The Timmins Family History
by Joe Timmins
The Timmins Name
Livingstone in his The Fermanagh Story has this
to say: Tummins (O’Tomain): O’Donovan mentions Tomons as being on of the principal families around Enniskillen
in 1834. The family was also common in the Clones area. The Annals of Ulster mention the death of Aech (Hugh) O’Tumain
in 1485. There are about 16 tummon voters in Fermanagh today. (1969) Tullyhommon (this is a fermanagh townland) is Tulach
Ui Thiomain, “the hill of Timmons.”
There are approximately 886 Timmins households in the United States, totaling over
2600 people. There are Timmins residing in 46 of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Texas has the most Timmins households
with 87, Wisconsin 8, Minnesota 10 and Iowa 43. (1985 statistics)
John Timmins-The Patriarch of the 2 Known Branches
At
the turn of the 19th Century, Napoleon had just seized power in France and George Washington had been dead less than a month.
In 1801, Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated as 3rd President of the U.S. and John Timmins was born in Ireland, presumably in
County Monaghan near Clones. 2 (SEE APPENDIX 1 & 2) Since in 1834, 81% of the Irish people were Catholic, it is assumed
that John Timmins was Catholic. Even though Catholics were in the Majority, the English government discriminated against them
in favor of the Church of Ireland. In 1703, the Penal Laws were enacted, forbidding Catholics to keep registers. The laws
were repealed in 1829, so most Catholic records commence in the early 19th century. Thus, John Timmins’ actual birth
records may be hard to find in Ireland as would be any record of his parent’s marriage, birth records of his brothers
and sisters or possibly even birth records of his children. Also, unless John Timmins or his parents were landholders as opposed
to cottiers or under tenants, then the chances are that their names never appeared in the official record or even the Tithe
Applotment books. Thus, discovering family roots back another generation will certainly pose problems.
While mention of John Timmins in the public record in Ireland is unlikely, his son James, in Civil War
Documents, claimed to have been born near Clones County Monaghan. Since Irish peasants were not a very mobile group, we will
assume that Anne McCarney Timmins and John Timmins were also born in or near Clones.
What was Clones like in the early
1800’s? This account appears in Peader Livingston’s book, The Monaghan Story . “Coote describes the town
in 1801, ‘The market place is a triangular form and has an indifferent market house. There are two water-pumps in the
center of the market place, lately sunk for the benefit of the inhabitants. At the upper end of the market place stands
the church which has a neat steeple and contiguous to it is the parsonage. The houses in the town are tolerable but mostly
thatched. Here is an old market cross, erected on a flight of steps, of antique appearance.’” “Pigot’s
Directory for 1824 tell us that the town had a population of nearly 2500 with a weekly Thursday market and a sale the last
Thursday of each month. …Finger posts, showing the distances to other towns were erected in Clones in 1800 at a cost
of 5 pounds. The town had no fewer than 12 schools in 1824….Peter McCarney, (Our relative?) a Catholic, earned 12 pounds
teaching a Protestant and 16 Catholics in a kitchen.” Religious felling ran high in Clones which was the scene of many
riots in the 1820’s and 1830’s “Clones took the work of temperance fairly seriously and in 1830, coffee
shops were set up to provide counter-attractions to the public house,” (pubs). The coffee house project was soon abandoned.
It is somewhat ironic that Anne McCarney Timmins escaped death in that epidemic, only to be felled by cholera when she got
to America but before she reached her family in Wisconsin. But we’re getting ahead of our story.
While tracing Timmins roots back to the 18th century may be difficult, the 19th and 20th centuries yield more
information. Anne Timmins Sherry, a daughter of John Timmins provided much of this little known information to her grand niece,
Irene Timmins Kuepper before Anne’s death on May 12, 1938 in Benton, WI, at the age of 90+ (42 of those 90+ years she
was a widow.) Anne told of her mother, Anne McCarney Timmins, her grandfather Tom McCarney and of her great grandfather, Pat
McCarney. (SEE APPENDIX 3) She told of how her father, John Timmins, came across to America with brother Pat in approximately
1847-49, in order to earn some money. Then, the rest of John’s family could come to Wisconsin.
The Great Famine
Why did John Timmins and his brother Patrick decide to come at this particular time? And exactly when
did they come and where did they debark once in the U.S.? The answer to those questions and many others can only be guessed
at but some of the answers lie in what follows.
Most Irish emigration occurred in the spring and early summer, so the appearance of the potato blight
in late July of 1845 had relatively little impact on that year’s exodus to foreign shores. However, by this time, according
to Anne Sherry Timmins, John Timmns and his wife Anne McCarney Timmins had a very large family numbering 12 children. If they
were like many Irish tenant farmers of the time, (and we are making the assumption that they were both farmers and tenants)
they relied heavily on the potato for all daily meals. How would they feed that large family if the potato blight continued?
John Timmins and brother Pat might well have started planning for the day when they would leave for the U.S. and send
for the rest of the family later. Almost 75,000 Irish, more than in any prior season, emigrated in 1845, despite discouraging
reports of unemployment and nativism overseas. However, the total failure of the 1846 potato crop had immediate repercussions
and by year’s end nearly 106,000 persons left Ireland. How could John Timmins feed his large family and also find the
money for a voyage to the U.S. under these difficult circumstances? And how could he even be contemplating leaving his family
at such a perilous time? Already thousands were dying from the famine which was engulfing Ireland.
