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Cooneys of County Cork

Cork

I am looking to establish communication and exchanging family data with other researchers in an effort to discover the County Cork roots of my Cooney ancestor. In her family history report, my paternal grandmother (Catherine Grace Cooney) noted that her grandfather Michael J Cooney (1819 - 1868), and his brother John Cooney (1820 - 1862) emigrated to the US from County Cork, Ireland:

"Some time in the middle 1800s two young men left Cork Ireland and set out for the United States land of their dreams"

Since Grace was born in the summer of 1898, she certainly didn’t get the information about Michael Cooney’s place of origin directly from her grandfather, who died in 1868, or her grandmother, Catherine Murnan (Michael’s wife) who died in 1894. More than likely, though, it came indirectly from her grandmother through Grace’s father, William John Cooney (1862 – 1928). Since Michael Cooney died when William John Cooney was quite young, Catherine Murnan would have been the most logical source of this detailed personal information about her first husband. Both of the County Cork Cooney immigrants had passed before 1870. and there are no family bible records documenting births, marriages, offspring and deaths, available for these early Cooneys. The only thing we have as a beginning point for attempting to identify Michael Cooney’s parents is this brief snippet of oral history.  I have yDNA and autosomal DNA results from a male Cooney descendant, which may help in establishing a connection to the family roots in Ireland.

Jim Jackson

 

 

jimdebby1991@g…

4 replies

Jim:

As background, civil registration of births started in 1864 so prior to 1864, we rely on church records. Co. Cork church records are available on two sites. Records for parishes in the Diocese of Cork and Ross are on the free site www.irishgenealogy.ie and records for parishes in the Diocese of Cloyne are on the subscription site Roots Ireland. Records are also on two other subscription sites-Ancestry and FindMyPast.

In your case, you don't know the parents names which complicates the search. On Roots Ireland, I found a John Couny baptized March 19 1820 at the Inniscarra parish church parents Timothy Couny and Ellen Lynch. This John had a three siblings James, Margaret and Johanna. Records for Inniscarra parish start in July 1814.  (There is always the possibility that Michael was born before July 1814).

The only Michael I could find was a Michael Cowny baptized July 17 1819 in Cloyne RC parish. Parents Jeremiah Cowny and Ellen Mahony or Malony. However, I did not find any records for siblings.

So you have two leads. If you have any other information on the family pleaselet me know.

Roger McDonnell

 

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Hi Jim,

Have you looked at records in the U.S. that might give info about Catherine and Michael?  Censuses, wills, church records (their marriage, baptisms and marriages of their children), their children's civil birth and marriage records, death records, headstone and cemetery interment records, wills, newspaper death notices, etc.  Some of these may mention a place of origin.  Others may allow you to see the birth order of the couple's children, and from there you might be able to guess at the names of the couple's parents. (Google Irish naming patterns.)  Seeing the names of witnesses at weddings and baptisms may lead you to discover other family members--and may also lead you back to Ireland.

 

I hope this is helpful.

glanvil3@aol.com

Hello there Jim,

My name is Jane Cooney and I am also trying to trace my ancestors who I suspect came from Cork too. All I know of the family is that my great great grandfather was a Patrick Cooney (son of Patrick Cooney- a farmer) born in Ireland around 1816 and who married Honora O 'Hanlon in 1856 in Maidstone and then settled in Kent, England in the 1860s. It is extremely likely that they had left Ireland during the time of the Famine. I would love to know more about the family that they left behind. I have not done a dna test yet, but would like to do so. My father has via 23and me, but so far we haven't uncovered our Irish connection. It isn't beyond the realms of possibility that we could be cousins. My email address is janealiciacooney@hotmail.es if you think we might be able to help each other in solve this. Best wishes, Jane 

Cooney&O'Hanlan

Roger McConnell, thanks very much for explaining the data sources available for Irish birth records, as well as for checking on  occurrences of the two Cooneys I mentioned in one of the subscription services you have access to. I have Ancestry, so, hopefully, I can find the two leads you provided, and, perhaps, do some further work with this information.

 

Patricia, thanks for your suggestions.I have, in fact, checked numerous US sources, and have found these two Cooneys in US census, newspaper, deed and military records, but the data is quite sparse, unfortunately. I haven't been able to check US (catholic) church records, as yet, but that is on my long term search list. Both Cooney brothers were dead by 1870, and there was only one direct descendant between them, and the trail of his vital records do not reveal any useful information in regard to his Irish ancestry.

Jane, I'll contact you via email with the address you provided.

 

Jim Jackson

 

jimdebby1991@g…

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