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I believe that William Hickey b 1819 in Whitegate (RC parish of Aghada? civil parish of Corkbeg or Aghada?) might be the brother of my ancestor James Hickey, b. Ireland 1805-1820, county unknown.

About James I know (with varying degrees of certainty):

James Hickey had boats on the Shannon with his brother William. His youngest daughter said, in old age, "the Hickeys were from Cork." She also remembered hearing place names in Galway that turn out to be far from the townland in Galway where her mother's brother (and presumably her mother) was from. Darby Tuohy was from Rossmore on Lough Derg, which fits with his brother-in-law's occupation of boats on the Shannon. I have DNA matches with that area on the East Glaway/East Clare border as well.

Both James and his brother William married in Ireland and had daughters named Mary who were about the same age (b. 1846-1848). James, his wife Hannah Tuohy (b. ca 1819) and infant daughter Mary (b. county Galway) immigrated to the U.S., first to Ohio and then to Iowa where James died in 1878. The family story is that James and family left because "the British took everything in the house" because of a Tuohy nephew who was in debtors prison. Nothing was said about losing the boats because of this, or what became of William.

in about 1866 William's daughter Mary joined her uncle's family in Iowa (passage paid by money her cousin Mary earned as a schoolteacher, so I assume the two brothers kept in touch), married by 1872, and moved to another area of the state where her husband could follow his occupation of coal miner. Some of this Mary's descendants believe her mother was Bridget Coffey. I had no further leads about William and his family until two days ago.

William Hickey b. Whitegate, Cork shows up in the 1851 and subsequent censuses in the area of Alnmouth, Cowpen, Northumberland Co, England, as Coast Guard civil service, boatman (1858 commercial directory) and eventually Pensioner or Navy pensioner. By 1851 his wife was Bridget Scalon / Scanlan of Kilrush, Clare, and they had children b. England in the Alnmouth area. Mary, age 5, b. Ireland  was living with them in 1851 but by 1861 was a live-in domestic servant for an innkeeper nearby. All subsequent children (all born in England in the same area) remained in William and Bridget's household and were Bridget Scanlan's children, but I am not certain that Mary was. Nor do I know when and where William and Bridget Scanlan married. Some of their sons were coal miners, an occupation only known to me in my family through Willliam's daughter Mary's husband, Canadian by birth but of Irish parents. 

This William fits well with what little I know about James and his brother. If their father also was a boatman, they could be related to Hickeys of Galway City who were of a well-known sea-going Hickey family who immigrated to Philadelphia after 1798 because of their role in the rebellion. This might explain the localities (e.g., Oranmore on Galway Bay, Tuam) that the youngest daughter remembered hearing the adults mention at home in Iowa. 

Obviously I have much to pursue here. I have queries out to two descendants of William Hickey and Bridget Scanlan (all of whom seemed to have stayed in England)  who have public trees, but have no response so far. They seem not to have pursued William and Bridget very seriously, judging by the information on their public trees.

To begin with, I do not know what civil parish Whitegate was in (I have found conflicting information online) and therefore I am uncertain where to look for RC  or other records that might tie James and his brother William to this William b. Whitegate 1819. 

Julie in Ohio

Wednesday 6th Aug 2014, 03:52PM

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  • Hi Julie

    www.rootsireland.ie/ (pay site) looks promising for your Hickey boys.

    There ia a birth/baptism record for William 1819 parish Aghada RC

    http://corknortheast.rootsireland.ie/quis.php?page=0&prevStartQuery=0

    There are 8 matches for James Hickey 1812 + - 8 years but none is from Aghada RC!

    http://ifhf.rootsireland.ie/quis.php?page=1&confirmPageView=Y

    There are 22 matches if the year range is extended to 1812 + - 20 years but still no Aghada records!

    My suggestion is to purchase the record for William in the hope it has his parents' names (no guarantee) then search with the parents names in the search criteria for James. Perhaps they had moved between having the boys so James was born in a different parish.

