My great-grandfather was MICHAEL GREENAWAY. He married an ESTHER BRENNAN and had five children: 1) JAMES GREENAWAY; 2) WILLIAM GREENAWAY; 3) THOMAS GREENAWAY; 4) JOHN GREENAWAY; and, 5) SARAH GREENAWAY.
Unconfirmed information is that JAMES & WILLIAM were born in Ireland in the 1860's. (Source: 1871 England census.)
The entire family moved to Cleator Moor, England where MICHAEL GREENAWAY was an iron ore miner, (from the 1871 England census).
THOMAS, JOHN & SARAH were born in Cleator, England. (Source: English Births. Names were recorded as GREENWAY.)
From the records of St Mary's RC Church, Cleator, England I have confirmed that JOHN & SARAH were baptised there.
In May 1879 the family immigrated to the U.S. and settled in McKeesport, PA. (Source: U.S. Arrival Documents, New York.
From information developed by distant cousins MICHAEL GREENAWAY had:
- A brother WILLIAM GREENAWAY of Lisburn, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
- A sister CATHERINE GREENAWAY of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, she married JAMES DUNLAVEY. At the time of their marriage she resided in Magheragall, later moving to Lisburn.
- A third sister MARY GREENAWAY who married a WILLIAM CARLISLE/CARLYSLE in Lisburn. (The 1880 U.S. Census indicated tha MICHAEL GREENAWAY's nephew ROBERT CARLYSLE resided with them in McKeesport, PA). They lived in Knocknadona.
Two Irish records have been found for or close to MICHAEL GREENAWAY.
#1. Under the name MICHAEL McGREENAWAY in the Griffiths Valuation in the 1860's. Mullaghcarton, County Antrim. (This is the only instance where I've found the name GREENAWAY preceded by "Mc".) On that same page, the name SARAH GREENAWAY appears, residing just down the road from MICHAEL GREENAWAY in Mullaghcarton, County Antrim.
#2. A witness to MARY GREEN(AWAY's) marriage to WILLIAM CARLISLE. The witness to the wedding was listed as MICHAEL GREENAWAY. The record is missing the last half of the name "AWAY" and MARY is listed as MARY GREEN and her father is listed as JAMES GREEN.
MICHAEL & ESTHER GREENAWAY both lived the rest of their lives in McKeesport, PA and are buried in the Old St Joseph's Cemetery there.
From MICHAEL GREENAWAY's certificate of death I confirmed that his parents names were JAMES GREENAWAY (father) & SARAH GREENAWAY (mother/maiden name unknown).
From ESTHER GREENAWAY's certificate of death I confirmed her parents names were PATRICK BRENNAN (father) & MARY SMALL (maiden name of mother).
WJG18
Wednesday 12th Jun 2013, 12:25AMMessage Board Replies
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Hi,
Thank you very much for your message and for sharing this information on our messageboard. You have obviously done a great job on your family history and no doubt this will be very helpful to anyone doing their own research on the same family.
Just to clarify, do you have a specific you need help with or are you just sharing information?
All the best,
Genealogy Support
Tuesday 2nd Jul 2013, 11:33AM -
Hello,
I do want to share what I have discoverd about the GREENAWAY family in the hope that I'll be able to make connections with distant family members and discover more information on the GREENAWAY's and the BRENNAN's.
The 1860's is where I hit a roadblock in my research, with one exception. I have found a 1852 marriage record in familysearch.com for WILLIAM GREENAWAY marrying ANNE McDOWELL in Lisburn, Ireland. That's the earliest record I've found.
Dates of birth are not confirmed witih birth records, but are based upon information from census or other records I've found. In a few cases I've taken an educated guess.
I would hope that anyone who may have information on the GREENAWAY and the BRENNAN families will share their research with me.
Thank you,
Bill Greenaway
WJG18
Tuesday 2nd Jul 2013, 07:14PM