My Old Ohio Home - Galway

Catherine Timony, San Rafael, California

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

Clifden, Galway, view
from D'Arcy Monument

In 1937 Miss Katie Timoney of 654 Lincoln Avenue, San Rafael, California, received a letter from Ballyconneely, County Galway, Ireland. Did this correspondence have anything to do with her family's county of origin in Ireland?(footnote)The envelope to Kate Timoney was once at the Jim Forte Postal History but has been sold. I am not connected with the site.

On the 1930 Census of San Rafael, I found a Catherine F Timony living with her widowed mother Mary at that address. Catherine was 40 and was born in California. Her mother, age 75, was born in Ireland. Working back through the censuses, in 1900 Kate was with her father Anthony, age 49, and Mary, 49, in San Rafael. Anthony had been born in Ireland as well. It seems that Catherine was Mary and Anthony's only child.

Anthony and Mary Maddock were married on January 18, 1881, in Marin County. In 1910, Mary said she had been married twice, and had four children of whom only two were alive.

Besides this basic information, I found Catherine Timony re-entering the United States on August 3, 1934, aboard the SS President Harding. The passenger manifest said the ship had left Cork on July 27. Had Catherine struck up a friendship in Ireland, and was that person the source of the correspondence? Or was the letter from her mother's family? Or her father's?

At this point I had come to a dead end, so I decided to just Google "anthony timony san rafael" to see what showed up. It turns out that a number of local California papers have been digitized and are on line at the California Digital Newspaper Collection, at the University of California, Riverside, website.

There were a lot of hits for Anthony Timony and his wife, but the one that helped me the most was an obituary for John D'Arcy Connolly, brother of Mrs Anthony Timony. This told me that Mary Timony's maiden name was not Maddock, but Connolly. I also now had someone else to search for, namely John Connolly. As a bonus, he had an unusual middle name.

Googling 'John D'Arcy Connolly' finished it off. He served as the US consul to New Zealand for some time, and there was a big writeup on him in the History of Sonoma County, at GoogleBooks. It began with:

"The subject of this sketch, John D'Arcy Connolly ... was born in 1854 near the town of Clifden, County Galway, Ireland, his father's name being Daniel Connolly and his mother's maiden name Mary D'Arcy."

A few sentences later it mentioned:

"Early in 1875 he joined his widowed sister, Mrs John Maddocks, near San Rafael, Marin County."

Clifden, Galway, is 9.4 km from Ballyconneely, according to Google Maps, so it is probably safe to say that Kate Timony's 1937 letter came from one of her mother's family in Ireland. She might have been visiting them in 1934.

The Maddock children

As we said, Mary had been married previously, to Thomas Maddock. On the 1880 census Mary, widowed, is living in San Rafael with her daughter Eleanor, 7, born in New York, and daughter Mary A, 5, born in California. Eleanor is mentioned in a news clipping in 1892, but after that I lost track of her. Mary may be the Mary A Maddock who died in California in 1917, age 44. There is a headstone in the Timony family plot that is just inscribed "Mary."

If Mary (Connolly) Maddock Timony's 1910 Census information is correct, saying that she had 4 children but only 2 were still living, then possibly Eleanor had died before 1910. But I found no record of her death.

Anthony Timony

I didn't have much more to go on for Anthony Timony's family either, until I found another news clipping at the site I mentioned above. On May 8, 1913, the Marin Journal published a remembrance of Martin Jordan, a cousin of Anthony's, who had died a few days earlier. It said Martin was only 27 when he died and had just arrived in the United States three weeks earlier. I found Martin's obituary, which said in part:

Jordan-In this city, May 2, Martin, beloved son of Mr. and Mrs. M Jordan and cousin of Anthony Timony of San Rafael, a native of County Mayo, Ireland, aged 27 years.

1913 Martin Jordan Obituary

as well as his Ellis Island record a few weeks before his death, as follows:

Left Queenstown April 3, Arrived April 9, 1913, New York, aboard the SS Olympic
Martin Jordan, 26, farm laborer, last residence Lahardane, Ireland, born in Lahardane, nearest relative in Ireland: mother Margaret Jordan, of Cartron, Lahardane, Co Mayo, destination: friend Michael Loftus, 6 Summer St, San Francisco.

