Answering and Reviewing Some Questions, Part 4

A continuation of answering and following up on some of the questions I have discussed in earlier posts on this blog. 

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After working through my O'Leary family in California, I went looking for Other O'Learys in Ireland. I found more siblings for my great grandmother Lizzie O'Leary than I had expected, and wasn't able to find a brother I had found in my San Francisco research -- Arthur O'Leary. I've still had a puzzle finding him and figuring out his story. I know he was living in San Francisco in 1904 because his name appears on Lizzie's immigration record, but I couldn't figure out his address or find him in the city directory. He's referenced again in Ellen O'Leary Ford's death notice in 1932. I did receive some information from one of my Coleman cousins that Arthur was adopted and eventually settled in Portland, OR where he ran a mill. If he was adopted, that might explain the difficulty in finding him in the birth and baptismal records for Ireland. My cousin also said he was the youngest sibling, which would mean he was likely born after 1880. That would mean he was in his early 20s when he arrived in San Francisco. This is another research point I need to revisit.

I still haven't worked out most of the rest of the siblings either. I was able to find John and his family in the Irish census records for 1901 and 1911. The other siblings who remained in Ireland are still difficult to locate. I did revisit the record I found for Jeremiah O'Leary, Jr. in the 1901 census to see if I was mistaken on my first assessment once I learned that John's wife's name was Hanora. I thought the Hannah O'Leary listed as that Jeremiah's sister might possibly be a sister-in-law, but when it said she wasn't married, I eliminated them again.

I may have found a death record in New York for Jeremiah, but I will need to order the death certificate to be certain.

Irish records are challenging in two ways. First is knowing if a record actually exists as so many records have been lost and destroyed over the years. The second is the more obvious problem that the records that do exist are in Ireland. The internet is great for identifying a lot of possible records, but most of what is available on line is a limited index of records found in Ireland. More and more are becoming available on line, but Ireland's privacy laws are a bit stricter than those in the US so what is available is more limited. Add in to the complication that I really need to know more about 20th century records so I can go back further makes working on the O'Leary/Coleman side of the family more challenging.

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The Baptismal Records were more promising. While I've not been able to confirm my findings (again, the challenges of records in Ireland), I do think they're good leads. I did realize I had mis-recorded the year of birth for Bartholomew Coleman. I had noted him as having been born in 1880 rather than 1870, so I went back to the baptismal records to see if he turned up when I entered the correct year. No such luck. A new source has come on line recently that makes it easier to scroll through the images, but I've only done a cursory check there. The best part of this is that it includes records from all over Ireland rather than just a few counties. While being able to identify my Murray/Mullane ancestors through these records is a long-shot since I still don't have parish information (or even county information for the Mullane side) and they were all born in the 1840s and it's hit or miss for records still existing for those years. Still, it's something I can try to sort through for possible leads.

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The Arrival of Lizzie O'Leary is the lone success I've had to date in finding immigration records for any of my ancestors. Of course, she's the most recent immigrant on record. Having arrived in the US in 1904 and coming through Ellis Island made her record much easier to find. I suspect that I may have reasonable luck finding Daniel Coleman in the records since he arrived sometime between 1892-1900. I thought perhaps I'd be able to find him traveling with his brother John, but according to the 1900 census, John arrived in 1877 -- well before Daniel. That John was already in the US is a helpful point though as it could prove useful in finding Daniel. The other immigrant points for the Murray/Mullane side, however, are going to be much more challenging. They all arrived in the 1860s or so and the records that are available from that time are pretty sparse. There are loads of passenger records, but the information gathered was pretty much name, age, occupation, and country of origin. Not knowing where my ancestors landed upon leaving Ireland means checking all major ports on the east coast as well as San Francisco on the off chance they emigrated directly to California. It's also possible they arrived in Canada before the US since both Canada and Ireland were part of the British Empire in the 1860s, so those are records to consider as well. That's a lot of haystacks to search through for a handful of needles!

