Patrick Sherlock

Great Great Grandpa Patrick Sherlock

My maternal grandmother's grandfather was Patrick Sherlock. He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in approximately 1838.  On the marriage record of Patrick's brother, James, their father's name is given as Patrick and his  occupation is brass moulder.

Patrick (as well as brother James), got into the print trade. Patrick is listed as a printer in Belfast Street Directories (accessed via http://www.lennonwylie.co.uk/) through the late 1800s and early 1900s in various locations. I do not know if he had his own business or worked elsewhere. I also found addresses given in children's birth announcements in newspapers, and in censuses. Various addresses where he and/or the family lived were:

1862 - Hill Street

1869 - 9 White Street, Short Strand

1872 - 17 Thompson Street

1877 - 19 Thompson Street

1880 - 36 Thompson Street

1901 - 31 Creadlin Street

1911 - 98 Albertbridge Road

1925 - 47 Thompson Street

1941 - 6 Strathmore Park. (He died at this location.

(Map of Thompson Street, Belfast. It's two blocks north of Albertbridge Road. It no longer exists.

Thank you cousin Gareth MacAllister for the map.)

When my mother (Maria Margaret "Peggy" Kilgariff McLaughlin), his great granddaughter, visited Ireland in 1935 as a child, Patrick told her he had lived in American for a time, but that he had to return to Ireland because he'd been a 'bad boy' there. 

He married Mary Canning on January 30, 1860 in St. Malachy's Catholic Church on Alfred Street in Belfast. Their witnesses were Patrick Millar and Ann Hanna. 

(Close up snip of marriage register of Patrick and Mary Canning)

(Mary Canning Sherlock)

They had 12 children, from 1861 through 1883. It looks like the oldest girl and boy were named after Patrick's wife's parents, John and Catherine (McGley) Canning.

1) Catherine "Kate", 12 May 1861--9 April 1944 (Brooklyn, NY)

(Catherine "Kate" Sherlock McCann)

2) Margaret Ann, 19 September 1862--d. before 1871)

3) John Philip, 25 December 1863--?

(This is quite a big gap between babies.)

4) James, 10 January 1869--21 January 1869

5) James "Jimmy" Arthur, 8 April 1870--7 August 1870 (Nassau County, NY)

6)  Margaret, born c. 1871-1921

7) Mary Elizabeth, 6 February 1872--1 September 1874

8) Christina "Teenie", 25 December 1873--13 April 1957 (Belfast)

(Christina "Teenie" Sherlock Browne. Photo taken at Coney Island, Brooklyn, NY in the early 1900s)

9) Mary "Minnie" Elizabeth, 25 February 1876--2 May 1961 (Belfast)

(Mary "Minnie" Elizabeth Sherlock McCann, Patrick Sherlock, Christina "Teenie" Sherlock Browne,  & ??

This picture was taken in 1935 when Kate & Joseph McCann and Pearl McCann Kilgariff & Peggy Kilgariff visited Belfast, Ireland)

10) William "Willie" John Canning, 28 July 1877--1907

11) Robert "Magill", 8 July 1881--7 November 1882

12) Robert "Bob" Magill, 9 March 1883--died in New York. 

(Robert "Bob" Magill Sherlock, taken 1953, Brooklyn, NY)

Patrick and his wife were in the 1901 Irish Census. They lived at 31 Creadlin Avenue. He listed his occupation as letterpress printer. Still living with them at home were Margaret (38), Christina (25), William (23), and Robert (18).  

In the 1911 Census only Margaret (40) and Robert (29) are listed as still living at home. Interestingly, Robert is married, yet still living at home. 

In 1935 my great grandparents, Catherine (Sherlock) & Joseph McCann, their daughter, my grandmother, Margaret "Pearl" (McCann) Kilgariff, and her daughter, my mom,  Peggy Kilgariff visited Ireland to see Patrick and other family members. (See a picture, above) It was, ostensibly, for his 100th birthday. However, birth years from then are to be taken lightly. Pearl took a bit of home movie footage of that visit. Unfortunately, by the time it was converted to DVD, it had greatly deteriorated. But at minute 00:18 of the movie, you can see Patrick Sherlock with the big mustache. 

When he died in 1941, his age was supposedly 103. I have found in different newspaper archives an AP newspaper notice from late February/early March 1941 that he had been the oldest living printer in the world

(Snip that my grandmother saved from a newspaper. I have since found out the notice was in various newspapers across the U.S. the last few days of February/early March of 1941. According to the cemetery monument he died February 15th, 1941.) 

Thanks to DNA cousin Gareth MacAllister of Belfast, here's a picture of a common monument at Milltown Cemetery, where many of the Sherlocks are buried. 

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