The Kerr Conboy Bellanca
Fingleton Barone, et al Family Tree
Kerr Conboy Bellanca Fingleton Barone Family Tree
Conboy Fingleton Mountain Cauty Clarke Doyle Dowling Kerrigan Kerr Magee
I started with what I knew from a few sources: Uncle Joe Kerr's videotaped family history, the documents my dad had obtained, the Fingleton research I had obtained, my grandmother's prayer book showing two addresses for her in Liverpool, and of course my personal knowledge of the family names.
When i started, the UK Census data was available online from 1841 to 1901 (now 1911 is available too). There were also some birth, marriage and death records available. Later more and more Catholic parish records were made available. Likewise the US censuses for 1860-1920 proved helpful. The 1880 US and 1881 UK Censuses are free to search, and here are other ways to get around racking up extraordinary costs. I also found various published family trees of use and received information and search suggestions from people literally from 7 or 8 countries.
Peter Conboy is my earliest known paternal ancestor having been born in 1811 in County Leitrim, Ireland. After chasing a couple false leads, this year I became certain the Conboys were from Leitrim. The 1911 UK Census went online and I found that for the first time the native Counties of two of Peter's children (mary and Catharine) were listed as Leitrim. This renewed my interest in finding out more about the Conboy's origins. I struck gold. The first record I could find for Peter is a baptismal record for a son born Kankeel (or Cankeel) townland in 1849 and baptized at Annaduff Roman Catholic Parish (which was also the civic parish). The son's name is recorded as John but I think he was really known as James. Either the priest wrote down the wrong name or the son was known by a different name, perhaps because he had an older brother already named John. It is really amazing this record even exists since 1849 is the first year that parish's baptism records are available. I know I have the right family because the mother's maiden name is listed as Bridget Clarke- the same maiden name listed on a later child's baptismal record in Liverpool. The 1861 UK Census has Peter and Bridget living in Liverpool with children Mary Teresa, Catharine, Michael, John, James, Thomas and Joseph. James is the last born in Ireland (about 1849) and the latter two were born in Liverpool. This fits perfectly with the dates of emigration associated with the Potato Famine around 1850.
Cankeel/Kankeel is a tiny little place (3-5 farms) close to the Shannon River, where it runs along the border between County Leitrim and County Roscommon. Conboy has always been much more common of a name in this part of Ireland than any other. I do not think Peter was raised in Kankeel/Cankeel. Given his later employment on the docks of Liverpool, I suspect he may have supplemented his income from his smalll farm (average size 3-5 acres) with work on the Shannon River, especially since the area farms were hit hard by the famine. Another reason I don't think he was from Kankeel was my discovery of his 90% for sure sister. The researcher who provided me the baptismal certificates for the Conboys' sons born in Liverpool noted that all four godparents were named McHugh. She said this highly suggests a family link to the Conboys or Clarkes. I found a family of McHughs listed on the 1851 UK Census living in the neighborhood where the Conboys moved to shortly thereafter, The mother and one son were named Elizabeth and Patrick, matching the first set of godparents perfectly. The father and daughter named James and Bridget matched the second set perfectly. These McHughs disappeared from the UK Census after 1851 and I could find no records of deaths. I decided to look for the eldest son, Felix, because his named seemed the most unusual. Sure enough, I found him on a published family tree of a McHugh family living in Illinois as of the late 1850s. His other family members were there too and his mother's maiden name was listed as Elizabeth Conboy from Leitrim. I found the marriage record of james McHugh and Elizabeth Conboy in Fenagh RC parish in Leitrim as well as the baptismal certificate of one of their children. Since the tradition was to marry at the bride's home parish, I believe Peter was from Fenagh Parish like Elizabeth, his presumed sister. I am still looking for a link to other Conboys from Fenagh parish, including a Thomas who married Sicily (Cecelia?) McHugh and an Anne who married Peter Murray.
I have had less success finding anything about Bridget Clarke Conboy. She was born in 1819, so she would have been only 19 or so when she married. Her first child, Mary Teresa, was born in 1839. There were not a lot of Clakes in Annaduff parish though it is quite a common name in Ireland. I found a Griffiths valuation 1850s record of a John B Clarke who had land at Drumnsa-the nearby town on the Shannon and some kind of government position in that area. This John was the only Clarke in the Griffiths for Annaduff parish, making him a likely relative if that indeed was where Bridget was from. John B Clarke also appears in the 1852 Thom's Irish Almanac and Directory as the clerk and returning officer for the Carrick-on-Shannon Poor Union Workhouse.If there were Johns in both family trees, would this explain naming two sons John Conboy? Curiously there was a widowed boarder named Bridget Clarke (b 1807 in Ireland)and her daughter Mary (b 1844 in Liverpool) living with the Peter and Bridget Conboy family in Liverpool per the 1861 UK Census. I wonder if she was Bridget's sisterinlaw--if so, she would have come to Liverpool before the McHughs and Conboys based on her daughter's listed birthplace.
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Kerr Conboy Bellanca Fingleton Barone Family Tree