    Plan B:

    There is a free site www.irishgenealogy.ie/ which has a lot of Cork records.

    I had a look for William but couldn't find an Aghada record; perhaps they are all under Cork & Ross?

    There didn't seem to be a William & James withj matching parents but you may want to have a look.

    http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/details/bb94c80124237

    Col

     

     

    ColCaff, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Thursday 7th Aug 2014, 12:21AM
  • Dear Col,

     

    Very helpful!

     

    William's parents were Mary Barrett and Maurice Hickey. No occupation for the father, unfortunately.

    sponsors James Kerby and Mary Clancy.

    from c beg (Corkbeg?)

    The name Maurice/Morris is a  surprise to me. William had sons John, William, John, and Walter. James had sons James Michael and Willie (died young). Could Michael be a form of Maurice/Morris?

    Mary fits as the paternal grandmother of each son's eldest daughter, Mary.

    James Kerby is a name I have run across quite recently. I remember because of the distinctive spelling. But of course I can't remember where I saw it!

    no marriage or other children for this couple in Aghada. I am thinking that Maurice Hickey might also have been a mariner of some type. If in British employ perhaps he was stationed elsewhere at time of marriage and of other births. So that will be my next step.

    Thanks,

     

    Julie

     

    Julie in Ohio

    Thursday 7th Aug 2014, 11:57AM
  • I  found a marriage of Mairice Hickey and Mary Biride in Cloyne in 1808. I am happy to accept Biride as a transcription error for Barret. Seven children of Maurice Hickey and Mary Barret  were baptized in Cork (Aghada RC, "of" Corkbeg or Whitegate). This includes William, but no James.

    I will have to keep fumbling around for James and hope for another transcription error. Nothing so far excludes him from being a child of Maurice and Mary and brother of William 1819-1904.

    I still have not heard from the descant ants of William's children who were born in England — they will be glad to have this information, I should think.

    Julie

    Julie in Ohio

    Thursday 7th Aug 2014, 12:47PM
  • CORK UNI ARCHIVES -

    Bundle of certificates attesting to the validity of 40 shilling freeholds held by various persons in Cork County, granted at a Sessions of the Peace, held at The Kings Old Castle Cork, on the 10th and 11th October 1809 - Maurice Hickey (Farmer), of Whitegate, relating to a house and lands at Whitegate, Parish of Aghada, Barony of Imokilly.

     

    RICHF

    Friday 22nd Aug 2014, 12:18PM
  • Thank you very much, Rich!

    I had to look up the significance of the certificate. I gather than Maurice rented enough land (and a house) to qualify as a voter, and of course places him as a farmer in Whitegate by 1809.

    is there anything else I might glean from this record? I am assuming that as a Catholic, he rented rather than owned the land.

    i very much appreciate your brining this to my attention.

    julie

    Julie in Ohio

    Sunday 24th Aug 2014, 02:52AM
  • Hi I am new to this site.

     

    My great great grandfather was William Hickey born in Whitegate, Cork, Ireland

    He married Brigid Scalan. Born: Abt 1825, Kilrush, County Clare, Ireland

    They married in Ireland before they arrived in Alnmouth,UK.  He was in shipping and in the Royal Navy

    His daughter Louisa (Lucy) Hickey was born on 30 Jun 1862, Alnmouth, Northumberland England.

    She emmigrated to Australia in 1883. And died there aged 93 in 1955

    According to her daughter Eliza:

    ‘ Lucy left home after an argument with her brother (Walter?). She decided to go to America with  a good friend, however as her boat  was already booked out, she decided to take the ship next to it, which , as it turned out, was going to Australia.”

     

    However, shipping records show that she had a ’free passage’ on the S.S. Duke of Buckingham- which is described ( Log of Logs Vol.I, p.152)  as ‘ a  schooner/barque of some 2020 tons of the Ducal Line, commanded by Captain Turner.’

