O'Leary family to Queensland, AU

I'm not sure how much info you already have about your O'Leary ancestor, or what else you're seeking, but in case you don't already know it, the O'Leary surname originated in County Cork, in West Cork to be more precise, and is still very common there.  If you look at the map at this link (which links to Catholic parish records in that area), you'll see that there's even a parish named for the O'Leary's, called Iveleary (also called by some other names, especially Inchigeelagh in some records), which lies pretty much in the center of the area where they lived and still live.  It's right on the border with Kerry, and the O'Leary surname is also fairly common in the nearby area across the border, as well as in surrounding Cork parishes (the county borders were a relatively late creation):

https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0062

You can use the interactive map at that site to move around to the other parishes in the area.  Civil registration of births started in 1864, so some of the younger people you mentioned should have civil records, in addition to baptismal records.

I found marriage record for a David and Johanna on RootsIreland. Per Irishgenealoy Church record- John 1861, Hannah (Johanna) 1865, and Julia 1869 all born in Ratass, Tralee, Kerry. I couldn't find Pat but might have missed.

Date of Marriage:23-Nov-1852  

Parish / District:TRALEECounty:Co. Kerry

HusbandWife

Name:DavidO'LearyJoannaO'Sullivan

Address:RatassRatass

Denomination:Roman CatholicRoman Catholic

Occupation:

Age:

Status:

Husband's FatherWife's Father

Name:O'Leary"O'Sullivan

Address:

Denomination:

Occupation:

Husband's MotherWife's Mother

Name:

Address:

Denomination:

Occupation:

Witness 1Witness 2

Name:ThomasO'LearyTimothyCollins

Regards- Mary

Thank you kevin45sfl.  That O'Leary information is definitely of interest to me. The family I mentioned was an incidental finding - not my family of interest. I hope it may be of interest to others.

I'm yet to find a convincing record in Ireland for my ancestor Patrick O'Leary born to Denis and Ellen (nee Hallahan).  According to his Marriage Certificate in Brisbane, Australia: he was born in Scrahan, Cork, Ireland and was aged 35 in 1898 meaning he was born c. 1862/1863.

I can find a Scrahan/Scrahane in two Cork locations - Ballynahlisle 22 miles north of Cork, and Sranaviddoge 20 miles south-west of Cork. None in Iveleary, I think.

Do you think a thirty-five-year-old Irishman arriving in Australia in the late 1800s could have been referring to anywhere other than the two locations I noted?  Also, just how likely is it that his place of birth/baptism might not be the place he said he hailed from - should I search much wider? 

Dan

People usually referred to their birthplace or place of residence by using the name of the relevant "townland", and in rural areas there was usually no other form of address to use (no street names or numbers, in other words).  Wikipedia has a good article discussing what townlands are, in case you're not familiar with the term.  If he said at his marriage that he was from Scrahan, then it's very likely he was referring to a townland.  Emigrants did sometimes refer to where they came from by naming the nearest town of any decent size, but Scrahan is very unlikely as a town name.  The Irish form of the name is An Screathan, which means "the scree hill/slope". 

There are two townlands called Scrahan in County Cork, and one of them is located in that very parish I mentioned, Iveleary/Inchigeelagh.  You can see more info about it at this link:

https://www.townlands.ie/cork/west-muskerry/inchigeelagh/bealock/scraha…

The parish registers for Iveleary which are available online (for 1816-1880) can be accessed at this  link:

https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0062

The other townland with the same name is located a couple of parishes to the north, right on the border with Kerry, and you can see more info about that one at this link:

https://www.townlands.ie/cork/duhallow/nohavaldaly/knocknagree/scrahan/

Comparing the maps, I think that townland is in the parish of Rathmore, which lies mostly in Kerry but partly in Cork (with Scrahan being in the part located in Cork). The parish registers for Rathmore which are available online (for 1837-1874, with a several year gap in the 1840's) can be accessed at this  link:

https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0091

Searching a parish register can be time-consuming (though also very interesting), but you can download the pages of likely relevance and search at your leisure, enlarging them as necessary to deal with handwriting which may be hard to read.  The entries are usually arranged in a pattern, so once you figure that out you can often just skim down the relevant column.  You have some target years to start with, but keep in mind that people in rural Ireland back then often had no idea exactly when they were born, since there were no civil records to consult and they usually had no personal written record of it (no family bible or anything like that).  There were census records, but most of those were later destroyed by fire in the 1920's.  Even in those that exist, the ages of people are usually estimates, and often disagree from one census to the next (same problem with censuses and other records in the countries to which people emigrated - one has to be cautious in accepting the ages given, as they were often guesses).

Both of those Scrahan's are in O'Leary territory, but I'd try Iveleary first, since there are more O'Leary's there.  You might also do dna testing and see what matches you turn up.  Good Hunting!

Incredibly informative Kevin. Thank you!

Dan

Glad to help.  I actually have distant O'Leary relatives from the area to the east of the second Scrahan mentioned above.