By 1847, emigration assumed the character of panicked exodus, a headlong flight of refuges. Thousands
risked the perils of a winter voyage and many embarked without adequate provisions. In this year alone, departures doubled
at an all time high of 214,000 persons running away from fever and disease and hunger, with money sparely sufficient to pay
passage and for food for the voyage. Were John Timmins and brother Patrick now beginning to lay in supplies or saving money
both for feeding the family they would leave behind and for the voyage (costing 2 to 5 pounds each) in a dreaded “coffin
ship” which lay ahead.
By 1847-48 rural Ireland was in a state of social and moral collapse, and it is hardly surprising that
some Catholic peasants responded to proselytizer’s offer of food and spiritual assistance to remake the structure of
their dying world. Protestant missionaries with promises of “soup” converted many Catholics who were then forever
referred to as “soupers” by the Catholic faithful. At one time, those emigrating from Ireland were treated to
a kind of “wake,” that uniquely Irish way of sending off the dead. During the “Great Famine,” even
the wakes for the dead were discontinued because of apathy and fear of contagion, and funerals, when held at all were sparsely
attended. “Stories are told of 30 funerals passing a certain cross-roads in the course of couple of hours. Stories are
also told of starving individuals, rushing into a house, seizing something from the fire and running away with it; of course
corpses found lying on the roadside or around the hedges.” How many died? One historian estimates that between 1.1 and
1.5 million persons died of starvation or famine-related disease. The potato blight was unavoidable, but the Great Famine
was largely the result of Ireland’s colonial status and grossly inequitable social system. Under represented and outnumbered
at Westminster. Irish M Ps could only beg relief from English ministers who often knew little and cared less about Ireland’s
condition. An Irish legislature would surely have been more responsive to its constituents distress. The continued exportation
of Ireland’s grain, cattle, and other foodstuffs to feed British markets while the Irish perished from hunger was an
especially poignant example of Ireland’s political and economic subservience British interest. The British government
did set up a scientific commission to study the famine. Apparently the resulting report of findings formed a rather large
book on wag remarked that had the report been eatable, the Famine would have been prevented.
At some point in all this misery, (1848-49) John and Pat Timmins decided they must leave Ireland for
the U.S. so as to earn the money it would take to send for John’s wife and children. As of yet, the ship’s passenger
list telling of the date and place of John and Pat’s departure has not been found. However, John’s daughter Anne
Sherry Timmins told of her father and uncle Pat’s coming to Wisconsin so they could work in the lead mines and send
for the family with their earnings. As on historian put it, “ A large proportion of Famine immigrants – evicted
farmers, cottiers, laborers – financed departures with remittance which now poured into Ireland from relatives in North
America. In the early 1850’s many emigrants were wives and children, siblings and aged parents, who had been left behind
with neighbors or in workhouses when impoverished families had been able to finance more than one or two initial departures,
usually of their strongest male members deemed most likely to survive and succeed overseas. Tradition has it that many form
the west of County Monaghan around the Clones area headed for Derry on the north coast of Ireland to emigrate. What was the
scene in Ireland prior to the departure of families for America? We are told that a custom peculiar to the Irish grew up around
these leave takings. It was known as an “American wake,” or a “living wake.” The choice of name is
significant since Catholic countrymen often regarded emigration as death’s equivalent, a final breaking of earthly ties.
The “American wakes” resembled the traditional deathwatches in their outward characteristics as well as in their
symbolic significance. Both were held to gather together relatives and neighbors to honor the “departed,” to share
and assuage the grief of the bereaved, and to express at once communal sorrow and demoralizing disruptions. John Timmins and
Anne McCarney Timmins were about 50 years old when it came their time to leave. Their parents may well have been still living,
as surely were some brothers and sisters. Did the Timmins household host an “American Wake?” Or since there were
two departures, 1st John and brother Pat, and then a year later, Anne and the children, maybe 2 “living wakes.”
These wakes lasted from sundown to sunup with food and drink, dancing by the young folks to pipes, fiddles, flutes or melodeons.
Between dances, the guests cried, san songs. (see appendix?) told stories and drank the night away. In short, despite the
dancing and drinking, the sad and angry ballads expressed the essence of the “American wake” experience. Most
songs of this genre emphasized that “Poor Pat MUST emigrate, “that young Irish men and women were all in the words
of one emigrant composer, “forced to rove abroad far from Shamrock shore, and leave the land which gave me birth, and
her whom I adore.” The villain in all of this was usually a cruel landlord/and or the British government. Irish immigrants
generally regarded themselves as exiles. And thus, John and Pat were the 1 st of the Timmins “exiles.”
John and Pat survived the voyage but no further record of Pat can be found. Once the money was earned
to send for John’s family, did Pat, a miner, succumb to the temptation of the 49er’s gold in California and go
west? The 1850 Federal Census for the town of New Diggins lists our John Timmins, a miner, living in the household of Terrance
and Catherine Mc Dermot. Also, that same 1850 census recorded more than 3000 Irishmen in the three most important lead mining
counties, those being Lafayette County, especially in the towns of Benton and New Diggins, and Willow Springs and Shullsburg.
