I am submitting this post in the hope of finding relatives of my g-g-grandmother Mary Buckley who are still residing in the Milstreet-Rathcoole-Laught area. My wife and I are from the US and will be in the Millstreet area in July, and would love to say hello to any cousins we are able to identify there.
Mary Buckley (1845-1885) was a daughter of Timothy Buckley of Rathcoole and Ellen Healy of Crippleford. They were married in Dromtariffe parish in June 1833. They had at least six children, five of whom lived to adulthood–John, Honora, Denis, Mary and William. Mary married Patrick Harrington of Ballinagree and emigrated to the US in 1868, settling in Concord, Massachusetts. She and Patrick had eight children; Mary died young in 1885.
Mary’s sister Honora and brother William also emigrated to the US and they too settled in Concord. Honora did not marry but William married Catherine Kiely, who I believe may have been from Dromtariffe parish as well. They had two children, and I have a copy of a letter from one of them, Mary Ellen Buckley, to her cousin in Ireland Liam O’Buachalla in 1916.
My g-g-grandmother Mary’s husband Patrick became the foreman of a farm in Concord whose major crop was asparagus–Concord being a major asparagus-growing center in the US at that time. Patrick also, it is said, served as the model for the forearms for the famous Concord Minute Man statue in Concord, sculpted by Daniel Chester French.
Mary’s sister Honora became a domestic servant. She moved from Concord in the 1890s, and spent the last fifteen years or so of her life in Salem, Massachusetts, working as the housekeeper for the rectory of St. James parish there. William remained in Concord for the rest of his life, taking up market gardening. His obituary indicates that he was a well-liked and well-respected man in Concord.
I have not been able to find any information about Mary’s brother Denis (born 1842), but I believe her brother John (c. 1834-1920) remained in the Rathcoole area. I have some information that has allowed me to tentatively trace some of John’s descendants through his son Timothy (1874-1954) and his grandson John (1910-1992). I am wondering whether this grandson John (1910-1992) was the father of the man named John Buckley who, I regret to note, died in Rathcoole in 2016.
It is very possible that I have mistaken or confused some family lines here, and if so I would welcome correction. If any of this information is recognizable to any reader of this post, I would be very grateful to make contact with you, and if you live in the Millstreet area, to shake hands with you when we visit the area next month.
Thanks in advance for any information or contacts you can provide,
Bob Kenny <email>
Hi .My gr gr gr Grandmother was Mary Buckley from Milstreet.