Our Irish ancestry - Happy St Patricks Day

My Great Grandmother, Winifred Cooney Cox (1868-1956)

In the year of 1891, 23 year old, Winnie left her Irish homeland and family to come to America. She met her future husband, an Englishman, aboard the ship that brought the couple across the Atlantic.  Winnie & John Cox settled in New Rochelle NY where they raised two daughters, Margaret (Flo) Cox Hennessy and Mary (Mae) Cox Schoenherr.

Kilkishen Church built in 1811

Winifred Cooney was born in Ballinabrone, County Clare, the oldest of nine children born to Mary Ryan and Thomas Cooney.  Winifred was baptized in O'Callaghan Mills in the Catholic church on April 11, 1868.  Her sponsors are listed as Daniel Cooney and Anne Ryan.

Headstone of Tommy Cooney,
nephew of Winifred Cooney

Winnie's parents, Thomas Cooney and  Mary (Ryan) Cooney were wed in Limerick, Ireland on May 26, 1867.  Possible census records show the family living in East Clare and then Killuran in 1900 and 1910 with Thomas, a widower by then, working as a farmer.  I have recently learned that Thomas' son Patrick Cooney inherited the family farm and house in Ballinabrone.  My 2nd great grandmother, Mary Ryan Cooney, was born in 1841.  Her family was from Clonneyconroy, about 10 miles from Ballinabrone.

My Great Grandfather, Patrick J. Hennessy (1874- )

On January 11, 1894, 19 year old Patrick emigrated to America from his home in Conahy, Killkenny Ireland.  Patrick was born in Kilkenny, the son of Patrick Hennessy (b.1839) and Catherine (Brennan) Hennessy (b.1845).

Patrick (b.1874) married Mary J. Archer in approximately 1895.  They settled initially in Brooklyn NY moving to New Rochelle in 1901 where they raised their four sons until Mary passed away from Meningitis in 1905.

My Great Grandmother,  Mary Archer Hennessy (1867-1905)

Mary Archer is believed to have been born in 1867 the daughter of Richard Archer & Sarah (Andrew) Galloway Archer.  The family may have been from Ballymena in Northern Ireland and emigrated to the United States in the 1875.