Looking for Patrick Joseph Kearney & Family

[gracie23]

I have been searching in vain, (but never giving up!) to find out where my gggrandfather and his descendants came from. Patrick Joseph Kearney b 1838 (according to family history) (or 1826 in England according to the 1871 Canadian Census) Following US census records list him from Ireland. Relatives (now deceased) were never sure if he was born in England or Ireland. According to Drouin (sp?) records of his marriage to Ellen Coyle, in Montreal Canada 1868, his parents names were Denis Kearney and Mary Quinlan (although writing was hard to decipher it did state that they were both deceased by 1868 at the time of Patricks marriage to Ellen). I know his whereabouts from 1861 on, he served with the Fighting 69th in the US Civil War. I have no idea when he went to the USA before then, or how he ended up in Canada in 1868.
He was a Carver and Gilder by trade. He died in NYC in 1916. The names Patrick, Edward and Francis are surnames repeated in following generations. I do not know if he had any siblings.
Other associated family names: Coyle, Leahy, Prendergast, Nolan, Whelan, O'Reilly, Doyle, O'Leary.
Any suggestions on how to find out if he was born in England or Ireland and where his parents Denis Kearney/Mary Quinlan came from? Big brick wall! But I am delighted to have found this site!
Thank you! Deborah

[gracie23]

It's still a brick wall!

Patrick J Kearney (gg grand) names Denis Kearney and Mary Quinlan as parents (both deceased) in his marriage record in Montreal Canada, 1868.
Patrick born in 1839 (either Dublin or England)
I absolutely could not locate 
1. Marriage of Denis Kearney/Mary Quinlan (both b. Ireland) or any reference to these 2 names together in any records
2. Denis/Mary/Patrick together on any census in England/US up to 1860. (1861, Patrick was in NY)
3. Birth record for Patrick in England (1839 on BMD is not him)

Finally found a Denis Carney (age 26) and Mary Quinlan (age 24) living in Keene, Cheshire NH in 1850, 60, 70, 80 US Census.
No Patrick is listed with them. They went on to have 6 more children from 1852 to 1867. (None named "Patrick")

Well of course my next question is..could these be my Patrick's parents? Could they have had him when they were 15 and 13 years old and possibly given him up at that early age? And why did he say they were "deceased" in 1868 on his marriage record?

My gg Patrick had 8 children, only 2 survived to adulthood, but none of his 3 boys were named "Denis" after his father and I always wondered about that. He did however name his boys:
Francis Emmett
Patrick Sarsfield
Edward Parnell
Would I be safe to say these names are his "nod" to his Dublin Heritage as I did notice they are all street names in Dublin.

OR, have I officially lost it and am just grasping at straws?

Any help, advice, suggestions on how to proceed would be greatly, greatly appreciated. (FYI, I am on antsy, checked all the usual sites, several times over and the only thing I am sure of is that I am the ONLY person in the entire world looking for this family!!)

Thanks much in advance,
Deborah

[shanew147]

.....
Patrick J Kearney (gg grand) names Denis Kearney and Mary Quinlan as parents (both deceased) in his marriage record in Montreal Canada, 1868.

Patrick born in 1839 (either Dublin or England)
I absolutely could not locate 
1. Marriage of Denis Kearney/Mary Quinlan (both b. Ireland) or any reference to these 2 names together in any records
.....
Francis Emmett
Patrick Sarsfield
Edward Parnell
Would I be safe to say these names are his "nod" to his Dublin Heritage as I did notice they are all street names in Dublin.
....

Not many Irish parish records are online, so would need to have some idea of where in Ireland Denis and Mary lived so you could check for a possible marriage.

Civil records in England go back to 1837, and you can search an Index to this at : http://www.freebmd.org.uk/   If you find possible matches you need to order certs to see the full details.

If you think the family were in England during 1841 then it might be worth searching for the family on the English census for this year. The details given on this return are quite basic - i.e. first names and family surname, age - often rounded down to the nearest multiple of 5, occupation. Place of birth is listed as simple single letter codes - e.g. Y born in the same county as the place of residence on the census, N born in a different county in England or I for born in Ireland.

The best source to try for details on the place of origin for Patrick is with records on your side of the Atlantic, by searching for details such as census returns, obituaries, wills etc .. see : My Ancestor came from Ireland - where do I start?

If the details he has given in records is inconsistent or inaccurate them it's going to be very difficult to even start a meaningful search of pre-civil registration records for his family in Ireland.

Re the place names - you dont mention dates for Francis, Patrick & Edward ..
The Parnell street in Dublin was named after a respected Irish politician named Charles Stewart Parnell, so it's possible that Edward's middle name honoured him rather than a street. There are also Parnell streets in several towns and cities around Ireland - e.g. Limerick city, the town of Clonmel etc

p.s. there are also several different Sarsfield and Emmet streets


Shane

[gracie23]

Thank you Shane for all the info.

