Seeking Minelly ancestors

No Minelly entries in either the current Irish or Northern Irish telephone directories. There was probably a slight change of spelling when the family moved from Ireland to Scotland (that was fairly common) but it?s difficult to suggest what the spelling in Ireland may have been. There?s a few McNellie/McNelly households in the 1911 census in Ireland, but that?s about as near as I can see. (McNelly & Minelly would be pronounced much the same).

Check all the Scottish censuses in case the family put down something more specific than Ireland as their place of origin. Likewise, if they lived in the Glasgow area, try the Poor Law records in the Mitchell Library, as the persons parish of origin was normally recorded if they made a claim.

Thank you for your reply,

There was no detail of where Joseph Minelly came from in Ireland and I have checked all the Scottish  Census records.

thank you for the Poor Law reference- I will check this out.

Two items you may know of;_

The Belfast ' Rushlight' site mentions a policeman- 'Pig Minelly' in a not very complimentory manner- Do you have any information of this person?

In the English 1851 census there was a family Minelly working and living in a farm in Cumbria. They stated that they had all been born in Scotland but I could find no data for them before and after that date. Is it possible that they were being evasive about apossible Irish  origin? 

Best regards,

John Minelly

Hi John,

The first time I saw signs for Munnelly's businesses, in Crossmolina, I was with Irish natives who laughed hysterically at my pronunciation. I place the accent on -nel, the second syllable. It is correctly pronounced MUNelly. In the transition to Scotland the name may have evolved into Minelly. Here in  Pennsylvania, the name evolved into Munley and Manley.  In Mayo, the Munnelly's are quite numerous. Your difficulty in trying to trace your family is probably due to variations in pronunciation and spelling.

Marybeth

Hi Marybeth,

Strangely enough, I know of a John Minelly in Pennsylvania,

I visited the Rundal cemetary there about 12 years ago and found a John Minelly, his grave as a union soldier of your civil was-its good to see your country honours their veteran dead.

 have a photo with myself, my son John and the vet's gravestone there.

I note there are Minellys in Ohio also, I suspect thry walked over from CAnada in 18 century,

My son is now working in San Jose.

Best regards,

John (jockminelly@gmail.com)

Hi Marybeth,

Strangely enough, I know of a John Minelly in Pennsylvania,

I visited the Rundal cemetary there about 12 years ago and found a John Minelly, his grave as a union soldier of your civil was-its good to see your country honours their veteran dead.

 have a photo with myself, my son John and the vet's gravestone there.

I note there are Minellys in Ohio also, I suspect thry walked over from CAnada in 18 century,

My son is now working in San Jose.

Best regards,

John (jockminelly@gmail.com)

Hi Marybeth,

Strangely enough, I know of a John Minelly in Pennsylvania,

I visited the Rundal cemetary there about 12 years ago and found a John Minelly, his grave as a union soldier of your civil was-its good to see your country honours their veteran dead.

 have a photo with myself, my son John and the vet's gravestone there.

I note there are Minellys in Ohio also, I suspect thry walked over from CAnada in 18 century,

My son is now working in San Jose.

Best regards,

John (jockminelly@gmail.com)

Hi Marybeth,

Strangely enough, I know of a John Minelly in Pennsylvania,

I visited the Rundal cemetary there about 12 years ago and found a John Minelly, his grave as a union soldier of your civil was-its good to see your country honours their veteran dead.

 have a photo with myself, my son John and the vet's gravestone there.

I note there are Minellys in Ohio also, I suspect thry walked over from CAnada in 18 century,

My son is now working in San Jose.