Martin is in his mother's household in 1901, house 4 in Cartron (Addergoole, Mayo).

There were three Martin Jordans born in Mayo in the mid-1880's, but the only one with a mother Margaret was born June 22, 1886, in Derryhillagh Townland, son of Anthony Jordan, a farmer of Derryhillagh, and Margaret Jordan, formerly Timony.

(I know Martin's obituary said his father's first name started with "M", but those things happen. I think he would know his own mother's first name, which he said was Margaret on his passenger's manifest.)

Working backward, when Margaret Timony married Anthony Jordan on February 19, 1884, in the Catholic Chapel of Lahardane she said she was of Ballyduffy Townland and her father's name was John. Based on that, and on her age on the 1901 and 1911 censuses, this looks like Margaret's baptism record:

May 2, 1857
Addergoole, Diocese of Killala, County of Mayo
Margaret, of John Timony and Cate Lynn. sponsors: Thomas Hoban and Bridget Hoban. [Ballyduffy scratched out] [Cartron added or also scratched out?]

I didn't find a baptism record for Anthony Timony, father of Kate. There are a few Anthonys in the 1840's in Addergoole, including this one:

February 14, 1846
Addergoole, Diocese of Killala, County of Mayo
Anthony of Anthony Timony and Margaret Brogan, witnesses: John McAndrew? and Mary Lynn. Ballyduffy

but his might not have been recorded. If he was Martin's true first cousin, then Margaret's father, John Timony, would have been Anthony's father's brother. But putting all that together just from the parish registers would have been a lot of work. "Suffice it to say" that Anthony Timony is very likely from the area of Addergoole, Mayo, possibly Cartron or Ballyduffy.

Conclusion

Anthony Timony died October 14, 1924, Mary on May 11, 1931, and their daughter Catherine on June 3, 1979. They are all buried in Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery in San Rafael, California.

I seem to end up with a lot of "orphan" families. Mary and Anthony's only child Kate died single, and Mary and Thomas Maddock's two daughters also seem to have died childless. Maybe there is a relative out there somewhere wondering what happened to Mary Connolly or Anthony Timony.

Sources

US Censuses.
1901 and 1911 Census of Ireland, National Archives of Ireland.
Irish Civil Birth and Marriage Registers, irishgenealogy,ie.
Irish Catholic parish registers, National Library of Ireland.
California Death Indexes, California County Marriages, California, San Francisco Area Funeral Home Records, all at familysearch.org
findagrave.com.
Ellis Island records, libertyellisfoundation.org/.
California Digital Newspaper Collection at https://cdnc.ucr.edu/.

Credits

The photograph of Clifden, Galway, came from the article Clifden at wikipedia.org, and is in the public domain.

Mary E Keane, Nahant, Massachusetts

2019-09-07T00:00:00-04:00

About March 1943, Miss Mary Keane of 93 Fox Hill Road, Nahant, Massachusetts, received a letter from Gaillimh (Galway) Ireland.(footnote)The image of the letter to Mary Keane was once on the Jim Forte Postal History website, but is no longer. I am not connected with the site. Can this postmark tell us anything about her family's Irish origins?

Mary E Keane was born February 24, 1910, in Nahant, Massachusetts, the first child of Michael F Keane and Mary T Nolan. Michael and Mary had been married in Nahant on April 14, 1909. Both had been born in Ireland.

In 1940 the family was living at the address on the letter, 93 Fox Hill Road, Nahant. With Mary and her parents were the two other children in the family: Katherine Theresa, born August 5, 1911, and James John, born September 3, 1917. Her father was working as the manager of a state boat house. His later information said that this was for the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC).

Mary Keane remained single and lived most of her life in Nahant, dying on January 15, 1997, in Lynn. She is buried in Greenlawn Cemetery, Nahant, with her parents and her brother James.

