Styles Family of Baltinglass, County Wicklow

Margaret Styles was born on 19 May 1876 in the small town of Baltinglass in County Wicklow, Ireland.

She was my great-grandmother and although I never met her, she was an important person in the life of my grandfather James Joseph Ward. His father Alfred Ward deserted the family when James was only 3, and he grew up with his mother Margaret and her brother Thomas “Uncle Tommy” Joseph Styles.

Margaret and Tommy were the youngest of nine children born to Edward Styles a harness-maker, and Margaret Kavanagh, a farmer’s daughter from Carrigeen, just over the border in County Kildare. The Styles Family lived on Church Lane by the River Slaney that runs through Baltinglass.

Last month my sister and I visited Baltinglass and got to walk down the street Margaret Styles and her siblings lived and played on in the 1870s-80s. At the far end of the lane sit the ruins of Baltinglass Abbey. Established in 1148, the stone walls and arches are as much a part of the landscape as the hills behind it.

Rising from the center of the Abbey are ruins from a later time, the tower of the former Church of Ireland parish church built in 1815, which would have been in use when the Styles family lived on Church Lane. Next to it is St. Mary’s, the town’s current Protestant church, built in 1883 when the old church fell out of use.

Next to St. Mary’s Church is the Rectory with a group of outbuildings built around 1885. Walking closer to the town’s main street is another historic building, Stratford Lodge National School built around 1870.

The Styles family did not attend St. Mary’s church down the lane from their house , but instead were parishioners of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church around the corner and down the town’s Main Street at the other end of the town. It is a very grand church for such a small town. I had a hard time getting the whole building in one photo!

Edward Styles had come to the area near Baltinglass in the 1830s-40s, his family being former tenants on the Estate of Earl Fitzwilliam near Tinahely in the southern part of County Wicklow. Margaret Kavanagh was the fourth of nine children born to James Kavanagh, a farmer from Carrigeen, and his wife Catherine Nolan. Edward and Margaret were married in 1860 at the Catholic Church in Baltinglass. Robert, their first child, was born in the townland of Mullarney between Castledermot in County Kildare.⁶ The remaining 8 children were born in and baptized in Baltinglass: Anne,⁷ James, ⁹ Katherine,¹¹ William,¹³ Edward,¹⁵ Mary,¹⁷ Margaret,¹⁹ and Thomas Joseph.²¹ (Digital images to the Baptismal Registers are linked in the references).

For more detail on 2 generations of the Styles Family see: Descendants of Edward Styles and Margaret Kavanagh of Baltinglass, County Wicklow, Ireland

On the other side of Church Lane, Main Street crosses the River Slaney on Baltinglass Bridge, then passes the other cross streets of the town: Mill Street and Edward Street. This particular part of town is home to a peculiar intersection of historical events and family legend. For more on this story, see: The Land War and the Shooting on Baltinglass Bridge. (this post coming soon)

The Styles family emigrated to America in the 1880s. The older children left first, starting with Robert in 1883, followed by James, Anne and Katherine. Finally Edward and Margaret arrived in New York on the SS Adriatic on 12 Nov 1888.²³  The family settled in Auburn, New York where some descendants still live today. See: The Styles Family comes to America – Baltinglass to Auburn, New York .

Reference Notes