John Comer
- Born
- 1835-01-01 12:00:00
- Died
- 1887-01-01 12:00:00
- Gender
- Male
- Place of migration
- Migrated to/Born in UK
John Comer, son of Martin Comer from County Galway. He was Catholic. Migrated to England, but I do not know when. Married first time to Annie Malloy in England in 1857. England marriage registration mistakenly entered as "Conner" not Comer. Marriage registration in 1857 lists John's age as 23, thus born in 1834 or 35, and John's father as Martin. First wife had four children: Patrick, Edward, Mary, and Margaret. Annie Malloy Comer died in England. John then married my great grandmother, Anna Forrest in 1870. England marriage registration again mistakenly entered as "Conner" not Comer. John's father is listed as Martin and his age is listed as 30 in 1870, thus he would have been born in 1839 or 1840. He and Anna Forrest and his four children then immigrated to the US were he worked as a coal miner until his death in 1857. Buried in St. Michael's church cemetery in Frostberg, Allegany County, Maryland. Church burial records state that he was from County Galway.
I have searched Ancestry and Irish Roots data bases and found only one John Comer whose father was Martin from County Galway. This John was baptised at St. Columba's church in Castlegar in May 1843. I have visited St. Columba's and photo copied the records which were typed copies of the originals and alphabetized by family last name. There were three pages of Comers in the records of St. Columba's. I am not positive this is the record of my great grandfather. If this record is my great grandfather, and is accurate, he would have only been 14 years old when he married in 1857. Did he lie about his age in order to marry? If the typed record has a typo and 1843 should have been 1834 then he would have been 23 when he married in 1857. However, the entries in St. Columba's records before and after John's 1843 baptism are also from the 1840s, so a typo seems less likely. I visited the West Galway Genealogy Society while in Galway and their records only list this John Comer whose father was Martin.
Any help in interpreting these church records or with other records of a John Comer whose father was Martin would be greatly appreciated.
Michael Patrick Comer
