Wondering if there are Foleys and Miskells that I am related to still in Co. Wexford?

Karen:

The online Irish phonebook (land line phones only) has many Foley records but none in Clongeen. No Mescella/Miscella records.

Going back to the 1911 census, there was only one Foley household in Clongeen. Henry Foley and his  sister Margret were the only Foleys in the townland. Presumably they died unmarried.  

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Wexford/Clongeen/Clong…

The 1853 Griffiths Valuation head of household listing for Clongeen parish shows your Michael plus a Henry Foley who likely was a relative and possibly connected to the Henry and Margret in the 1911 census.

https://www.failteromhat.com/griffiths/wexford/clongeen.htm

Have you considered DNA testing? Possibly you may get matches to Foley/Mescella connections.

Roger McDonnell

Good Morning Karen,  My name is Patricia Foley and I'm responding to your post.  While I can't answer your question of any Foley's now living in Clongeen (population is between 200-300) I am curious to see if we are somehow related.  I do see Henry (which I believe is my great-great-grand father) and Michael in the Griffiths Valuation.  I also find Henry in Clongeen (no Michael) in the Annals of the Famine in Ireland 1847, 1848 & 1849; perhaps they were brothers or cousins.  Henry married Elizabeth Crosby/Crosbie in 1853; they had 5 children (4 boys and 1 girl).  Their one son Laurence/Lawrence was born 1857 and came to the U.S.A. approx. 1880.  I have not found a passenger manifest on Lawrence but because he lived in Detroit, Michigan, there's a possibility he arrived in Canada and lated traveled to Detroit.  He had a brother, William that later moved to the U.S.A.  There were two (2) other brothers, Henry and James that I cannot locate.  I see that Roger McDonnell asked about DNA testing.  I have had my done under Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) and Ancestry and further downloaded to GedMatch.  If I can be of further help, please let me know.

                                                                 Pat

Hello Patricia,

I am sorry for the late response to your message - I didn't see it til now. But I am excited to think we might be related! I have done my DNA testing via Ancestry and joined the GED website but have no idea how to work it.

I will have to go back to my notes on my Clongeen connections. Michael Foley is my great-great grandfather and he and his wife Catherine (Miskell) had their first children baptised in Clongeen parish church (St. Aidens I think) and then their remaining children in Gananoque, Ontario, Canada where they are buried in the Catholic Cemetery. Their daughter (also Catherine) married my great grandfather John William Lee, son of Daniel Lee and Anna Sullivan, in Gananoque and are also buried in the same Catholic cemetery as Catherine's parents (it's a small Canadian town of about 5,000). I don't know where John Williiam Lee or his parents are from in Ireland, only that he was born there and came over to Canada, likely with his brother, who must have died in Canada, as John was living with a widow and 2 children (all Lee) near Gananoque before he married Catherine, my great grandmother. Unfortunately I have no pictures of them - only one of a sister of Catherine. So John Lee and Catherine Foley were my father's grandparents.

I did note that Michael's land rentals in Clongeen were somehow shared with Henry Foley so I did assume Henry was his brother or cousin.

Again, thrilled to think we might be related! I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

All the best, Karen