COLEMAN, DUNN/DUNNE, KIEF, McAULLIFFE, O'KEEFFE, REGAN

Please contact me at perry@streeter.com if you are researching these families in Mallow, especially in Upper, Middle or Lower Ballyviniter Townlands. Here is a brief summary of my known ancestry but I have a lot more speculative information to share:

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=PED&db=streeter&id=I…

After actively researching my ancestry for so many years, “new” ancestors are hard to find, and especially Irish ones. For many years, I have theorized that my ancestor, Mary (Dunne) O’Keeffe, wife of Dennis Kief/O’Keeffe, was the sister of Catherine (Dunne) Coleman, wife of Daniel Coleman. Members of each family served as sponsors for baptisms of children in the other family including the following:

"Dennis Keefe et Maria Dunne" were sponsors at the baptism of John Coleman at St. Mary's Church, Rexville on NY 6 May 1855, son of "Daniel Coleman et Catherina Dunne" (Liber Baptizatorum 1848-1918, St. Mary's Church, Rexville, N.Y)

A Coleman descendant called me with “new” information from and old newspaper that reveals the specific origins of Catherine (Dunne) Coleman in Ireland and thus—by association—the probable origins of Mary (Dunne) O’Keeffe!

“For nearly a century, the Boston Pilot served as a beacon for Irish immigrants seeking information on loved ones they had lost contact with. Between 1831 and 1920, more than 45,000 advertisements were placed in the newspaper by recent immigrants looking for family who had come over earlier, by relatives back in Ireland, or by families seeking information on people who had moved elsewhere in the U.S. looking for employment.”

These advertisements included the following…

18 March 1848:

“Of CATHERINE DUNN, native of co. Cork, parish of Doneraile – daughter of John and Bridget Dunn. When last heard from (about a year since) she was living in Boston. Any information of her will be thankfully received by her sister, Margaret. Address her husband, James Coyle, Canandaigua, N.Y.”

2 January 1852:

Of JOHN & MARGARET DUNN, from Ballyviniter, parish Mallon [sic, Mallow], co. Cork, who left home about 3 years [ago]. They are supposed to be in the State of New York. Any information respecting them will be thankfully received by their sister, Mrs. CATHERINE COLMAN (formerly DUNN), care of DANIEL COLMAN, Watertown, Ms. [sic, Massachusetts].”

When combined with other research on the Dunne, Coleman and O’Keeffe families not repeated here, we can be confident that Mary (Dunne) O’Keeffe was also a daughter of John and Bridget ([–?–]) Dunn, or a very close relative.

The three adjacent Townlands of Ballyviniter Upper, Ballyviniter Lower, and Ballyviniter Middle all lie in Mallow Parish, County Cork, near the feudal manor of “Doneraile Desmesne,” in the neighboring Parish of Doneraile. The largest of these three townlands is only 547 acres. 

Now that we have a very specific place to call home in County Cork, it may be possible to learn more about our Dunn/Dunne ancestors who lived there, as well as the Kief/O’Keeffe family if Mary married Dennis in Ireland.