I 've been searching for the past 9 years and have exhausted all records that I know of including those you have mentioned!
I have tons of records for Patrick from 1868 (his marriage on) to his death.
But as you may well know. US census only list the country of birth, never a town!
Earlier US census called everyone a "Laborer" and  even though Patrick was a carver and gilder, he was not named as such until the later census which made things easier to confirm.
1 Canadian census listed him from England.
The rest of the US census list him from Ireland.
Civil War records list him from Ireland.
I can tell you every address of his from that 1868 date until his death!

It's just his beginnings I cannot confirm. There are no more relatives alive to talk to.
Family Lore was that our Kearney family came from Dublin and were RC and that's all I ever knew.

I could not place a Denis, Mary and Patrick on the 1841, 1851 English Census.
No one in my family has ever been named "Denis". But we have 4 Patricks, 2 Francis's and Emmet was used twice more.

On a hunch, I visited Calvary Cemetery to see if he was possibly buried with his son's son who died at 2. And he was! But alas, no head or footstone to glean any other information from

I have now ordered his death certificate to see if there is any valuable information on that.

As far as the names, another RC member kindly pm'd me and explained about the famous street names. Now I understand it is just not common to Dublin.

Patrick fought with the Fighting 69th in the civil war, and his son, Francis fought with the Fighting 69th in WW1. They stayed strong to their Irish roots even in America.

Of course his common name certainly doesn't help in my search..it's hard to make definite connections early on when everyone was named "Patrick" and everyone married a "Mary"!

Thank you again,
Deborah

[shanew147]

Where your Kearney family Catholic, Church of Ireland or some other denomination ?

Many parish records for Dublin (mostly the city, rather than the county) are available free on www.irishgenealogy.ie and more RC records are due to be added later this year. I had a very quick look for a Kearney / Quinlan couple or baptism for Patrick but didn't see any likely leads...  It might be worth trying variations of the surname e.g Carney   It's also worth bearing in mind that RC records often record Christian names in Latin (Denis = Dionysius, and Mary = Maria)


Shane

[gracie23]

Thanks again Shane,
I've been all over familysearch numerous times, with all names I mentioned. all combinations and all years. The only Kearney/Quinlan hit I got was a Mary Quinlan being witness to a Francis Kearney/Mary Font marriage, but that was back in the late 1700s, too early for my gg grandfather (b 1839).
It was from family search that I did find a Denis Carney/Mary Quinlan living in New Hampshire and their 6 children (none named Patrick) from death certificates listed for some of their children. I was not aware of any relatives we had in New Hampshire. Their birth years on the census put them at 1824-26 which meant they had to be pretty young when they had my Patrick and they were still alive past 1868 when Patrick listed them as deceased on his marriage certificate in Montreal.
My thought was that either he had no relationship with his parents and was raised by someone else as they were too young..or..this is not his family after all and there is another Denis Kearney/Mary Quinlan marriage out there somewhere! (Although I am actively trying to trace this family down to see if I can make any connections through the children)
I am beginning to believe after all these years that this is one brick wall that may never come down!
Thanks much
deborah

[shanew147]

Thanks again Shane,
I've been all over familysearch numerous times, with all names I mentioned. all combinations and all years. The only Kearney/Quinlan hit I got was a Mary Quinlan being witness to a Francis Kearney/Mary Font marriage but that was back in the late 1700s, too early for my gg grandfather (b 1839).
.....

If the couple were Catholic and married before the start of civil registration (1864) they are very unlikely to appear on familysearch. Any marriage will only be in parish records.


Shane

[RobinBird]

It is not clear if he left the USA for Canada and never returned - or did he return before he was buried at Cavalry Cemetery ?

If he returned to NY - I would focus on the NY state census records - 1865, 1875, 1892, 1905 - The Family history library has these on microfilm.  Also the church records for baptism of children - look for the godparents.  Perhaps you will find his brother or sister mentioned.

When did he die ?  Have you looked for any US civil war pension records ?

[gracie23]

Thank you much Robin.

I have all his records from the civil war on (1861) to his death in 1916.
As all the records only state "Ireland" as his place of birth, my brick wall is trying to find out where he was born (what town in England or Ireland from family lore) and when and where his parents (Denis Kearney/Mary Quinlan) were married. I have not been able to link these three names together in the thousands of records I have looked at so far. (I SO need a life )

What I do know for sure is that no Kearney family member was named as sponsors in any of his 8 children's baptismal records in Montreal or Boston, so it appears he did not have any Kearney family around him later in life until his death.

It's just from Patrick's birth (1839) to 1861 (his Civil War Enlistment) that still remains a mystery.
Trying to move backward in my Kearney/Carney family tree and this is my brick wall.

I do realize without his definite birth location/RC parish in Ireland or England, my chances of finding his past are well...next to none. I have exhausted all "clues" at this point.

Was just hoping that one of you wonderful rootschat members could pull out a mysterious record from somewhere and say "Oh..here he is!"

Deborah
I AM still hoping!!