Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - HarryC

Pages: [1] 2
1
Cork / Re: Caulfield and Leader families, Cork
« on: Thursday 01 September 11 01:53 BST (UK)  »
Well, the standard advice to a beginner is to start with yourself and work backwards obtaining original documents wherever possible. In this case I recommend it because "Irish roots" is a bit vague. It doesn't say whether his mother or father was from Ireland. Start with Scottish records (relatively easy these days).

About the Leaders: There are English and German Leaders. The Germans aren't related and your Glasgow roots suggest English as the source. The name means military leader or officer. I would be surprised if all English Leaders are related. To the best of my knowledge there is only one family of Irish Leaders but I haven't done an exhaustive search. The Irish Leaders I know about were originally English. The family was founded by an English soldier and settled near the town of Millstreet in northwestern County Cork. They had a number of manor houses and were part of the Anglo-Irish Ascendency. Records for this family are good. You can find out quite a lot in the radleysofcork site mentioned by Lorraine above.

At least, the records are good if your family is Protestant. Most Leaders were. But, over time, some married Catholic girls (or had other relationships) and had Catholic descendants. Catholic records aren't as good but by the end of the 19th century records were being kept. I believe most Leaders in Cork now are Catholic. There was a diaspora of Protestant Leaders (and other Anglo-Irish Ascendancy families) around the time of the Irish Civil War.

2
Tyrone / Re: GREGORY/Ballinsloe
« on: Tuesday 29 January 08 23:55 GMT (UK)  »
Well...

"Ballinsloe, County Tyrone" is what is on the tombstone. It is certain that she was illiterate and it is unlikely that her children knew Gaelic. So, most likely that is a phonetic (in American English) spelling. If Ballynasollus is pronounced "Ballinsloe" then that may be the place.

She married a Brehany and a Maguire in Galena, Illinois.

3
Kildare / Re: Do you need help in Athy, Co Kildare
« on: Friday 14 December 07 01:00 GMT (UK)  »
Hello Damsel,

I did get a response from Elaine at St. Michael's. She sent photocopies of several pages of her Baptismal records index. It doesn't look like any of the records are the right people. She looked at several variations of "Dwen." She didn't find any record of a Matthew Dwen, my ancestor. She found a record of a Patrick Dunn, born in 1804, but that sounds a bit young for what I was looking for. There was a Peter Duen, born in 1760 (four children in that family and four different spellings of the surname). According to a 1828 Baltimore directory, Matthew and Peter were partners in a carding machine. Peter Duen sounds pretty old to be Matthew's brother (though I suppose he could be Matthew's father).

The bottom line is that it looks like I need to see if I can find anything else here before trying Irish records again. Thanks for the information, though. 

4
Kildare / Re: Do you need help in Athy, Co Kildare
« on: Monday 03 September 07 18:37 BST (UK)  »
Sorry, I was out of town for several days last week. Yes, I read the reply (I have the board set to notify me by email when there is a reply). I meant to send you a thankyou, but was pressed for time when I read the response and later thought I had sent it.  ::) Oh well. I have been following up on your suggestions.

One thing that is clearer, now, is the year of birth of Patrick Dwen. He was born in 1795. The other date, 1797, was from an abstract from court records on file at a courthouse a few hundred miles from here. I sent for photocopies of the actual records and found an error in the abstract.  Also, the court records contain what appear to be two of Patrick's signatures. He spelled his name Dwen. That isn't a clerical error. As a priest, one assumes he was educated.

I've done some Internet searching for St. Michael's in Athy. It looks like St. Michael's is a very old church and the online descriptions makes it sound like a ruin. Is this the same St. Michael's that you refer to? Or, am I just confusing things.

5
Kildare / Re: Do you need help in Athy, Co Kildare
« on: Sunday 26 August 07 02:01 BST (UK)  »
I don't know if you recall me, but several months ago we had a discussion concerning my ancestor, Matthew Dwen, who came from Athy in County Kildare. I have some new information which I hope will help. One thing I don't have is a birth year. I have several documents, including court records of his naturalization and church (Catholic) records of his marriage, but nothing lists an age. He was married in 1824 so a birth year of 1800 plus or minus is reasonable. He was naturalized in 1828 and the court record merely states that he immigrated as a minor.

