Locating an Ancestral Homeland in Ireland

In an early Chicago history from 1912, Josiah Seymour Currey mentions James Carney as one of the earliest Irish settlers in the muddy, swampy area that was to become Chicago. He joined with other intrepid and enterprising people (including Native Americans, French Canadians, the offspring of the unions between French and Native Americans, and Americans from other established cities and towns) to build a village that would become a great metropolis in a few decades.

Fort Dearborn & Chicago in 1831.jpg,
probably engraved from a sketch by Juliette Kinzie, wikimedia

James Carney is listed in the Robert Fergus’ Chicago Directory, 1830 as having a “grocery and provision store, 133 Lake Street.” p. 9 A Patrick Timoney is listed as a laborer, boarding with James Carney. p. 33.

As mentioned in a previous post, this James Carney was a merchant, grocer, and finally a brewer in the 1830s-1850s in Chicago. He belonged to a stellar group of early businessmen who laid the economic foundations for the young city. But who was this Irish Chicagoan? Where did he come from in Ireland? Or did he come from Northern Ireland? On the map below, Northern Ireland is at the top right and the rest of the country is Ireland.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/archive/d/d7/20070313214912%21Ireland.svg

Where did he learn the trading, marketing, operating, brewing skills that brought him such success in Chicago? With whom did he associate in Chicago? This became my challenge – learning as much as I could about James’ life in Chicago from available records and maybe getting some clues as to where in Ireland James Carney was born and lived until his emigration to America. In a later post I will explore possible connections between James and John Carney, my great great grandfather.

If you have done any research on your Irish American ancestors, you have probably faced this obstacle: a minimal number of records both here and across the Atlantic. If you’re lucky, you might have a family bible, oral histories, photos, or maybe an heirloom or two. In my case I had none of the above about James Carney. Despite the scarcity of official records, the fact that James participated in local politics and joined in some social groups earned him a mention or two in some local histories of Chicago. Let’s start there.

James Carney was an early Irish immigrant and successful merchant who recognized that participation in local politics could be an entry into acceptance as an “American.” In 1840 he ran for alderman of Chicago’s second ward and was elected as noted  on p. 102 in M.L. Ahern’s Political History of Chicago: 1837-1887.

In addition to his work as a businessman and his political service, James also showed a passion for the independence of his birth country. In the 1844 Chicago City Directory, reprinted in 1902 by Ellis and Fergus, he is listed as the treasurer for The Chicago Repeal Association. This group’s mission, as was of the original group in Ireland, was to advocate for the repeal of the 1800 Acts of Union that joined England and Ireland into United Kingdom of Great Britain.

James was also active in the intellectual life of his Catholic parish of Old St. Mary’s. The photo below is the third structure of the church which was built on Madison and Wabash in 1842.

St. Mary's Cathedral of Chicago, from Robert N.
Dennis collection of stereoscopic views.jpg;
NY Public Library, digital ID G90F170_001F

The 1844 City Directory lists him as the treasurer of the Catholic Library Society (p. 68) I could find no information about this society after a google search and an inquiry to the Archdiocese ofChicago. But the name of the society, the fact that it met in the basement of Old St. Mary’s Church, and the time of its existence (1840s) provide some clues. At this time in Chicago’s early history, public libraries were non-existent. It wasn’t until after the Great Fire of1871 that a public library system was created. Religious, civic-minded businessmen with an interest in both local, national and world affairs would require a comfortable and private place to read/discuss both Catholic and secular newspapers, magazines, and books.

We now have some knowledge of James Carney’s business, civic, and social footprint in early Chicago, but where did he come from in Ireland? To begin to answer this question, we need to re-visit that research technique called “cluster genealogy” that I discussed in my blog post  Immigrants to America tended to travel from the old country in groups of people known to each other. This historical phenomenon is known as "network migration."  (p. 83-84.) Once in America, they lived near the same people and others from their country of origin. Since we don’t know where James Carney lived in Ireland, maybe we can find out some answers from the people he lived with, worked with, and worshiped with. Who were James Carney’s associates? 

The 1850 Chicago, Cook, IL federal census provides a detailed look at James Carney’s household; we see who worked for him in the brewery and lived in his household: Patrick Timoney, Daniel McElroy, John O’Neill and Mary McGillen. But how long had these families been in community? Let's start with US records.

The earliest documents in Chicago of James Carney and allied families are in the marriage records from Old St. Mary’s Catholic Church in its second structure at Michigan and Madison.