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When I figured out What Happened to Mollie, I hadn't been able to find an article in the Oakland Tribune about the accident. I was only able to find a small blurb on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle. The Tribune for 1917 has since become available on line, and I was able to find another small blurb about what happened. Though this story was on page 4 rather than page 1, it had a bit more information. It identified Mollie's husband as "Charles W. Johnson, a stevedore, 986 Stanford Avenue" which lines up with what I have already found. The story also mentions that Mollie had run out to the a nearby store and didn't return and that "it is thought she became confused in the rain and stepped in front of the train." That definitely puts more context on what happened.

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This concludes my blog review and hopefully helps bring some of the stories more life. It's definitely helped me remember points of interest I need to go back to and other roads I need to follow up on in my research. I've also been very lax at keeping this blog updated over the past few years, so I'm going to try to make a concerted effort to write more often, even if I only have observations of the process of research rather than results.

More O'Learys?

Back in September, I started looking through the Irish Census records and the church records that are available on line for County Cork to start piecing together some of the O’Leary branch of the family tree. I started first looking for my great great grandparents Jeremiah O’Leary and Mary O’Looney. When I found them in the 1901 Irish Census, I culled the information available and added it to my database. Similarly, when I combed through the baptismal records looking for my great grandmother Lizzie O’Leary and her siblings, I added the information found there to my files.

Those searches gave me approximate birth years for my great great grandparents and possible aunts and uncles for my great grandmother. Using that information, I went back to the Irish Genealogy site that has the pre-1900 church records for Counties Cork, Kerry, and Carlow to see if I could track down more information on that group of ancestors. I started with Jeremiah O’Leary. According to the 1901 Census, he was 76 years old which means he was born in about 1825. I plugged his name and approximate birth year into the search engine for the Cork & Ross diocese church records, and up popped 34 baptismal records. Not all were for a child named Jeremiah O’Leary, so I immediately eliminated them. That left me with five possibilities, only one of which was in Ballinhassig (the parish where my great grandmother and her siblings were baptized.) The other parishes I found were Kilmurry, Ovens & Aglis, and Cork South Parish. I looked at the record for the Jeremiah (Jerry) O’Leary who was baptized in the Ballinhassig parish first. His parents’ names were Timothy O’Leary and Joney Neville, so I used that information to see if I could find any siblings that matched up with the names I had found as godparents to my great grandmother and her siblings. I didn’t find any certain siblings. Hmmm. If my guess that the godparents for my great grandmother and her siblings were aunts and uncles, I needed to find a Patrick and Edmund O’Leary. Mary O’Leary was another possibility, but as she and Edmund were both godparents of my great grandmother’s brother (also named Edmund) I suspect Mary is Edmund’s wife.

What I needed was a map. While I’ve visited Ireland, I am not familiar enough with the geography beyond a general knowledge of where the various counties are. The parishes (both civil and religious) and towns are harder to identify without a map. Unfortunately, the Irish Genealogy site doesn’t have a map of the various parishes, so I had to go search for one. I was able to find a variety of maps at the Irish Times. It would be easier to work out which parishes border each other if the Catholic parishes map weren’t broken into three regions, but from what I could work out Ballinhassig parish is bordered by Ballincollig, Innishannon, Clountead, Douglas and Carrigaline parishes. None of those turned up in my search for Jeremiah, but I did notice the parish Ovens located next to Ballincollig. I had a Jeremiah O’Leary baptized in the parish of Ovens & Aglis in my search, that seemed like a good one to check out, so I clicked on his record. His parents were John O’Leary and Joan Mulcahy. I searched again using those options and found an Edmund O’Leary whose parents were named John O’Leary and Joannah Mulcahy who was baptized in the Ovens & Aglis parish in 1829. Hmmm. Joan and Joannah are fairly close, and Edmund O’Leary was one of the godparents I found.

