William Tyrrell, and the whole Tyrrell clan, should be as easy to research as the Buttles, the Cowdrys, the Princes and the Hines. But, despite my best efforts, they remain shrouded in mystery. Staying true to my #52ancestors quest, I will write about them but I don’t have a lot of answers.
My Great-great-grandmother Catherine Tyrrel married James Edwin Hine. Her parents were William L. Tyrrell and Lucy Charlotte Doane Tyrrell. Both of these families were active in the early settlement of Bradford County and the Tyrrell’s even have a hill named after them but William died at a young age, and Lucy remarried. But I am getting ahead of the story.
William Tyrrell was born around 1813, possibly in Bradford County but also possibly in Connecticut. On 8 November 1840 he married Lucy Charlotte Doane (25 January 1820-25 October 1887). They had five children:
- Catherine E. Tyrrell (1842-1868)
- Joseph Tyrrell (1844-1864)
- Jane Tyrrell (1847-?)
- Eliza Tyrrell (1848-1863)
- Seymour Tyrrell (1851-1917)
William Tyrrell died on 9 August 1852 and is buried in the Tyrrell Hill Cemetery. Lucy found herself with five children under ten years of age. William does not appear to have left a will and his $1000 worth of real estate (1850 Census) must have been held in trust for his children. Although the will index showed no William Tyrrell, I found an 1866 newspaper notice noting a partial account of C G Gridley guardian of Jennie and Seymour Tyrrell. The children do appear to have been split up amongst family as Catherine and Joseph are living with H C and Almira Tyrrell. Eliza and Seymour are living with Lucy and her second husband (a truly mixed family as Orinn Ross appears to have children from his first marriage, Lucy and Williams’s and then two new children oddly named Lucy and William).
Only two of William’s five children live beyond their twenties. Seymour stays in the Bradford County environs but Jane appears to have married a man named Camp and moved to the deep Midwest, eventually settling in Oklahoma.
There are other Tyrrells in the Bradford County area, but as I cannot find William’s parents, I have not been able to track his siblings. I will keep coming back to this branch but an examination of land and probate/guardianship records will probably get me a few more details. Interesting observation though: most of the family on my father’s side started off on the north side of the Susquehanna River in Bradford County.
Telling My Story 