Greetings All!
I wanted to take the opportunity to thank Mike Howe and Christy Cunniffe for their incredible hospitality during my trip to Ireland in September 2018. My husband James Griffin and I could not have picked a better trip to celebrate 30 years of marriage! Mike and Christy were able to take us around The Callows on our visit. We were able to visit the site of the old Lucas homestead and the site of Mulhare's blacksmith shop, in addition to the pub in Shannonbridge where my ancestors undoubtedly shared a pint or two! Three of Michael Lucas' granddaughter's are still around - 86, 88 & 92 - and thoroughly enjoyed all the pictures and tales.
I've lately been utilizing DNA to aid in my family tree research and have had some success. Here are some discoveries I have made in my family tree, either through research or DNA matches with descendents, as well as some potential ancestors I am researching:
LUCAS:
A DNA match was made to a Kevin Spellman, a descendent of William Spellman (1878-1939) who married Mary Ann Lucas (1880-1905), through their son John who married Catharine Norton. Mary Ann's parents were Thomas Lucas & Maria Coughlin. This Mary was "little Mary Ann" . I would be interested to find out what happened to "big Mary Ann" b. 1873 who was the daughter of Thomas Lucas and his first wife, Catherine Gunning, who died from complications of childbirth.
DNA matches were made to descendants of two of the children of Mary Lucas Rourke/O'Rourke b. 1837/1842 Clonfert and Patrick O'Rourke. The Rourkes were in Kilmacshane in 1901 & 1911. [Mary is the presumed sister of John Lucas b.1848 (married to Maria Gunning)]
1. Kieran Rourke/O'Rourke b. 18 Jun 1866, Galway; d. 2 Apr 1910, New York, New York; emigrated to US app 1889; married Mary Gilmartin 30 Mar 1902, New York, New York; 4 children: Mary Audrey O'Rourke b. 1903, Winifred b. 1905, Kiernan, b. 1909 and Bertha b. 1910. All children born New York, NY
2. Ann Marie Rourke/O'Rourke b. 1881, Galway; emigrated to US in 1907; married William Joseph Lorenz 17 May 1912 in New York, New York; lived in Yonkers, NY in 1915; moved to Utica, New York 1916-1918; 4 children: William Joseph, b. 1913 Yonkers, NY, Anna Marie, b. 1917 Yonkers, NY, Edna, b. 1918, Utica, NY and Herman Patrick b. 1922 Utica, NY.
There was another Rourke/O'Rourke, presumably from this family, that emigrated to the US in 1909: Bertha O'Rourke, b. 1893. Not sure what the relationship is, but my guess is that she is the daughter of one of Kieran and Ann Marie's brothers, Thomas (b. 1870) or Daniel (b.1873), who remained in Ireland. There were also 2 sisters that did not emigrate: Harriet (b.1868) and Catherine (b.1876). I don't believe Harriet married and there is a Ballinasloe Death Record for April/May/June 1950 for a Hariet Rourke that may be her. Catherine married a Nevin and had at least 4 children: John Patrick b. 1902, James Frances b. 1903, Daniel Joseph b. 1907, and Winifred b. July 1910.
MULHARE:
DNA matched to the descendants of Bridget (Delia) Mulhare b. 14 Apr 1884, sister of Mary Ann Mulhare b. (my great grandmother who married Michael Lucas). Delia emigrated to the US, arriving 30 Apr 1903. She married Charles Agusta Howley 26 Jul 1906 in New York, NY. They had only one son James S, born 7 Aug 1909, New Brunswick, NJ. Bridget died young, presumably before 1920.
@Catherine Mulhare from Eyrecourt:
Sorry I'm just getting around to answering your post. I'd love the opportunity to see if our Mulhares are somehow linked! If you give me a little more info on the dates of birth/death of your grandparents I'll do some digging to see if I can connect my Mulhares with yours. I do know that my 2nd great grandfather John Mulhare and his wife Mary Dempsey were in Lenamore, Clonfert in 1901. Many of the my Mulhares were smiths. When I visited Clonfert in 2018, Mike Howe told me that Marty Mulhare (my great grand uncle) was running the blacksmith shop when he was a boy.
