The Hetherstons' Bridge
Roseann Lynch & Richard Hetherston
The Hetherstons lived in Riverstown, Killucan, County Westmeath, Ireland.
The marriage of Roseann Lynch and Richard Hetherston took place in Killucan on February 21, 1830. Witnesses to the marriage were John Boyhan and Lawrence Ennis.
In Riverstown where they lived, there is a bridge over the Royal Canal named after the Hetherstons. A local historian, Michael Geraghty, said it was the custom to name the bridge after the person whose land was taken. Today on maps it appears as the Hetherstown Bridge, but Michael said, “make no mistake”, it is named for the family. In the 1850s, the railway was built in the area and Mr. Geraghty speculated that the family received payment for their land and were able to emigrate.
The children of Roseann and Richard were: Mary (1830), Margaret ((1832), Andrew (1834), Thomas (1838), Michael (1839), Matthew (1841) and Ann (1844).
Richard appears in the Tithes in Riverstown (about 1826) but is gone from Riverstown by 1854 when the Griffiths was completed. In the U. S. Federal Census, several of the family members say they immigrated in 1853. This would agree with church records in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania.
Some of the family appear in St. Peter Church records in Allegheny City that later was annexed into the city of Pittsburgh.
Margaret Hetherston was married to Denis Buckley on 31st of January 1854; witnesses were Patrick Byrne and Mary Hetherston.
Mary Hetherston and Patrick Byrne were married on the 21st of February 1854.
Several of their children were baptized at St. Peter’s: Thomas, October, 1857; Bernard, July, 1859; Andrew, March, 1861. Their other children born in Minnesota were: William, Roseann, Matthew, Michael and Margaret.
Michael Hetherston’s daughter, Roseann, was baptized on December 13, 1863. Her mother was Alicia Morgan.
In 1857, Margaret Buckley and her first husband Denis and their daughters Mary and Betsey appeared in the Minnesota Territorial Census in Le Sueur County. They later had a son Daniel born to them.
On July 1, 1858, Richard Hetherston entered into a contract with Denis Buckley for 60 acres in Township 112N, Range 25W, Le Sueur County.
Denis died before the 5th of April 1861 when a petition is entered in probate court for Margaret Buckley’s request to be appointed administratix of his estate.
Richard Hetherston petitioned the court for a deed to the 60 acres. It was ordered in a hearing on the 7th of April 1862 that a deed be granted on May 5, 1862 in Le Sueur City.
Margaret was married again on 27th March 1864 to Thomas Flemming, the record of which is in the Church of St. Thomas, Jessenland, Sibley County, Minnesota. Margaret and Thomas had six children: Hanora married Thomas Danaher; James; Roseanna married Henry Haley; John married Julia Walsh; Margaret married Thomas McCarthy; Michael, Catherine married three times: 1)Murphy; 2)Noonan; 3)Coughlin.
Margaret died the 27th of March 1917 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Thomas Flemming had predeceased her on the 27th October 1899 in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Beside to Alicia Morgan who appears in the St. Peter records, Michael was married twice more. His second wife, Mary, maiden name unknown, died at the end December, 1884. His third wife was Mary Hamel Chapman. They married February 4, 1886. They had a daughter, Margaret Jane born September, 1888.
Michael was in the Le Sueur Tigers from August 19 to 27, 1862 as a citizen soldier. He fought in the Battle of New Ulm. One of the little mysteries of his life is a logistical one. He must have returned to Pennsylvania and fathered his daughter Annie in 1863. He appears here in the 1865 census, but no wife or child is with him. Annie appears in the 1870 census.
Michael moved to Superior, Wisconsin and died there in 1913. His wife, Mary Hamel Chapman Hetherston died in Proctor, Minnesota on February 14, 1920.
Thomas Hetherston was married to Mary Pickett at St. Martin’s Church, Belle Plaine on 22nd of June 1870. Their children were: Roseanna (1870); John (1872); Mary (1874) and Richard (1876). Thomas died March 2nd, 1903 and is buried in St. Thomas Cemetery, St. Thomas, Minnesota.
The biggest unsolved mystery about this family is what happened to Roseann Lynch Hetherston and her son Matthew. They disappeared from Minnesota records
after the death of Richard which occurred sometime in 1866-7.
O'Connell Doherty Burns Murphy Sullivan-Shea Sheehan-Whalen Hogan Galvin
