Ballyvourney Cork Lynch's

Nancy,

My great grandfather was Thomas Michael McCarthy, baptized 1 Dec 1865 in Ballyvourney, County Cork. He immigrated to Wilmington, Delaware, around 1887. On his Wilmington, DE, marriage record in 1894 his birthplace is listed as "Ballywoden," County Cork, but I have never been able to locate a place by that name. He married a Margaret Tuomey/Toomey/Twomey, also listed as from Ballywoden, but I have located a record for her on RootsIreland.ie indicating she was baptized on 19 Jan 1870 at Kilnamartyra, County Cork.

This couple was closely allied with the families you mention--probably related.

Baptismal sponsors for Thomas were Jeremiah Lynch and Hanora (last name not recorded) in 1865 in Ballyvourney.
Baptismal sponsors for Thomas' sister Julia McCarthy were Daniel Lynch and Margaret Sullivan in 1873 in Ballyvourney. (She was born in Derrylahan, Ballyvourney.) Baptismal sponsors for Thomas' brother Cornelius McCarthy were Timothy McCarthy and Margaret Lynch in 1876 in Ballyvourney.

At the time of the 1900 US census Thomas McCarthy's household in Wilmington, DE, included his wife Maggie and children (Dennis, Timothy, Johannah, Edward, and Thomas), along with boarders, Timothy O'Herley (b. May 1871, Ireland) and Patrick O'Herley (b. Dec 1876, Ireland), and servant, Ella Cronan (b. Jun 1872, Ireland).

According to the naturalization papers of Patrick Herlihy, he immigrated to the US on 15 Apr 1900 and naturalized on 8 Oct 1906. This document states that he was born on 17 Apr 1877 in Ballyvourney, Cork, and his wife Catherine was from County Mayo. On RootsIreland.ie there is a baptismal record for Patrick Herlihy, son of Thomas Herlihy and Mary McCarthy, baptized 13 Apr 1877 in Ballyvourney. I have also found a baptismal record for Timothy Herlihy, son of Thomas Herlihy and Mary McCarthy, baptized on 18 Jan 1872 at "Moonabeg," Ballyvourney, Cork.

Timothy Herlihy went on to marry fellow 1900 housemate Ella Cronan/Cronin in about 1901.

Other closely allied families I have found include: Quill and [O']Connell.

Please email me if you would like to discuss further.

Anita

abackus98 at yahoo.com

Imagine my surprise when I searched under my grandfather's name (Hereley) and Ballyvourney (ancient home of the O hIarlatha erenagh family), and found a friend! Maybe we ARE related, Anita. 

Hereley appears to be a rare spelling of the old O hIarlatha Irish family name. More common English renderings were (O')Herlihy, (O') Herlehy, and even Hurley. I've even seen it spelled Herelahy and Herelhy in the U.S. I bet my great great grandfather Daniel Hereley or his father or grandfather decided to spell his name in a distinct way to differentiate from other Herlehys. Lace curtain Irish!

Daniel Hereley decamped from Cork in about 1840. I've never been able to trace his baptismal record, even though his father was allegedly "a prominent stock trader" whose death in a business trip to England caused Daniel to go to America. Daniel went to a very famous Cork settlement, Hogansburg/Bombay/Brasher NY, in extreme northern NY state, near the St. Lawrence River. You may remember Neil Buttimer, Anita - he was a grad student in Celtic Languages and Literatures when we were undergrads. Anyway, I've kept in touch with him, and Neil is well aware of this Hogansburg/Brasher/Bombay Cork enclave. There an energetic (and morally questionable) Clare-born sea captain, Michael Hogan, had bought land from the Mohawk Indians with money he had made mostly from trading between India, South Africa, and Australia (partly illicitly in the slave trade up the east African coast). In the late 1700s Hogan had married a half-Indian, half- English servant in the employ of the Bombay governor at the time, Hogan's patron, Lord Cornwallis (of Revolutionary War fame). Hogan deposited his wife and family in the wilds of northern NY state in the late 1810s, and named one of the towns "Bombay" for her. He had been one of the first sea captains to transport convicts to Australia, and he later built the Claremont Inn in Manhattan as an estate for himself, but died in Washington, DC in 1830, where his son was a Congressman for the Brasher area. There's a book about him, "Captain Hogan," by a descendant, Michael H. Styles.

Though there are still Lantrys and Hurleys in the Brasher area, most of the next generation of Hereleys, Lantrys, etc. (many from Dunmanway, Co. Cork) moved further west, to Illinois and on to Butte, Montana. One, "Big Barney" Lantry, became hugely wealthy building train stations and bridges; he built the cog railway up Pike's Peak, and whn he died he was said to be the richest man in Kansas. Daniel Hereley and Nora (Hannorah/Hannah) Lantry Hereley had nine children, most of whom got wealthy in Chicago grain trading. My great grandfather Michael Hereley owned, with his brother Millard, possibly the biggest hay warehouse in the world when he died suddenly at age 45 in 1899. That was the end of fabulous wealth in my family...

Anyway, what a coincidence! See you next spring, I think?

Ha! Small world, Pat!

Thanks for all the interesting stories. I do remember Neil Buttimer. I wish I had known then what I know now about my Irish ancestors. I would have had more questions!

I'm sure we must be at least distantly related! You know I'm related to David J., right?

Best, Anita