This family mystery is about to drive me mad!!

First a little background. These two beautiful women are my great grandmother Catherine “Kate” (Myers) Kieron and her sister Bridget “Delia” (Myers) Mitschke. They were born in Ower Townland, County Galway, Ireland in the 1860s.

Both emigrated to the United States and lived in Montana – Bridget in about 1887 and Kate in the mid 1890s. Sadly, Kate died in Butte in 1902 and Delia in Helena in 1903. You can read more here about Kate’s story.

The mystery – and the madness – enters the story with their brothers, Denis, Thomas, Patrick and Michael. All four brothers also emigrated to Montana between about 1899 and 1901 and lived in Montana near their sisters.

And then after Delia died in 1903, all four brothers simply disappeared. Or so it seems.

I’ve done all the usual searching for them in U.S. Census records beginning in 1910 – no luck. Wondering if perhaps they returned home to Ireland after the second sister died, I looked for them in the Irish 1911 census records – no luck. I even looked for them in the 1911 England census records. I did have some luck there with another brother, Malachi. But no luck with Denis, Thomas, Patrick and Michael. Once I came across a very promising lead for a “Denis Myers” born in Ireland and who also lived in Butte and then moved to Seattle, where I believe Kate’s daughter Nora spent some time in her late teens. But it ended up being a dead end. Twice. Because I forgot to document that “rabbit hole” the first time.

I’ve done a lot of family history research over the years and admit that it’s not unusual for a person to “disappear”. But four persons?? Really?!?

And so the search continues.