Hello from Minnesota, USA! I'm looking for my Irish ancestor's hometown passed down through generations of family lore as "Hickey" in County Cork, but there seems to be no Hickey, only two Ballyhickey's, in Clare and Tipperary.
My ancestor was Margaret McCarthy (born about 1833). She lived in Minnesota during the frontier days when Minnesota had just become a state and was married in 1857 to Christian John Abresch (Prussian). I haven't found her marriage record yet as these are very early records in our state and scarce. I did find her burial record in the Catholic Cathedral of St Paul, Minnesota's microfilm records. She died in 1863 after giving birth to her third child in April 1863. The baby lived 4 months and was buried with her in the Cathedral's cemetery. No other death record found. I am going to check again for Catholic marriage records.
Her first born was a son, William Cornelius Abresch. Her second born a daughter, Katherine Abresch. The baby, Charles died. All children born in Minnesota. Her husband remarries less than 5 months later to another Irish girl.
Margaret seems to be here in Minnesota all by herself as I haven't yet found any other record of her before marriage. No earlier census, no immigration record. So I don't even know if she had any other family with her in Minnesota or the United States. I will keep looking here but I thought maybe I would try reaching out to Balleyhickey and see if I could find her there first as I am having little luck with pioneer records here. Any information about Balleyhickey would be appreciated. Thank you.
Thursday 19th Sep 2013, 03:06AM
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Thank you Tom for your help and research about my ancestor Margaret McCarthy. The Margaret baptised in 1838 in Cahir is about 5 years later than I believe my ancestor was born but I have been researching long enough to know dates can vary from one document to another (death, marriage, baptism, census, all stating different possible birthdates). Her record of last rights in the Cathedral of St Paul show only that she was aged 30 years at time of death.
I will use what you have found to help me narrow the field here in Minnesota's records as I look for her marriage record and possibly something showing any family with her such as pre-marriage census or immigration records not yet found. This is helpful information. I will contact you again if I need more on Rochestown but for now this is enough to continue.
Tuesday 1st Oct 2013, 01:17AM