Michael F Keane of Island Eddy and Nahant

When Mary's father was married, he stated that his parents were James Keane and Maria Connolly. I spent a long time looking for the ship manifest for his arrival, hoping that it would tell me at least his county of origin in Ireland. I was unsuccessful and was ready to give up on finding his birth family, until I remembered the trick of looking for siblings. So I went to familysearch.org and looked for anyone with those two parents.

There were a number of matches, but the one that stood out was Honora "Nora" Keane, who was born in Island Eddy, Galway, and married in Lynn, Massachusetts. Although the names Keane and Connolly are common enough, I thought that it had to be more than coincidence that both a Michael and a Honora Keane would settle in the Lynn/Nahant area. They were very likely brother and sister. And so it turned out to be. There was a civil birth record for a Michael Keane, born October 12, 1877, in Island Eddy as well.

Interestingly, Michael wasn't actually born on that date. The Irish Catholic parish records are now online and I found Michael's baptism record. It reads:

Baptized September 11, 1877 Kilcolgan Parish, Galway, Michalis Keane born September 6, (son of) Jacobus Keane and Maria Connolly of Island Eddy. Witnesses: Patritius and Maria Hann.

Since you can't get baptized until you are born 🙂 I believe the date of birth on this record is the correct one. What probably happened is either that his parents registered his birth on the October date, or they gave that date as his birthdate so they wouldn't have to pay the fine for a late registration.

Michael Keane, baptism record, page 1

Michael Keane, baptism record, page 2

Michael and Honora, or Nora, as she was called, are on the 1901 Census of house 4 in Eddy Island, Clarenbridge, Galway, with their parents James, age 60, and Maria, 50, along with their brothers and sisters: Thomas, Catherine, John, Martin, Winnie and James. Michael might have been visiting from America, because he was naturalized in 1904 and I am pretty sure the residency requirement was 5 years.

Mary T Nolan

What about Mary T Nolan's Irish origins? When Mary was married, she said that her parents were Thomas Nolan and Mary Tilly. On Griffith's Valuation of Ireland, taken in the 1850's and 1860's, those two surnames occur together only in Belfast, Dublin, and Co. Laois.

When Mary arrived in America she said she was headed for the home of her cousin, Annie Long, in Lynn. There is a birth record for an Annie Long in Abbeyleix, Co. Laois, that could be her, but I suspect it is a common name. I was unable to find a birth record for Mary Nolan, or any of her siblings.

If this were my family, I would probably plunk down a few dollars at rootsireland.ie and look through the index for children of Thomas Nolan and Mary Tilly. Then go to the Parish Records at the National Library of Ireland, nli.ie, and look for the baptisms. However, the records might not be complete or the family just might not have been recorded. Still I would start looking in Laois.

Update

I looked through the baptisms in Co. Laois for children of Thomas Nolan and Mary Tilly, and didn't find any. Your mileage may vary, as they say. Or try rootsireland.ie, since that is supposed to be the best site for the Irish parish records.

Conclusion

So although the postmark of "Galway" didn't give us much to go on this time, at least we were able to determine the Irish county of origin for the recipient. To clinch the matter, I found a post at facebook that mentioned a "Jim Keane of Nahant MA. USA ... [whose] father was from Island Eddy." That would be Mary E Keane's brother James J Keane.

There are a few other Galway families on the site. Click on the Co. Galway category at the top of this post. Sources and more information on the Keanes are in the New England Families tree on my other website.

Barbara (Hynes) Tarsney, Moycullen, Galway, and Glen Ridge, NJ

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

In 1941, Mrs. Felix Tarsney of 63 Willow Street, Glen Ridge, New Jersey, received a letter from Gaillimh (Galway City), County Galway, Ireland. What can we learn about Mrs Tarsney? Was she from Galway?

Compared to some other postal covers I have looked at, this family was relatively easy and well documented. There were also a few family trees at MyHeritage.com, and I think at ancestry.com as well. So I will just summarize what I found and maybe include a few things I didn't see on the trees at MyHeritage.

In 1940 Felix Tarsney, 54, and his wife Barbara, 52, were living at 63 Willow St, Glen Ridge, New Jersey. In 1910 they had been at 40 Newell St, Brooklyn.

