Surname Saturday - Coakley family of County Cork, Ireland

According to Irish Names and Surnames by Patrick Woulfe, Coakley is an old West Cork name that means son of the blind hero or possibly son of the blind poet. There are many variations on the spellings and origins of the name, but the only one I've seen for my family is Coakley or Cokley.

 

My 3x great-grandparents were Patrick Creedan and Mary Coakley of Clondrohid, County Cork, Ireland. Patrick and Mary had three children shown below. I haven't been able to find a marriage record for Patrick and Mary or a baptism record for Mary, so I don't have a date of birth for her.

Julia Creedan was born in 1842 and baptized in Clondrohid. Her baptism sponsors were Daniel Cokley and Hanora Creeden and the townland was Carrigapooca. Timothy Creedan was born in March 1846. I've never been able to find a baptism record for Timothy, but his birth year is confirmed on census records, his tombstone and his obituary. Hanora Creedan was born in August 1848. Baptism sponsors were John Keeffee and Johanna Toomy and the location was Carrigapooca.

Timothy is my 2x great-grandfather and the only child of Patrick and Mary to have children. From Timothy's obituary written in 1899, Patrick came to Clinton County, Ohio in 1849 to make a home for the family. Shortly after he arrived, he got word that Mary had died. He sent for Timothy and Julia and they came to New Orleans and up the river to Ohio. Patrick remarried in 1851 and had several more children with Hannah Hoover in Clinton County. Julia entered the Sisters of Charity convent in Ohio around 1870 and took the name Sister Mary Felix. Her death certificate in 1918 named her parents as Patrick Creedon and Mary Coakley. I haven't found any further mention of Hanora, so most likely she died in Ireland.

So far, Mary's Coakley family is a brick wall. The Daniel Coakley named as a sponsor on Julia's baptism was probably a relative and possibly a sibling. I've turned up a couple of families that had both a Mary and Daniel in that time period, but haven't found any other info on them yet. 

On the same page as Patrick Creedan's baptism record in 1814, there is a Daniel Coakley born to Timothy Coakley and Honora Crowly in the Rahallusk township of Clondrohid. Daniel's birth is marked as illegitimate and the sponsors are Michael Buckley and Catharine Coakley. I couldn't find a daughter named Mary with a father named Timothy in this location though. 

 

A Daniel Coakley and July Leary had four children baptized in Inchigeelagh, shown below. July's name is given as Julian in some of the baptism records. I haven't been able to find any other records for this Mary. Baptism sponsors are as follows:
Daniel - ? Leary and Julian Coakley
Mary -   ? Leary and Cath P?
Denis -  ? Leary and Narry Henissey?
Narry -  Joh or Jer Leary and Mary Leary  

  

There was a Coakley family in Clinton County, Ohio that had close ties to my Creeden family, but that hasn't turned up any leads on Mary's family either. There are a lot of descendants of this Coakley family, but I haven't identified any DNA matches to my family or any connections in the records in Ohio or Ireland. 

I also have several DNA matches to a Coakley family in Ireland, but haven't found a possibility for my Mary in that family. Other possible Coakley DNA matches are through my direct line from Mary's son Timothy, but most of those seem to be on the Creeden side so far.

I'd love to hear from anyone else researching the Coakleys!

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 1 - Start at the Beginning

The prompt for this week is Start at the Beginning. According to The Sound of Music, "the beginning is a very good place to start." Who was the first person you wanted to find when you began your genealogy journey? Was there a family member who sparked your interest, perhaps by giving you a treasure trove of genealogy "stuff"?

It's been a while since I've posted about my initial genealogy quest. The first person I wanted to find out about was my Irish great-great-grandfather Timothy Creeden. My dad was the one that sparked my interest with stories passed down from his grandfather. He had a treasure trove of family pictures, but none of Timothy. He had done some research in the 70s and 80s, but we didn't make much progress until more things became available online in the 90s and early 2000s. He put together a tentative family tree with the names he remembered and that was enough to get me started.

 

Eventually I was able to find that Timothy was born in 1846 in Clondrohid, County Cork to Patrick Creedan and Mary Coakley. He had two sisters and several half siblings from Patrick's family in Ohio. In addition to the children my dad knew of, Timothy had Patrick, James, Mary Elizabeth, Dennis and Edward.

At about the same time, one of my uncles was researching my mom's families and put together a set of family trees for us. They were a great starting point for my research on that side of the family. His trees contain living people, so I'll just post this intriguing snippet from a letter he sent along with the trees.

 

So far, I haven't been able to verify the Wales origins of my Godwin family or that my Sparks ancestors came over on a ship called the Dove. This is probably referring to the pair of ships called the Ark and the Dove that sailed from the Isle of Wight off of the coast of Hampshire, England to Maryland in 1633. I think my Sparks may have come over a few years after that, but it's possible some of their relatives were on the Dove. From DNA testing, I know that my mom and I do have some Welsh ancestry, so that's a possibility to keep in mind for my Godwin ancestors.

