My Old Ohio Home - Cork

Della Feely, of Oak Park, Illinois

2019-09-05T00:00:00-04:00

1938 letter, Tullylease, County Cork to Oak Park, Illinois

On September 30, 1938, someone in Tullylease, County Cork, mailed a letter to Mrs Della Feely, 405 South Maple Avenue, Oak Park, Illinois. Did this letter come from a relative in Ireland? If so, can it help us trace back Mrs Feely to her county of origin?

The short answer is maybe, but the American records came up short this time. Let’s start with the people who were not from County Cork.

Della Marie Sullivan was born in Illinois, most likely in Chicago, on August 26, 1902, the daughter of William Joseph Sullivan and Della Rose La Haut. She was baptized at Holy Guardian Angel Catholic Church, Chicago, on September 11. Her parents were living at 396 South Halsted at the time.

Della’s maternal grandparents were Louis La Haut, born maybe in January 1846, in Belgium, and Rose Cousineau, born maybe in February 1847, in Quebec, Canada. Both were French speaking. Not from Cork.

Della married Hubert James Feely about 1927. They were living at 137 Central Avenue in 1930 with a daughter Mary Patricia. They were at 405 South Maple Avenue in Oak Park by 1935.

There were enough records for Hubert’s family to eliminate the Feelys as well. More on that in a minute.

The Sullivans

That only left Della’s father’s side of the family, the Sullivans. Do you have any idea of how many Sullivans there are in Cork? Zillions. If I remember right that was their home base, for lack of a better term.

The death record of Della (Sullivan) Feely’s father William, 5 May 1943, Oak Park, said that his father John was born in County Cork. But that is where the road ended. William had been born in Chicago in 1871, but for the life of me I couldn’t find a trace of his parents or of William himself before the birth of his children, starting in 1896.

The Feelys

Della’s husband, Hubert James Feely, was born September 24, 1899, probably in Chicago, the son of Patrick Feely and Mary Coffey. He was baptized November 26, 1899, at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church. The family was living at 1026 Melrose Street at the time. His father Patrick’s death record (July 21, 1930, Chicago) says that Patrick was born in County Mayo on February 23, 1863, the son of Hubert and Catherine Feely.

There is a Hugh and Catherine Feely on the civil records of Killedan parish, Mayo, with children born from 1863 to 1877, but alas, no Hugh/Hubert. If these are his parents, his birth may have preceded the start of civil records for Catholics.

I have a feeling this is the right family, or at least we have the right area. I found a reference on myheritage.com to a Hubert Feely born July 4 1872, in Kiltimagh, Mayo, which is a couple miles from Killedan. His parents were Hubert and Catharine (Kelly) Feely. First names seem to run in families, so maybe this Hubert in Kiltimagh is a cousin.

Finally, Della’s mother in law, Mary Coffey, was born in County Clare, according to the Birth Certificate of her daughter Katherine Elizabeth, registered on Aug 8, 1966. I didn’t find Mary Coffey’s family in Clare.

Conclusion

So was Della’s letter from a relative? We’re back to “maybe” again. The family had left Cork at least 70 years earlier, but that’s not to say they didn’t keep in touch. If it was from a relative, then at least the postal cover narrows down the search to the Tullylease area, if the family starts tracing its roots. Knowing Irish families though, they probably already know exactly where they were from and have been back to visit.

For details on the Sullivans and Feelys see the the Other Families tree on this site.

Anastasia (Lawton) Hankard—of Cork and East Boston, Massachusetts

2018-10-09T00:00:00-04:00

In the first article in this series, John Aloysius Hankard, East Boston, Mass, we identified John Aloysius Hankard's paternal grandparents as John Hankard and Anastasia Lawton, both born in Ireland. On her marriage record, Anastasia said her father's name was John. Could we find Anastasia's Irish county of origin?

Anastasia named her daughters Caroline, Dora, Mary, and Louisa. Was one of them named after Anastasia's mother? I tried Caroline first but didn't find anything. Then I looked at familysearch.org for any Lawtons in Massachusetts with a father named John and mother Dora. I found a William Lawton who was married in Boston in 1885 to Margaret Meade. His parents were John and Dora. The marriage was also registered in Taunton.¹

Anastasia (Lawton) Hankard died in Taunton in 1876, and her husband John was in the Taunton City Directory for that year. I looked in the directory again, this time for William Lawton. In 1876 William was at the same address as John and Anastasia Hankard.² So it is almost a certainty that Anastasia and William Lawton were brother and sister. This could explain why Anastasia's death record said her father's name was William, not John.

