Surname Saturday - KIRBY

Huh, Saturday again already! Amazingly, we got yet another major storm here in the Northeast, what a nasty winter this has been! Although, not as bad as the ice storms we got every week for several weeks back in 1995 or 1996.

Of course, back then I was younger so maybe it seemed more significant. Snow storms don't stress me out the way they used to because I guess I don't have as much angst about how I'm going to get in to work. I just bring my laptop home and voila, work from home. What an awesome world we live in.

ANYWAY, here's my surname for this Saturday - KIRBY. I'm sticking with my mysterious theme, so this will be the 3rd week in a row of surnames I have that have been little buggers.

We're still in the state of New York for the KIRBY family, only this time we are over in Seneca County, in the town of Waterloo. That's where I have my furthest back reference to a Samuel KIRBY in the 1850 NY Federal Census.

Last week's posting on AKINS generated a lead for me when another genealogist commented and gave me a link to what she thought might be wills for relatives in Tompkins County, NY. And I think they are! I'll be ordering them shortly and will be looking for a way to pay it forward for someone else!

So here goes, my KIRBY ahnentafel:

1. Leah KLEYLEIN - Me!

3. Deborah DOMELLE - my Mom!

7. Ann MIX - my Grandma! She was born in Tompkins County, NY and spent her childhood years there. After marrying my grandfather (William DOMELLE), they moved around a bit.


15. Cornelia Elizabeth AKINS, born 23 Apr 1887 in Village of Lockwood, Tioga County, NY; died 24 Jan 1986 in Ithaca, Tompkins County, NY. She was married to William MIX, of Tompkins County, NY.


31. Hattie Elizabeth KIRBY, born 19 Mar 1866 in New York (likely in Seneca County); died 04 Jun 1963. She married John Francis AKINS in 1885.


63. Laura Lunett KIRBY, born 21 Mar 1849 in New York; died 31 Oct 1866. So here's the scoop on poor Laura: she died young (only 17 yrs old), 3 days after giving birth to her daughter Hattie (above). Family lore states that she died of a broken heart because....Hattie's father was Laura's sister's husband. Got that?

Laura's sister stayed married to the man and had more children with him after Laura's death, and even named a daughter born in 1868 after her sister. So would that REALLY have happened if her sister had slept with her husband and had a baby? I don't know, stranger things have happened. Sadly, the little Laura born in 1868 didn't live to see her 2nd birthday. Whatever the true situation, the fact is poor Laura died young, and I don't have any proof of Hattie's paternal parentage other than family lore.


126. Samuel KIRBY, born 22 Sep 1814 in New York; died 15 Oct 1894. He married Elucinda Gibbs, born 23 Dec 1820 in New York; died 06 Dec 1901.

I've located Samuel and Lucinda on the 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 NY Federal Census's - always in Waterloo, Seneca County. Beyond that, I've got nothing.

Interestingly, the 1880 census showed that Samuel and Lucinda both stated their father's were born in England and in 1870, it states that Lucinda's father was of foreign birth. Samuel and Lucinda both state that they were born in New York state. I haven't yet located immigration records to support this.



And that's it for the KIRBY family!