While I’m not completely certain I’ve found the right family, it’s a strong possibility, so I noted down all the information in both baptismal records for Jeremiah and Edmund. I’ll have to do some more digging to see if I can confirm this find, which will definitely be challenging without census records, but hopefully some of the census alternates will prove helpful.

I had no luck searching for a Patrick O’Leary who was about the same age as my great great grandfather Jeremiah. There were several, but none with the same parents or in the same parish.  Perhaps Patrick was a cousin instead of a brother or maybe the record is missing. I don’t have enough information to know either way yet.

Having had reasonable luck with Jeremiah, I turned to my great great grandmother Mary O’Looney.  According to the 1901 census, she was 58 years old which would have her born in about 1843. Nothing turned up with that information, so I looked at the 1911 Census record. The Mary O’Leary I found there is a 73 year old widow which would have her born in about 1838. I tried that date, again no luck. I tried searching with out a date, which gave me many more options and the ability to filter by parish and decade. I found a Mary Looney baptized in February 1835 in Ballinhassig parish. This might be a possibility. Her parents were named Timothy Looney and Lydia Johnson.

As I did with Jeremiah, I did a search on those two last names to see if I could come up with any of the suspected siblings. I came up with 6 names – all children of Timothy Looney and Lydia Johnson in Ballinhassig parish: Mary Looney (17 Feb 1835), Lidia Luony (24 Jan 1837), Timothy Luony (15 April 1838), Eliza Luony (31 March 1841), Margaret Looney (13 June 1847), and George Looney (30 Nov 1852.)  I had found an Eliza Looney in the baptismal records as the godmother of my great great grandmother’s brother William.

Again, I’m not completely certain I’ve found the right family, but it is a strong possibility and I’ve noted all of the information I found. I definitely have some digging to do this year to see if I can find any other information that will support these finds.

I’ve yet to do the same kind of searching on the Colemans, but have that on my to do list for this year as well. That to do list is getting longer by the day!

Baptismal Records

In looking for the O'Learys in Ireland, I had found extracted birth/baptismal records for my great grandmother Elizabeth O'Leary and seven siblings. Having only expected to find four siblings, I was surprised to say the least. Since these records weren't originals, but a database of copied records, I wanted to see if there was any chance of finding the original records (without having to fly to Ireland since that's not going to happen any time soon.)

Early on in my searching I had found an Irish genealogy site that had some church records scanned but since at the time I didn't have enough information to make the site useful I just bookmarked it as a resource that might come in handy at a later date.  I forgot all about that site until I found a website called "Irish Genealogy Tool-Kit." What a great resource! It has lots of information and sent me back to the site I'd found months before with the church records. I expect to reference that site quite a bit as I move forward.

The Irish Genealogy website is hosted by the Minister of Arts of Ireland and has a collection of pre-1900 church records for just three of the Republic of Ireland's 26 counties plus the city of Dublin. Luckily for me, County Cork is one of the three counties! (Carlow and Kerry are the other two.) Using the information I got from Ancestry.com, I started plugging in the names and dates for Lizzie O'Leary and her siblings. I had much better luck here than I did with the Irish Census records and found the following:

Baptism of John Leary, 16 January 1865. Parents: Jeremiah Leary and Mary Looney.  Sponsors: Patrick Leary and Hannah Ford. Parish/Church/Congregation: Ballinhassig.

Baptism of William Leary, 14 February 1867.  Parents: Jeremiah Leary and Mary Looney.  Sponsors:  Daniel Murphy and Eliza Looney. Parish/Church/Congregation:  Ballinhassig.

Baptism of Ellen Leary, 6 April 1869. Parents: Jeremiah Leary and Mary Looney.  Sponsors: John Leahy and Ellen Coleman. Parish/Church/Congregation:  Ballinhassig.

Baptism of Edmund Leary, 25 December 1870. Parents Jeremiah Leary and Mary Looney.  Sponsors: Edmund and Margaret Leary. Parish/Church/Congregation:  Ballinhassig.