Shullsburg later incorporated two other obvious Irish settlements, Irish Diggins and Dublin.
Most of the counties in Ireland had contributed to Irish emigration to southwestern Wisconsin with many
from County Monaghan lost 29 % of its population to emigration to say nothing of the thousands who died there during the Great
Famine. From Ireland as a whole, from 1845 to 1855, 1.5 million are thought to have emigrated to the U.S., with another 340,000
going to Canada, and 250,000 going to Great Britain. In all, over 2.1 million Irish, about one-fourth of the island’s
pre-Famine population, went overseas.
The Voyage in a Coffin Ship
What was the voyage to America like for John and Pat? We’ll probably never know. However, advertisements
in Irish newspapers told of ships going directly to New Orleans, the highway to the far west in America, where passengers
could connect with steamboats up the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers to the rich districts of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Missouri.
This is the route chosen by the Timmins Clan. John’s Family is believed to have arrived in the U.S. at the port
of New Orleans sometime in 1851. What was the 4-6 week voyage like for Anne McCarney Timmins and her 12 children? Was their
voyage on a “coffin ship?” It is very likely that some of the children died from famine or famine related diseases
before they left Ireland and maybe more died on the voyage and were buried at sea. To quote from Anne Sherry’s obituary,
“…upon arriving in New Orleans, her mother and several of her family contracted cholera and died.”
Kathryn, Patrick and Terrence were 3 names Anne remembered along with one set of male twins and one set of female twins. However,
Irene Timmins Kuepper in a short biography of her great aunt Sherry wrote after an interview with Anne, “John’s
wife died when they got into Galena, IL, with the disease cholera.”
The Timmins Family in Wisconsin
Anne Timmins Sherry, our source of information, was about 4 years old during the Atlantic crossing, her brother
James 12, her brother John Francis 9, and her sister Mary 15. The 1860 Census does contain the first known official record
of John Timmins’ family being in Wisconsin. The 1860 Census also tells us that Mary 25 and Anne 14, were still at home,
as was James 22, who worked as a smelter and Johnny 19 who worked as a day laborer. As in the 1850 Census, John Timmins is
listed as a miner. The last known public or private reference to Mary Timmins is this 1960 Census. Did she marry , move or
die? She along with her uncle Patrick can be dubbed “the lost Timmin’s”
The last 2 references to John Timmins that we know of are his listing in the 1880 Federal Census as a
laborer. , age 79 and then the record of his death. He died February 3, 1982 at the age of 91 and is buried at the St Patricks
Cemetery in Benton, Wisconsin. His death notice in the “Cuba City News Herald” read as follows, “John Timmins
died February 3, age 92 years. Mr. Timmins was about the oldest person in this part of the country and died of extreme old
age. ‘Once a man and twice a child’ was truly vindicated in his case as he was reduced to the stature of a mere
boy.”
Since further records of Patrick and Mary Timmins have not been found, and since Anne Timmins Sherry
and her husband John Sherry had no children, James and John Francis Timmins provide the 2 branches of the family tree which
can be pursued. Their marriages and their Civil War service are the next part of the Timmins Family story .
The Timmins Brothers in the Civil War
On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces fired on Ft. Sumter, a federal fort in Charleston, S.C. harbor,
and the Civil War began. James Timmins was 23 and John Francis Timmins was 20 at the time. They were both good candidates
for cannon fodder. It can also be assumed that both lads were courting at the time because in less than 15 months James was
married and less than 5 ½ years, John Francis was married, decisions that Irish lads have been known to take many years to
arrive at. James married Elizabeth Sweeney on June 29, 1862 at St Patrick’s Church in Benton , Wisconsin. The reverend
Samuel Mazzuechelli officiated. (Mary McMahon, John Francis Timmins’ future wife was a witness.)
On August 22, 1862, James’ younger brother John Francis joined Company B of the 90th Illinois Infantry,
more popularly known as the Irish Legion. What prompted this rush of patriotism can only be guessed at, but undocumented family
tradition holds that John Francis got roaring drunk on a jaunt down to Galena and awoke to find himself in the Union Army.
His unit was one of the many formed in the summer of 1862, following Lincoln’s call for 300,000 volunteers after Union
General McClellan failed to take Richmond. Other Companies of the 90th can from these Illinois Counties: 4 from Cook, 2 form
Will and one each from Winnebago, Boone, LaSalle and Jo Davies. Company B of the 90th enlistment record states the following:
Height 5 ft 8 inches; complexion, fair, color of eyes, gray: color of hair, brown; that his occupation was smelter and that
he was born July 15, 1840 (1841) in Ireland. Service in either the Union or Confederate Army was not a first priority for
may Irish lads. Unless they got into an all Irish unit with Irish officers, may found their treatment in the army little better
than it was in civilian life where discrimination against the foreign born was common in the 1850’s and 1860’s
. In fact, anti-Irish prejudice remained blatant even in wartime, manifested in the military draft’s inequitable application
to working-class Irish wards in big cities, in the mistreatment of Irish-American conscripts and soldiers, and – some
Irishmen felt – in the unnecessary if not intentional, waste of Irish regiments in hopeless combat
Situations. Often,
an Irish lad in one regiment would beg an officer in an all Irish regiment to get him transferred where, “I can be among
my own race and people.” By 1863 Irish war spirit was dead.
