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McConkey Families in County Tyrone

TyroneArtrea (Tyrone)

I have been researching the McConkey family for manyyears. My 4x great grandparents are Thomas McConkey (1780-1862) and Sarah Porter (1777-1871). They emigrated from County Tyrone and arrived in Canada on 11 Jul 1822 with 9children. Eventually they settled in Simcoe County, Ontario and both of them died there. They have many descendants in Canada and the US. One of their sons, Thomas David, built a grand house in Barrie Ontario and called it "Ardtrea" after their home in County Tyrone.

Their descendants held family reunions from 1917 until the mid-1930s. A group photo from the 1922 reunion survives and all the participants have been identified!

Thomas' brother William also settled in Ontario Canada and he also has many descendants in Canada and the US.

There are also 2 other McConkey families that may be connected but I haven't been able to prove the relationship:

1. James McConkey (b. 25 Dec 1814 County Tyrone, d. Oct 1901 Tonawanda New York) - emigrated to the US in 1841

2. Robert McConkey (b. about 1778 County Derry, d. 27 Jan 1860 Innisfil, Simcoe County, Ontario) - 4 sons Henry, James, Robert, John

There is also an indication that Thomas and William had 4brothers - Samuel, George, James, John. But littleis known about them.

Any help in breaking through these brick walls will be greatly appreciated!

mcconk2013

3 replies

 

Hi,

Thank you for your message. I hope that someone who is researching this family makes a connection with you and helps you get past this brick wall!

In the meantime, it may be an idea to contact the Irish World Heritage Centre in Tyrone for some possible assistance. However, a fee may apply for their services. Here are their contact details:

Irish World Heritage Centre,

51 Dungannon Road,

Coalisland,

Co. Tyrone.

B71 4HP

Phone: +44 28 8774 6065 Email: info@irish-world.com

Please be patient - as our programme has only begun to rollout across the island of Ireland and volunteers in some areas may not yet be organized.

Kind regards,

Genealogy Support

IrelandXO member

This is an extremely late response but I have been researching my husband's family.  His great great grandfather was George McConkey, 1847-1912.  George married Elizabeth Pogue.  George & Elizabeth immigrated to the US.  They eventually ended up in Stillwater, OK. where  they had a poultry farm.  They had a hatchery in Stillwater that their son, Robert Samuel, 1877-1925, ran.  Then it was run by Robert Samuel's son, Leslie McConkey, 1897-1976, who was mayor of Stillwater in 1948.  Not sure when he was first elected.  I just know he was mayor at that time.

I don't know if this George McConkey could be one of Thomas' brothers as mentioned previously.  Teri M.

terim3006@cent…

This book would have been one of mcconk2013's sources. Published in 1951, and now available online
Book: Historical review, June 23-24, 1951 : a record of 100 years of progress : Innisfil Township centennial, 1850-1950   page 74

https://digitalcollections.ucalgary.ca/archive/Historical-review--June-…

 

"... Robert Mcconkey, also from Ireland, sailed for Canada in 1831, with

four sons James, Henry, Robert and John.   About one day out from port

Mrs. Mcconkey died and was buried on an island. (After sailing for some

time they discovered that with Mrs. Mcconkey was buried all the money

they had... "

Only Kid

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