While I've learned a tremendous amount about my ancestors since my initial quest, there are still a lot of mysteries to solve. I'll address some of those in future posts this year.

#52Ancestors is a series of weekly family history prompts developed by Amy Johnson Crow.

Sunday's Obituary - Charles Niehaus

This obituary was published in The Celina Advocate in Ohio on July 28, 1906.

OLD RESIDENT

Passed Away Last Tuesday Night at His Home in This City

   Charles Niehaus, aged 75 years, died at his home on the corner of Sugar and Wayne streets, last Tuesday evening after an illness with stomach trouble. Deceased was born in Alderburg, Germany, and for forty years, twenty-five of which were spent in Celina, he has been a resident of Mercer county.  He was greatly respected by a large acquaintance, was a kind neighbor, a devoted husband and indulgent father, and his death is mourned by a large number outside of the family circle.
   He leaves a wife and five children-- Henry and Barney, of this place, Mrs. Joe Schratz, of Pocahontas, Arkansas; Mrs. John Brock, of Coldwater, and Mrs. Ed Fetters, of Dayton.
   Funeral took place from the Catholic church on last Friday morning and interment was in the Catholic cemetery.

Charles was my 3x great-grandfather and his son Henry was my 2x great-grandfather. Charles was married to Catharina Margaretha Panschard in Germany. She died in 1874 in Mercer County. From the obituary, the family settled in Mercer County, Ohio around 1866.

I found the obituary on the Coldwater History Archive site. It's a great resource for Mercer County newspapers.

Sunday's Obituary - Susan A. Godwin Sparks

Susan A. Godwin gravestone

This obituary was published in the Centreville Record on November 15, 1902 and was originally transcribed by Trish Surles in her book Obituaries from Maryland Newspapers Queen's Anne County for 1902-1903:

Mrs. Sanuel A. Sparks, wife of the late Samuel A. Sparks, died at the home of her son in law, Mr. J. W. Councill, November 2nd, after a long and lingering illness in the 72nd year of her age. She leaves four children, Charles G. Sparks, of Kent Island, Daniel Sparks, of Ravensdale, Washington, and two daughters, Mrs. R H. Councill, and Mrs. J.W. Councill, of near town.

Susan And Samuel A. Sparks were my 2x great-grandparents. Their daughter Ariana Sparks and son-in-law John Wesley Councill were my great-grandparents. Susan is buried in the Chesterfield Cemetery in Centreville, Queen Anne's County, Maryland next to her husband Samuel A. Sparks. 

Thanks to Corey and Douglas Marshall-Steele for taking the gravestone photo and posting it on Find A Grave.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Origins

The theme for this week is "Origins". Genealogists often get the question, "Where is your family from?". 

I do get asked that question, so I'm using this post to document what I know about my family's origins and what is still a mystery. Most of my maternal ancestors eventually settled in Queen Anne's County, Maryland or nearby counties. The chart below shows some of my maternal immigrant ancestors and my best guess at where they're from. Italics indicate data where I haven't found any supporting records. While some of these lines can be traced down to my ancestors, some of them get a bit murky in the middle and it's presumed that my lines are related to the immigrant ancestors.

The origins of my Chilcutt, Covey, Godwin and Meredith ancestors are unknown and I haven't traced my Councill line back further than Henry Councill. There was a Dennis Councill/Councell in the estate records of a Jacobus Seth in Talbot County, Maryland as early as 1698. It's possible that he is Henry Councill's father or other relation, but I haven't seen any proof of that so far.

Maternal Immigrant Ancestors

The next chart shows the main lines for my paternal immigrant ancestors. Most of them arrived in the US in the 1800s so the relationships are easier to prove than with my maternal side. The exceptions are my Matson and Clevenger lines. John Matson still remains mostly a mystery. He is the ancestor of my great-great-grandmother Mary Ann Matson Creeden. He was married to Nancy Ann Clevenger and they moved from Virginia to Clinton County, Ohio in the early 1800s. Mary is also related to the Clevengers through her mother Dortha Clevenger.

Paternal Immigrant Ancestors

A final note is that these origins match up pretty well with the ethnicity estimates from Ancestry DNA tests for me, my sister and my mother. My estimates show roughly 1/3 England/NW Europe, 1/3 Germanic Europe and 1/3 a  mix from Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Sweden/Denmark. The English and Welsh are from my maternal side, while the Germanic Europe and Sweden/Denmark are paternal. I have Irish and Scottish ancestry on both sides. The Meredith surname originated in Wales, so that's a possibility for the Welsh ancestry.

#52Ancestors is a series of weekly family history prompts developed by Amy Johnson Crow.

Sunday's Obituary - Timothy Coakley

Timothy Coakley was born in Ireland and lived in Clinton County, Ohio by 1852. He was one of the oldest Irish residents in the county when he died on October 22, 1912. I found three obituaries for Timothy with different dates and stories on his immigration to the US. Details on the obituaries for Timothy Coakley are below.

