Kearnen Burke

I have hopes of visiting Ireland this summer or this fall for “The Gathering” & I would like to find out information about where my G-G-Grandfather came from. 

His name was Kieran Burke (or Kearnan in some U.S. census records). I'm sure he was Catholic & almost certainly a poor farmer or laborer. He emigrated to Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A. in 1850, and lived in that area until his death in 1911.  His death certificate lists his age as 93, so this would make his date of birth about 1818.

All U.S. records show that he lived in County Offaly.  I believe it may have been in the part of Offaly near to the borders of Laois & Kildare.  His death certificate indicates that he was from Offaly. It also lists his mother's maiden name (Flannagan) and shows her county of origin as Offaly. I recently found a baptism record from RootsIreland.ie that shows a Mary Flanagan in Kilcullen, Co. Kildare. Date of baptism 09-Jul-1797. Father’s name: Richard Flanagan  Mother’s name Alice Kavanagh.  I have no other confirmation that this is indeed Kieran’s mother, but the age would be about right.

 Kieran's wife was named Anna (no maiden name given), and burial records show that she originated from County Laois. Since Kieran and his mother were poor & modes of transportation probably limited in that era, it makes sense to me that they would not have traveled very far & that their families may have lived relatively close to each other. If that was the case, and his mother was from Kildare, & his wife was from Laois, it is possible that they could have been from the portion of Offaly that borders Laois & Kildare near Monasterevin.

Kieran’s father’s name is not mentioned in any U.S. document I have found. The name Daniel Bernard Burke repeats throughout our family tree, so I suppose that is a good possible first name for Kieran’s father. The other male first names that show up often in our family tree are: Patrick, Joseph, John, William & Dennis.  

Since I have not been able to find any birth or marriage records for a Kieran Burke in County Offaly, County Tipperary is another possibility.  I found a marriage record on the web site of the Irish Family History Foundation that showed a marriage between a Kieran Burke & Joanna Pendergast in Ballylooby Parish 22-Feb-1838.  Maybe they moved from Ballylooby to County Offaly before emigrating to the U.S.   I also recently found a record on FamilySearch.org of a Kieran Burke 1815-1902. He could be an uncle of my G-G-Grandfather who stayed in Ireland. This Kieran was from the “registration district” of Clogheen, but I don’t know which “Clogheen” this refers to. There is one Clogheen in Tipperary & two in Kildare.  Obviously, my number one suspect is one of the two Clogheens in County Kildare.  One is west of Monesterevin, where R420 & R445 intersect just north of Kilnure.  The other is west of the Ummeras Beg Quarry on L1002.  But on the other hand, the Clogheen in County Tipperary is just south of Ballylooby.

The FamilySearch.org record lists the following citation: Vol. 4, p. 347, General Registry, Custom House, Dublin Ireland: FHL microfilm 101601  - digital folder number 347 – image number 00585.

I assume I would have to visit Dublin to view this record.

If anyone knows of any Burkes in Offaly, Kildare, or Tipperary who might be related, I would like to meet them when I come to Ireland this summer.

Thanks, 

Timothy Burke

Louisville, Ky. U.S.A.