Michael Foley and Julia Barry from County Cork

Dear Kathleen:

Many thanks for your post to the Ireland Reaching Out message board.  I have forwarded this post to a volunteer in Cork who may be able to assist you with the location in Cork that your Foleys and Barrys came from.  

Kind regards,

Jane

Hi Kathleen,

Jane asked me to try to help you with your query and I will be happy to do so if I can.

I have had a prelimenary look on line and found there are at least two family trees on Ancestry.Com for Michael & Julia. I dont know if you are aware of them or not or if you have access to Ancestry.Com. If you do have access, I will send you the URL of the Family Trees and hopefully you will be able to access them.

I have also had a look at some of the suggested locations of their home areas in County Cork but so far have not found anything conclusive in them. It appears that the two family names rarely occur together in the same area in the relevant period but I will continue to look at any alternatives and let you know as and when I find anything.

If you are replying to this post with any further information or query, I would be obliged if you would also email it tio me at my personal address: frankfahy054@gmail.com  but please continue to post it here as well in case any other volunteer or other person might have a suggestion that might help. I check my email several times every day and find it better and more efficient to respond to immediatly rather than when I visit IrelandXO and go through several notices and possibly defer answering until I have more time or information to pass on.

Good to hear from you Kathleen and I hope I can help.

Frank Fahy

Sorry for second posting but when you are in Ireland and near Skibbereen, I would be happy to meet you to help if I can in any way.

Frank Fahy

Frank,

Thanks so much for following up on my question!

I am on Ancestry and one of the trees is mine (ClarkinFoley). I was recently in contact with the owner of the other tree who lives within 15 miles of me. When I asked her about her having Michael Foley born in Killarney on 15 Dec 1817 (Schott-Wolf-Foley-Baker), she said that was only a guess. With that said, family lore is not always correct so perhaps what their son/grandson Bartholomew said about them being born in County Cork was inaccurate.

Just yesterday, I was at the Minnesota Genealogy Center and poked around FindMyPast. I was looking for a Michael Foley, born in Cork about 1818 with a father named John, since that is the name of their oldest son. There were 2 that seemed the most promising because not only did they have birthdates in the range shown on the headstone but had a father named John and a mother named Margaret (although, by traditional naming conventions, Margaret may be Julia's mother's name).  These 2 were:

- Michael Foley, baptized 29 January 1818, living in Enniskeane. Parents John Foley and Margaret Holahan. This seems the most likely because of the 1818 birth year.

- Michael Foley, baptized 16 April 1820, residing in N R in Clonakilty parish. Parents John Foley and Margaret Collins

I did no lookups on a Julia Barry, born about 1828 nor a marriage of John and Julia in about 1846. 

Our family will be staying in Dingle for a week but they they fly off to Italy and Spain while my husband, Patrick Foley and I will tool around Ireland visiting locations of our heritage particularly Tydavnet for my Clarkin/Clerkin line, Annascaul for my Shea line, and hopefully somewhere else for the Foley line! Hoping we can get down to Skibbereen as we have been there once before and it is gorgeous!

Thanks!

Kathleen 

Thanks for whatever help you can give.

I have come across some records in Ancestry that may pertain to my Michael Foley and Julia Barry. I would love your opinion and perhaps insight since I do not have a FindMyPast nor RootsIreland subscription.

There is a Julia Barry, born 2 Jul 1828 to John Barry and Margaret Murphy of Newmarket, Cork. The birthdate corresponds to the 1880 US census where Julia stated she was born in July 1828 in Ireland.  Her mother's name, Margaret, corresponds to her first daughter's name.

I did a search on Griffith's and found 4 John Barrys in the Clonfert parish. I also found 6 John Foleys in the Clonfert parish.

Where should I search for a possible marriage in the Newmarket/Clonfert area? 

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Kathleen

Hi Kathleen,

Thanks for your email. Sorry for delay in reply but I was away this weekend until this evening, Since then, I have been looking at the most helpful and reliable programs I use in my genealogy on a regular basis, irishgenealogy.ie and ancestry.co.uk and ancestry.com. Unfortunately, although I searched in Church records and Civil records in irishgenealogy.ie  I could not find a marriage for a Michael Foley and Julia Barry anywhere in the Country let alone Cork County between the years 1845 - 1870. The reason I used this time span is that Julia . if born in 1828, would only have reached the "minimum" age for marriage  in 1845 and also to be able to search the Civil Records of the whole country for the first five years of their existence from 1865 -1870 .

If you wish to try searching Church records in irishgenealogy.ie , I must warn you that in my experience, the Diocese of Clones which is the Diocese where Newmarket and the Parish of Clonfert are located, is probably the area with the least Church Records information available on this website but you may have better luck than me. The Civil Records available on this website are excellent but again are only available from 1865. A really good website and totally free.