There was a "nest" of Mulhares from Eyrecourt living in the Clinton Heights section of Brooklyn, NY at the turn of the century. I am inclined to believe that these Mulhares are linked somehow to my Mulhares as they are living alongside, and sometimes even at, the same addresses as some of my Dempsey ancestors. There was a Thomas J Mulhare b. 1892 in Eyrecourt and his siblings Mary, b. 1890 , John, b. 1893, Hanora, b.1896 and Peter, b. 1902 New York. It's possible their parents were Michael Mulhare and Mary Quirk. It is likely that the children were orphaned; they were living with their grandparents, Patrick Quirk and Mary Conery in Eyrecourt, Galway in 1901 and their grandmother Mary Quirk in Brooklyn in 1910.
Another interesting lead is a Martin Mulhare, b. 11 Jul 1899 in Eyrecourt, Galway who lived first in New Brunswick, New Jersey and then Bernardsville, New Jersey (1940-death in Oct 1966. I believe his parents were Thomas and Hanora Mulhare who were living in Meelick, Galway. His siblings Thomas, Mary Mulhare Lyons, Bridget Mulhare O'Connor and Catherine Mulhare Shaughnessy remained in Ireland (per his obituary).
One more potential connection I am pursuing is that of 2 Mulhare brothers, Martin and Hubert, living in NYC around 1900. Martin emigrated first in 1881, followed by Hubert in 1883. They piqued my interest because of the name Hubert. Census and other online records didn't yield any information about county of origin, except one denoting "Southern Ireland" for place of birth, so I obtained death certificates to see what I could glean from them. No luck in place of birth but it did give me parents names: Martin's were Martin Mulhare and Bridget Donohue and Hubert's were Martin Mulhare and Bridget Quinn. Martin married first Mary McRedmond and then her sister Annie McRedmond and had children by both wives. I believe the McRedmonds were from Kilcormac in Offaly - they had a brother Michael that remained in Ireland and a sister Frances that emigrated as well. Hubert Mulhare married a Mary Murphy and had progeny.
DEMPSEY:
Mary Dempsey's parents were either Michael Dempsey or Edward Dempsey and Catherine Kelly (not Henry Dempsey & Catherine Pender as was my previous hypothesis). She had at least 3 siblings that came to the US, I am DNA matched to the descendants of all of them:
1. Bridget b. Galway 1856, father either Michael Dempsey or Edward Dempsey, mother Catherine Kelly; married John Newman on 24 Sep 1882 in Brooklyn, New York; d. 10 Jun 1898 in Brooklyn, New York; buried Holy Cross Cemetery; 4 sons: Edward Francis, b.1882, John, b.1888, James, b. 1892, William Joseph Newman, b. 1895. All born Brooklyn, New York.
2. John b. Banagher Aug 1862; father Michael Dempsey, mother Catherine Kelly; immigrated between 1882-1885; married Mary Brennan on 22 Nov 1885 in Brooklyn, New York; d. 2 Jan 1933 in Queens, New York; 8 children: Marguerite, b. 1890, Edward Francis, b. 1892, William, b. 1894, Mary b. 1896, Julia, b. 1899, Catherine Jean, b. 1902, Mary, b. 1904, John, b. 1909. All born Brooklyn, New York.
3. Michael b. Banagher 1867; father Edward Dempsey, mother Catherine Kelly; immigrated 18 Oct 1900; married Margaret W Brennan about 1901 in Brooklyn, New York?; d. 11 Apr 1910 Brooklyn, New York; 2 children: Edward, b. 1904, James, b. 1906.
I was able to establish the fraternal relationship between John and Michael from info on ship's manifests (also supported by the fact that they married sisters). I obtained death certificates on Bridget, John and Michael. Bridget's death certificate didn't list her parent's names unfortunately. Looks like John and Michael might have been half brothers; same mother different fathers, likely brothers, given that their descendants share similar amounts of DNA with me. Not sure which brother - Edward or Michael - fathered Mary and Bridget.
Through census addresses and Brooklyn city directories, I was able to ascertain that this was indeed the Uncle Michael Dempsey that Bridget Mulhare listed as her point of contact when she emigrated in 1903.
GUNNING
Based on the marriage record of my 2x Great Grandparents, John Lucas and Maria Gunning, I know that my Grandmother Maria Gunning came from Clondelara, Kings County and that her father was farmer John Gunning. Anecdotally, through descendants of Thomas Lucas, I know that she had a sister, Catherine, who married Thomas Lucas and died from complications of childbirth after giving birth to her first and only child Mary Ann in 1873. I was also able to determine through US census and death records that Maria also had a sister Bridget who married Patrick Leary/O'Leary. I suspect there may be another sister, Anne, as an Anne Gunning witnessed their marriage.
