My ggreat grandfather was Jeremiah McCarthy, born about Feb. 12, 1836 to a John McCarthy and Mary Hayes in Skull. He had a brother Daniel William McCarthy, born about May 1846. Both Jeremiah and Daniel came to the USA together through New York about June 22, 1854. Jeremiah's Baptismal sponsors were Mary Daly and Timothy Driscoll, baptised on January 16,1838 by Father Barry, CC. Fortunetly I was able to see my ggrandfather's Baptismal record when I came to Skull in October, 2010 at St. Mary's Church. I don't know if they had any other brothers or sisters.
After about 15 years of research and before my last trip to Ireland in 2010, I found a John McCarthy listed in Griffith's Valuation with a Timothy Driscoll (the name of Jeremiah's sponsor) in the townland of Glan. It is from this record I am supposing this could be my gggrandfather. However, after searching the old graveyard and talking to many people in town, I could find nothing about my family in just a few short days. I spoke with an elderly lady named Mary McCarthy who lives on the Glan road. She had no children and she couldn't remember her husband's parents name. After I returned home, I sent her a letter and I received a letter back from a relative of her's saying she was not in good health anymore. You can't imagine how gratefully I am to her relative for taking the time to send this letter to me. As it turns out, her husband's family and mine don't appear to be related.
My ggrandfather Jeremiah settled in Boston, Massachusetts and married a Catherine Hickey in 1864. They had 5 children; Mary Ellen, born 1866, Margaret A. born 1867, Julia F. 1869, Catherine T, born 1872 and John William born 1874. Catherine in my grandmother.
Daniel William, Jeremiah's brother, married a Honora Barry in Massachusetts in 1864, had 1 daughter Mary, then moved to San Francisco, California about 1869. They had 2 more daughters, Martha and Marcella.
It is with great hope, through this wonderful program, someone will recognize my family and I will be able to return to Skull and see their graves and where they lived. Many thanks for any help you can give me.
Jane Maloney Heffernan
Jane Maloney Heffernan
Monday 23rd Jan 2012, 08:44PMMessage Board Replies
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Hi Jane,
Thank you very much for sending your query to Ireland Reaching Out.
Wow you really conducted quite and exhaustive search in Skull when you were there. You checked all the right records. Hopefully we can help find more information with the help of the local community in Glan. Was there another church nearby the townland of Glan? Try contacting the County Library or Heritage Office in Cork to see if graveyard inscription shave been carried out in the vicinity. There might be a much older graveyard which is no longer used in the area. This could have been overlooked.
Best of luck in your research and keep in touch.
Kind regards,
Sinead Cooney
Tuesday 21st Feb 2012, 04:36PM