This was the hay day of the Know Nothing Party and nativism. When the draft was instituted in 1862,
many recent immigrants found that they were being forced into what in many instances was a poor man’s war since the
wealthy could often buy a substitute for $300. The Catholic hierarchy of Wisconsin expressed their horror that the men of
Europe should be used as cannon fodder in an abolitionist war. They stated that under the edict of Lincoln, “…the
German and Irish must be annihilated, to make room for the Negro.
However, despite this anti-war sentiment, the 90th Illinois or Irish legion was formed at the urging of
the Rev. D. Dunne, Catholic Vicar General of the Diocese of Chicago. He wanted to support his adopted country which he deeply
loved but he also wanted to disprove the charge, sometimes made, that the Irish Catholic element was disloyal. The commander
of this unit had to be Catholic and Irish or of Irish descent. Col. Timothy O’Meara, a native of County Tipperary, Ireland
fit the bill. For what reason did John Francis come to Galena on that summer day in 1862. Whether it was to party or be a
patriot, he became one of the “boys in blue.”
The 90th Illinois Infantry was made up of 10 Companies – Companies A-J. They assembled outside Chicago
and the regiment historian wonders how they were able to keep 1000 restive Irishmen in check. Many were said to have deserted,
and an officer had to be sent to the city everyday to hunt up the missing ones. A portion of their camp buildings were burnt
on the eve of their departure. Could the Civil War be won with such as these? As the Irish Legion broke camp on November 27,
1862 and headed for the front, John Francis Timmins must of have wondered what he’d gotten himself into. The 90th
Illinois proceeded by train and river steamer from Illinois through Kentucky, Tennessee and into Mississippi, mainly in support
of Grants eventual siege of Vicksburg. Their first real taste of battle came at the hands of a force 7 times their size and
is remembered as the celebrated raid by the dashing Confederate General Van Dorne. He struck the Union lines at holly Springs,
Mississippi on the 19th and 20th of December, 1862. He captured the town and nearly all the garrison, destroying the accumulated
government stores, the depot, round house and rolling stock. Union supplies lost were valued at 2 ½ million dollars. It was
at this point that Van Dorne’s army, bent on the destruction of railroad bridges east of Holly Springs, came into contact
with elements of the Union Army which contained the Irish Legion. This group in general and John Francis Timmins’ in
particular had never faced the music of flying bullets and the prospects for a successful defense looked rather slim. Colonel
O’Meara of the 90th was invited by Van Dorne to surrender but he declined, assuring the enemy that he’d hold the
place as long as an Irishman lived to defend it. And defend it they did, repulsing 3 vigorous attacks and subsequently the
90th received the public thanks of general Grant and a splendid national flag and all this after only 20 days in the field.
John Francis Timmins’ thoughts about these auspicious events were not recorded.
The 90th had garrison assignments
for the next 6 months in northern Mississippi and southwestern Tennessee. Then in June of 1863, the 90th was ordered south
to Vicksburg by way of Memphis, Tennessee and then via the Mississippi River on the steamer G.W. Graham. Memphis has a large
Irish community and the entire city was violently secessionist. Word was received that the secesh Irish planned to attack
the Irish Legion as it marched through the city. Some counseled an alternative route. But better counsels prevailed. It was
not for he 90th, who had met and scattered the hosts of Van Dorne, to turn aside for brick-bats and shillalahs in the hands
of their own countrymen. The Irish Legion’s march through the city was grand and gleaming. Spit and polish was everywhere
and all the officers wore green plumes in their hats. The parade route was crowded by those expecting excitement. At first,
a few hisses and groans were heard. The band struck up “St. Patricks Day” followed by “Gary Owen”
and the effect was magical. Cheer after cheer went up, brick-bats were dropped and hats were thrown into the air. Baskets
of lunch, hampers of wine and cases of liquor appeared on the scene. Such is the power of Irish music and the warmth of Irish
charm, to say nothing of a rifle or two.
The 90th arrived in the Vicksburg area about the time the Confederates
surrendered the city. The heat was oppressive and the boys nearly stripped themselves naked. The 90th was involved in some
of the skirmishes which culminated in the fall of Jackson Mississippi and a Union victory. John Francis Timmins, as part of
this action, probably witnessed at Jackson one of the grandest artillery duels of the war.
The 90th then was ordered
to Chattanooga, Tennessee and spent about 10 days on the steamer the Norman for the 300+ mile trip back to Memphis. A few
miles outside Memphis, the 90th got their first glimpse of General Sherman and his army, an army the 90th would become a part
of in 1864 for the notorious “March Through Georgia”. But that October day in 1863 contained its own perils.
