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Denis Leary and Margaret Guiry - Bulgaden, Co. Limerick

Limerick

I have been searching for my great-great-great grandparents, who I thought were Dennis O'Leary and Margarita Carey, both born in Ireland.  Then I found their daughter's death certificate where it lists parents, and Margaret's surname is spelled Gaery.    On familysearch.org I found a marriage record for  another daughter, Johanna O'Leary, to Joannes Carrol on 1 February, 1859, in Buffalo, New York, with the bride's parents listed as Dionysii O'Leary and Margaritae Geary.  On the U.S. census records it's indicated that Johanna was born in Ireland in 1842. 

We know they were in Black Rock, Buffalo, New York, in 1844 because their daughter, Catherine (my great-great-grandmother), was born there.  Two more children were born in New York, Margaret in 1846 and James in 1848.  We think that Margaret was born in 1824 based on U.S. census records.  I found a census record for 1850 in Buffao, New York, for Dennis O'Leary, age 31, born in Ireland, and Margaret O'Leary, age 25, born in Ireland.  There were no children listed, so I can't be sure that it's them, but if it is that would mean Dennis was born in about 1819.  I don't have Dennis and Margaret's siblings' or parents' names.

I searched on rootsireland.ie and found the following church marriage record:

Denis Leary, Margaret Guiry

21 February, 1841

Parish/District:  Bulgaden

County:  Co. Limerick

Roman Catholic

Witnesses:  James Leary, David Leary

 

I also found the following church baptism record:

John Leary

Date of Baptism:  21 December, 1841

Parish/District:  Bulgaden

County:  Co. Limerick

Roman Catholic

Parents:  Denis Leary, Margaret Guiry

Sponsors:  Patk. Flynn, Bgt. Cleary

I have found no record of John in the USA.  I could not find Johanna's baptism record on rootsieland.ie.  I did a search on rootsireland.ie with Denis and Margaret as parents and found no other children born in Ireland.

In order to verify that these are my great-great-great grandparents, I need to find a passenger list for the family or a record showing Johanna was with them in Ireland.  Going out on a limb, I'm even wondering if the John in this baptism record could be Johanna and perhaps the handwriting was hard to read.  Just a thought.  Is there anyone  near Bulgaden who could look at the handwritten record and see if John could be Johanna?

Any ideas to connect this up would be greatly appreciated.

loisgarrett

2 replies

Hello Lois,

I'm afraid that I cant look up that record for you but having looked at many church registers then I can assure you that it could easily be johanna.  The name john is recorded in latin as joannes and sometimes as johannes.  Very similar you might agree.

From my own personal research on my family I found that my gg grandmother had 4 children.  3 of these are on rootsireland but the fourth is not there at all.  I was in the fortunate position that I could go to the parish church where the local priest let me go through the birth register and I found the last child.

So mistakes do happen.  Human error occurs.  

Have you checked www.castlegarden.org to see if they travelled together.

regards,

Anne

IrelandXO member

Thank you for your reply.  I sent an e-mail to research@limerickgenealogy.com to see if  someone there could possibly look at the record.  I know there are a lot of volunteers helping now because of the Gathering, and it shouldn't be too hard since I have the exact date.

I did check castlegarden.org as well as looked at passenger lists on ancestry.com because they offered free searches all weekend so people could see if they're Irish, but I can't find them.

I had the same experience as you did on rootsireland with one of my County Offaly families.  They had more children, but only two were on rootsireland.  I was very grateful for that, though, because it gave me a town, which is what I've been trying to find for many years since all we had up until now was King's County.

I'm encouraged that you think that John could be Johanna because if so, then this is my family.  I'm hoping someone can look at the record.  If not, do you know if the parish would let me look at it if I come to Ireland?  I'm very tempted to assume this is my family and come to the O'Leary gathering.

I'm going to try to find Johanna's death record in New York and hope that it will include her birth date, but so far I haven't found an index, and I don't know when she died.   I may need to go to Buffalo, New York, and look at the church records.  I know they went to St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Buffalo because I found her marriage record and her children's baptism records on famlysearch.org.

Thank you for your help, and please let me know if you think of any ideas.

Lois

loisgarrett

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