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Thomas ONeil from Cork

Cork

I have previously given up on finding info about my great, great grandfather, but thought it may be worth trying to post here. I have very limited information, but this is what I know: Thomas ONeil was born in Cork abt 1828. He emigrated to Canada, supposedly during the great famine, but I do not have a date. He married Ann Normoile (Normoyl), born 1836 in Ireland. I do not know if they married before or after emigrating. They had 7 children: Mary, John, Charles Bernard, Thomas, Bridgette (born in Canada, most likely Toronto), Margareth and Daniel (born in Michigan, USA). Charles Bernard was my great grandfather. I assume they were catholic, as my grandfather and his siblings were orphaned and raised in a catholic orphanage, but I cannot say for certain. I realize this is not much to go on, but any information on ONeils in Cork would be interesting to me. I plan to visit Ireland later this year.

IrelandXO member

3 replies

Hi Crisco,

There are 2 baptism records for Ann c 1836 on www,rootsireland.ie/:

Name:Anna NormoyleDate of Birth:15-Feb-1835
Date of Baptism:
Address:
Parish/District:ADAREGender:UnknownCountyCo. Limerick
Denomination:Roman Catholic
Father:Thomas NormoyleMother:Anna Lewis

Name:Anna NormoyleDate of Birth:18-Mar-1834
Date of Baptism:
Address:
Parish/District:ADAREGender:UnknownCountyCo. Limerick
Denomination:Roman Catholic
Father:James NormoyleMother:Johanna Liston

If one of these is your Ann it seems likely they met after immigrating; there is this marriage II wondered about:

Date of Marriage:21-Feb-1857
Parish / District:ADARE
County:Co. Limerick
Husband
WifeName:MichaelNeill
EllenNormoyleAddress:
Denomination:Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic 

Now your list of Thomas's children shows that they followed the Irish naming pattern as the third son is named after his father' therefore the first son was named after the father's father so Thomas's father should be John. rootsireland has 13 Thomas O'Neil baptisms 1828 + - 5 years but only 2 have father John:

Name:Thomas NeilDate of Birth:
Date of Baptism:01-Feb-1826Address:KilvaParish/District:CLOYNEGender:MaleCountyCo. Cork
Denomination:Roman Catholic
Father:John NeilMother:Mary ScannelOccupation:
Sponsor 1 /
Informant 1:Michael Barry Sponsor 2 /
Informant 2:Ellen Duhig 
Notes:

CELEB: NR 1ST SPONS PET NAME [MICK]

Name:Thomas NeilDate of Birth:
Date of Baptism:01-Oct-1832Address:CorraghmoreParish/District:MITCHELSTOWNGender:MaleCountyCo. Cork
Denomination:Roman Catholic
Father:John NeilMother:Margaret AhernOccupation:
Sponsor 1 /
Informant 1:Michael Brien Sponsor 2 /
Informant 2:Margaret Heelan 

However the second son should be named after the mother's father so Anna's father should be Charles Bernard!

Col

 

 

 

ColCaffIrelandXO Volunteer

Hi Crisco,

I am just trying to help getting a bit more information, Thomas O'Neill is a very common name in Cork and elswehere in Ireland, can you tell me what the source is that says Thomas was from Cork?

I also checked for marriage records in Ireland but could not find anything , the best advise I can give is to try and obtain a marriage record from Ontario as the children were born there it is very likely that the marriage took place there, or a death record for Thomas O'Neill from Detroit Michigan, both records could show parents names.

Another good record would be a passenger record that might reveal the place of origin in Ireland.

Let me know your sources and I will see what else I can find for you, Col gave a couple of good maybe's but we need to pinpoint the correct family

 

Regards,

Anne Marie

Mallow CorkIrelandXO Volunteer

 Col & Anne Marie,

Thank you for your replies.  I was able to use your suggestions to get a little bit more information.  Previously I had not found death certificates for either Thomas or Ann, but using a variety of info to narrow my search, I was able to find Thomas' name in a Detroit, Michigan death registry.  I am confident this is the correct Thomas.  The registry states Thomas O'Neil of Wayne County, Detroit, Michigan (I know this to be where he was living with his second wife and several children late in his life), born 1829 in Ireland, occupation Melter (I knew him to be a Melter for the Detroit ironworks),  died March 12th, 1881.  This date fits between the dates of 1871 and 1896 that I knew he would have died based on other info.  His parents are listed as John (makes sense!) and Olia O'Neil.

Unfortunately, that is where my luck ran out.  I have been unable to find death or cemetery records for Ann.  I have been unable to find a record of their marriage.  I have been unable to find passenger manifests or immigration records for either of them.  It is my understanding that Canada did not register all immigrants during the time that they would have arrived.  I did find a Massachusetts naturalization record from 1853 for a Thomas O'Neil of Cork, Ireland, born 1828 who arrived in NY in 1846.  I suppose it is possible he came through the US and then moved to Canada, but it is more likely that there were a lot of Thomas O'Neil's emigrating from Ireland in that time period!  I also found a census record for an Anna Normole b. abt 1838 in Ireland  who lived in New York with her mother Margaret in 1850. I know that’s a longshot, but it may be interesting to see if there’s an Anna Normoil with parents Charles and Margaret.

As for my information that Thomas was from Cork, I have no written documentation of that, it was just passed down to me from my grandfather.  I never dreamt that I would succeed in tracking down his ancesters as the number of Thomas O'Neil's who fled Ireland in the 1840's must be very high, but with the information that Thomas' parents were John and Olia O'Neil, perhaps something can be found.  Hopefully the name Olia is just a bit less common than some other names!  If the naming tradition was used, then Thomas' eldest brother would have been named Daniel, correct?
 

IrelandXO member

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