Sweeney, Fintona, Tyrone

Ellen,

I can see the birth of Anne Sweeney in Fintona on 16.7.1864 in the statutory records, on the irishgenealogy site. Father’s address at the time of the birth was the “United States”.

Statutory birth registration only started in Ireland in 1864 so if Mary was born before that you won’t get a birth certificate. You need to rely on church records. Fintona is in Donacavey RC parish. Their births and marriage records start in 1857.

I see a likely marriage for John Sweeney and Mary MacOsker in Donaghcavey on 26.10.1857. His parents were Alexander Sweeney and Mary McKenna. Difficult to make out the bride’s parents names.

I looked for Mary’s baptism 1857 to 1863 but did not see it in the church records on Ancestry. It’s possible that it’s there but not legible. Certainly many of the entries in that series of records are very hard to make out. You might want to search them yourself. The RC parish records are on-line free on the National Library site. You might want to go through them:

https://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx

Elwyn,

Thank you, I do have the marriage record forJohn and Mary McCusker (MacOscar). I have searched the irish geneaolgy site and the NIL site forAnne's birth information but cannot find it. Can you possibly sned me a link to that record ? I don't know why it would show John's address as United States. I have also looked for Mary's birth record at the NIL site and Irish Geneaolgy site's church records without luck.

At some point, Mary emigrated to New York and married John Keenan, who was also from Fintona. I don not know if they married in Ireland or New York, as I have not been able to locate marriage records either.

Thank you for your help.

Ellen

Ellen,

Here’s a link to Anne’s birth:

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1864/03606/2330185.pdf

The birth was registered by Anne’s mother, so the information on the certificate came from her. So she appears to have told the Registrar that her husband was in the United States. Have you checked to see if he appears on any passenger lists around that time?

I looked for a Keenan – McCusker marriage 1875 – 1895 but did not see it in Ireland.

Elwyn,

Thank you ! And thank you for looking for the marriage, but it would have been Keenan & Sweeney, Mary's last name, not her mother's maiden name.

I will look for John Sweeney in passenger lists and perhaps in NY city records.

Warm regards,

Ellen

Ellen,

Quite right about the surname. My mistake. I checked again with Sweeeny. I couldn't find it in Ireland.