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O'Connor/Mc Nertney/Mc Carthy

Cork

Hello, I'm hoping to find out the town from which my father's family came. Here's what I know. A biographical sketchpublished in the US of Jeremiah O'Connor (born about 1841)said that he originally came from County Cork with his father, William (born about 1812) and settled in Pennsylvania. When they settled in Pennsylvania, Darby (another Jeremiah)O'Connor (who I think is William's older brother) and a female with the initial H. O'Connor was also with them.

Uncle Darby (Jeremiah) was married to Bridget Mc Nertney in Ireland. I believe he was probably widowed when he emigrated. They had at least 4 children in Ireland: Catherine, , Ellen , Mary, and Thomas. Mary O'Connor married Michael Bakey.

So William O'Connor and Mary McCarthy are my great great grandparents. Jeremiah O'Connor is their son.

Darby (also Jeremiah) O'Connor and Bridget Mc Nertney were my great great uncle and aunt.

I thought that although looking for an O'Connor is not focused enough, perhaps this cluster of names can point me in the right direction.

Thanks for your help!

oeverett@verizon.net

4 replies

Joanne:

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

Co. Cork RC church records are on two sites: the free site www.irishgenealogy.ie for the Diocese of Cork and Ross and Roots Ireland (subscription site) for the parishes in the Diocese of Cloyne.

I could not find any possible records for Jeremiah O'Connor and Bridget McNertney. 

I found a lead for William O'Connor and a son Jeremiah with one catch. The mother is shown as Margaret. In fact there were three children: Jeremiah 1836 Mary 1840 Catherine 1843. A transcription of the Jeremiah record is below. Of course, O'Connor and McCarthy are very common surnames so this could be an entirely different family.

Let me knowif you have other info. Have you considered autosomal DNA testing?

Roger McDonnell

Name:Jeremiah ConnorsDate of Birth:
Date of Baptism:21-Dec-1836Address:
Parish/District:NEWMARKETGender:MaleCountyCo. Cork
Denomination:Roman Catholic
Father:William ConnorsMother:Margaret CartieOccupation:
Sponsor 1 /
Informant 1:John Connell Sponsor 2 /
Informant 2:Mary Connell 

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Hello Roger,

I think this is a strong possibility.  The book from which this biography came does have some other errors in it. (It had the surname Galligan written as Gallagher).   So it is feasible that Margaret and Mary are the same person.  Margaret is also a family name.  William did have a daughter Mary who came to the US and was younger than his son Jeremiah.  I won't assume, however,  this is the right family until I get some more evidence.  

I did do autosomal DNA testing with Ancestry.com.  It matched me with some other folks, but no one who had more information than I did, and also no one from Ireland.  Is there some other kind of testing that you were thinking of.

Thank you so much for your help!  When we are given these possibilities, our links to our heritage become stronger.  For example, seeing the way Mc Carthy is written as Cartie made me remember how my dad used to pronounce McCarthy - without the h softening it.    Of course, as a kid, I thought he was mispronouncing it.  But now it makes sense.

Thanks again and hope you have a good evening!

Joanne O.

 

oeverett@verizon.net

Joanne:

The Ancestry test is autosomal. You may want to look into Gedmatch www.gedmatch.com which is a volunteer run site.  Gedmatch allows you to load your raw Ancestry DNA data to see if you match someone who tested with another company (and also uploaded their data to Gedmatch). It expands your matching pool. I've tested with Ancestry and FamilyTree DNA and find that Ancestry matches usually do not provide a family tree and many times do not respond to e-mails. Gedmatch has some very good analytical tools.

Roger

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Hello Roger,

I'll try that with Gedmatch.

I have something new to mention about the above family.  When I look at the actual census pages (instead of just the entry) from the late 1800s in Pennsylvania, it seems that the descendents of Darby O'Connor lived next door the Nertney family. The death certificates of the his children list Bridget's last name as McNertney, not Nertney, but perhaps some of her family came to the same Pennsylvanian town.  So interesting.

Thank you again.

Joanne

oeverett@verizon.net

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