Patrick Hickey

My great grandfather Patrick Hickey (1859-1927) was born in Clounaman to Edmund Hickey(1833-1890) and Hannah Cournane (1829-1910) and emigrated to NYC about 1880. His father, Edmund, is listed in various records as a fisherman, a boatman and a laborer. Edmund himself was born at Clounaman in 1833 to Patrick Hickey and Johanna McElligott. Patrick married Mary Noonan from Barleymount West, Killarney in October of 1888 at St. Peter's Church on Barclay Street in NYC.

In Griffiths Valuations, Patrick Hickey (I'm assuming my ggggrandfather) is listed in a house with no land at Clounaman, and if I read the map letters and numbers correctly, the Hickey family appears to be living in a small group of houses (a clachan?) quite near the Shannon shoreline. In using Google maps it looks like the ruins of these houses may still exist at Clounaman. However, Michael Lynch from the Kerry County Library who was a great help with advice (through emails) suggested that the maps were not clear and the Hickey dwelling mmay have been on the road between Ballylongford and Asdee.

Patrick, my great grandfather, had 3 or 4 Hickey uncles who preceded him in emigrating to NYC - John (marrried Johanna O'Connor), Patrick (married Annie McGowan, possibly a Sligo native) and Michael Hickey (married Bridget McCormick) and possibly a William. Patrick's younger sister, Johanna Hickey (1861-1944) also emigrated to NYC in 1881. His older sister, Margaret, married a man named Michael Broder or Broderick and died in a hospital outside Listowel around 1920. She had about 7 children most if not all of whom seemed to die young of tuberculosis.

I have found references to my Hickeys in the Irish Petty Court Sessions for Ballylongfrod where both Edmund and Patrick (probably father and son) were charged and fined with fishing for salmon without a license and with using a boat that did not have it's name lettered on its side. 

Many years ago when I inquired about my family, the local parish priest of Ballylongford at the time kindly provided me with a bit of history for the Hickies of Kilelton House to whom he suggested we might be connected. I thought it unlikely given the humble circumstances of my family and only recently discovered in the Petty Court Sessions a 5 year struggle (c1897-1902) by William Hickey of Kilelton House to evict Hannah Hickey of Clounaman (my gg grandmother).

As you can see I have done a fair amount of research and learned much but I would be very interested to learn if the ruins of the house still stand and whether there are any local recollections of Hickey fisherman living in Clounaman. What is perhaps a bit confusing is that records of the family vary back and forth identifying them as being of Clounamon or Kilelton.

In Brooklyn, NY, where Patrick worked on the docks as a longshoreman, connections of the Hickey family included a John Kennelly, son fo Michael Kennelly and Catherine Enright of Lisselton, Michael Hayes of Ballylongford and his wife also a Kennelly I believe, and a Peter Collins family. The above Michael Hayes who married at Ballylongford and apparently had several children before emigrating in the 1880s to Brooklyn with his family, is also identified as a boatman.

Hoping this is of interest to someone.

Ed Stewart