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Tobias Coady - Abt 1795-abt 1881

KilkennyInistioge (Kilkenny)

I am researching my great great-grandfather, Tobias Coady and seek assistance on his place of origin.

Here is what I know:

  • He was born in the late 1700s, possibly in Inistioge. One undocumented source has his birth year as 1795 but it is unknown where that came from.
  • His son's obituary said he emigrated first to Newfoundland. By 1824 he was in Nova Scotia, Canada and by 1831 he was in Prince Edward Island, Canada where he remained until his death.
  • He married a Susannah Pennell, likely in Nova Scotia, in the early 1820s. Their first child, my great grandmother, Catherine Coady, was born in Yarmouth, NS in 1824. Tobias and Susannah had 12 children.

Here's some other information I have.

  • A Tobias Cody attended an 1843 meeting in Charlottetown, PEI with a James Cody. The roster said Tobias was from Kilkenny and James from Inistioge, Kilkenny.
  • A search of the tithe applotment books uncovered a James Coady in Inistioge in 1829. Father? Sibling? Cousin?
  • A search of the Inistioge catholic parish registers uncovered a number of Coady and Cody (many, many with this spelling) births but the records don't start until 1810 so I am unable to find anything about Tobias' birth. Many of the parents resided in Inistioge and Oldcourt.
  • An individual in Australia pointed me to a 1809 marriage between a Tobias Coady and Eleanor Collins in Dublin. The Australian knew that Eleanor was imprisioned for stealing from her employer. She was pregnant at the time, sentenced to jail and gave birth to a son. In 1817, she and the baby were shipped to Australia. DNA matches between Australian and PEI Coadys have been inconclusive as to whether or not this was the same Tobias Coady. If they are the same person, it may indicate that after his first wife was imprisoned, he left Ireland for Canada Eleanor and the baby were sent to Australia. It seems unlikely he could get a divorce or annulment after her imprisonment so I am leery of assuming they are the same person.

Might anyone have information to assist me in pinning down where my Tobias Coady came from? Thanks for your help!

Kathleen Clarkin Foley, Northfield, MN - USA

kathleen foley

6 replies

Just wondering if there are any IrelandXO volunteers for Inishtioge? For posts in other parishes, I've received replies right away. Anyone out there? ;-)

Kathleen

kathleen foley
Murray-girl

Greetings from Nova Scotia!  I am a descendant of Tobias - he and Susanna had a daughter, Susanna  who married my great grandfather, William Murray.

I believe Tobias was a bigamist according to my research...

 

 

Murray-girl

Hi Murray-girl!  I'm wondering what your research has uncovered. Did you get some DNA matches with the possible Australian family? I have a little bit of information on Susanna but I have her married first to James Clarkin (my Dad was a Clarkin) and then to a John Murray, not William. Do you have a tree on Ancestry? I would love to learn more about your family, "cousin" ;-)

Kathleen

kathleen foley

Hi Kathleen,

I did the DNA test and do share DNA with Susan Kennedy, who did the research on Tobias and his first wife Ellen.  Interestingly Tobias named one of his children with Susannah Ellen - after his first wife?

 I happen to be in PEI at the moment and I had stopped in to the St. Anne's cemetery to look at some headstones and there are lots of Murrays and Coadys and Clarkins. I didn't find Tobias or Susannah, but lots of other ancestors.  There is a Tobias Murray, who was the brother of my GG grandfather, John (not William - sorry,William was my G grandfather, son of John).

 

 

 

Murray-girl

 

 

Hi Kathleen (cousin!)  do you have any information on John Murray?  I can't seem to find anything about his origins...so Susanna married James Clarkin, then John Murray?

 

 

 

Murray-girl

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