I will continue to search for Michael & Julia but so far it seems a record of their marriage is not available. Again, If you should get down to Skibbereen area, I would be happy to help you and your husband with any queries you may have about the area which I know exceptionally well having lived here all my life and serving as a senior Fire Officer in the area for many years.

Frank Fahy

My apologies to Kathleen and any other readers of thei post, I inadvertantly typed in the name Clones when of course it should have read Diocese of Cloyne.

Frank Fahy

Foleys from Cork/Kanturk.

I don’t know if this is relevant to the Foley enquires already posted. I do have a record of a Daniel Barry marrying an Honoria Foley. Honoria is my grandfather’s sister.

My grandfather John Foley emigrated from Ireland to New Zealand in about 1878. He was baptised according to the Parish Baptism transcription on 11.5.1856. His residence, B Moore (presumably Bawn More-alternative parish names Cooleavota, Kanturk and Cooleavota, Diocese Cloyne.

Parents. Patrick Foley and Honoria Swiney (Sweeny/McSweeny/ or similar.

I have traced my grandfather’s birth records as a son of Patrick and Honoria. He had siblings-Daniel, Margaret, Mary, and Honoria commissioned a gravestone to her parents in the Newmarket cemetery and I have used this information as a  basis for my consequent research along with some entries  in my grandfather’s diaries.

The Townlands of  Bawnmore,  Kippagh, (mentioned in my grandfather’s diaries) and Castlekevin are relevant. I have at least nine entries of Patrick Foley as a tenant in either Bawn More North or South and a record of his death at Castlekevin. John Foley’s farm in New Zealand was called Bawn More and his diaries note the townland of Kippagh. I cant find any records of him at Kippagh

I would like to find Patrick Foley’s marriage details. He married an Honoria Sweeney/Swiney or similar and died in 1894 while residing in Castlekevin.

I would find to find more about Daniel, Margaret and Mary Foley. Mary it seems stayed in Ireland,Honoria married my granduncle Daniel Barry, and the other two may have emigrated to the States.

Long time no post but I think I may have found something and would love your expert opinions:

Summary of above:

My Michael Foley (born about 1818 reportedly in County Cork) married Julia Barry (born about 1828 reportedly in County Cork). In 1850 they appear in Fishkill, Duchess County, NY before eventually moving to Illinois.

I want to find out where they are from in Ireland.

1. Oldest son is John. Oldest daughter is Margaret. 2nd son is Michael.

2. Working on the assumption that Michael's father was John and Julia's mother was Margaret, I started looking in Griffith's for Clonfert parish for all the John Foley's and compared their townlands. I found 2 John Foley's in Duhallow 1, Kanturk, Commons South. One lived on position 39.

3. Looking at the Johanna (I believe Julia can be a nickname for Johanna), Michael and John Barry's, I find a Johanna owning several parcels in Commons South including parcel 43...a hop, skip and jump from John Foley in #2 above. I also found several records for a Michael Barry and John Barry. 

4. A John Barry and Margaret Murphy had a daughter Julia baptized in Newmarket (just down the road) on 2 Jul 1828. This corresponds to my Julia's birth year of 1828 on US census documents.

5. My hypothesis after reviewing all the documents is this. Let me know what you think:

Johanna Barry (Commons South, parcel 43) is a widow and grandmother of my Julia. Johanna and her deceased husband had a son John who married Margaret Murphy. John and Margaret had a daughter Julia, born 1828. Julia met her grandmother's neighbor John Foley (Commons South, parcel 39). Julia marries John's son, Michael Foley! Ta, da.

An afternote: There is a marriage record for a Michael Foley and Joha Barry dated 10 Nov 1846 at St. Finbar's, Cork City. My next hypothesis is to see if I can find any emigration records for this couple since they were in Fishkill, NY by 1848 when their oldest (known) child, son John, was born.  They may have traveled to Cork and married before emigrating. I also will check for marriage records in Newmarket.

Many thanks for reading through this long post!! Ireland XO has been so very helpful to me in solving puzzles with all my other Irish branches.

Back again at my Foley/Barry family. We will be in the area in November 2024 and we would love to see the general area where the family came from.

I believe Foley (John) was from Carrigaline parish, Moneygurney townland, lot 7a on the 1852 Griffith's. 

I believe Barry (John) was from 4K away in Liscleary parish, Meadstown townland, lot 16 on 1850 Griffith's. This is very nearby a Roger McGrath who married Julia's sister.

I'm wondering if there is a volunteer in the area who could meet us to show the general area. We don't need anything exact - highly unlikely there is anything there from Michael/Julia's marriage in 1846 and 1847 emigration to New York.

Thanks! Kathleen (kathleen_foley@hotmail.com)