On September 17, 1911, Barbara Tarsney and her sister Delia "Bridget" Devestern arrived on the SS Lusitania. Barbara was headed to 40 Newell St. Their last place of residence had been Moycullen, Ireland.

There is a record of a marriage of Felix Tarsney to Barbara Hynes in Brooklyn, NY, on June 28 1908. Her parents were Lawrence Hynes and Mary Bain. Various trees on line had identfied Moycullen as Barbara (Hynes) Tarsney's place of birth. So it was no surprise to find that the Residents of house 31 in Ower (Wormhole, Galway) on the 1901 Census of Ireland included a Barbara and Bridget Hynes, with their parents Lawrence and Mary, and a number of siblings.

What I didn't find on any of the family trees was the arrival of Barbara Hynes in 1905, the year in which she usually said she had immigrated. This was probably because the indexes at familysearch.org, libertyfoundation.org, and elsewhere, had the right ship but the wrong date. By starting at stevemorse.org and searching for the ship I found that Barbara had indeed arrived on the SS Oceanic, but on April 6, 1905, not April 5. She was age 20, a housemaid from Galway, and was headed to her uncle Frank Hynes' home at 179 Java St, Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY. She said she had been in the US before, in 1899. I didn't find that voyage.

Manifest of the SS Oceanic, dated April 6, 1905

So yes, Barbara (Hynes) Tarsney, the addressee of the envelope, was from Galway.

The Tarsneys

Felix's family was a little more difficult, but interesting. When he registered for the World War II draft in East Orange, NJ, Felix said he was born in County Monaghan. His brother Charles, when registering, said he was born in County Louth.His sister Norah, when she arrived May 29, 1909, on the SS Campania, said she was born in Carrickfergus, Monaghan.

A tree at ancestry.com, said that Felix' father James, who died in Brooklyn in 1911, had been born in County Armagh on 22 Nov 1854 to Arthur McAtarsney. There was an Arthur McAtarsney on Griffith's Valuation of Armagh the in parish of Loughgall and the townland of Annaghmore. And in 1901 there was a Felix McAtarsney, 54, in Annaboe, Kilmore, Armagh, who looks like a relative. Annaboe is an 11 minute drive from Annaghmore. So evidently, Felix' family was originally from Armagh. Then his father James left home to find work, went to Louth for a while, then to Monaghan, before emigrating to Brooklyn.

Combing through familysearch, findagrave.com, the Ellis Island records, etc., I found these siblings of Felix: Mary, Charles, (Felix), Catherine, Norah, Lucy, Agnes, and James. He had three half-brothers: Peter, John, and Frank.>

There is more information about the Hines and Tarsneys in the Other Trees section of this website.

Endnotes

An image of the envelope to Mrs. Felix Tarsney was once on the Jim Forte Postal History site.

Sources

"United States Census, 1940
United States Census, 1910
NYC Marriages at familysearch.org
Ellis Island Records
World War II Draft Registrations
Griffith's Valuation, at askaboutireland.ie.
1901 Census of Ireland, house 31 in Ower (Wormhole, Galway)
1901 Census of Ireland, house 13 in Annaboe (Kilmore, Armagh)

Mary Burke of Cloondergan, Galway, and Cleveland, Ohio

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

It's hard for me to pass up looking for an Irishman's county of origin, so after finding Another James O'Rourke, Killowen to Cleveland, I thought I would try to find his wife, Mary Burke, in Ireland.

There were, and probably still are, a lot of Mary Burkes in Ireland. So first I looked for Mary's siblings. At ancestry.com I searched for anyone named Burke living in Cleveland whose parents' names were the same as Mary's, namely Martin Burke and Nora O'Toole.

This found two results in the Cuyahoga County Marriage Records: Winifred Burke who married Peter Corrigan in 1930,¹ and Sarah Burke who married Jeffery O'Donohue in 1936.² Since James and Mary (Burke) O'Rourke named a daughter Winifred, this looked promising.

