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Geary in Parish of "Clain"

CorkCloyne (Cork)

I am researching my ancestor, John Geary, in Clinton and Essex Counties, New York, USA and am trying to trace his origins back to Ireland. I have found tombstones for two Geary siblings who died in the 1880's in northern New York and both say they were born in the "Parish of Clain, County Cork, Ireland". Unfortunately,I've been unable to find a Parish of Clain in County Cork and I'm wondering if this might actually be the Parish of Cloyne. Is this a reasonable guess? Are there any other likely parishes for me to pursue? These siblings were born in 1815 and 1816 and I believe the entire family emigrated to northern New York, perhaps via Canada, around 1848, though I have yet to locate any immigration documents on the US side.

Before I post any other messages with more detail about this family, I'm hoping to determine the correct parish. If anyone has any thoughts about this, I would be greatly appreciate your input.

Thanks!

Karen

karenjaq

4 replies

Karen:

Cloyne would appear to be a reasonable guess. 

I went on Roots Ireland www.rootsireland.ie and they have four John Geary baptismal records in Cloyne RC parish records between 1810 and 1820. You did not mention John's year of birth or the sibling names but you can look for their records.

Roots is a pay site to view the transcription of a church record.

I think based on the Roots info, Cloyne is the correct parish.

Roger McDonnell

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Roger - Thank you very much for your help!  The family information that I have is as follows (all birth dates are approximate based upon records I've found in the U.S.):

John Geary (b. 1785) & Ellen ______ (b. 1790)

Children:  Mary (b. 1806), Ellen (b. 1815), William (b. 1816), John (b. 1820), Patrick (b. 1825), Michael (b. 1827), Maurice (b. 1831)

Given that, using these dates, Mary would have been born when her mother was only 16 and there is a large span of time until the next child, I suspect that my sources are incorrect and Mary was probably born closer to 1815.  And also given the gaps in ages between some of the children, it is also likely that there were more children in the family that I have not yet found.  I'm wondering if perhaps some of these children stayed in Ireland since they would have been adults when the family emigrated.

I will also check out the Roots Ireland site and see what I can find.

Thanks again for your help!

Karen

karenjaq

Karen:

The 1852 Griffiths Valuation head of household listing only shows one Geary-- a James in Ballycottin. Always possible that one or more Geary girls married and stayed in the area. Roots could provide clues.

Roger

http://www.failteromhat.com/griffiths/cork/cloyne.htm

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Please see my post of today.

IrelandXO member

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