Chicago History Museum, ICHi-37096.
J.H. Murphy, photographer

As early as 1836, James Carney and several Timoney family members are witnesses for weddings:

• 10-01-1836 Marriage of Joseph Brown & Elsie Donnelly; Witnesses: Patrick Kelly, James Carney p. 8

• 07-06-1837 Marriage of Denis McCarty & Marguerite McCloghart; Witnesses: Francis M. Crogha, Esther Timoney p. 9

• 12-26-1837 Marriage of Lawrence Dorsey &Jane Strickland; Witnesses: William Dorsey, Catherine Timoney p. 10

• 09-18-1839 Marriage of James Summer & Elleanor Summers; Witnesses: Patrick Duffy, Catherine Timoney p. 13

A researcher, who wishes to be anonymous, on the O’Neill and McGillen lines, found baptism records at St. Mary of the Assumption, (Old St. Mary’s on Wabash,) that reveal more connections among the families:

• 1 Jan 1850 - Marriage of John O'Neill and Ann McGillen; Witnesses: Daniel McElroy & Bridget Carney

• 15 Dec 1850 - Baptism of James Edward O'Neill; Sponsors: Daniel McElroy & Mary Timoney

• 12 Nov 1852 - Baptism of Mary Anne (Mollie) Victoria O'Neill; Sponsors: James Carney & Ann Carney

• 19 May 1854 - Baptism of Alice (Sr. Cornelia) O'Neill; Sponsors: Patrick Timoney & Margaret O'Kane

A pivotal point in the web of familial relationships is James Carney’s kinship to the McGillen line; he was the grand uncle of Edward McGillen, a fact that I found in a 1909 history of Chicago:

“Edward McGillen…came to Chicago (from Ireland) in the early 1830s when he was only eight years old. He was brought here by a grand uncle, James Carney, who was a merchant and traded with the Indians in Fort Dearborn days of Chicago history.” p. 712.

A geographic anchoring for Edward McGillen comes from a death certificate for his son, John McGillen, dated 01 March 1924 in Chicago, IL., stating that he was born in Fermanagh County, Northern Ireland.

Wikimedia, GNU Free Documentation
License, Fermanagh_Ulster.png 2007
(Fermanagh is in red, NI in bright green)

Thus we have established a family foothold in Ulster for James Carney’s grandnephew, our first placing of a cohort across the ocean.

The aforementioned researcher also shared with me that some of her McGillen ancestors lived in Leitrim County, Ireland in the townland of Kiltyclogher near the Fermanagh border. In the 1911 Ireland Census, a Bessie McGillen, age 74, is listed as mother of Patrick McGillen, age 39. Bessie’s birthdate puts the family in County Leitrim prior to 1837.

By Island_of_Ireland_location_map.svg:
Maximilian Dörrbecker (Chumwa)derivative work:
Rannpháirtí anaithnid (talk)derivative work: Mabuska
 (Island_of_Ireland_location_map.svg)
 [CC BY-SA 3.0  (https://creativecommons.
org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)],
via Wikimedia Commons
(County Leitrim is dark green)

What about the rest of the cohort families: McElroy, O’Neill, and Timoney? Did they originally hail from Northern Ireland, around Fermanagh near Leitrim or Tyrone? Dr. Tyrone Bowes has created a tool that was just right for me to use to begin my search. He made a geographical distribution of surnames in Ireland/Northern Ireland and plotted them on a map, and it is available for purchase on the website. 

To spread out this large map and see the names of your target families jump out at you is truly an awesome experience. Three names (McCarney, McElroy, and O’Neill) appear in the Northern Irish county of Tyrone (bordering on Fermanagh to the north) and the name Timoney is shown just across the northwestern border of Fermanagh with County Donegal.

With this information from Bowes site to orient me, I moved on to Griffith’s Valuation which is like a census in that it recorded where people lived and what property they owned in mid-nineteenth century Ireland. This record is arranged according to the levels of administrative units in Ireland/Northern Ireland: townland (village,) civil parish, religious parish, Poor Law Union (based on neighboring townlands around a central market town,) barony, and county. A civil parish often included more than one barony or county. The website Ask About Ireland provides free access to those who want to search Griffith’s Valuation. 

Where to begin my search in the database? I thought the best place would be the important clue we have: County Leitrim, near Kiltyclogher by the Fermanagh border, where the McGillens once lived. From here we might see if any of the families were in nearby Fermanagh also.