The next step was to search the Ellis Island records using stevemorse.org as a starting point. I found a Winifred Burke arriving Sep 29, 1924.³ She was the daughter of a Martin Burke in Cloondergan, Dunmore, County Galway, and was headed to 6800 Lucerne Ave, Cleveland. In 1920, this was the home of Michael J and Mary Burke.⁴

Then I searched immigration records at ancestry.com and found a Sarah Burke arriving 2 May 1927. She was also the daughter of a Martin Burke and was also headed to 6800 Lucerne Ave.⁵

To close it out, I looked in the 1911 Census of Galway and found a Martin and Oney Burke family, with daughters Marie, age 10, Winfred 9, and Sarah, 6, along with other children. In 1901 "Oney" is listed as Nora. They were living in Cloondergan, Addergoole, Galway.⁶

Believe me it is not always this easy but ...

Edited May 5, 2019

Mary (Burke) O'Rourke, 1940

It wasn't that easy to find Mary's immigration record. First I found a Mary Ellen Burke, age 21, arriving in 1922, daughter of Martin Burke of Cloondergan, Galway. Gotta be her, right? She was going to New Jersey, but she was the first of the family to arrive, so maybe she went on to Cleveland. Wrong. There were two Mary Burkes in Cloondergan with fathers named Martin. "Ours" turned out later to be Mary Teresa.

Then I found Mary's Declaration of Intention (she was naturalized on her own account), and it said she arrived August 22, 1921, in New York, on the SS Baltic. Guess what. There were two Mary Burkes on the ship, but at least one was from Mayo, leaving "our" Mary, from Galway, finally found.

... if this were my family, this is the first place I would look for birth records for Mary Burke.

Edited September 16, 2018

And so I did. Mary was born on September 20, 1901, Winifred on June 20, 1904, and Sarah on August 22, 1906, all in Cloondergan/Clondergan Townland, Galway, daughters of Martin Burke and Nora/Oney/Honor Toole/O'Toole. Martin and Honora were married in the Catholic chapel in Milltown, Galway, on March 11, 1899.

I don't know if any more of this family emigrated and, if they did, whether they came to Cleveland or not. I'll leave that for another day or another person.

Edited May 5, 2019

It's the same person, but another day. Mary's brothers Thomas and John also came to Cleveland. I lost track of Thomas after his arrival (1922), and of John after his petition for naturalization (1941). I don't know what became of their brother Michael, born in 1909. Martin, the youngest known child so far, born 1912, evidently kept the farm, as he was the informant on his parents' death records.

The details and other sources for this family are in the Ohio Families section of this site. See the sidebar for the link.

Footnotes:

Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Marriage Records and Indexes, 1810-1973, Marriage of Winifred Burke and Peter Corrigan.
Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Marriage Records and Indexes, 1810-1973, Marriage of Sarah Burke and Jeffery O'Donahue.
EllisIsland.org, Winifred Burke arrival, Sep 29, 1924
"United States Census, 1920," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MDT9-HF3), Michael Burke, Cleveland Ward 22, Cuyahoga, Ohio, United States; citing sheet , family 231, NARA microfilm publication T625, FHL microfilm 1821371.
5. Ancestry.com, New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957. Arrival of Sarah Burke, May 2, 1927.6. National Arvhives of Ireland, 1901 Census. Residents of a house 8 in Cloondergan, Addergoole, Galway. http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Galway/Addergoole/Cloondergan/1398061/.
National Archives of Ireland, 1911 Census. Residents of a house 11 in Cloondergan, Addergoole, Galway. http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Galway/Addergoole/Cloondergan/474539/.

Eileen Quinn, 1922, Newburgh, Cleveland

2019-05-01T00:00:00-04:00

Eileen Quinn,
1922

This website includes a picture of the 1922 second grade class at Holy Name Parish on Broadway on the southeast side of Cleveland. My mother was in that class and identified most of the children in the picture. She identified the young lady on our far right in the back row as Eileen Quinn. There was a Eileen Quinn living in the area, described below, who is probably her.