Baptism of Eliza Leary, 19 March 1873. Parents: Jeremiah Leary and Mary Looney.  Sponsors:  Timothy Riordan and Mary Looney. Parish/Church/Congregation:  Ballinhassig.

Those records match up fairly closely with the records I found on Ancestry, most being within a day or two of the birthdate shown in those records. I've yet to turn up records for Polly (Mary), Jeremiah, or Daniel, but the records I found provided additional information I can use in my searches. Taking a look at the sponsors names there appear to be at least four, and probably five, additional family members -- Patrick Leary, Eliza Looney, Edmund Leary, and Margaret Leary. The second Mary Looney is the only one that's puzzling. I suspect it's a sister-in-law or cousin of my great great grandmother Mary Looney as it's not likely that she was both mother and godmother to my great grandmother Elizabeth, but I don't know that for certain. It could even be a clerical error by the priest who recorded the baptism.

Having found some of the O'Learys, I thought I'd also look for the Colemans and see if they turned up at all. In the stories told by Aunt Margaret, her father Daniel Coleman had a half-brother named Bartholomew who also moved to San Francisco. I'd found a death record for him that indicated his mother's maiden name was Cosgrove, and when I searched on his record at Ancestry.com I turned up two brothers, Michael and Cornelius, in the birth and baptisms database. So I was looking for six Coleman siblings, my great grandfather Daniel, his brother John, his sister Margaret and three half-brothers. I turned up the following information (as transcribed):

Baptism of Dan Coalman, 21 March 1860. Parents: J--- Coalman and Ellen Roes.  Sponsors: Ned Coalman and Johann McDonna. Parish/Church/Congregation:  Courcey's Country or Ballinspittal.

Baptism of Ellen Coalman, 20 November 1861. Parents John Coalman and Ellen Moss.  Sponsors: Jeremiah Donoghue and Mary Coveney. Parish/Church/Congregation:  Courcey's Country or Ballinspittal.

Baptism of Michal Coleman, 22 July 1867. Parents John Coleman and Eliza Colgrave.  Sponsors: Bartholomew Coleman and Margaret Mudge. Parish/Church/Congregation:  Courcey's Country or Ballinspittal.
  
Baptism of Cors Thos Coleman, 27 December 1868. Parents John Coleman and Eliza Cosgrave.  Sponsors: Maurice Cosgrave and Mary Murray. Parish/Church/Congregation:  Courcey's Country or Ballinspittal.

As you can see, some of the spelling is a bit off and there are some transcription conflicts.  I took a look at the attached records and Ellen "Roes" and "Moss" look to be Ellen Ross, which was my great great grandmother's name. (The writing on some of the records was atrocious!) The transcription for Eliza "Colgrave" also looks more like Cosgrave in the image. I couldn't find a record for John Coleman Jr. or Bartholomew. The only sister I turned up was named Ellen, not Margaret, so I don't know if there was another sister or if the there's another name conflict. According to the records I've found for Bartholomew, he was born in 1880 and there were only about 40 recorded baptisms in the 1880s for anyone named Coleman (or Coalman) so I suspect Bartholomew's record hasn't been digitized yet since most of the other decades have upwards of 500 Coleman records. Either that or it's been lost to time, though the extracted record I found on Ancestry would seem to indicate there's some kind of record available.

So, again, I have more information to sort through and follow up on. The baptismal dates again match up fairly closely with the records I've found on Ancestry. Daniel Coleman's is the only one that's a little odd as I've found birth dates from 1860-1878 for him, but I've consistently found March 17 so I'm fairly confident in the record. (And I know the 1878 record is wrong as it's from the 1920 census which shows him as age 42 and Lizzie as age 41 and I've always known he was about 10 years older. Most of the other records have him born between 1860-1866.) 

I am very pleased at the progress I've made on the Coleman/O'Leary side of the family in the last two months. There is much much more to sort through and uncover, but that will be true every time I learn something new since each new item uncovered tends to bring along other questions that need answers.