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My grandmother was Mary Catherine Falvey who grew up in the charming small town of Winamac, Indiana. She was descended from immigrants Mark Daniel Falvey, born1827 County Kerry, I now think might have been on the Dingle Peninsula, possibly Tralee. No hard proof. His parents also emigrated from Kerry, Jeremiah Falvey born 1786, and wife nee Mary Ahern born 1790. Mark D. and Jeremiah are buried (along with 25 other Falveys) in the St. Peter's Catholic Cemetery in Winamac, Indiana,  a church which Mark supposedly started in his living room in the 1850's.Mark's brother Patrick J. Falvey born 1840 also took the boat and went to wild west Kansas where he had a harder time of it.  Their graves as well as my great-grandfather's, James M. Falvey, a Notre Dame graduate, b. IN,  and railroad stationmaster in Winamac,  are all on Find a Grave. However I do not know exactly where in Kerry most of these ancestors were born, or definitively who their parents were. Mary's parents are listed in an onliine family tree  as Cornelius Ahearn and Nora McCarthy, no place or dates, so estimated birth might be1785 or so. I do not know where she died and is buried and it might be in Ireland. . Any tips on researching them, also a Mary Sullivan I posted as an ancestor born 1795, greatly appreciated. I read Donnie O'Sullivan's comments and will try out those. About 150 Falvey cousins over here mainly in Florida and Indiana follow all this! I am retired and can doggedly pursue leads.Thanks.

April in Virginia 

April Brown

Thursday 24th Mar 2022, 02:43AM

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  • April:

    Co. Kerry church records are available on the free site www.irishgenealogy.ie  I searched that site and I did not locate any baptismal records for children of Jeremiah Falvey and Mary Ahern. I also did not find a marriage record. Likely these events occurred in an RC parish that does not have records back to 1840 and earlier and there are a number of RC parishes in Kerry that do not have early records.

    I also looked at the Griffiths Valuation records from 1852 and the surname Falvey is all over the county. Many in the south of Kerry.

    I think you can safely rule out the RC parishes of Tralee and Killarney since both parishes have records back to the late 1700s.

    Have you considerd DNA testing? You may get matches on this line and the match(es) may have more info on the origins of the family in Kerry.

    Roger McDonnell

    Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Thursday 24th Mar 2022, 02:26PM
  • I have a great grand aunt Mary Frances Connor/O'Connor b.1886(?)  who married a Falvey in the Bronx in 1941. Not sure if that is correct because an Ancestry.com hint has Maria Connor born and baptized in Kerry in 1867 which would make more sense, in line with my great grandmother's birth info. Nonetheless, in the obituary of my great grand uncle James 0'Connor in 1941 among his surviving sisters was Mary Frances Falvey. Would like to get more information on the O'CONNOR/Falvey connection.

     

     

    GalwayKerryDublin

    Monday 2nd May 2022, 11:42AM

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