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Trying to sort my great grandfather's roots with only a few pieces of the puzzle.  His headstone and death certificate indicate he was born in 1870 in County Cork, but no further detail as to where.  It is noteworthy that his son in law, buried in the same grave and listed on the same headstone, specifies he was born in Queenstown. U.S. census provides consistent information with his age, and indicates he came in the US in 1885 give or take a year.  Randomly in the 1910 census, John O'Leary suddently appears as his widowed father who is supposedly naturalized in the US.  Unfortunately his age is not provided.

Before her death, my mother wrote a note that Arthur's middle name was Bartholomew (gravestone only has "B"), and that he had six older brothers.  Given my research has found Arthur was not a very common name in Cork, it seems to make sense he had older brothers who took the more commmon first names.

The only Arthur I have been able to find in Cork with a father of John, son of Jane Crispie in Clonakilty.  However, it does not appear that John and Jane had six other sons.

Any help or suggestions would be most appreciated!

My best,

Ted Cordery

Ted Cordery

Saturday 4th Jun 2022, 12:51AM

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  • Ted:

    Actually, Arthur O'Leary/Leary was fairly common in Co. Cork. You may be aware of this but to search for Co. Cork church records, you have to visit two different sites. The free site www.irishgenealogy.ie has the records for parishes in the Diocese of Cork and Ross. For parishes in the Diocese of Cloyne you have to access a subscription site like Roots Ireland. There are also six Co. Cork parishes which are actually in the Diocese of Kerry and those records can be found on the free site www.irishgenealogy.ie but you have to search in Co. Kerry.

    I located three other Arthur O'Leary/Leary baptismal records with father John in 1859 1862 and 1863 in addition to the 1868 record you lcoated. None of the three Arthurs had six older brothers.

    One other comment, I did locate two 1867 baptismal records for Arthur O'Leary in Cobh (Queenstown) RC parish. The father was not John but the records were in Cobh.

    Have you considered DNA testing? Possibly you will locate a 3rd cousin who might have more info on the family.

    Roger McDonnell

    Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Saturday 4th Jun 2022, 01:38PM
  • Thanks Roger.  I've explored Irish Genealogy, but have to follow up on that Kerry tip.  I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and sign up for Roots Ireland.  I am an Ancestry member and have done my DNA testing thru Ancestry and uploaded to GEDCOM and FTDNA.  I will be the first to acknowledge the magic of DNA is Greek to me, but have not had any success going through my matches.

    I greatly appreciate the time and effort!!

    Thank you!!

    Ted Cordery

    Saturday 4th Jun 2022, 08:39PM

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