When William Lawton died in 1911, his death record said his parents were John Lawton and Dora Cashman.³ The names Lawton and Cashman occur together on Griffith's Valuation only in Cork and Waterford.⁴

Anastasia was born about 1831 according to her American records. I looked at rootsireland.ie for "Lawton, An*", father's name = John, born from 1826 to 1836, born anywhere in Ireland. There were two listed:

Church Baptism Lawton Anastatia 1830 Co. Cork
Church Baptism Lawton Anastatia 1832 Co. Cork

One of these is probably "our" Anastasia Lawton. I didn't find William Lawton's baptism.

I also came across a posting from August 2000 on the Cork message board at rootsweb.com, that might refer to Anastasia's extended family. If so, she is from Kilmacahill in the Parish of Cloyne, in East Cork. The message mentions an Anastasia Lawton and a Dora Cashman who are probably relatives. Given names run in families and in localities. These aren't the two women we have been discussing, but I don't think this is just a coincidence.⁵

Also, there is a John Lawton in Kilmacahill on the Tithe Applotment Books (1823-1837) and also in Griffith's Valuation.^{6, 7}

Finally, there is an Anty Lawton, age 17, who arrived in Boston on July 7, 1848, aboard the Britain, of St. John, New Brunswick. She had departed from Cork. This could also be "our" Anastasia Lawton.⁸

So if one of my ancestors were Anastasia Lawton and I was looking for her townland of origin, I would definitely start my search in the area of Kilmacahill, East Cork.

Footnotes

Sources not mentioned here are given in the first article.

"Massachusetts, Marriages, 1841-1915," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N49T-9MR : accessed 06 Jan 2014), William C. Lawton and Margaret Meade, 1885.
1876 Taunton City Directory, at ancestry.com
Massachusetts, Deaths, 1841-1915," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N4D2-7Y3 : accessed 06 Jan 2014), William C Lawton, 1911.
Irish Times, Irish Ancestors -- Surname Search.
zzwrigm, "Lawton", 26 Aug 2000, at Rootsweb, Cork, General, Message Board.
National Archives of Ireland, Tithe Applotment Books, for Kilmacahill.
Griffith's Valuation at ancestry.com.
Boston, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1820-1954, about Anty Lawton, at ancestry.com.

Nellie (Callahan) Gibson, probably of County Cork, and of Rye, New Hampshire

2018-10-08T00:00:00-04:00

In 1947 Mrs N J Gibson, of Rye, New Hampshire, received a letter postmarked CeannToir (Kanturk), County Cork, Ireland. Can this letter help us identify Mrs Gibson's Irish county of origin, if any?(footnote)An image of the envelope was once at the Jim Forte Postal History site, but is no longer there.

In 1940, there was a Nellie J Gibson, widowed, age 74, and born in Ireland, living on Cable Road, Rye, NH, who is most likely the recipient of the letter. She and her husband, Joseph, had been in Rye since at least 1910. They were married in Melrose, Massachusetts, January 22, 1895, and their two sons were born there: Walter Lincoln, born February 12, 1896, and Harold Leroy, born October 23, 1908. Nellie's marriage record stated that her maiden name was Callahan, and her parents were Daniel Callahan and Julia Reardon.

On the 1900 census while still in Melrose, the Gibson household included two boarders—a married couple—Annie and Robert Booth. Annie's marriage record stated that her parents were also Daniel and Julia (Reardon) Callahan. So Nellie and Annie were very likely sisters.

Nellie and Annie both arrived in the United States before immigrants had to provide the name of a close relative in the country from which they came. Otherwise, I would have looked for their passenger manifests. So now my next step was to look for their births in Ireland.

A Possible Birth Family

Ireland is not a huge place, but there are a lot of Callahans and Reardons. Because of the envelope that Nellie received, I started in Cork. Even still I found two couples named Daniel Callahan and Julia Reardon. One of them, though, had a daughter Ellen born January 25, 1866. This bears a close resemblance to the date of birth given on Nellie's death record, namely January 22, 1865. (Nellie or her son may not have known or remembered her exact date of birth.) This couple was living in Laght Townland, in the civil parish of Dromtarriffe, in the Registrar's District of Millstreet, Co. Cork. The Catholic parish was also Dromtarriffe, and Ellen was baptized there on January 26.

Laght Townland is only a 9 minute drive from Kanturk, whereas the other couple was farther away, in Macroom if I remember right. So it's possible that Laght was the home of Nellie J (Callahan) Gibson of Rye, New Hampshire. I would be a lot more certain if I had found a birth or baptism record for a daughter Annie in the same family. I found daughters Mary, Honora, and Julia, and sons Daniel, Dennis, and Timothy, but no Ann or Anna.

Conclusion

So, in review, did the envelope help us find Nellie's county of origin? I would say yes, if only because if she wasn't from Cork she'd be less likely to get a letter from there. Did it help us identify her townland of birth? I wouldn't want to say for sure. It would be very helpful to find some American record connected to Nellie that mentioned where she was from. Otherwise, we are really just guessing which needle in the haystack is hers.