Confederate General Chalmers attacked Sherman’s forces and again own perils. Confederate General Chalmers attacked Sherman’s
forces and again the 90th was there to help snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Company C and B showed particular powers
of endurance and there was considerable loss of life on both sides during this engagement. At least one of the two current
known branches of the Timmins family tree could have been pruned that day.
The next three months were even worse. From October through December, the gallant boys of the 90th were
without a change of clothing and were dependent on the country for food and they often has to endure for days without any.
They endured heavy rains, muddy roads, greybacks, cold and hunger, and they slept without tents or covering. In the midst
of all this, they endured the carnage of the battle of Missionary Ridge in Tennessee. On one day, the 90th continued in action
for eight hours and forty-five minutes, under the most terrible fire. It was also during this battle that 40 men of the 90th
became isolated and were finally captured by the enemy. Most of the men subsequently died and Andersonville Prison Camp, the
Aushwitz of the Civil War. Thus it was that the 90th took 50% casualities at Missionary Ridge. But private John Francis Timmins’
Irish luck held out. Forced marches and railroad destruction filled out the rest of 1863 for the 90th. In the fall of 1863,
John Francis Timmins became a Corporal.
During 1864, the 90th joined Sherman’s army for the famous
“March To The Sea”. In later years, John Francis Timmins’ grandchildren would recount John Francis’
willingness to break into song on most any occasion, especially the song “Marching Through Georgia”. According
to John Francis Timmins’ grandson Francis (Leo) Bill Timmins, Bill’s father Frank often sang and whistled the
popular Civil War Tune- “Just Before The Battle Mother”. We can only guess that Frank learned this song at the
knee of his father, John Francis (SEE APPENDIX 4)
Sherman’s march started in northwestern Georgia near
Resaca an culminated at Savannah on Christmas eve 1864. Sherman presented Savannah to Lincoln as a Christmas gift. However,
John Francis was not around for the finale. In October of 1864, the months of hard marching, sparse rations had taken their
toll. John Francis was in army hospitals at Marietta, GA, and Kingston, GA., and finally Chattanooga, Tennessee. He did not
rejoin his regiment until March of 1865.
However, about the time when one Timmins left the fray, another entered.
James (Tommin) Timmins, John Francis’ brother was drafted into military servide on September 29, 1864 by Captain Clark
at New Diggins Wisconsin for a term of one year. James left his wife Elizabeth and infant daughter, Mary, and became
part of Company D of the 13th Wisconsin Regiment and he joined his unit on February 8, 1865 at Huntsville, Alabama, less than
100 miles from where his brother John Francis was hospitalized. The 13th held many important positions on which the success
and welfare of Sherman’s whole army depended. With its supplies cut off and its communications closed, an army is often
defeated. The 13th did not let this happen and it thus played an important part in Sherman’s success.
James was mustered out on June 13, 1865 at Nashville Tennessee. This proved to be a stroke of luck since much of the regiment
went to New Orleans and then to Texas, only to suffer disease and death because of the damp cold, poor diet and generally
unhealthy conditions. James discharge certificate states that when he was drafted he was 32 years of age, (about 6 years off
the mark), married, had blue eyes, brown hair. Light complexion and was 5 ft 7 inches tall and had the occupation of a smelter.
John Francis rejoined his unit in March in 1865. Lee surrendered to Grant on April 9, 1865 and Lincoln was
assassinated on April 14, 1865. His discharged document shows that he had received a bounty of $25 previous to this date and
was paid the remainder of the bounty on June 6, 1865 in the amount of $75. He was charged 45 cents for the loss of a stoppage
for once canteen and 49 cents for ordinance lost.
After the War
John Timons
For James it was home to his wife
and for John it was home to his sweetheart – Mary McMahon. Mary McMahon was born in Ireland in 1841, most likely in
County Monaghan since McMahon is one of the 4th most common names in that county. She shows up in the Federal Census of 1850
as living in the home of Luke and Margaret Donahue – Margaret probably being her mother and Luke Donahue her step-father.
She had a ½ brother John Donahue who was born in 1849. Mary McMahon had worked in the household of a Dr. Newhall in Galena
before she was married. (family stories also suggest she worked in the household of General Grant in Galena) On September
21, 1866 Mary McMahon and John Francis Timmins were married in Shullsburg, Wisconsin by Father John Kinsella. They then
resided in the town of New Diggins, very likely, right next door to James and Elizabeth Timmins. (SEE APPENDIX 5) The June
25, 1870 Federal Census report lists them in dwellings 136 and 137 respectively. John and James are still listed as smelters,
the wives as keeping house and by this time John and Mary have two children, Patrick 3 and Margaret 1 and James and Elizabeth
4 children, Mary 7, Catherine 5, John 2, and Patrick 4 months. By 1880, the 2 Timmins were complete with James and his family
of 5 (or 6) (James and Francis Emmett rounding out the family), still living in Kendalltown. (John, James, Frank, Anne, and
Emmett rounding out this branch.) SEE APPENDIX 3)
(An unanswered question : What happened to James and Elizabeth’s daughter Catherine who should
have been 15 by 1880?)
During the decade of the 1880’s, John Francis was acquiring bit by bit, the land which eventually
made up his farm. At a sheriff’s sale on July 19, 1882 the best paid bid of $1000 by John Timmins bought approximately
134 acres of farmland, not good farmland but more farmland than an Irishman of 40 could have hoped to acquired back in Ireland.