I am having difficulty determining Maria's parentage. Some trees out there claim it is John Gunning & Ellen Naughten - there is an 1848 record out there from Elphin, Roscommon to support this hypothesis. The date of birth is about right (that would make her about 22 when she married) but it seems a bit far afield from Clondelara.
On the Griffith's Valuation of 1854 there are only 3 Gunnings in Clondelara: John, Henry and Margaret. I believe my John is either the one listed or a son John of either Henry or John.
The birth registers for Clonmacnoise prior to 1830 listed births by townland so I was able to put together a cluster of Gunnings from Clondelara. Not sure if they are siblings or cousins...
Thomas Gunning & Margaret Duffy b. 1797
John Gunning & Mary Claffy
Catherine Gunning & Michael Rigney
Henry Gunning & Maria Kilroe
Margaret Gunning & Stephen Duffy
Patrick Gunning & Bridget Claffy
* It seems like there may have been some marriages between siblings? I estimate that they all were all born app. 1800-1810 and were married in the mid to late 1820's as they bore children from 1825-1845.
John Gunning & Mary Claffy look like possible parents for Maria,but, after further research, it looks like they may have been born around 1803-1805. Possibly too old, but their dates of birth may not be exactly right and I have had no official record that lists Maria's date of birth/age. John Gunning & Mary Claffy did have a daughter Maria, bapt Feb 1839. That would put her at 31 when she was married John Lucas in 1870 and 41 when she had her last child in 1880, so it is feasible. They had a Bridget too, bapt Feb 1837. A death certificate for Bridget Leary in 1879 listed her age as 40 (1839) so that more or less matches up. I was unable to find a Catherine. Unfortunately, the Clonmacnoise birth registers are not available (online?) for the 1842-1848 time period, and I think that is probably where Catherine's birth record would be found. On her death record in 1873, Catherine Gunning Lucas' age was listed as 26 which puts her year of birth @ 1847. If correct, this date of birth may cast doubt on this being the correct parents; Mary Claffy Gunning would have been in her 40s - a bit old for having children. Margin of error is high on death certificates though because they are based on the knowledge of the informant. It has been my experience that women's ages were often understated.
Other children besides the aforementioned Bridget and Mary listed on the birth registers as being born to John Gunning and Maria Claffy are: Thomas, bapt. 26 Mar 1831, Margaret, bapt. 24 Feb 1833, Henry, bapt. 18 Oct 1834 and Bernard, bapt. 23 Apr 1841. I believe the Bernard Gunning (married to Catherine Killian) living in Shannonbridge on the 1901 & 1911 Census may be this Bernard Gunning. It is interesting that they had no John?
There was a John Gunning living in Rahrabeg, Roscommon, near Shannonbridge in 1901. He was born in 1838. He was married to Mary Dolan b. 1847-1851 (and perhaps earlier?). They had a large family: Catherine 1874, Margaret 1876, Patrick 1879, Stephen 1881 , Laurence 1883, Denis 1885, Timothy 1887, Bridget 1891, Lucy 1893 and Mary Ann 1897. Catherine emigrated to the US in 1904 and married James J Egan in 1906. They resided in Jersey City, New Jersey. Lucy joined her sister Catherine in 1910 and married a John Cavanagh in 1917. Both sisters had children and there are trees out there for their families; hopefully I can establish a link via DNA.
Another interesting lead is the children of Thomas Gunning and Margaret Duffy. Their oldest son John b. 1829 emigrated to the US in 1845 and settled first in New Haven, Connecticut and then in Hartford, Connecticut. He was the supervisor for a stone quarry there and brought over many of the men that worked with him in Clondelara. Eventually, most, if not all of his family joined him in Connecticut, including his mother Margaret. Brother Thomas was a plumber in New Haven. Sister Ann married Joseph Eckert and settled in New Haven too. Sisters Margaret, Theresa, Lucy and Ellen all lived in Hartford - Margaret married Francis Roche, Teresa married Francis Madden, Lucy became a nun, Ellen never married. Many children amongst them and lots of trees out there, perhaps I will get lucky and DNA match one of their descendents.
Any info that anyone can provide regarding my Lucas/Mulhare/Dempsey/Gunning ancestors - and now the Kellys and the Rourkes too! - in the Clonfert area would be most appreciated! Of course, I'd be happy to help track down Clonfert/Clondelara descendants from this side of the pond as well.
Happy hunting!
Eileen Gorman Griffin
Virginia, USA
