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michael rourke, born Deer Park in 1800s, died in US 1874

KildareCarrick (Kildare)

Seeking baptismal & marriage records for Michael Rourke (my 2nd great-grandfather) born in Ireland in 1835; emigrated to the US from Liverpool on the William Tapscott, arriving in New York in 1857.

Michael lived in Covington, Kentucky USA where he established a family (US 1870 Census:  Michael Rourke married to Bridget Rourke, children are John T. Rourke and Michael E. Rourke).

He may be related to (son of?) Michael O'Rourke born in Deer Park, Carrick-on-Suir, Tipperary and Bridget Connelley (born in Scareo, Kilmacow, Kilkenny. Michael O'Rourke died on May 29, 1874 in Covington, KY; his wife, Bridget Connelley O'Rourke died on September 1, 1894 in the same city.  They were parents of Jeremiah O'Rourke (b. 1848 in Ireland, d. December 23, 1928 Covington KY) and Margaret O'Rourke (b. 1851 in Ireland, d. October 4, 1926 Covington KY).

I am seeking any information that can help me determine the relationship between these seemingly-related Rourkes (O'Rourkes) and would be ever-so-happy to locate marriage date/place information for Michael O'Rourke and Bridget Connelley and baptismal records for Michael (b. 1835), Jeremiah (b. 1848) and Margaret O'Rourke (b.1851).

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

 

Karen from Illinois

IrelandXO member

2 replies

Hello Karen,

I went to www.rootsireland.ie and found a marriage record for Michael O Rourke marrying Bridget Connelly in the parish of Kilmacow RC County Kilkenny in 1844.  This record is there to view if you so choose.  This would mean that Michael would have been born at least 21 years earlier making his birth around 1823 approx.   If you view the record hopefully it will give you his father's name and her father's name .

You seem sure that Michael was born in 1835?  If by chance you got this information from a tombstone or death notice or census record then please keep your mind open to othere dates.

Most people who emigrated were illiterate and undocumented.  They didn't know how to spell their names and hadn't a clue as to what age they were.  At the port of arrival their names were recorded phonetically, their ages were only guessed, and this is the information that followed them for the rest of their lives.

The proof of this occured in 1909 when the old age pension was introduced into ireland.  People had to prove their ages and were forced to go through baptismal records to establish when they were born.  That is why there is such HUGE discrepancies between ages in the 1901 census and the 1911 census of Ireland.  Dates were found to be out by many many years in some cases.

You will be able jto work backwards from the marriage record.

Kind regards,

Anne Dennehy

p.s. Kilmacow is a village on the border of Counties Kilkenny, Waterford, and Tipperary.  So you may find records in any of these counties.

IrelandXO member

Oh-my-gosh!  We are second cousins!

IrelandXO member

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