Ahearn/Ahern and Barry

Hi Joanne  www.rootsireland.ie (a pay site) has baptism/marriage records for Killeagh. I will take a look later & see if there is any passenger record for family to USA. Due to the time frame you are searching availability is only for Church records as Civil Registration only arrived in Ireland in 1864.

www.nationalarchives.ie for Tithe Applotment & Griffith Valuation records

Regards Frances.

Hi Joanne  www.rootsireland.ie (a pay site) has baptism/marriage records for Killeagh. I will take a look later & see if there is any passenger record for family to USA. Due to the time frame you are searching availability is only for Church records as Civil Registration only arrived in Ireland in 1864.

www.nationalarchives.ie for Tithe Applotment & Griffith Valuation records

Regards Frances.

Hello Joanne, I have ancestors who emigrated from Killeagh during the 1840's.  My ancestors assumed the name O'Hearn, a variaition of Ahearn.  I also have an ancestor named Johanna Barry whos' daughter married into the O'Hearn family, but i am sure there is no connection between your Jonanna and my Johanna.  My gggrandmother Johanna (O'Connor) and her husband Michael Joseph Barry are my only ancestors for whom i am clueless to their Irish origin.

My O'Hearn ancestors, i believe, arrived in New Haven Connecticut.  They worked their way to Troy, NY and my gggrandfather (Patrick O'Hearn sr.) moved further into the Adirondacks, attracted by work building railroads from the early 1850's until about 1867.  In 1872 the family left Glens Falls, NY for Gardner Massachusetts.  Patrick's wife Mary Driscoll (also fron Killeagh) died in 1867 and her brother (Daniel) lived in Gardner Mass. Patrick was able to work building the Hoosac Tunnell for a few years. Patrick would go off to work on the tunnell for about three weeks at a time, while his inlaws supervised the younger O'Hearns in his absence.  The family remained in Gardner into the 1980's, i don't think any remain today, but they are still nearby. The family was very active in the furniture mfg. business and George O'Hearn founded a furniture factory that was in business from 1922 to 1970, my mothers home is filled with O'Hearn furniture.

If we have any connection it should be through the O'Hearn/Ahearn family.  My gggrandfathers siblings were John, Philip, William, Cornelius, Margaret, and Bridget. I believe the five siblings in America always lived around Troy, NY or further north into the Adirondacks.  The brother Philip remained in Ireland and had three sons and two daughters.  Going back one more generation O'Hearn married Mead and Driscoll was married to Lynch.  I was lucky to find a bunch of reaearch on this family done by my grandmothers cousin Dorothy O'Hearn, that she likely started around the 1940's.  This O'Hearn family has a longevity gene.  GGGrandfater Patrick lived to 103 yrs, My grandmother lived to be 100yrs 3 mos, and most of her cousins and siblings lived into their ninties.

If any thing rings a bell feel to share JLOHOULSatgmaildotcom

 

One more item, if you are interested many of my O'Hearn ancestors are listed on Findagrave.com.  If you look up St. Johns Cemetery in Gardener Mass. and search the name O'Hearn i am contributor Jimmyh.  If you click on my profile, go to "virtual cemeteries" and look at Cemetery "P".  There are many O'Hearns, Drscolls, and a few Lynchs listed all relating to this family.  Good Luck JH

JH -

I believe they are different Ahearne's but I something else you mentioned in your response is very interesting to me - my father was a Driscoll and his grandfather was Jeremiah Driscoll who came to the U.S. from Cork around 1866 - he worked on the Hoosac Tunnell for awhile and lived in North Adams, he moved to Michigan for a few years (1876 - 1885) and moved back to North Adams where he lived until he died in 1906.  I have very little information on him except I believe his father was John and his mother was Honora (Harrington), I'm wondering if there's any relationship to Mary Driscoll, Patrick Ohearn's wife?

Thanks so much for your prompt response!

Joanne

Frances,

Thanks for looking into this more me.  I did look at rootsireland.ie.  and did pay for some information, but it adds up fast and I'm not sure if I'm actually finding the right Maurice Ahearn.

I'll be in Ireland in June, so I may try to check in with the national archives, as well as the Cork library.

Thanks again,

Regards,

Joanne

I will check Later on, but mygggrandfather left Glens Falls, NY for Gardner Massachusetts at the urging of Daniel Driscoll, his brother in law, who was also from Killeagh.  I have quite a bit of info on all of the Killeagh families, thanks to the earlier research.  I will have to think about your response and compare the names to the known names in this family.  Maybe something will connect. i should probably have an idea tonight or tommorow, just need to think about it a bit. Good Luck JH

Hi Joanne did you see the link i posted above giving details of the gravestones, the 3 stones relate to the one family.

The only name i see is John Driscoll brother of Mary Driscoll born circa 1820.  His siblings were David,Michael,Catharine,Hannah,Mary and Daniel Jr, parents were Daniel and Katherine Lynch.

A story passed down in my family was that Patrick O'Hearn was once taken a long ditance from home to work on the railroad.  Upon arrival there was no work and the fellows were left to fend for themselves.  What we always heard was that Patrick and his mates would walk barefoot, so as not to where out their shoes, and as they approached a town they would stop and put on their shoes so they would look like a bunch of hobos as they passed through town.

I have a second cousin from the O'Hearn family Dorothy Dolan who married a man named Driscoll, and they live around Fitchburg, Mass.  I forwarded another story about Patrick walking to the Hoosac Tunnel in North Adams from Gardner, and Dorothy Driscoll was very impressed at the long distance Patrick covered.  Patrick worked digging ditches by hand for the local gas company until he was 85 years old, he intended to continue, but his children conviced him to retire, he lived 18 more years.  His favorite saying was "that life was better wearing out than rusting out" and i think he may have been on to something.

I guess you have looked at US Census returns, many of them should indicate the year of immigration or number of years in the U.S.  All of the men should have this recorded and women may have these facts recorded a bit later, maybe starting 1920. Of course the facts in each census vary.  We'll keep looking, Good Luck Jim Houlihan

My grandmother Mary Collins was the great-granddaughter of Patrick Collins (b. 1802) and Johanna Ahern (b. 1805) who married 14 September 1828 at Killeagh.