Eileen Quinn was born August 10, 1913, in Cleveland, the first child of John Joseph Quinn and Agnes May Francis.(footnote)Her exact date of birth comes from her father's Petition for Naturalization, but he was a bit off on two of the other children's dates, at least according to their Social Security information. They had married on August 17, 1912. Eileen was followed by four more children: John "Jack" born 1914, William (1917), Kathleen (1918), and Allan (1921). William died in 1918, but the other children lived to adulthood. In 1930, the family was living at 7808 Goodman Avenue on the southeast side of Cleveland.

On May 9, 1938, Eileen married Reginald G James in Cuyahoga County, and the two were living in Garfield Heights in 1940. Reginald died May 30, 1992. Eileen survived her siblings, including Allan who died in 2006. At that time she was living in Raleigh, North Carolina. I don't know when she died or if she and Reginald had any children.

Agnes May Francis

Agnes was born in the second quarter of 1884, in Mitcham, London, England, the daughter of William Francis and Mary Matilda Mihill. The Kevin Fairley Family Tree at ancestry.com provided Agnes' ancestry back two generations to William Francis and Mary Jane Mead on her father's side, and William Mihill and Mary Giles on her mother's. There is no point in my rehashing it here.

Agnes arrived in the United States June 23, 1912, aboard the SS Campania, which had left Liverpool 8 days earlier. She listed her father's residence as 174 High Street, Tooting, London. Interestingly she said her destination in America was her friend, J Quinn, at the Cleveland State Hospital, in Newburgh. This was one of many hints I needed to trace John's movements before his arrival in Newburgh back to his homestead in Ireland.

In October 1919 Agnes made a trip back to England with her three children, evidently to visit her parents. She was accompanied by her brother in law, Patrick Quinn, 36, a watchman. She and the children returned to Cleveland in June 1920. I didn't find any more mention of Patrick in Cleveland, so he must have remained in England. The Fairley tree says he died in Putney, which was near Tooting, London.

Agnes (Francis) Quinn died February 5, 1958, and is buried in Calvary Cemetery.

John Joseph Quinn

My effort at researching John Quinn's ancestry was a good example of starting at both ends and working toward the middle, a strategy that doesn't usually work. The Fairley tree gave me his mother's maiden name, Bridget Fair, early in my research, and John's death record in Cleveland, on December 27, 1945, provided his father's name, Michael.

"Fair" is an unusual Irish name, so I figured I'd just throw the parents' names into a search engine and see what came out. I turned up five children of the couple, including a John and a Patrick, all born in Conagher Townland, Dunmore Civil Parish, Galway. This turned out to be the right family, but the only trouble was that their son John's date of birth was February 28, 1878. On all but one of his American records, including his naturalization papers, John Joseph Quinn insisted that he was born in 1883.

Fortunately for the genealogist, John gave the date February 28, 1878, when registering for the United States WWI Draft. And when he and Patrick arrived in Montreal September 3, 1911, en route to Cleveland, they said their closest relative in Ireland was their father Michael in Conagher. Although, from what I can tell, I think they meant "brother", or maybe they were misunderstood. At any rate on Patrick's first trip to the US, when leaving Queenstown on August 28, 1907, he said his mother Bridget Quinn was in Conagher, Tuam.

Agnes Francis' immigration destination, "a friend J Quinn, Cleveland State Hospital" made me realize they knew each other before she arrived. I looked for John in that area of London and found an Electoral Roll of Tooting Ward that included

John Quinn
Place of abode: Tooting Bee Asylum, Tooting Common

John, as mentioned, worked at the asylum in Cleveland until about 1917, so this listing seems to fit.

John's parents, Michael Quinn and Bridget Fair, were married in Kilcommon and Robeen Parish, County Mayo, on February 4, 1869, which probably explains why the Fairley Family tree says that the family was from Mayo.

The indexed information to the civil registration of the marriage, in Ballinrobe Registration District, says Bridget's father's name was John. The image is not yet online, but the certificate if obtained should list Bridget's townland at the time of her marriage. This would help identify which of the two John Fairs in the area was her father.