     

    She was not yet twenty-one when the ship departed Plymouth  on 9th December, 1882, bound for Australia via Bay of Biscay- Malta- Suez- Aden-Colombo-Batavia and Thursday Is. It first  discharged passengers at Cooktown, Qld., on Saturday 3rd February, 1883, then others at Townsville, Bowen and Mackay, where Lucy disembarked, along with fifty-nine others, of whom 13 were ‘assisted’ and 46 ‘free’. Nineteen of these were single men, and seven were single women. There were also six married couples who had, in total, eight children under the age of 12 plus two teenaged children.

     

    I have hereunder two obits. for William Hickey

    Extract from an English Newspaper dated Wednesday, 24th November, 1904-

               

    WILLIAM HICKEY

    There died at Blyth on Wednesday evening a Crimean veteran, WILLIAM HICKEY, who had reached the advanced age of 85.  He was a native of Queenstown, and entered the navy in 1840. He won the Turkish and Baltic medals. He had two brothers killed by his side, and could recite stirring tales of the naval battles in which he had taken part.  Deceased came to Blyth 35 years ago as a coastguard, and completed his naval career under the late M.M.Redmond,R.N., whom he so quickly followed in death.  He was a very big man, tall and hardy, and up till very recently was going about as hearty as ever.  It is understood that he will be given a naval funeral tomorrow. (This was copied by MARY ELLEN BOYD  (nee Shepherdson)- partial date on paper 04?)

     

     

     

     

    Extract from a faded and torn newspaper clipping that was in ELIZABETH DARBY’S papers:        

     

    “ (There).....has just passed away another very ......gentleman, named WILLIAM HICKEY,.......residing in Blyth. The writer knew him in the sixties in Alnmouth.  He was a coastguard there many years. As I remember him, he also was a strong healthy man, and full of staying power.  The Coastguards at that time had more liberty than now to do other work.  We had no unemployment  there at that time, not in the sea line.  There were others besides Hickey, all-round men...Coastguards.. who used to assist the then fishermen to discharge timber, and also go as extra hands in the herring boats as required.

    Hickey especially was a “don hand” at mackerel catching. On summer early mornings he would go away pulling himself in a small boat after mackerel, with a naked foot over each side of the boat and a line fast to each large toe, to feel the nibbles, as his hands were engaged with the oars. Often he would land 40 to 50 fish by breakfast time.  I have known him to sweep and gather seven and eight horse loads of coal on the beach during low water mark for carting home, and never say he was tired or hungry. He also was an expert quoit player.  Many gentlemen yet alive in Alnwick and Alnmouth have had fun with Hickey.  Some of them used to send up to the Schooner Inn to George Tate’s for gallons of “milk” at a time to lubricate the hobs or pins with.

     

     Although Mr Hickey was a Roman Catholic, he was not at all strait-laced or bigoted.  He and I have been at various denominations in religious matters at Alnmouth and Alnwick, and got no harm at either place.  I may add there was not a Catholic Church at Alnmouth, and Mr Hickey used to go to Mass at least once a year at the old town. Mr Hickey had a big small family at that time.

    ...................

                WILLIAM HICKEY born   Queenstown,  County Cork, 7th April,1821.

                Joined the Service, 22nd July, 1840.  ( aged 19 ), Vanguard - 1st Ship;

                Cornwallis in 1857; Awards: in 1858 - lst Nov. Badge; 1860 Baltic Medal;

                Certificate of the Service of William Hickey 

                (Ref: Elizabeth Darby- nee Eliza Shepherdson)

     

    So I am not too sure whether he is a brother of your James Hickey if he lost 2 other brothers in battle.  

    I hope that assists one way or another.

    In virtually every line of my ancestry going back 6 generations there is an irish connection.  Some even got a free trip to Australia.

    Jimmy, Australia

     

     

    Jimmy

    Sunday 4th Feb 2018, 10:37AM

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