Best regards,

John (jockminelly@gmail.com)

Not sure if you are aware that there are a couple of public member trees on ancestry (Tonner Dunn & Hartshorne) which have Joseph Minelly. Parents are Robert Minelly & Eliza Allen; perhaps the owners may know of current family.
Family Search has the spelling MENIELLY for the birth listing of a Joseph born 1829 in Ballyclare Antrim but the parents aren't Robert & Eliza
Family Search also has early versions (search Minelly 1600 - 1700) Munnell 1635 Lancaster; Munnelius 1652 Netherlands; Moneyley (wealthy relatives?) 1641 Hawarden Flint Wales
Col

?John,

I don?t have any information on Pig Minelly. You could try the police museum in Belfast, as they may have his service records. (He appears to have been serving in the 1950s or thereabouts so not sure whether records that recent are open to the public yet).

http://www.psni.police.uk/index/about-us/police_museum/museum_genealogy.htm

Can?t really see why a family in Cumbria would say they were born in Scotland if they were actually from Ireland. Cumbria (Cumberland & Westmoreland then) was full of Irish immigrants in the mid 1850s and so nothing unusual there. Statutory birth registration only started in Scotland in 1855, and so for births prior to that you are reliant on church records. The Church of Scotland (ie Presbyterian) and RC baptism records are on-line (on Scotlandspeople) but there are plenty of gaps in them. Many records were lost. And other denominations aren?t on-line there at all. So that might explain why you can?t find any record of them in Scotland. (As well as difficulties over the spelling of the name).

Elwyn

Hi John,

i was intrigued by your mention of your John Minelly who served in the Civil War. I found that a soldier by this name served in the 61st Pennsylvania Regiment as a private. He was in Company C. If this is your relative, I can find some information for you. Is his date of death on the tombstone? He may have applied for a pension which will give family information. There is a notation that there is an alternate spelling on some records, Maneily. I live in northeastern PA but can access records from other areas. I am not familiar with Rundal. Can you tell me what County it's in? Or what cemetery John is buried in? I can find some records that may give some information.

marybeth

Hi John,

i was intrigued by your mention of your John Minelly who served in the Civil War. I found that a soldier by this name served in the 61st Pennsylvania Regiment as a private. He was in Company C. If this is your relative, I can find some information for you. Is his date of death on the tombstone? He may have applied for a pension which will give family information. There is a notation that there is an alternate spelling on some records, Maneily. I live in northeastern PA but can access records from other areas. I am not familiar with Rundal. Can you tell me what County it's in? Or what cemetery John is buried in? I can find some records that may give some information.

marybeth

Hi John,

i was intrigued by your mention of your John Minelly who served in the Civil War. I found that a soldier by this name served in the 61st Pennsylvania Regiment as a private. He was in Company C. If this is your relative, I can find some information for you. Is his date of death on the tombstone? He may have applied for a pension which will give family information. There is a notation that there is an alternate spelling on some records, Maneily. I live in northeastern PA but can access records from other areas. I am not familiar with Rundal. Can you tell me what County it's in? Or what cemetery John is buried in? I can find some records that may give some information.

marybeth

Hi Marybeth,

I found the site ( I think) of Rundell's cemetary, Conneautville, Crawford County on line.

I pretty sure that was the one where I took a photo  of the gravestone of a John Minelly which had a rosette carved onto it indicating a veteran soldier.

On checking the listed names, I can only find a John Minneley born November 19 1870 obviously not a civil war veteran!

I can only conclude that the listing is incorrect as the one I found was indeed a John MINELLY.

As to ancestry, I just do not know. ( you must know about the four courts fire) Some time ago I found that a large family group of Minellys had Immigrated to Canada in 18 century. For some reason, the girls were all listed as Roman catholic and the boys as church of England.

I understand that the passage to Canada was shorter and cheaper but many died of fever. They then had the possibility of crossing into America and indeed there are many there of that name.

I will look out the photo

Best regards,

John

Hi Marybeth,

I found the site ( I think) of Rundell's cemetary, Conneautville, Crawford County on line.

I pretty sure that was the one where I took a photo  of the gravestone of a John Minelly which had a rosette carved onto it indicating a veteran soldier.

On checking the listed names, I can only find a John Minneley born November 19 1870 obviously not a civil war veteran!

I can only conclude that the listing is incorrect as the one I found was indeed a John MINELLY.

As to ancestry, I just do not know. ( you must know about the four courts fire) Some time ago I found that a large family group of Minellys had Immigrated to Canada in 18 century. For some reason, the girls were all listed as Roman catholic and the boys as church of England.

I understand that the passage to Canada was shorter and cheaper but many died of fever. They then had the possibility of crossing into America and indeed there are many there of that name.

