Rev Arthur Michael McGinnis

Siobhán:

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

There are four different Dorsy townlands in Newtownhamilton civil parish and one Dorsy townland in Creggan civil parish. The RC parishes would either be Creggan Lower (Newtownhamilton) or Creggan Upper (Crossmaglen). The latter parish has records back to the late 1700s while Creggan Lower only has records starting in 1845.

I checked Roots Ireland and they had baptismal records in 1834, 1835, 1836 and 1839 for an Arthur McGinnis but none of these records were for either of the Creggan parishes. Likely a record for your Fr. McGinnis is not available.

I also looked at the 1864 Griffiths Valuation head of household listing for Newtownhamilton and Creggan civil parishes and did not see any leads on your McGinnis family. Possibly the parents left with Fr. McGinnis.

We do have an XO Chronicles site where you can add the stories of ancestors who left Ireland.

https://www.irelandxo.com/ireland-xo/history-and-genealogy/ancestor-dat…

Since you are related to Fr. McGinnis, you may want to look into autosomal DNA testing.

Roger McDonnell

Siobhán:

I didn't mention that I grew up in Philadelphia. When he was in Manuyunk, Fr. McGinnis likely served at St. John the Baptist church which goes back to 1832. http://www.stjohnmanayunk.org/   Here is the web site for St. Francis Xavier which is very close to the Philadelphia Art Museum. http://www.sfxoratory.org/

Roger

Roger many thanks for this reply, I put creggan as he was born in Dorsey cullyhanna area. I know that there was a James mcginnis ?1839 undertaker in philadelphia, and margaret ?1829 (spinster lived with James) who are either brother +sister of Arthur. The other difficulty is that my ancestors changed their name from mccreesh to mcginnis (I'm not sure if arthur started life in Ireland as a mccreesh and on entering philadelphia changes to mcginnis
Siobhán

Siobhán,

I just discovered this post and hope I can be of help to you. Rev. Arthur McGinnis was born Arthur Michael McCreesh (McGinnis/McGuinness) in Dorsey c. 1835 and was probably the son of Owen McCreesh & Mary Loy (see A Biographical Directory of 19th Century Catholic Clergy from the Parish of Lower Creggan, County Armagh by Kieran McConville of Cullyhanna).  He and my great-grandfather, Francis McCreesh may have been cousins. For whatever reason, many of the McCreesh would use the McGuinness surname when they left Ireland. In fact, the McCreesh (MacRaois) sept were a branch of the McGuinness clan and I've found baptismal and civil records for my grandfather and his siblings in Ireland that use both surnames.

Accoring to Kieran's biography, Fr. Arthur came to America and entered St. Charles Borrmeo Seminary in Wynewood, PA (literally across the street from Philadelphia). He was ordained at the Cathedral of SS Peter & Paul by Bishop Wood on 3 June 1860. The most interesting episode in his history surrounds the events that occurred during his tenure at St Francis Xavier in Gettysburg, Pa . If you are familiar with US history, you will know that that the bloodiest battle of our Civil War occurred during the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd of July 1863. As the battle raged, Fr. Mcguinness opened his church to the wounded of both sides, and asked his fellow church ministers to do likewise (there were between 45, 000 - 51,000 casualties as a result of this three day battle).

Fr. Arthur died 21 May 1873 and is buried 19 June 1873 in the Cathedral Cemetery in Philadelphia (Section M, Range 10 Lot 34, 2nd from East).

I hope this information is of help to you.

Elizabeth Tierney Budzilowicz

APG Genealogist

Siobhán,

Father Arthur McGinnis had a sister, Mary Anne McGinnis whose married name was Mallie, and two of her sons went from Newtonhamiton in Armagh to work in the funeral business started by their brother James and took over the business when James McGinnis died in 1899. One of the brothers was Arthur Mallie who was my great-grandfather.

On one of his trips back to Ireland, he married a women from Newtonhamilton called Ellen Mckee and they returned to Ireland in 1920 when he had a stroke and settled in Warrenpoint which is my home town and their daughter Agnes married a Doctor John O'Tierney, my grandfather. Arthur and Ellen Mallie are buried in the cemetary of St Michael's in Newtownhamilton. Arthur died on 20 April 1925 and Ellen died on 6 July 1954.

Mary Anne Mallie (née McGinnis) is recorded as the 64 year old widowed head of the household in the 1901 census living in the townland of Camlymacullagh with two of her sons Patrick and Thomas, but by the 1911 census she is recorded as living in the townland of Lurgancullenboy with her married daughter Mary Conlon.

Patrick Mallie married Susan McKee, the younger sister of Ellen, the wife of his brother Arthur. At some point he started using the O'Malley form of their surname - My godfather tells me it was to avoid confusion with another family. Susan and Patrick O'Malley are also buried in the cemetary of St Michael's in Newtonhamilton. Patrick died on 3 May 1950 and Susan on 1 April 1976. My father was particularly fond of his O'Malley cousins and outings to visit his 'Great Aunt Sue' in Newtownhamilton were a feature of my childhood.

I read with interest Elizabeth's suggestion that the family name may have been 'McCreesh', as I am unaware of such a suggestion in the family.

Eamonn O'Tierney