In honor of St. Patricks Day - Our Irish Heritage

Every year on this day I am forced to remind my children that they are indeed Irish although they don't look it.  And here is the proof....

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.

Winnie was born in Galway, one of the eight children of Mary Ryan and Thomas Cooney.   Thomas & Mary were wed in Limerick, Ireland on May 26, 1867.  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.  My 2nd great grandmother, Mary Ryan Cooney, was baptized on July 11,1841 in Ballinakill, Galway Co., Ireland the daughter of  John and Mary (Salman) Ryan.

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.