When we look name distribution in County Leitrim near Kiltyclogher and the Fermanagh border, we see an interesting picture. Members of the Carney family are found in two townlands in Leitrim County in the barony of Drumhaire. The first townland is Manorhamilton, in the Civil Parish of Cloonclare, which is 7 miles from the second townland of Cashel, in the Civil Parish of Killanummery. Members of the three of the four associated families all lived in the same barony between 5-9 miles of one of these townlands. One family lived in the barony of Roscloger which is only 6 miles from Manorhamilton. This can be shown more clearly on the map below. 

Map data @Google 2018

When we turn to the locations of Carney and associated families in County Fermanagh, we also find an intriguing picture. Carney family members settled in the townlands of Culky and Laragh, about five miles from the large market townland of Enniskillen. The other families all lived within 8-13 miles of Culky. As can be seen on the map below, Enniskillen is about 15 miles from the County Leitrim border.

Map data @Google 2018

The results of my search were no surprise; members of the five different families were scattered in, around and between the townlands of Kiltyclogher (County Leitrim, bordering Fermanagh) and Enniskillen in County Fermanagh near the Leitrim border.

I started this project with two goals:

• To find out if the four families that lived in the Carney household in Chicago in the 1850 Federal Census might be known to each other before they came to the US

• To find out where in Ireland/Northern Ireland James Carney was born and lived before his emigration to America.

I am very happy with how far I have come in my effort to find the homeplace of James Carney and his associated families in Northern Ireland. I have used Irish records to show that the five families did indeed live near each other in Northern Ireland along both sides of the border of County Leitrim near Kiltyclogher and up to Enniskillen in County Fermanagh. However, more research is needed to try to identify more exactly the Carney townland/village. In a subsequent post, I will explore the possible connections between James Carney and my great great grandfather, John Carney.



Labels: Irish, immigrants, Chicago, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Carney/Kearney, Chicago city directories, cluster genealogy, cohort, collateral families

Irish on the Move

 Hello to all my readers! I wanted to wish you health, safety and well-being during these times of the pandemic and economic disruption. I have not been writing on my blog during the last year (July 2019 – August 2020) but I have been working on my Carney/Kearney and Duffy lines, trying to locate where they may have lived in Ireland. From this research, I have discovered several sources and information that may be helpful to others on this journey.

As preparation for my research into possible ancestral home places in Ireland, I studied the map of Ireland and started reading Irish history.

Ireland_map.gif, Created by George McFinnigan, 26 February 2006, Wikimedia.

I realized that I didn’t know anything about the movement of people within Ireland over the years. This knowledge would be critical in my quest to trace my lines in the country.

In my experience, when American scholars write about Irish history, they focus on their coming here and especially concentrate on the Great famine of 1845-1849. And this is to be expected as the American public wants to know about this time period because, according to the Library of Congress:

 “Between 1820 and 1860, the Irish constituted over one third of all immigrants to the United States. In the 1840s, they comprised nearly half of all immigrants to this nation.”¹ 

On board an emigrant ship - the breakfast bell immigrants on ship deck, 
1884, LC-USZ62-60319 (b&w film copy neg.) 

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs.

Also, humans are ethnocentric and naturally like to tell their stories from their point of view as this cover of Harper’s magazine shows: the people of Ireland are beseeching America for help:

Nast, Thomas, Artist. The Herald of relief from America / 

Th. Nast. Ireland, 1880. Photograph

With this said, when you want to find where in Ireland your ancestors came from, you need another focus. You want to learn about movement of people within Ireland rather than from Ireland. In other words, you are looking for internal migration. A basic question comes to mind: What factors caused people in Ireland to move to different parts of the country? The answer is the same for all humans throughout history. People move to gain better access to food and/or to escape war and violence.

A key contributing factor to the difficulty the Irish peasant faced in growing sufficient food over several centuries was the practice of various English monarchs (before them the Anglo-Saxons) of  making large land grants in Ireland, called plantations, to favored followers. 

Wikimedia Commons contributors, "File:Flight of the Earls.jpg," 

Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository,  
title=File:Flight_of_the_Earls.jpg&oldid=444543400

 (accessed September 19, 2020).

In some cases, the government sought a policy of replacement/displacement where English farmers were brought in (or “planted”)  to help in “Making Ireland British.” These newcomers pushed out the native Irish who often had to move to less fertile, more boggy land. In other cases and other times, the landowners remained in England and hired landlords in Ireland and overseers to supervise their Irish tenants. These middlemen, driven by a desire for high profits, would regularly raise the rent so that poorer tenants were displaced by those with more ability to pay.

Thus we see the causes of internal migration in Ireland, and we can find eye-witness accounts to this movement in the travelogues of Arthur Young who toured Ireland from 1776 to 1779. 