I will look out the photo

Best regards,

John

Hi John,

Nonetheless, the name is uncommon here and may be a derivation of another. Allegheny County is near Pittsburgh which is close to the Ohio border. I will research further through our military records to see if there is any connection. There were some interesting spellings of people's names back in the day. I will let you know. 

Marybeth

I attach the photo of John Minelly  stone with the veteran rosette.

Cannot read the dates but could read them at the time

John

I attach the photo of John Minelly  stone with the veteran rosette.

Cannot read the dates but could read them at the time

John

Hi John,

i did a little investigating about the soldier, John Minelly who is buried in Crawford County. He was born in Alleghaney City, Alleghaney County, PA  in about 1840. On the 1860 census he is a member of the household of Peter and Kate Minelly. (Family relationships are not shown on this census.) other family members are Ann, age 22; Mary, 15; Catherine, 12; Robert, 9; and Alice, 4. 

According to the Pennsylvania Archives, he signed up for the military in August of 1861. His residence is listed as Allegheney City. In appearance he has black hair and eyes and is 5'8 1/2 ". It is noted that he was not accounted for after May 31, 1864. It is further noted that he was a guest of the Confederates at Libby Prison. 

In 1870, he was married to Catherine Bowden, age 26. They had two sons, William and Edward., ages 6 and 4, respectively. In 1880, William was 16 but Edward has apparently died. There is a daughter, Alice, age 4. Also in the house hold are his siblings, Robert, 28; Ann, 42 and Mary, 32 and his mother, Catherine. 

There is no 1890 census due to the danger to prominent politicians losing some of their power through redistributing. However, there is a record of Civil War soldiers possibly eligible for Pensions. I can't find a pension for him under any reasonable variation of his name. In 1900, the only members of his household are Sarah, a sister five years older and his mother-in-law, Sarah Bowden. John died in October of 1918 in Crawford County. His wife, perhaps a second wife was the informant because she says his parents were John Minelly and Margaret Morton, both of Ireland. This may or may not be correct. John may have been boarding with relatives in 1860. Only he and Peter were employed. 

In any case, this is the long story of Private John Minelly, 61st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry.

Marybeth

Hi John,

i did a little investigating about the soldier, John Minelly who is buried in Crawford County. He was born in Alleghaney City, Alleghaney County, PA  in about 1840. On the 1860 census he is a member of the household of Peter and Kate Minelly. (Family relationships are not shown on this census.) other family members are Ann, age 22; Mary, 15; Catherine, 12; Robert, 9; and Alice, 4. 

According to the Pennsylvania Archives, he signed up for the military in August of 1861. His residence is listed as Allegheney City. In appearance he has black hair and eyes and is 5'8 1/2 ". It is noted that he was not accounted for after May 31, 1864. It is further noted that he was a guest of the Confederates at Libby Prison. 

In 1870, he was married to Catherine Bowden, age 26. They had two sons, William and Edward., ages 6 and 4, respectively. In 1880, William was 16 but Edward has apparently died. There is a daughter, Alice, age 4. Also in the house hold are his siblings, Robert, 28; Ann, 42 and Mary, 32 and his mother, Catherine. 

There is no 1890 census due to the danger to prominent politicians losing some of their power through redistributing. However, there is a record of Civil War soldiers possibly eligible for Pensions. I can't find a pension for him under any reasonable variation of his name. In 1900, the only members of his household are Sarah, a sister five years older and his mother-in-law, Sarah Bowden. John died in October of 1918 in Crawford County. His wife, perhaps a second wife was the informant because she says his parents were John Minelly and Margaret Morton, both of Ireland. This may or may not be correct. John may have been boarding with relatives in 1860. Only he and Peter were employed. 

In any case, this is the long story of Private John Minelly, 61st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry.

Marybeth

Dear Marybeth,

Wow, that was really something mindblowing.

I must thank you for taking so much trouble for me.

I will send this on to my son, nephew and cousin of the same name.

It does surprize me how the name has been apparently passed down faithfully, as I presumed that literacy would not have been the norm among the common people. I have read that the name is anglicised from MacAnFhilidh.

I thnk you again, and if thre is any service  I can do for you please let me know.

Best regards,

John