On January 21, 1988 John Francis Timmins acquired another adjacent 40 acres for $60 bringing his total acreage to about 174
acres. (SEE APPENDIX 6 ) Apparently during his time, John and James’ father John Timmins lived in New Diggings Township
near his son James and his family.
We next meet James and John Francis in the public record when they
both apply for Civil War Invalid Pensions, John Francis for war related ailments and James for an injury sustained after the
war.
It was earlier stated that John Francis Timmins was hospitalized for nearly 6 months during the Civil
War – from October of 1864 until March of 1865. This became the basis for his invalid pension. To quote from the “Declaration
for Original Pension”, …”In the line of my duty at Resaca, state of Georgia on or about the fall of 1864,
I incurred affection of both legs caused by hard marching and at the same place, about the same time, I contracted heart disease.”
This document was dated April 7, 1888 and John Francis was 47 years old at the time. Another related document dated October
21, 1891 contains the signature of John Donahue as a “witness”. John Donahue claimed to have known John Francis
Timons (Timons is the spelling in all these documents.) for the past 30 years. If this is the same John Donahue who is Mary
McMahon’s ½ brother, then it could be assumed that Mary and her ½ brother became acquainted with John Francis about
1861.
Another document dated October 21, 1891 states that he (John Timons) is now almost wholly unable to
earn full support by manual labor, by reason of the following disabilities: Viz, (2) disease of heart, lung trouble or shortness
of breath, vertigo, varicose veins of abdomen and lower extremities. Varicose veins came form forced march after fall of Atlanta
on forced march after (General ) Hood. Heart trouble form ??.”
In 1892 , documents were filed with the
U. S. Pension Office to clear up confusion over the spelling of his last name. Affidavit – August 17th, 1892: “I
served in Company B – 90th Illinois Infantry Volunteers, from August 16, 1862 to June 6, 1865 under the name of John
Timons. I went by that name before the war and since. Then younger members spell it Timmins but the old way is good enough
for me. My brother served in Company D 13th Wisconsin Infantry Volunteers under the name Tommin. We had not the advantage
of education in the old country and so we’re not sure how to spell the name. I spelled it the same before the war in
the war and since. If I got it different when I signed, which I do not think I did, it was a mistake.”
In May of 1893 more affidavits were filed on John Francis’ behalf: “I contracted disease of liver in the army
in the war of the rebellion. I had it ove 20 years before filing my declaration…. I do no think the disability is at
all due to vicious habits as I do not drink at all and have lived all my life on the farm with my wife and family. The disability
is permanent as there is at my age no hope of renewing my youth. I can do no labor but the lightest of chores.”
In another document, Michael Cavanaugh swore that John Francis”…spends his time at home with his wife and family.
He has no vicious or bad habits. He is a temperate man, does not use liquor at all and is a steady honest farmer. I’ve
seen him weekly at least for the last 30 years. Claimant is totally disabled from manual labor except light work around the
house. “
William Boyles affidavit stated, “He is a man of exemplary habits, does not use liquor
and is a devout Catholic, is not at all given to going to town and perhaps since the war has been twice out of the country.”
John Francis’ doctor Allen R Law, may have been somewhat more objective in his report of 1897’s. “I don’t
know if he was a sound man at enlistment. I never treated claimant while in service nor while home on furlough. Have treated
soldier since discharge beginning in the year 1880 and have treated him more or less every year since, mostly for dyspepsia.
He complained of heart trouble but I found it was mostly symphathetic caused by the deranged condition of his stomach. Also
was troubled with varicose veins but I did not treat him for this. I consider the claimant disabled for the performance of
manual labor for the past 9 years at least 1/4th.”According to the records, John Timmins was receiving a pension of
$8 a month in 1899, the year he made a claim to increase his benefits due to increased disability. The 1890 law allowed $6-$12
per month depending on the percent of disability. In 1899 he was 58 years old, weighed 145 pounds, stood 5 ft 7 ½ inches tall
and exhibited liver trouble ( not due to vicious habits) large branches of varicose veins the size of a thumb and a varicose
ulcer the size of a silver dollar on his left leg. The fraction of 10/18 disability was recommended for liver and stomach
ailments and 10/18 for rheumatism. “He can hardly get on his coat without help.”
It appears that
John Francis (Timons) Timmins signed all the relevant pension documents but on his will dated December 25, 1919, he put his
mark “X”. In Census data, both Mary McMahon Timmins and John Timmins answered that they could read and write.
However, according to their granddaughter, Clara Kilcoyne Bray, she often wrote the letters to the boys (their sons) back
in Iowa which her grandparents , John and Mary , would dictate to her. Clara claimed they couldn’t read or write and
therefore she didn’t always write what they told her to write. Clara also remembered that anytime the sons from Kingsley,
IA would come to visit their parents, (they’d come back about once a year by train.) John Francis and Mary would lament
loudly on their departure back to Iowa that, “We’ll never see you again , well never see you again.” It
became a joke among the grandchildren that when anyone was sad or crying you would say to them, “Are your boys going
west?”