The big breakthrough is a possible sibling, Patrick Joseph Dwen. He was a Catholic priest and there's quite a lot known about him. He was born "at Shrowlon, Parish Athy, County Kildare, Ireland, in 1795." Patrick's naturalization court records suggest a 1797 birth year. There are several points of correlation between Patrick and Matthew but, of course, no direct evidence that they were brothers. Patrick had a sister named Anastasia. Also, I've found a reference to a Peter Dwen who may have been Matthew's brother (they appear to have been in business together). "Dwen" seems pretty well established as the correct surname although "Duane--pronounced Dwen" is still a possiblity. All other variations are clerical errors. This has been an issue in the past.

Is it possible, given the above, to find records of Patrick's birth? Are there siblings, particularly a Matthew?

Harry Connors

6
Kildare / Re: Do you need help in Athy, Co Kildare
« on: Monday 27 November 06 11:47 GMT (UK)  »
Galena, Jo Daviess County, Illinois, may not have been a howling wilderness in the 1840s, but it had been one within living memory. The earliest records are a bit sketchy.  ;)

7
Kildare / Re: Do you need help in Athy, Co Kildare
« on: Monday 27 November 06 03:21 GMT (UK)  »
Some of my ancestors are pretty easy--some difficult. Matthew Duane (or whatever) isn't the hardest. I don't even have a County in Ireland for my Connors ancestors. As near as I can tell, my great grandfather appeared on the face of the earth in 1885 in Topeka, Kansas, at the age of 15 when he started working for the Santa Fe. He said he was born in San Francisco to Henry and Margaret Connors. But just try finding any records of this family. The great San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906 hasn't helped any.

Ellis Island was much later--well after the main Irish immigration. Castle Garden is the earlier New York immigration center and I have found other Irish immigrant ancestors in their on-line database. But, my guess is that my Athy ancestor immigrated through Baltimore. He married a Baltimore girl in Baltimore. It would help a lot in locating his immigration record if I had a good idea how his name was spelled and the approximate year of immigration.

Oh well, I suppose a trip to Baltimore is in order. :-)

8
Kildare / Re: Do you need help in Athy, Co Kildare
« on: Friday 24 November 06 20:30 GMT (UK)  »
The big problem is that I have found virtually no primary records. The Athy birth comes from two biographical sketches of his grandson published in 1889 and 1904. The death notice appeared in a newspaper and is little more than a notice of probate. I'm sure it's him because of the date of the death and the name of one of the executors. Good county records start a few years later.

The US census before 1850 is difficult to use. Only heads of households are listed. Ages are given in ranges. Other household members are not listed by name but by age range, sex, and whether free or slave. That, plus I haven't pinned down his location in 1830 and 1840. Given the problems with his name, and the many varied ways it was recorded, I haven't successfully found him.

The two instances of "Owen" that I know of are the death notice and an online transcription of his daughter's gravestone. The death notice is online. I haven't seen the original yet. The modern gravestone transcription is inaccurate. The grave reads "Dwen." It's quite clear. I have photos.

Another example of a modern transcription error is in the 1850 census data for his widow. She's a housekeeper for a priest (thus, would have been entirely missed in the 1840 and earlier census). Her name is given as "Dwin." Ancestry.com has it as "Devin."

"Wren" comes from his daughter's obituary in 1910. "Swann," as I said, from her county marriage record (the groom, Donald Beaton, was listed as "Daniel Beton"--and I'm as sure as I can every be that it is the right record). I forget the source for "O'Rinn" right now.

The marriage record is a possibility. I haven't found it yet. I know where and the year (at least as they were given 75 years after the fact and long after both bride and groom died).   

Anyway, thought I'd ask. I appreciate your thoughts on this. He's a puzzle and I may never find out more about him.    ;)

9
Kildare / Re: Do you need help in Athy, Co Kildare
« on: Friday 24 November 06 02:28 GMT (UK)  »
Hi Celtic Damsel,

My Athy ancestor is a bit of a puzzle. His name was Matthew Dwen, or Duane (pronounced Dwen), or Wren, or Owen, or Swann, or O'Rinn, or ???. Currently, I'm leaning toward Dwen. The closest thing I have to a contemporary record is a death notice giving his name as Owen, but in at least one other instance I can show that Owen is a modern transcription error for Dwen. His daughter's tombstone reads Dwen, but Swann is on her marriage license.

I don't know his birth date. He was married in 1826 in Baltimore, Maryland, and died in 1846 in Galena, Illinois. He was probably Catholic. He married a Catholic girl and his descendents are Catholic.

Frankly, I'm at something of an impasse with him and any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Pages: [1] 2