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Hugh Maloy/Malloy

Offaly

My gggrandfather, Hugh Maloy/Malloy, magically appeared in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA “from Ireland”. I’ve been researching the name Maloy and learned that it was originally Maolmhuadh (proud chieftain) of the Southeren Ui Niall territory now County Offlay. So, I’m reaching out in the hopes that he’s “from” Co Offlay, Ireland. I have very little information to go on, but here’s what I know. Hopefully there’s a clue here that points me to Co Offlay. Hugh Maloy was born in Ireland abt 1840 (1880 U.S. census). He first appears in the Pittsburgh City Directory in 1865. He is not in the 1870 census, but reappears in the 1880 census in Pittsburgh, Alleghany County, Pennsylvania. This census shows him living with wife Mary and 7 children. All the children are stated as being born in Pennsylvania between the mid 1860 to early 1870. The state of Pennsylvania did not have the wisdom to record marriages during the 1860’s. A search with the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese did not find a marriage of Hugh and Mary. Baptismal records of the oldest 6 children were destroyed in a church fire. The baptismal record of the youngest child states that the mother was “Mary Dever, Hibernian, Donegal”. The children's names are as follows: Patrick John b. 1865, Harry Joseph b. 1867, James Joseph b.1869, Mary Ellen b. 1872, Hugh Aloysius b.1876, William John b. 1879, and Cornelius b. 1882. I’m hoping someone recognizes this family and can confirm Hugh’s place of birth in Co Offlay. Colleen Rumble nee Maloy

crumble

3 replies

Colleen:

In the mid-19th century in Ireland, the surname Molloy was found in many counties in good numbers. Co. Offaly had the most Molloy households but other counties such as Mayo, Donegal, Galway, Dublin and others also had a number of Molloy households.

Dever is almost exclusively a Donegal surname with a few in Co. Mayo and you indicate that Mary came from Donegal.

Many RC parishes in Ireland do not have records back to 1840 and this is especially true in the west of Ireland including Co. Donegal which is probably the most difficult county to find pre-1850 records.

One possible theory is that Hugh and Mary were both from Donegal and possibly emigrated separately or married in Ireland and then emigrated.

I did search the subscription site Roots Ireland for Hugh Molloy (and variant) baptismal records for all of Ireland from 1835-1845. I located ten records and three were in Co. Offaly. One of the three records was in 1840-- March 1 1840 baptismal record in the Rahan RC parish in Co. Offaly for Hugh Molloy father Terence Molloy and mother A. Molloy.   You can use this record as a lead but I think that it is very unlikely that this record is for your ancestor.

Have you considered a DNA test?

Let me know what questions you have.

Roger  McDonnell

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Hello Roger,

Thank you for your quick response. I apologies for the delay in my response.

I appreciate you taking the time to research the Baptismal record of my gggrandfather, Hugh Molloy. I knew I was reaching for the stars, but held out hope that I would find him in Co Offlay. 

I agree with you that the only record in 1840 is unlikely my ancestor. It appears to me that Hugh and his sons followed the Irish naming pattern. If Terence was Hugh's father, than his first born son would be Terence and not Patrick. 

I did try to search for Mary Dever in Donegal, but that was some years back. Maybe with the new records being available, something might have surfaced. 

I do have a DNA kit from Ancestry. I was hoping that one of my two brothers would be willing to submit their sample, but neither are interested. So, I guess my DNA will have to suffice.

Thank you again for your help

Colleen

 

 

 

crumble

Colleen:

Your Ancestry kit will suffice ( I could not tell if you have submitted the kit and have the results). If you brother's took an Ancestry test the results will be comparable to your results.

Once you have your results make sure you add a tree and associate the tree with your DNA results. Ancestry does have a feature called "Thru Lines" which may be helpful in getting more clues on your family. You should also add your Ancestry data to other sites such as My Heritage and Family Tree DNA. There is also a site called Gedmatch www.gedmatch.com where you can add your DNA data and find more matches. 

The key is to have your data on multiple sites to expand your match pool and maybe get information that will help you with Hugh Molloy and Mary Dever and their origins.

Roger

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

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