A Growing Family

I thought my Irish ancestors would want their story told. Apparently not. They have been difficult from the start and the reason I was forced to leave them and research other ancestral lines. I'm not one to give up, so I'm back channeling my paternal grandmother's side, Patrick and Maggie Doyle. They had two daughters: Mary b: 1899, who we called "Nana", and Winifred b: 1903, which I found out later was "Nanny." This weekend I went the DNA route and contacted a second cousin once removed. He wrote right back and gave me his mother's email. His mother is Winifred's granddaughter. I couldn't believe my luck! Finally. I carefully composed an email to his mother not expecting a response. She did respond a couple hours later. My heartbeat quickened until I read her note. Neither she, nor her siblings, knew anything about their grandmother. In fact, they thought their grandmother, Winifred (Doyle) Farley was an only child. We went back and forth all Sunday morning as I shared information and photos of the Doyles and the two sisters, Mary and Winifred. What a wonderful feeling to share my research with new relatives who had no idea they had more family. I hope they feel the same.

James Farley was born 1901. He arrived in Portland, Maine in 1923, and then made his way to Bronx, New York where he met Winifred and they married in 1930. James was born in County Longford, Ireland, which is adjacent to Roscommon and Mayo, the area from where I believe the Doyles were from.

Irish Ancestors - Patrick and Margaret (Conlon) Doyle

I've broken down two brick walls over the last week. I found the death certificates for my greatgrandparents, Patrick and Margaret (Maggie) Doyle. Identifying their exact birth and death dates had been frustrating for me over the years, but now those records are digitized. Patrick Doyle was born 17 May 1858 in Ireland. He died 31 May 1924 at 1948 Cruger Avenue, Bronx, New York. I know this is "my" Patrick, because my grandparents, my father and his siblings lived at that address. It gives his occupation as a Street Cleaner, which I knew. What I didn't know was his parents names, John and Mary Doyle. Margaret (Conlon) Doyle was born abt 1867 (no exact date), and died 1 January 1928 at 1948 Cruger Street, Bronx, New York. What I didn't know were her parents Michael and Catherine Conlon. The executor is listed as Mary Nunn (incorrectly listed as Neenn), who is my grandmother. When I found these folks I jumped up and did a happy dance. But these documents did not tell me where they were from in Ireland. Information I want to learn before I attend the Irish SIG hosted by the Manatee Genealogical Society on December 12. This new SIG is being offered due to the generousity of Irish genealogy expert Donna Moughty. Through the census years I had documented the "cousins" who had lived with the Doyles. One set of "cousins" were the Gormley brothers. I had researched them at an earlier date and found they emigrated from Ballinclee, Ireland. Maggie Doyle had Conlon cousins that I knew about, in fact I met two of them when I was small, but so far have not been able to find documentation of the relationship to Maggie. Those cousins weren't helpful because they were all born in the U.S. I remembered I had noted a woman, Margaret Hoey, who lived with my grandparents in the 1930 census. I searched Margaret Hoey in the Ancestry database and Bam! She was really easy to find. The immigration database showed her birth date as 13 Sepetember 1908, her birthplace Ballinclee, Co, Longford, Cobh, Ireland. She arrived in New York on 29 March 1926. Then the cincher: Her parents were listed as Ernest Hoey and Catherine (Conlon) Hoey. Could Margaret's mother be Maggie's sister, named for their mother? I will have to make a trip over to the Godfrey Library and use their International Ancestry subscription to work on that angle. She listed the person in the U.S. as John Conlon, but she stayed with the Nunn family (my grandparents) at 1948 Cruger Avenue, Bronx, New York. Margaret Hoey married Michael Lennon, of County Monaghan, Ireland. They lived at 1807 Archer St. Bronx, New York. With this research, I'm pretty certain my Patrick and Maggie Doyle were from the Ballinclee area of Ireland.

Winnie Doyle and James Farley

My father's side, the Nunns and Doyles, have been difficult to research, and my grandmother's sister, Winifred Doyle has been lost to me. My recent 23 and Me DNA test put me in touch with one of Winifred's descendants. Yay!!! Winnie Doyle married James Farley, and with this information I still had trouble placing them until their descendant told me they went back to Ireland for a time. I've sent my second cousin photos of Patrick and Maggie Doyle and a photo I hope has her great-grandparents, Winnie and James. It is a great photo (showned above) as it also shows my grandparents, Mary Agnes (Doyle) Nunn, Harry Nunn and Maggie Doyle. I'm waiting for confirmation that the couple on the right is Winnie and James. I have messages out to some other "cousins," though none are a very close match. And I also have more names to work on. Genealogy is never-ending, and that's what we love about it.