Person in this family
Joseph Walsh
Born about December 1866; death not recorded
An unresolved Bayonne-area Walsh entry, reportedly husband of Anna Griffis; Dempsey collateral records expose a serious Joseph/John identity conflict. The Walsh–Griffith family shared a Mt. Olivet plot, but the undertaker’s entries disagree on whether the father/husband was John or Joseph. That conflict is too central to smooth over and may reflect a bad tree merge or an error in Anna T.’s unusual parent fields.
Partly proved
Joseph Walsh was reportedly born in New Jersey about 1866 and married Anna Griffis, but records conflict over whether he was Joseph or John.
Born at New Jersey
Birth: From our family tree - no record found yet
How is this person related?
Andrew John Leahey’s no relationship found in this archive
Gina D. Cacace’s no relationship found in this archive
Abigail Ann Leahey’s no relationship found in this archive
Marie C. Fitzgerald’s no relationship found in this archive
Kevin Leahey’s no relationship found in this archive
Worked out from the recorded parents and marriages. No sex is recorded for anyone in this archive, so the wording stays neutral.
Life
Joseph Walsh is a family-tree Bayonne-area family-tree entry, reportedly born in New Jersey about December 1866 and married to Anna Griffis. The tree names Anastasia and Patrick among their children, but the available collateral records expose a central conflict over his given name.
A funeral entry for Frances Theresa Coughlin, born in Bayonne on 14 July 1886, names her parents as “John Walsh/US (NJ) | Anna Griffiths/Wales.” Another entry describes a son with parents “John/US | Anna Griffiths/England.” Yet Anna T. Walsh’s funeral entry calls her the “Widow of Joseph Walsh” and gives “Joseph/US | Anna Griffith/Ire” in its parent fields. The changing forms Griffis, Griffith, and Griffiths, and the changing Wales, England, and Ireland descriptions, add further uncertainty.
The Walsh–Griffith family shared a plot at Mt. Olivet, including a reference to Block H, number 512. The records do not show whether John and Joseph were two men, a clerical error, or a bad family-tree merge.
How we know this: Conflicted: collateral funeral records support the family group but disagree on the husband or father’s given name. [1][2]
Family
Parents
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
- New Jersey
- Bayonne, Hudson County, New Jersey
- Syracuse, Onondaga County, New York
- County Cork, Ireland
- Ireland
- England
- France
- United States
- Wales
- 11 Cottage Street, Bayonne, Hudson County, New Jersey
- 319 Avenue C, Bayonne, Hudson County, New Jersey
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. 6 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
Born
NJ, USA
From our family tree - no record found yet
Daughter's life event
Daughter Frances Theresa Coughlin’s funeral entry says “John Walsh/US (NJ) | Anna Griffiths/Wales,” “Aged 55y,19d, Born US (Bayonne, NJ), DOB 7/14/1886, Married,” and burial at Mt. Olivet, Block H, no. 512. [1]
Proved by a record
What the records say
2 records transcribed.
Record exhibit
Dempsey 1937–1948
This old record gives information about the person or family named here.
Proved by a record
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
Dennis | Leahey ... 04/26/1907 | 11 Cottage St. ... HCCC | Aged 70y, born Ireland, Corker. | Ann | Leahey ... 09/19/1919 | 319 Ave. C ... John Galvin/Ire | Ellen Long/Ire ... Aged 70y, Born Ire, Widow of Dennis Leahey. | James | Leahey ... 04/10/1947 ... Dennis/Ire | Anna Galvin/Ire ... Aged 83y,1m,11d, Born US (Syracuse, NY). | Richard Dennis ... 07/13/1903 ... father Dennis/US ... mother Ellen/US ...Show the full recordHide the full recordFull record, about 200 words
Aged 2y,6m | Dennis ... 01/01/1914 ... father Dennis/US ... mother Ellen Reilly/US ... Aged 5y,1m,9d | Francis J. ... 12/07/1913 ... father Dennis/Ire ... mother Ann Rowlor/Ire | Michael ... 03/28/1938 ... father Dennis/Ire ... mother Ann Galvin/Ire ... Aged 54y,6m,8d | John Walsh/US (NJ) | Anna Griffiths/Wales | John Walsh/US (NJ) | Anna Griffiths/Wales | John Walsh/US (NJ) | Anna Griffiths/Wales, | Aged 55y,19d, Born US (Bayonne, NJ), DOB 7/14/1886, Married, | John/US | Anna Griffiths/England, | Born US (Bayonne, NJ), DOB 8/17, Single, Occupation laborer County Park, | Joseph/US | Anna Griffith/Ire, | Widow of Joseph Walsh, | Born England, resident of US 72y, | County Park | John Walsh/US (NJ) | Anna Griffiths/Wales, | John/US | Anna Griffiths/England, | Joseph/US | Anna Griffith/Ire,
Record exhibit
Dempsey 1914–1918
This old record gives information about the person or family named here.
