O'Rourke/Rourke, Riodan, Brosnan

Dear Charlie:

Thank you for your post to the Ireland Reaching Out message board and welcome to the site!

I have forwarded this post to several of our Kerry volunteers who may be able to direct and assist you with your research.

In the meantime, you might consider creating an Ancestor Profile for your O'Rourke family on the XO Chronicles feature which is located at the top of the page. 

If you have any difficulties, please let me know.  You can contact me at:  jhalloranryan@irelandxo.com.

All the best,

Jane.

Hi Charlie, good to hear from you and congrats on your dual citizenship.We have been fighting the flu here in Tralee hence the delay in getting back to you.

Can you let us know what you have found so far and what you are looking for? Is John Rourke 1869, sponsors Daniel & Catherine Riordan one of yours? Patrick 1871, Cornelius 1873, Timothy 1875, Daniel 1877?

Timothy m 1899 Catherine Knowles Brosna is he your grandfather?

I won't do anymore until I hear from you.

Warm wishes

Martine

Martine

Yes they are all mine and that is my grandfather and mother

Additionally there were these siblings Bryan Bryan, Thomas, and James Bryan who I believe was the only one who stayed behind and he is buried in Brosna. I met his daughter Catherine when I visited there several years ago

What I need most is info on their parents Bryan or Bryanus Rourke (abt 1839) and wife Mary Riordan  (abt 1841). Know nothing else about them

Would like birt, marriage and death info as well as parents names and any siblings they may have had

Seeing sponsers Daniel and Catherine Riordan noted in your post.........they are more than likely relatives of siblings of Mary Riordan

Also have nothing on my grandmothers siblings

I have additional  Ireland related info I need on grandfathers   siblings and their wives if you are up to that I could send in a separate post . Most came to USA and I have the info on this end

Thanks in advance 

Charlie

Hi Charlie, there are so many free resources for you to search that you are really lucky! For example at irishgenealogy.ie

Brien Rourke, Carpenter, of Brosna Death Cert 1914

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1914/05307/4476372.pdf

Marriage of John Rourke & Hanoria Collins 1909

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1909/10039/5651938.pdf

In the Civil registration Records (RC after 1864) Brosna comes under the Tralee Registration District

In earlier records, the townlands of Brosna East & Brosna West are listed in the Civil Parish of Brosna. you can find land records in Griffith's Valuatio also free and online.

Once you find either a Church or Civil Registration record for the marriage of Bryan & Mary Riordan you will have their fathers' names and possibly their place of residence at the time of the marriage. You can then come forward in time to see if their families are still alive and resident in the same places in 1901. If not you can search death records.

Microfilm of some surviving church records are available at http://www.nli.ie and may include untranscribed records.

Do make a list of all the baprismal sponsors of the children as they may help you find the parents of Bryan & Mary R. I made a short video about the process which might help you.

http://www.martinebrennan.com/kerry-snippets/the-godparentsa-video-lesson-in-using-church-records-in-irish-genealogy-records

Pre 1850 records are patchy in Kerry 

I hope these suggestions are helpful to you. If you have any questions please feel free to ask and good luck!

Martine Brennan

Martine

Thank you so much!!!

Charlie

Do let us know what you find Charlie and i hope that some of your Brosna cousins see this post and make contact with you.

M

Hi Charlie

I have had a look at your grandmother Kate Knowles siblings. These are the children of Robert Knowles and his wife Norry (nee Connor) that  I have found :-

1.       Johanna born abt 1863 in Co Kerry – (this is before the start of Irish vital records so harder to track down.)  She was aged 19 when she married Maurice Downey in Brosna RC church on 19 Jan 1882.  Their son Patrick (Paddy)  Downey was born in Brosna on the 17 Aug 1888.  He married my great aunt Brigid Mary Cotter in Brosna on the 20 Jul 1912 and they had 9 children, of whom only one is still alive and she lives in Brosna town.  There are many grandchildren and great grandchildren of this couple still living in the surrounding areas.

2.       Robert’s son Patrick was born in Brosna on 28 Sep 1865.

3.       The next son Michael was born 14 Apr 1868 also in Brosna.  His birth is harder to find as it was registered under the surname Knoules.  This is not totally surprising as it was registered by Robert, who could not read or write.

4.       Then comes your grandmother Kate Knowles with a birthdate of 22 Oct 1873 on her birth certificate but the earlier record of her baptism shows her birth as having taken place a day later on the 23rd of October. I notice that once she got to the US she appears in the records as Catherine.

5.       The next daughter is Mary born 15 Aug 1879 also in Brosna.

It is possible that I have missed some earlier born children as Robert and Norrie were married about 1855 according to their answer in the 1911 census and it is unlikely that there would have been no children born in the first 7 years of the marriage.

Anyway hope that helps.  If you want to contact me about the family you can email me at

jwill at aijk.org (changing the at to @ and removing the spaces to get the correct email address– as I am averse to spam)

Regards

Jill

Jill

Thanks for the info on my grandmother Knowles side of the family that you sent me on Ireland Reaching Out

Did you get my follow-up email?

This was the beginning of it, but the email had a lot more

Do you have a tree you could share with me?

Be glad to send you and/or give you access to mine

cniessner at msn.com       I followed your convention on the email address 

Charlie

Hi Charlie

Yes thanks I did get your email and have replied.  

Jill