Searching for ancestors of Downey

Colleen:

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

We have a parish liaison for Churchtown parish and I will alert her to your message.

Roger McDonnell

Hi Colleen,

Unfortunately the churchrecords for Churchtown do not start till well after 1810 and some books are missing between 1820 and 1850, so no record for Bartholomew available

The first Downey registration was for the baptism of a Marcus Downey in 1812 son of William Downey and  Bridget Jones from Churchtown

In total there were 11 Downeys born in Churchtown between 1812 and 1906

I do know that the last Downey person died a few years ago in Churchtown

I found the family, Bartolomew, his wife Margaret and children Mary, Owen, John and Mary among the Peter Robinson settlers arriving 1st of July 1825 in Quebec and proceeding on th steamship the ''Quebec'' on the 2e July, the Peter Robinson settlers were selected by the landlords at the time and had to be of good behavior and healthy to be chosen to move to Canada.

Kind regards,

Anne Marie

Thank you so much for the information.  So with your statement that the last Downey died a few years ago in Churchtown, does that mean that I would not have any relatives there?

Hi Colleen, 

Bartholomew Downey is an ancestor of mine.  I would love to discover the connection!

Sue M

This is my 5th great grandfather he and his family were the original Downey settlers in Canada and the main branch of most Downeys here today. If you search Downeyville Ontario Canada you will find the exact location where he and his family settled in 1825 original named Downey's Cross as they were one of the very first families in general to settle in the area is now still named Downeyville. I'm unsure if any of the 100 acres granted to Bartholomew still belong to the Downey family. I know that he donated portions of his land for a church/cemetery which are still there today and also for a post office which is now a convenience store. There were Downeys still farming on a portion of the land as of 5 years ago.

Ancestry has suggested that Bartholomew's parents were Bartholomew Downey (abt 1770) and Mary Sullivan (abt 1770) and grandparents were James (Jas) Downey abt 1730 and Mary McCarthy. I can not find many records on any of these and am unsure if they are actually his parents/grandparents.

Thanks, M. Downey.  My grandmother was a Callahan and a descendant of Bat Downey.  She was raised on a farm very close to Downeyville, one that we visited frequently when I was a child.  I’d be interested in exploring our connection bit am not sure of the best way to do that.  

M.Downey, I am researching Bartholomew Downey and Mary Sullivan. That is my great grandfather s parents. If you could email me.  newyork2977@yahoo.com. Thanks.