Proved by a record
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
James | Leahey | ... | 06/01/1914 | 83 W 12th St. | ... | John/US | Margaret Mahoney/US | HCCC | Aged 28y, Born US, Married, Occupation train operator, Buried in Block N, Letter A, N. 20154. | Margaret | Leahey | ... | 05/20/1914 | 83 W 12th St. | ... | James/US | Barbara Brennan/US | HCCC | Aged 11m, Born US. | Hanorah | Hedley | ... | 12/04/1917 | 23 W 8th St. | ...Show the full recordHide the full recordFull record, about 250 words
| Dennis Leahey/Ire | Ann Galvin/Ire | HCCC | Aged 38y, Born US, Married, Ordered by John Hedley. | Block N, Letter A, N. 20154, | Blk-D Sec-A Gr-74 1B | Owen/Ire | Bridget Jones/Ire | Owen/Ire | Bridget Jones/Ire | James | Leahey | John/US | Margaret Mahoney/US | Aged 28y, Born US, Married, Occupation train operator, Buried in Block N, Letter A, N. 20154 | James/US | Barbara Brennan/US | James/US | Barbara Brennan/US | Aged 28y, Born US, Married, Occupation train operator | Aged 28y | Occupation train operator | James | Leahey | John/US | Margaret Mahoney/US | James | Leahey | ... | 06/01/1914 | 83 W 12th St. | ... | John/US | Margaret Mahoney/US | HCCC | Aged 28y, Born US, Married, Occupation train operator, Buried in Block N, Letter A, N. 20154. | Margaret | Leahey | ... | 05/20/1914 | 83 W 12th St. | ... | James/US | Barbara Brennan/US | HCCC | Aged 11m, Born US. | James | Leahey | ... | 06/01/1914 | 83 W 12th St. | ... | John/US | Margaret Mahoney/US | HCCC | Aged 28y, Born US, Married, Occupation train operator, Buried in Block N, Letter A, N. 20154. | Margaret | Leahey | ... | 05/20/1914 | 83 W 12th St. | ... | James/US | Barbara Brennan/US | HCCC | Aged 11m, Born US. | Margaret | Leahey | James/US | Barbara Brennan/US | Aged 11m, Born US | CHIL | June 10 - 1886 | Patrick Powers | Margaret | Leahey | James/US | Barbara Brennan/US
Historical context
These background articles explain the places, work, and events in this entry.
Bayonne and the Industrial Waterfront, 1870–1920
The Bayonne in these family records was a new city built around water, rails and heavy industry. Bayonne Township was formed only in 1861, uniting older settlements on Bergen Neck; it became a city in 1869. The…
What Sponsors and Witnesses Can Tell Us
Catholic registers often preserve the people standing just outside a family photograph. A baptism normally names the child, parents, date and sponsors or godparents; a marriage normally names the couple and wit…
Reading Irish Civil Registration
The year 1864 is the dividing line in this family’s Irish paper trail. Civil registration began in 1845 for non-Catholic and civil marriages, but from 1 January 1864 the law required registration of all births,…
Farmers and Labourers in North Cork
Two words in the Cork records—“farmer” and “labourer”—describe different positions in the same rural economy. When John Fitzgerald married Margaret Fraher at Kildorrery in 1870, the register called John, his fa…
The Irish Road to Ipswich, Queensland
Most branches on this site point toward New York or New Jersey. The Hickey–McGreevy–McGuire cluster points in the opposite direction, to Ipswich, Queensland. The Australian evidence is uneven: cemetery records …
A Train Operator in Bayonne, 1914
James D. Leahey’s funeral entry records a compact working life: married, American-born, age twenty-eight, living at 83 West 12th Street in Bayonne, occupation “train operator.” He died on 1 June 1914, twelve da…
What we still don't know
- Whether the family patriarch was John Walsh, Joseph Walsh, or two different men
- His exact birth and death dates
- His parents, occupation, and residences
- Whether Anastasia and Patrick belonged to this same household
- What the Mt. Olivet lot ledger says about the family
- Obtain Mt. Olivet lot H-512 records, Anna T. Walsh’s 1945 death certificate, and Frances Coughlin’s birth/marriage records; they should identify whether the patriarch was John, Joseph, or two men.