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Gillespies from Addergoole to ScrantonL

MayoKilfian (Mayo)

I have only recently discovered that my great-grandfather, Dominick Gillespie, was born in Addergoole parish. His parents were Anthony Gillespie and Mary Cawley. He was born in approximately 1838 and had at least two sisters, Mary and Barbara. Dominick accompanied his sisters to the US, arriving in November , 1859. In addition to his sisters, there were two children, John and Mary. John appears with his parents, John and Barbara Early and a new arrival. The child Mary apparently did not survive. Also in the household were Dominick and his sister Mary. Mary later married a James Judge. Both women lived in Pennsylvania all of their lives. Dominick married Margaret Carney then of the High Works section of Scranton, PA. She was living with Edward and Catherine Kerrigan and seems not to have been related to them. However, there was a Carney family in Rathcull which may have connected them. The Gillespies had six children and Dominick made his living as a miner. He was killed in a " fall of roof" at the Legget's Creek mine in December, 1892.

IrelandXO member

5 replies

Marybeth:

I checked the 1856 Griffiths Valuation head of household listing for Addergoole civil parish and there was an Anthony Gillespie listed in Doonbreedia townland in that parish.

I checked Roots Ireland and the Addergoole RC records start in 1840 which appears to be too late for Dominick. I also looked for Barbara and Mary but did not find their baptism record in the. Addergoole records.

Roger McDonnell

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Thank you Roger, for your research on my behalf. I have to apologize for having made an error concerning Dominick Gillespie's mother. Her last name was McAndrew. I looked at the tithe applotment books from the 1830's because I realized that Dominick had emigrated before the Griffith's valuation. On the page for Rathcuff, Doonbreedia, there were McAndrews, Gillespies and one John Carney. Dominick and his sisters arrived in November of 1859 and settled with Barbara and her husband, John Early. Three years later, Dominick married Margaret Carney, who was just 15. She was living with Edward and Catherine Kerrigan in Carbondale, north of Scranton. in 1860 but had moved with the family to North Scranton before her marriage in 1863. No one knows who her parents were but she insisted that she was born in the US in January of 1848. If this is true, her parents were leaving Ireland because of the Famine. Dominick was nearly ten years older than she was and the possibility of two people who lived a distance from each other with a significant age gap between them makes it look that this marriage was arranged. There was a related Carney family who lived south of Pittston but we cannot connect them. One brother was John, who might have been old enough to be Margaret's father. He went south to Mecklenburg County, Virginia, to work on the railroads just before the Civil War. He joined the 22nd Virginia Infantry Battalion in 1862 and served the Confederacy until captured in 1864 and sent to Elmira POW Camp. Upon release, he requested passage to Luzerne County where his brother Patrick lived. Apparently, he was unwelcome and drifted back to Virginia. Eventually, he was admitted to the Robert E. Lee Camp #1 Home for Disabled Confederate Soldiers where he died on November 11, 1902. Is it possible that all of these people were somehow connected?

Marybeth

IrelandXO member

Thank you Roger, for your research on my behalf. I have to apologize for having made an error concerning Dominick Gillespie's mother. Her last name was McAndrew. I looked at the tithe applotment books from the 1830's because I realized that Dominick had emigrated before the Griffith's valuation. On the page for Rathcuff, Doonbreedia, there were McAndrews, Gillespies and one John Carney. Dominick and his sisters arrived in November of 1859 and settled with Barbara and her husband, John Early. Three years later, Dominick married Margaret Carney, who was just 15. She was living with Edward and Catherine Kerrigan in Carbondale, north of Scranton. in 1860 but had moved with the family to North Scranton before her marriage in 1863. No one knows who her parents were but she insisted that she was born in the US in January of 1848. If this is true, her parents were leaving Ireland because of the Famine. Dominick was nearly ten years older than she was and the possibility of two people who lived a distance from each other with a significant age gap between them makes it look that this marriage was arranged. There was a related Carney family who lived south of Pittston but we cannot connect them. One brother was John, who might have been old enough to be Margaret's father. He went south to Mecklenburg County, Virginia, to work on the railroads just before the Civil War. He joined the 22nd Virginia Infantry Battalion in 1862 and served the Confederacy until captured in 1864 and sent to Elmira POW Camp. Upon release, he requested passage to Luzerne County where his brother Patrick lived. Apparently, he was unwelcome and drifted back to Virginia. Eventually, he was admitted to the Robert E. Lee Camp #1 Home for Disabled Confederate Soldiers where he died on November 11, 1902. Is it possible that all of these people were somehow connected?

Marybeth

IrelandXO member

Hi Marybeth,

If it is Mayo and Scranton, you know that it is possible that everything is connected ;)  

I'll note that there are a lot of Carney (Kearney), Early and McAndrew families around Kilfian, Kilcummin, Lacken and Killala parishes.  There were also a lot of Gillespie around Kilmoremoy as well. These are not that far apart ..

John

Kilcummin MayoIrelandXO Volunteer

Marybeth:

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Just returned from vacation. John is the expert in that area and I would agree that they are all likely connected.

Doonbredia is listed as part of the Castlebar registration district and I located a possible death index record for Anthony Gillespie in 1875. if yoy are interested, you can get a copy of the record from the General register Office for around 4 euros. Here is the link to print out the form that you mail to the GRO. You can ask them to e-mail the copy back.

Roger

https://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Apply-for-Certificates.aspx

First name(s) Anthony
Last name Gillespie
Age 71
Birth year 1804
Registered year 1875
Death year 1875
Registered quarter/year 1875
Registration district Castlebar
Volume 19
Page 67

 

 

 

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

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