On these early trips home, the Timmins boys, Francis (Frank), Pat, John, James and Emmett (Who
farmed the former John Francis homestead in Kendaltown) would go over to Benton to visit their 1st cousins, the sons of John
Francis brother James. These cousins shared the common names, John, James, Pat, and Francis Emmett. It was not until 1984,
when research on this project began, that this Benton branch of the Timmins clan became known to this author and the younger
generation Iowa Timmines.
An interesting observation about John Timmins is contained in the Republican
Journal of May 13, 1909. The reporter, W.W. Murphy was a childhood friend of John Timmins and had this to say: “Mr.
John Timmins, previous to his settlement in Kendall, was a resident of New Diggins and was a companion of my boyhood days.
He also was frequently called by the citizens of Kendall to discharge official duties. John was considered in his boyhood
days as one of the ‘best of the bunch’ and I often thought it was attributable to the influence of his associations.”
John Francis Timmins was also known to love to sing. Johnny Kilcoyne who had married John and Mary’s daughter Margaret
would often ask John to sing. John liked to sing, “Marching through Georgia, (which he may have done with General Sherman
during the Civil War), and “My Wild Irish Rose.” Just as often the grandchildren would say, “There he goes
again.”
It should also be noted that John’s wife Mary McMahon Timmins was also well known in Kendalltown.
Mary was a midwife and traveled to surrounding areas delivering babies and dispensing advice based on her experience of having
7 children of her own. Clara Kilcoyne Bray remembered that Mary Timmins considered her family to be “lace curtain Irish,”
as opposed to the Dorans who were only “shanty foilble” Irish. Clara recalled that her grandma loved taffeta dresses
and when you heard a rustle in the back of the church, you knew that either Mrs. Dr. John Hayden or Mrs. John Timmins was
about to make a entrance. Mary Hardwick and Bae Schaffner who, along with their mother Annie went to live with their grandparents
when Anne’s husband, John McManus died, had these memories of their grandparents. John was very stern and Mary had beautiful
white hair, she loved to work with flowers and she liked to dress well. Was Mary McMahon Timmins in Clones. In 1824
Hugh MacMahon owned the Dacre Arms hotel, William MacMahon was a saddler, Pat MacMahon owned a public house (pub) and another
Pat MacMahon had a paint and glass shop. One last word on the MacMahons, to quote Peadar Livingston, “The MacMahon ascendancy
in County Monaghan last from about 1250-1600 and at no time during this long period did the area enjoy any kind of lasting
peace. The MacMahons apparently believed in the philosophy that attack was the best defense.” Today the MacMahon name
is 4th in frequency in County Monaghan.
James Tommin
James
Tommin applied for an invalid pension on the 20th of July, 1891. On all these documents, his name is spelled “Tommin.”
To quote from his application, “That he is partially unable to earn a support by reason of injury to back and shoulders
and right arm from a tree falling on him. Rheumatism of right arm and side and left, disease of right leg,” James Tommin
consistently affixed his mark “X” to these documents.
On a document, attesting to his injury
and subsequent disabililty, Henry Sullivan states “I am a miner by trade and live ¼ mile from James Tommin. I have known
him personally for the last 8 years. I also know that in the month of March, 1887, the said James Tommin was badly hurt by
a tree falling upon, which laid him up for the balance of the winter. And I know that since then, he has been a great sufferer
of rheumatism, which at one time at least he was unable to do any work for 6 weeks. I know that he is seldom clear of the
above disease which renders him unable to do hard work.”
One of the most valuable pieces of information
in James Tommin’s pension documents was the fact that he stated that he was born near Clones in County Monaghan. Clones
is and was both a town and a parish bordering County Fermanagh which is one of the 6 counties of Northern Ireland. Some members
of the Timmins family can remember their older relatives saying that the Timmins’s came from the “far downs.”
This lead to the misconception that this branch of the Timmins family cam from County Down. However, the “far downs
is a term which means northern Ireland or Ulster. Three of the Counties of this Province, Monaghan, Cavan, and Donegal are
in the Irish Republic while the other 6 counties of the Province makeup Northern Ireland. Clones and County Monaghan are the
strongest clues we have for finding a current Irish Connection.
James and Elizabeth Timmins celebrated their
Golden Wedding Anniversary in 1912 and details are best recounted in a news article in the “Benton Advocate”.
(SEE APPENDIX 7).
James Tommin died April 15, 1919 and his last pension payment is recorded as $32, Barney
Murray attested to his death in the way. “I dug James Tommin’s grave, attended his funeral and helped placed him
in his tomb April 18th, 1919.” James’ wife Elizabeth continued to receive pension payments of $25 per month until
her death of September 28, 1919. Elizabeth’s declaration for a widow’s pension had to be well documented by persons
knowing James and Elizabeth to be married. Barney Murray, among others, attested to this. Elizabeth’s declaration stated
that she was born in 1838 in Roslea, which is in County Fermanaugh, about 10 miles from Clones, Another hint at exact orgins.
