James Brierton

James Brierton is the earliest member of the Brierton family of whom we are aware, and the information we have is sketchy.

James was born in Canada in about 1830.

We know that, by 1870, he lived in Brooklyn, where he list his occupation as an Engineer. Later he was a School Master and Owner of a Meat Packing Company. James was married twice. His first wife was Anna Corr, born about 1841. She had one child, Harry Joseph Brierton, Sr., and it is possible that she died during the birth of a second child, Mary. The Holy Cross Cemetery Internment list includes a "Mary Briordy" (probably a transcription error), as having died at 10 hours old. Unfortunately, Anne and the child were included in a group that was moved from an earlier family plot and the dates of the original deaths/internments are not listed.

After the death of Anna, James married Katherine (born about 1837) and they had 7 known children, Sylvester (1869), James (1870), John (1872), Thomas (1874), Catherine (1876), William (1878), and Robert (1880).

According to Brooklyn Directories and articles located in the archives of the Brooklyn Eagle, he was in Brooklyn by June 22, 1888 when he is mentioned as attending the second annual picnic with members and friends of the South Brooklyn Council No 15, Catholic Benevolent Legion. He lived at 351 Van Brunt Street, in the Red Hook section, by April of 1889 when he requested permission from the Common Council to move a frame building from that address to the corner of Van Dyke Street.

Another reference to James was a brief report on May 10, 1890, in which he apparently hit a man (John T Burns) over the head with a pool cue at Tracy & McGee's saloon on Elizabeth Street (now Chauncey), "cutting the scalp. Burns was attended by Ambulance Surgeon Warbassa, while Brierton made good his escape."

Finally, according to the Eagle, on May 17, 1900, he is still living on Van Brunt Street when there was a fire in the building which started on the first floor. The building is listed as a 4 story brick building, owned by James Brierton, with about 20 tenants. At that time, a men's furnishings store occupied the first floor, James Brierton lived on the second floor, Harry J. Brierton, Sr. occupied the third floor, and Catherine (Kitty) Brierton, "Mrs. Katherine Brierton", and Thomas Brierton, lived there as well. The Eagle archives online end at 1902, and after the fire, there are no other references that could be found for James Brierton (other than a few mentions of a James Brierton, who was a policeman, apparently his son). According to a recent real estate listing, the building that is currently at that address was built in 1931, so James' building is apparently gone. The current building is for sale for $1,550,000.

So far, we have not been able to find him or his family in the 1900 census, but a check with the maintainers of that database show that the neighborhood canvas was only a few weeks after the fire. Some other residents of the building were located nearby, but there is not sign of James. Intrigueingly, there is a James Brierton of roughly the same age in New Haven at the time, but there has never been any family talk of him going to Connecticut for any period of time and there is nothing to indicate that the other James Brierton might be him.

According to the list of internments in the Brierton family plot at Holy Cross Cemetery, where he is buried, he died on October 7, 1906.