-1903; 1916-1929: Catherine Lynch, death October 1917, Bayonne, Hudson, New Jersey.
Record exhibit
Catherine Lynch burial, Mount Olivet Cemetery, Newark, 14 October 1917
This old record gives information about the person or family named here.
Partly proved
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
New Jersey, Newark, Mount Olivet Cemetery Records: Catherine Lynch, age 58, born about 1859, buried 14 October 1917.
Record exhibit
Dempsey funeral home register — Catherine Lynch, 11 October 1917, 16 West 21st Street, Bayonne
This old record gives information about the person or family named here.
Partly proved
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
Catherine | Lynch | L520 | 10/11/1917 | 16 W 21st St. | John Griffith/Ire | Anna Shannon/Ire | Mt. Olivet | Aged 58y, Born England, Widow.
Record exhibit
Dempsey funeral home register — Catherine A. Asendorf, 12 October 1918, 16 West 21st Street, Bayonne
This old record gives information about the person or family named here.
Partly proved
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
Catherine A. | Asendorf | 10/12/1918 | 16 W 21st St. | Timothy Lynch/England | Catherine Griffin/England | Aged 28y, Born US, Married.
Historical context
These background articles explain the places, work, and events in this entry.
What we still don't know
- Her birth date and birthplace
- Her parents
- Her marriage date and place
- Whether the Catherine Lynch recorded in 1917 was this woman
- Her death date and burial place
- Whether this ID is fully identical to the Catherine Griffis entry
- Her birth date, birthplace, and parents
- Whether the 1917 Catherine Lynch funeral entry belongs to her
- [UPGRADED — THE DAUGHTER'S ROW NAMES THE HUSBAND] This page used to say that the October 1917 death index entry and the Mount Olivet burial were candidates because "neither record names a husband or a parent". That is no longer the position. The Dempsey funeral book holds two rows from the same house at 16 West 21st Street: hers, and her daughter Catherine A. Asendorf's a year later, which names the parents as Timothy Lynch and Catherine Griffin. The shared address plus the named husband is a far better identification than either candidate record on its own.
- [HER PARENTS ARE NAMED AND NOT YET PEOPLE] John Griffith and Anna Shannon, both born in Ireland, per her funeral row. They have deliberately not been added to the archive yet: the same book's parent fields were found to be anomalous in Anna Griffis's row, so one derivative naming is not enough to create two ancestors. A death certificate or a marriage record would be.
- [TWO ENGLISH-BORN GRIFFITH WOMEN IN THE SAME TOWN] Anna Griffis, who died in Bayonne in 1945, was also born in England and her funeral row also gives an Irish-born mother with the Griffith surname. Whether the two women were sisters is not established and has not been tested.
- Mount Olivet is a trap in this archive: the burial candidate names Mount Olivet Newark while Anna Griffis's row names Mount Olivet Elizabeth. They are different cemeteries and neither should be assumed.
References
- [1] Catherine Lynch, New Jersey Death Index, October 1917, BayonneBack to citation 1
- [2] Catherine Lynch burial, Mount Olivet Cemetery, Newark, 14 October 1917Back to citation 2
- [3] Dempsey funeral home register — Catherine Lynch, 11 October 1917, 16 West 21st Street, BayonneBack to citation 3a Back to citation 3b
- [4] Dempsey funeral home register — Catherine A. Asendorf, 12 October 1918, 16 West 21st Street, BayonneBack to citation 4a Back to citation 4b