Sources:

US Federal Censuses
Massachusetts Town Birth Records
Massachusetts Town Marriage Records
New Hampshire Death Records
Irish Civil Records
Irish Catholic Parish Registers

Timothy D Keating of Baltimore, Maryland, and Rockchapel, County Cork, Ireland

2018-10-08T00:00:00-04:00

1942 letter from Rockchapel, Co Cork, to Baltimore, Maryland

In 1942, Mr Jim T. D. Keating of 2121 West Baltimore Street, Baltimore, Maryland, received a letter from D. C. Keating of Rockchapel, County Cork, Ireland. Better eyes than mine say that the letter was postmarked Seipeal Na Carraige, which is Irish for “chapel of the rocks”, according to Wikipedia.

Can this postmark and letter help us locate Mr Keating’s origins in Ireland? As it turns out, yes.

The American Records

The 1930 census of Baltimore shows a Jim T D Keating and family at 2121 West Baltimore. Also in the household was a Margaret Keating, age 34, sister to Jim. She was been born in Ireland and had arrived in the United States in 1922.

I searched the Ellis Island database, using stevemorse.org as a starting place, and found a Margaret Keating, age 25, arriving aboard the SS Carmania on July 9, 1921. The letter helped identify this woman as Jim Keating’s sister, since her birthplace on the passenger manifest was listed as Rockchapel, Cork. Her nearest relative in Ireland was her father, David Keating, in Rock Hill, Rockchapel.

Her destination raised some doubt in my mind, since she wasn’t headed to her brother’s home. Instead she was going to the home of her sister Mrs James Lane at 53 Bromfield St, Lawrence, Massachusetts.

That doubt was cleared up when I found the marriage record for Catherine Keating, 27, and James Lane, 30, in the list of marriages registered in the city of Lawrence, Massachusetts. The two were married 28 November 1906; James’ residence at the time was 59 Bromfield Street, and Catherine’s parents were David [Keating] and Nellie O’Connell.

The Irish Records

Having narrowed down Mr Keating’s Irish origins from thirty-two counties to one townland, I decided to look for the Irish vital records.

Margaret, daughter of David Keating, a carpenter of Rockhill, and Ellen Keating, formerly Connell, was born 26 May 1896, in Rockhill.

Mr Keating was on the 1910 and 1940 censuses of Baltimore not as “Jim” but as “Timothy D”. We find that Timothy, son of David Keating, a carpenter of Rockhill and Ellen Keating, formerly Connell, was born 24 July 1874, also in Rockhill.

Though I didn’t find the birth for their sister Catherine, later of Lawrence, Massachusetts, she was not completely missing from the Irish records. The informant for Margaret’s birth was “Katie Keating, sister, present at birth.”

Their parents were married April 29, 1873, by W P Hennessy, a Roman Catholic priest, at the Roman Catholic Chapel of Rock, Union of Kanturk, County of Cork. The witnesses were James Lane and Matt Connell.

The writer of the letter may have been Timothy’s brother Daniel, who was born May 20, 1887. He was also the informant when his father David died, a widower, February 17, 1931. Ellen (O’Connell) Keating had died January 23, 1927. Daniel himself passed away on December 12, 1959.

Timothy Keating's likely death

Timothy D Keating, of Baltimore, who received the letter, may have died December 12, 1948. There is an entry for that name and date in the Death Record Index at the Maryland State Archives. The Baltimore Sun of December 15, 1948, carried a notice that the Holy Name Society would assemble on Tuesday the 17th to say the Rosary for him. A copy of the death record would prove our guess right or wrong. There was nothing at findagrave.com that matched this man’s death.

Conclusion

Having the postal cover from Rockchapel, County Cork, definitely helped us trace Timothy’s roots back to the right place in Ireland. Without it we may have overlooked Margaret Keating’s arrival in 1921, since she was headed to Massachusetts, not Maryland.

At least one of Timothy’s daughters, Mary Ellen, married and had children, so hopefully he has descendants out there somewhere who will find this article helpful.

Sources

The family was relatively easy to find at familysearch.org, especially once I started looking for “Timothy D” Keating and not “Jim.” His sister Margaret’s arrival can be found by starting at Steve Morse’s Ellis Island Passengers Gold Form, following the directions, and narrowing the search to 1921.

The only slightly difficult bit of research was locating the possible index reference to Timothy Keating’s death at the Maryland State Archives. Googling for “Timothy Keating, Baltimore, 1948” located the OCR version of the Baltimore Sun, December 15, 1948, page 25.

Lastly, the Irish civil records, despite what the link says, are at: Irish civil records.

Credits

The image of the postal cover is used by permission of the owner of PHILGEN: Philatelic Genealogy. To see it there, click on Search Database in the left column and enter “Keating” in the search box. The image originally appeared at the Jim Forte Postal History site. I am not connected with either site.