Eileen Timmins, the grand-daughter of James Timmins had this story about James Timmins and his pension
check. On the day the check arrived, James would buy a half a pint of whiskey and come by his daughter-in-laws’ home
to share a drink. Jennie Sherwin Timmins had a wine glass set aside for the occasion and out of courtesy, she always shared
a drink with him. Eileen also told her great aunt, Ann Sherry, never again wound her clock after her husband died in 1896.
And Sherry died in 1938.
John Francis and possibly James belonged the local veteran’s organization of
the Grand Army of the Republic. The “Pick and Gad” newspaper of Shullsburg had this account of coming Memorial
Day. “This being the 50th year since the beginning of the Civil War, it is the desire of the Grand Army Post, The Women’s
Relief Corps and the citizens of Shullsburg to observe Memorial Day, Tuesday, May 30th, 1911, in a manner appropriate for
the occasion. (SEE APPENDIX ?) In a photo postcard of the type popular at that time, John Francis is pictured with other GAR
Post members around a table on that Memorial Day. Both James and John were undoubtedly proud of their services and as has
been noted earlier, John Francis like to regale whoever would listen with his stories and songs of that great adventure of
his youth.
John Francis and Mary Timmins celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary in 1916. Their 7 children
and many grandchildren came home for the occasion and the gang from Kingsley, Iowa area came by train. Every square inch of
floor space was covered with people at the John Timmins residence in Shullsburg, Wisconsin. Some relatives also stayed at
the Kilcoynes on the edge of town and others stayed at the Bradley Farm. Francis Leo(Bill) Timmins (father of this writer),
of LeMars, IA remembers that someone wanted to get a picture of grandma and grandpa on this occasion and asked John Francis
to put his arm around his wife of 50 years. After much urging, he consented to put his hand on her shoulder. Bill Timmins
also remembered that before the train trip that brought the whole Kingsley clan back to Wisconsin for this occasion, his father
Frank Timmins told his son of 6 this tall tale. When young Bill asked his dad about what it was like to ride a train, Frank
said that they put saddles atop the train and everyone rode it like a giant horse. Bill was not sure that he wanted to make
the trip. The events of the 50th wedding anniversary celebration were reported in the “Benton Advocate”. (SEE
APPENDIX 7)
It was at this 50th Wedding anniversary celebration that 20 year old Mary Timmins, daughter of
Patrick Timmins of Kingsley, IA met her future husband, Basil Doran, who lived across the street from John Francis and Mary
Timmins in Shullsburg.
Mary McMahon Timmins died on October 7, 1918 in Shullsburg. Her obituary stated that
“a gloom was cast over the city of Shullsburg when word was received that Mrs. John Timmins had passed away.”
(SEE APPENDIX 8)
Because of various changed in the pension allowance granted by Congress and because of varying
degrees of disability, John Francis’ pension benefits probably fluctuated generally upward. His last pension payment
was made April 4, 1920 in the amount of $40. He died April 27th, 1920 (SEE APPENDIX ?) And was removed from the pension rolls.
His will was written and signed on Christmas Day of the previous year and he appointed his oldest son, Patrick as the executor.
He gave to each of his children a sum of $600 and to his daughter Anne the additional bequest of his home in Shullsburg where
she had lived with her son John (Joby) and her 2 daughters Mary, Later Mary Harwick and Catherine (Bae), later Bae Shaffner.
Anne’s husband John McManus, had died and Anne and her family moved in with her parents. Emmett Timmins, the youngest
of John and Mary’s children, got the farm in Kendaltown which he had run since his parents had retired from the farm.
Before he was married he had lived with his parents on the farm up till the time of their departure. It was always a point
of contention in this branch of the family if Emmett was given the farm or if he paid for it and thus partially financed his
parent’s retirement. The youngest was thought to have perhaps received preferential treatment. ??????????
The stories of subsequent generations can best be told by individual families. All are encouraged to write a brief family
history so when the final edition of this history is printed, your family’s story will also be told.
Sources:
Emigrants and Exiles: Ireland and the Irish Exodus to North America
Kerby Miller Oxford University
Press 1985
An Illustrated History of the Irish People by Kenneth Neill Mayflower Books New York 1979
“Patriotism of Will County: Great Struggle to Preserve Our Nationality” by George Woodruff
Printed and Published by James Godspeed Joliet Republication Book and Job Steam Printing House 1876
US Census 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
National Archives, Washington D.C. Civil War Records and Pension documents.
Wisconsin: A History by Richard Nelson Current W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1977
History of the Irish in Wisconsin in the Nineteenth Century by Sister Justille McDonald Catholic University
Press – 1954
The Complete Registry of the Timmins in America by Sharon Halbert’s Inc. 1985
The Monaghan Story by Peader Livingstone Clogher Historical Society Enniskillen – 1980The Fermanagh Story
by Peader Livingstone
Appendix Timmins Coat of Arms, maps, obituaries and news articles, etc.
Appendix ? Examples of Irish songs and ballads expressing guilt, sadness and generally the sentiment that Irish
emigrants were “exiles” from their beloved Eire.
Gazing back through the Barnes Gap on my dear native hills,
I thought no shame (Oh, who
could I blame?) ‘twas there I cried my fill,
My parents kind ran in my mind, my friends and comrades all,
My heart
did ache, I thought ‘twould break in leaving Donegal.