Update

It must be a while since I looked at this family. The image of the civil registration of the marriage is now online:

Married February 4, 1869, at the Roman Catholic Chapel of Kilcommon, Registrar's District of Hollymount, County Mayo:
Michael Quinn, farmer, a bachelor of full age, of Cunnaher. father: William, a farmer
Bridget Faire, farmer's daughter, a spinster of full age, of Bushfield. father: John Faire, a farmer.
Married by Edm King, P.P, in the presence of Martin Quinn and Ann Jane Anderson.

That would make the John Fair of Bushfield Townland, County Mayo, Bridget's likely father. And it shows that the family was from Mayo. Funny how the mother's ancestry often determines "where they were from" in Irish culture, at least from my experience.

Conclusion

Sources and more details on the families covered in this article are in the Ohio Families section of this site. If you are descended from Eileen Quinn, you are welcome to download the picture of the 1922 second grade class, or contact me for a larger version which might have better resolution.

Credits

The image of the townland sign for Conagher, Galway, is used courtesy of the Milltown Heritage Group.

Bartley Carr of Tonabrocky, Galway, and Cleveland

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

In 1910 there was a man boarding with my great grandfather named Bartley Carr. He was unrelated to our family. Here are a few things about him from my research.

Bartley Carr was born about 1884 in Galway, Ireland, the son of Walter Carr and Honora Kelly.(footnote) Manifest of the Campania at http://www.ellisisland.org/search/shipManifest.asp?pID=101778030057.
Ohio, Deaths, 1908-1953," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/X8J2-P5P : accessed 05 Sep 2013), Barney Carr, 1917.

In 1901 Bartley, age 15, is living with his father and mother, both age 60, and his siblings Thomas (28), Anne (26), and John (20), in house number 14, Tonabrocky Townland, in the Civil Parish of Rahoon, Barony of Galway, District Electoral Division of Barna, in the County of Galway. None of the children are married; the parents could not read or write; all are Roman Catholic; Walter Carr was a farmer. It was a two room stone, concrete, or brick dwelling with a thatched roof and two windows. As such it was classified as a third class dwelling.(footnote)Census of Tonabrocky at the Irish National Archives, http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Galway/Barna/Tonabrocky/1374581/.

Bartley arrived in the United States on April 29, 1908, aboard the SS Campania, which had left Queenstown on April 23. he was 25, single, a laborer of Irish nationality who was a British subject. He was 5'8" with fair complexion, fair hair, and blue eyes. His last residence was Galway. His closest relative in his home country was his father Walter Carr, whose home was written as "Thonanbrucky" Galway. Bartley's destination was the home of his cousin Martin Kelly, at 9537 Meech Ave, Cleveland. He had paid for trip himself, held $15 and a ticket to his destination. He had not been in the US before.(footnote)Manifest of the Campania at http://www.ellisisland.org/search/shipManifest.asp?pID=101778030057

In the 1909 Cleveland City Directory we find Bartley Carr and Martin J Kelly residing at 9406 Meech. Bartley is a laborer and Martin is a rougher. From 1910 to 1916 Bartley, now Bernard, is listed at 4025 East 89th.(footnote)Cleveland City Directories.

He appears on the 1910 Census in the household of my great grandfather, Edward Rodgers, at that address. On the census he is called Barney. He is described as a 25 year old laborer in a wire mill who was born in Ireland to parents who were also born there. He arrived in this country in 1908. (footnote)Census of Edward Rodgers' household at "United States Census, 1910," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/ML8G-V1M : accessed 05 Sep 2013), Edward Rodgers, 1910.

Barney's cousin Martin Kelly is married and living at 9512 Harvard Ave in 1910 and is at 9214 Harvard Ave in the 1915 and 1916 Directories.(footnote)Census of Martin Kelley household at
"United States Census, 1910," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/ML8P-M95 : accessed 05 Sep 2013), Martin Kelley, 1910
and Cleveland City Directories. On August 27, 1917, Barney Carr died of acute myocarditis at City Hospital, Cleveland. His cousin, Martin Kelly, of "9314" Harvard Ave was the informant. Barney's parents' names are given as Walter Carr and "Hanor" Kelly. Barney had been working as an orderly at City Hospital, and had been seen by a doctor from April 27, 1917, until the day of his death. He was buried in Calvary Cemetery on August 29, 1917, from the John P McGreal funeral home at 9023 Harvard.(footnote)"Ohio, Deaths, 1908-1953," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/X8J2-P5P : accessed 05 Sep 2013), Barney Carr, 1917.

