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John James Conley - Bailieborough, County Cavan

My name is Blair Conley and I live in Madison, New Jersey in the United States.
 
I am doing research about my great grandfather, John James Conley, born March 1839 in Bailieborough. 
 
I believe the date of birth to be accurate, as I found it on a U.S. Census record.
However, I believe the surname "Conley" was not his original name. Family lore has it that upon being discharged from the Union Army in the 1860's, his original name
Connolley or Connolly was changed to Conley.
 
I believe John James Conley emigrated from Bailieborough, to the United Stated in the late 1850's or perhaps 1860.
Blair Conley

5 replies

Local volunteer contacted.

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Blair,

Do you have any other info about John James--siblings, parents, wife, children? places,  years?

I'd like to suggest you not stick to a particular birth year or spelling of a name.  People from Ireland were not necessarily aware of their birthday. Birthdays weren't celebrated in Ireland. People often did not know when they were born. They weren't asked to produce proof of birth or identity in the way that we are. In the census, John himself may not have given the info--it may have been given by another family member or a neighbor. And they may not have been right. Plus the census taker sometimes erred.

I hope this helps.

glanvil3@aol.com

Hi Blair,

 

I will see if I can give you any directions.  

The Irish in The American Civil War is well documented by Damian Shiels, he runs a website by the same name https://irishamericancivilwar.com/  I don't know if he would have any information for you, but he is worth a try, if he did not have your ancestor noted, you can give him your information to add to his files & maps.

Have you tracked John James through the census records until he died, the reason I ask this is that he may have named his children after his parents and grandparents, they may have followed family naming patterns.  This may give you clues to his ancestors names.   When looking at the census, check to see who else living with them as they may have joined his family as part of chain migration, if we can find a family member that left Ireland a good while after him, it might bring us into civil registration and records that are available here.

Bailieborough is a town was the Poor Law Union area which covered Bailieborough, Kingscourt & Shercock.  Though if he was from the town of Bailieborough, he would have used Bailieborough.  

I searched the local newspapers for any information about him from 1880 to 1900, in the hope that his story in the Union Army may have been mentioned, I found nothing.  When did he die?

Regards Carmel O'Callaghan

Bailieborough CavanIrelandXO Volunteer

Hi Patricia and Carmel,

 

Thank you both for your assistance as I search for more detail on my Great Grandfather, John James Conley, very much appreciated.

At this point I am going to reach out to some relatives here in the states to see if we can pull together additional information in support of this search. For example, I just spoke with a cousin of mine who  believes John James may not have been born in Bailieborough, but rather County Monaghan. For quite some time, myself and others believed Bailieborough to be his place of birth. So with this uncertainty I would ask you to hold off on any further research. I don't want you to spend additional time on this if the basic fact of place of birth is uncertain! My apologies. I was moving ahead based upon Bailieborough as the place of birth. However, based upon your initial research and the recent update from my cousin, this may not be so.

Hopefully I can come back to you both, at some time in the not to distant future with more accurate information.

Ireland xo is a wonderful service. Thank you both for volunteering.

 

Thanks again,

 

Blair

 

 

Blair Conley

You are welcome Blair, best of luck with your research.

 

Regards Carmel

Bailieborough CavanIrelandXO Volunteer

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