A Higgins Family Baptismal Story

 

          The following is a story about a Baptismal Gown told by Bob Higgins.

Not long after our mother Peg passed away in 2008, I came across an old Baptismal gown wrapped up in a platic bag in one of her dressers. In the bag was a note from my father (Tim)  which said that it was his baptismal gown and it was also worn by his father Patrick.  Since I knew my sister's Patsy & Mary had gone thru all of Mom's things I went and asked them about it.

They confirmed that they had seen it and that Mom had mentioned it to them years before. Well since I sort of became the family historian when my father Cy (or Timothy) passed away in 1986 I thought I should add some info about this baptismal gown to our family history.   So here is my father's note that started the story and some info about his father's (Patrick Higgins) baptism.

Now since Patrick was the youngest child of Timothy and Catherine Higgins. it may be possible that this baptismal garment might have previously been worn by some of his older siblings ( Mary, William, Ellen and Garrett ) who were all born in Rockport, MA. But we do know based on Cy's ( my father Timothy) note that the baptismal gown was worn by his father Patrick.  And as indicated in the Irish baptismal record ( above) Patrick was baptized in Springhill ( Glanmire/Cork) in 1877.

The family had just moved back to Ireland a few months before. It is speculated that this may have been due to advancing age of Patrick's grandfather Garrett ( a widower)  who lived in a section of Glanmire called Poulacurry. Garrett passed away according to his death certificate in Riverstown, Glanmire a few years later in 1885.    Per the family history, Timothy and Catherine moved the family to Blarney sometime prior to 1901 ( based on the 1901 Irish Census they were living at  Mangerton Terrace Blarney) .

So what does all of this have to do with the Baptismal gown ? Well it just so happens that we have a picture of Kitty Higgins ( the grand daughter of Timothy and Catherine) dressed in her Baptismal gown (which just so happens to be the same design as the gown worn by her first cousin Cy from Wakefield MA ). See the picture below.   Per her 1901 birth certificate she was born in Mackey's Cross, Clogheen, Cork. She was the daughter of William F Higgins and Julia McCarthy from Clogheen). William was the older brother of Patrick and Cy's uncle.  Just an FYI although we could not locate any baptismal record she always claimed to have been baptized in the Immaculate Conception church in Blarney (according to her nephew Liam Higgins who lived with his "Auntie Kitty" for a number of years in Donnybrook, Douglas as a young man).

 

 

 So we suspect that Baptismal garments laid tucked away from approx the 1920's until 2008 when they were rediscovered. Sometime in the later 2010's as the latest generations of Higgins' started families of there own, It was decided that it might be a good idea to share some small pieces of the garment with the nieces and nephews with the hope that they might pin the small memento on the infant's new baptismal garment just as a remembrance of the generations past.

And finally how old is the tradition? Well it goes back to at least the 1870's but could be older and hopefully it continues for many more generations. 

And the Story Continues .....