Somewhere, someone is wondering whatever happened to their ancestor's brother or cousin, Bartley Carr from Tonabrocky Townland, Galway. I hope this article will help.

Peter Curran of Galway and Norwood

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

This article should be subtitled "The Case of the Fortuitous Visitor." You'll see why in a moment.

A friend of mine asked me to see if I could find the Irish origins of her mother's Curran family who settled in Norwood, Massachusetts. As I soon found out, there were a lot of Currans in Norwood, but my friend supplied me with enough specifics to get going.

Norwood, about 1920

It wasn't too hard to work back to Peter Curran who married Mary Leonard in St. Mary's Church, Dedham, on 23 April 1882. Peter was 23, born in Ireland to parents named John and Hannah. They lived on Railroad Street, Norwood. Peter worked as a tanner.

Along the way, I also noticed a Martin Curran in Norwood, married 5 May 1878 to a Margaret Leonard. Martin was 28, born in Ireland, also to parents named John and Hannah. Martin was a tanner on the 1880 census.

I suspected that these two men were brothers, but where were they from in Ireland? I located Peter's naturalization record and it said he was from County Galway. That is better information that is usually on a naturalization, but it wouldn't be enough to find his home—there were even more Currans in Galway than in Norwood.

Enter the Fortuitous Visitor

At this point I started looking at the later censuses for Peter and Martin just to fill in the families. I noticed that in 1930 Martin was widowed. In his household was a Bridget Curran, niece, 22, born in the Irish Free State, who said she arrived in the US in 1927. Who was Bridget? Could she help solve the mystery of where Peter or Martin were from?

Well, Bridget happened to emigrate at a time when they asked a lot of questions. From looking at the information on her passenger manifest—she actually left Cork on 18 Oct 1925—we learn that she was headed to her uncle Peter Curran's home at 346 Railroad St., Norwood, Mass. Even better we find that her contact person in Ireland was her mother, Mrs. Curran, of Boohona, Spiddal, Co. Galway.

The rest was easy. In the 1911 census in Bohoona East, Killannin, Galway, there are a Patrick and Margaret Curran with a daughter Bridget, age 7. The naming pattern of Patrick's sons was remarkably similar to that of Peter and Martin Curran's families in Norwood.

The Irish baptismal and marriage records should be consulted to be sure, but I am pretty confident that these people are the right match for the Curran family we started with.

A Final Question

Just out of curiosity: Does anyone know what happened to our fortuitous visitor, Bridget Curran? I didn't find an unmarried Bridget Curran in the 1940 Census in Massachusetts, and the marriage records for Massachusetts for that time period are not online. If you know, please help me out.

Postscript

In February 2015 I heard from a Curran descendant in Galway who answered my question about Bridget. Here is what she said. I will leave out her name.

"My Grandfather was Michael Curran... his parents were Patrick (Pat Mor) and Margaret Curran. He came from a large family. And I do not know of all of them. However, Bridget emigrated to Norwood, Mass. She married a fellow called Walsh.. cannot remember his first name... and I think he was from Oughterard in Galway. Bridget lived at 296 Railroad Avenue, Norwood, Mass.

"I knew Auntie Bridgie lived to be old as my uncle in Canada used to visit her when she was alive. My mother was Margaret Mary (known as Peggy) and her brothers Patrick (Pat) and John Francis (Jack). Jack lived in Canada most of his life and died there.

"Hope this gives you a lead!"

There are a Bridget and John Walsh on the census of Norwood in 1940 living at 35 Summit Avenue. John's birthplace was the Irish Free State. And Bridget died May 6, 1997. Her last residence was Norwood. The Social Security Death Index says she was born April 1, 1904.

Credits

Photograph of Norwood courtesy of Wikipedia:Norwood, Massachusetts.