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Con, Condy, Cornelius or Constantine?

I have a question my great grandfather came to the US from Ireland around 1853, have no idea where in Ireland. He settled in Hazleton-Audenried area of Pennslyvania and was a miner. His name was Cornelius Gallagher B.1830-?1900. He want by the name Con and Condy, Cornelius. My question is could his name have been Constantine? Were those names kinda used interchangeably? Why I ask is 2 of his sons were twins and on one census they list the childs name as Constantine and on others his is listed as Cornelius which is also on his death certificate and his sons name is Cornelius.
My grandfathers death cert. is not available if one exists. His wifes name was Sarah McGee also from Ireland and have no idea where in Ireland. Her parents were Patrick McGee and Bridget ? Not sure if they also came over and of any siblings. I have her death certificate. Their children in order were 1 st. Mary, Grace T. ,Bridget ,Julia C. , Cornelius Jr. and Dennis (twins) and my grandfather John Kiernan Gallagher. I have been trying to find naturalization papers on him, since he was, according to census records NA. But not knowing if the Constantine name could be a possibility. I understand that their is a naming pattern that was uses for children, but not set in stone. Just looking for any thoughts, opinions. Look forward to hearing from any of you. Maybe someone is a distant cousin. I have an ancestry account and there are a 2 cousins but they have not been on Ancestry for over a year or more and have not responded to my queries. Thank you

foxglove

4 replies

foxglove:

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out and Happy New Year!

Constantine as a given name was a rare in Ireland. I looked at my 1901 census data base and there were only 20 men/boys named Constantine out of 160,000 households in my data base which covers Mayo, Leitrim. Sligo. Roscommon, Donegal, Galway and Wexford.

Nornally, Con, Condy and Connell were connected but I have seen a Cornelius shortened to Con.

Not sure about Constantine and Cornelius being used interchangeably.

By the way, there is a good likelhood that Cornelius came from Donegal and maybe Sarah also. McGee is a surname found mainly in Ulster.

Have you considered autosomal DNA testing?

Roger McDonnell

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Hello Roger ,thank you for your reply and Happy New Year, I have had the Ancestry DNA testing done. But only one cousin that I know of from my Dads side my 2nd cousins son = 3rd cousin. There are many more cousins out there but they have no clue of a connection. It came back 89% Ireland, 3% Great Britan,3%Finland/NW Russia, 2% Scandinavia, 1% Europe East,1%West Asia,1%Asia.  My mothers family comes from Isle of Man. Manx, I knew I was of  Irish heritage.

 He does not have any other information. I was trying to find Cornelius naturalization papers. I found one with the name Constantine  for Pennsylvania is why I asked about the names. There are only a couple with the name Cornelius and they are from Ohio  or the dates don't fit. I will keep searching.

 

Thank You Jeanne

foxglove

Jeanne,

 

I can help you. A third cousin on my Irish line just posted a postcard addressed to a great great uncle of ours. It said that cousin Bridget Curran is dead. The cousin found this Bridget's death certificate in Ancestry. Her parents are shown as Condy Gallagher and Sarah McGee. She died in Carbon Co. PA in 1910. Informant was Dennis Gallagher. All this agreed with your data. This great great uncle was the son of Mary Gallagher so that would appear to be the family connection. We know where Mary Gallagher was born-- Meenavalley, Ardara, Donegal. My brother has had his DNA done in Ancestry. If you will tell me your username I will see if you are a match to him. By the way all the Combs or Cindy's in our family tree were actually named Connell. If you want to take this private email me at sking@uh.edu.

Shawn King

Wonderful  thank you - sent you an email.

 

foxglove

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