Portrait of Arthur Young (1741-1820) British economist 

and man of letters, by John Russell, 1794, 

National Portrait Gallery, Wikimedia.org

Young was interested in how people lived in the countryside, how they made a living from the land. He noticed that the Irish tenant farmer had no qualms about how much his labor was worth and would “vote with his feet” when he believed that his landlord was not paying a proper or market rate:

“Whole families in that country will move from one place to another with freedom, fixing according to the demand for their labour, and the encouragement they receive to settle.”2   

Now that we have outlined the reasons for the internal migration in Ireland, we need to understand some patterns or geographic directions of this movement in order for this information to help us see how our ancestors may have moved through the country at different times over centuries. I turned to a seminal work on Irish migration by Patrick Fitzgerald and Brian Lambkin, Migration in Irish History, 1607-2007. 

Migration in Irish History, 1607-2007 by Patrick Fitzgerald,

goodreads.com, spring.com, google images

Fitzgerald divides the period from 1607 to 2007 into fifty year chunks and for each he discusses what happened in each of the three types of migration: immigration, internal migration and emigration.

For our purposes, we need just an idea of the general direction of movement within the country or internal migration. One of the fundamental patterns of internal migration is most countries, including Ireland, since the Industrial Revolution is people moving from rural areas to larger towns and cities. From the early 1800s onward tenant farmers saw new opportunities in factories and in the service sectors that grew up to meet the needs of the more prosperous urban inhabitants.

Underwood & Underwood, P. (1903) Modern Looms for fine texture hosiery
 in a factory at Balbriggan, Ireland. Ireland, 1903. [Photograph]
 Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2020681993/.

 An important note for genealogists about this pull of the city is that country migrants would mostly travel to the nearest town or city and would usually remain in the same county. (end note: Fitzgerald p. 138 and 155.) How will this knowledge affect my research in Ireland? To start with, let’s see what I have accomplished so far.

Before I began thinking about the movement of people within Ireland, I was concentrating all my efforts in Ulster and adjoinng counties for reasons that I discussed in  my post of August 13, 2018, I noted how I used Dr. Tyrone Bowes’ surname distribution map, Griffith’sValuation and the 1911 Irish Census to place Carney and cohort families in the Irish counties of Leitrim  and Fermanagh. I was now ready to look more widely at Irish counties.

I was scouring the internet for Irish genealogical sources during the early days of the Coronavirus Pandemic, when I came across the National Archives of Ireland (NAI.)

CC BY 3.0, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23958509) 

  Because the building was closed to the public due to the virus, the Archives was offering a special opportunity:  researchers could send them an inquiry for free (as of my checking on the site on September 11, 2020, the Archives is now open on a limited basis.) I was so excited. This was a chance to canvas all the counties of Ireland. I submitted a list of individuals that had immigrated from Ireland and ended up in Chicago by the mid-1800s who were associated with my great, great grandparents, John Carney/Kearney and Mary Duffy.

Some weeks later, I was excited to hear back from the NAI with this information:

Civil marriage record from www.rootsireland.ie , found by NAI, April 2020.

This one record contains so much new information. In addition to identifying a couple of the same names and similar ages to my great great grandparents, the record presents a whole new county to research -- Sligo. I will take up the analysis of this new information in my next post. 

Map of the Baronies of Ireland in 1846. 
Source data: Ordnance Survey of Ireland: Baronies 2011 
(OSI), author: XrysD, 21 July 2018.

As tantalizing as it is to think this couple from Sligo are my ancestors, as every genealogist knows, this could be just a coincidence. In the response to my inquiry, NAI staffer suggested that:

 “We should not jump to conclusions that this is definitely your ancestors but rather should seek to prove or disprove this record.”

A second suggestion from the NAI was to look at US records. Oh, how hard I have tried to find some! I will discuss what US sources I have rigorously studied over the past twenty years in my next post as well.

In conclusion, Americans who study their Irish roots often encounter source material focused on the Great Famine of 1845-1849 and its effect on immigration to America. But if you wish to investigate where your Irish ancestors came from in the centuries before and up to the Famine, you need to focus on internal migration in Ireland over the centuries.

¹https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/immigration/irish/irish-catholic-immigration-to-america/#:~:text=Between%201820%20and%201860%2C%20the,all%20immigrants%20to%20this%20nation.

²Young, Arthur, 1741-1820, John Parker Anderson, and Arthur Wollaston Hutton. Arthur Young's Tour In Ireland (1776-1779). London: G. Bell & Sons, 1892. Vol. 2, p. 119.