Patrick Farrelly born c. 1820

Searcher507:

I assume all of the USA records (death, possible obit) do not show his parents names. Did he have any siblings with a somewhat unique first name?  Have you considered DNA testing? 

Roger McDonnell

You are assuming correctly. New York State didn't keep any records in their era. I was fortunate to find via their Troy, NY parish church a reference to their deaths simply as "Mrs Bridget Farley" (d. 1899) and "Patrick Farley" (d. 1892) with no further information than that! (They used the spelling Farley once in NY). I used the city directory to find when Bridget was first listed as the widow of Patrick to ensure I had the correct Patrick in the church records.  I could find no obituaries. Patrick's approximate year of birth in state and federal censuses was never consistant. The generation before me didn't even know Patrick and Bridget's names ! so knowing his siblings/parents names was not available. Bridget did have some Davis kin in Troy, but whether Patrick had relatives there I was never able to discern. One of Patrick's grandsons became a celebrated Irish tenor, Nicholas Farley 1903-1984. I was told he was knowledgable about the Farrellys. I reached out to his descendants and received no reply. Yes, I've done the DNA with 2 companies and placed it on Ged Match. But that hasn't helped my research. Thanks for your interest.