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Searching for Thomas P. O'Rourke (Born c.1831)

Kerry

Hi all,

I am searching for my great-great-great grandfather who immigrated to the US in 1853, after the Great Famine. His exact place of origin is unclear, but I have the following information:

Thomas P. (possibly Paul) O’Rourke

Birthdate: June 28, 1831 or May 1832, County Kerry, Ireland

Immigration year: 1853 (1910 US census)

Marriage: 1857, in the United States

Death: June 20, 1915, Fort Wayne, Indiana

Parents: Mary Cashman, born abt. 1810 (immigrated to the US as well, was recorded as living with Thomas in the 1880 census)

I have searched on both irishgenealogy.ie, familysearch.org, and ancestry.com for a Thomas O'Rourke with a mother named Mary or Mary Cashman, and have not had any luck.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Best,

Brendan

IrelandXO member

14 years ago

1 reply

Dear Brendan, This one is fascinating! Is there any possibility that Mary married Cashman AFTER O'Rourke and that Cashman is not her maiden name?

Do any of your records or family stories give any other placename besides Kerry?

There are 27 Cashman people listed in the 1901 Census

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/results.jsp?census_year=1901&surname=Cashman&firstname=&county=Kerry&townland=&ded=&age=&sex=&search=Search&relationToHead=&religion=&education=&occupation=&marriageStatus=&birthplace=&language=&deafdumb=&marriageYears=&childrenBorn=&childrenLiving=

Just on the off chance I searched to see if any of those households had an O'Rourke living with them..but no luck!

There are 73 O'Rourke's

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/results.jsp?census_year=1901&surname=O%27Rourke&firstname=&county=Kerry&townland=&ded=&age=&sex=&search=Search&relationToHead=&religion=&education=&occupation=&marriageStatus=&birthplace=&language=&deafdumb=&marriageYears=&childrenBorn=&childrenLiving=

Do your US Census returns have any other Irish family living next door, or do they describe an occupation?

I know this probably seems very daunting but don't give up. The devil is in the detail as we say here... let me know i anything pops.

Martine

IrelandXO member

14 years ago

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