Clinton County Democrat, October 24, 1912

From the Clinton County Democrat obituary, Timothy was 83 years old at his death placing his year of birth around 1829. This obituary states that he came to the US with his father Jerry, but it appears that they didn't know exactly when since the year is given as 18--! I don't think I've seen that before, but it's repeated in one of the other obituaries. This obituary mentions Timothy being present at the first mass celebrated in Clinton County and says he is survived by three daughters and two sons.

 

The Wilmington Journal, October 30, 1912

The Wilmington Journal, October 30, 1912  part 2

The second obituary is from the Wilmington Journal and states that Timothy was 82 years old at the time of his death. This obituary states that he came to Ireland at the age of 18 which would've been around 1848. It gives some details on his work history at Patrick Denver's farm and the railroad. It says he married Catherine Powers on January 3, 1853 and that they had ten children, five that were still living. It also gives Catherine's year of death as 1909 and says that Mrs. John Burke is the only surviving member of the older family. Timothy's sister Mary was married to John Burke. 

An interesting difference between the obituaries is that this one says Timothy's parents and sisters didn't come over until later, but says the family arrived in the early 40s. That doesn't add up with Timothy's age at death and arrival in the US at the age of 18.

The third obituary was published in the Clinton Republican on October 24, 1912 and is available on the Ohio History Connection website. This obituary states that Timothy was 82 when he died at his home in Wilmington. It adds some new details about Timothy being from Cork, Ireland and that "with other of his people he came to this country about the year ----". So, this time the year is a complete blank! A few more facts are added including that he worked in New Orleans for some time before coming to Wilmington and that he was Street Commissioner and a fireman after his work on the railroad ended. This obituary names his surviving children as Mary, John, Timothy and Elizabeth living at home and Mrs. Katherine Murphy of Cincinnati. 

I often can't find even one obituary, so finding three is a bit unusual. They agree roughly on Timothy's age, work history and surviving relatives, although some provided more detail than others. They disagree on when he came to the US and whether or not he came with other family members.

The 1900 census says Timothy's year of immigration was 1860 and the 1910 census says 1836. Nether of those years seem correct based on the other information about Timothy. I wasn't able to find a Timothy Coakley in the 1850 census for Ohio or New Orleans and haven't found Timothy in any passenger lists so far. Based on the information I have, my guess is Timothy came over between 1847-1852.  I know he was in Clinton County by 1852 when the first mass was celebrated and also that he was married in Ohio in 1853.

Sunday's Obituary is a prompt developed by Leslie Ann at Ancestors Live Here.

Church Record Sunday - Baptism of Patrick William Creedan

Patrick William Creedan was born on May 16, 1864 to parents Patrick and Hannah Hoover Creedan. The family lived in Clinton County, Ohio, but Patrick was baptized in St. Andrew's parish in Milford, Clermont County, Ohio. Construction of the Catholic church in Clinton County wasn't completed until 1868 so the family had children baptized in the nearby parishes before the new church opened.

Baptism record for Patrick William Creedan, May 29, 1864

The image above is the entry for the baptism of Patrick William Creedan. The baptism was recorded in Latin and the year 1864 was written on the top of this page. On the left of the record, the baptism date was given as May 29 and the date of birth as May 16. The entry roughly translates to "I baptized Patrick G. son Patrick Credin and Hannah Hoover, sponsors Timothy Kiefe and Margarita Calahan". The priest's name was abbreviated to J. B. OD.

Patrick's name is given as Patrick William in his father's will in 1883, so I believe the initial G in the baptism record stands for Gulielmus, the Latin version of William.

A transcription of the record was made for the diocese of Cincinnati. The name of the priest is spelled out as J. B. O'Donoghue. The number 23 on the left is the entry number for Patrick's record in the ledger. There are a couple of mistakes in this transcription. Patrick's mother is given as Anna instead of Hannah and Patrick's middle initial is given as J instead of G.

At some point, Patrick started using his middle name William instead of Patrick. Patrick was listed as Patrick in the 1870 census and Patrick W. in the 1880 census for Clinton County, Ohio. His father Patrick's will left a share of the estate to his son Patrick William in 1883. In the distributions from the estate in 1884, Patrick is named as Patrick W. Creeden, minor. In the final account of the estate in 1885, Patrick's name is given as Wm. P. Creeden.

Wm P Creeden named in final account of estate in 1885

In 1885, W. P. Creedan marries Mary C. Snyder in Clinton County, Ohio. Quaker records in Clinton County from 1887 and 1889 mention a John and William Creeden. John's wife and children are listed in the records and they are match for Patrick William's brother John. The William in the records is most likely Patrick William.

In 1886 or 1887, the birth of Minnie Creeden was registered in Greene County, Ohio to parents Wm. Creeden and Mary Snyder. They are living in Bowersville in Greene County. The date of the birth was given as May 11, 1886 and the location of the birth was Sabina, Clinton County, Ohio. Sabina was also the location in the 1870 census for Patrick and Hannah Creedan.

 

In 1900, John and William Creedan are listed next to each other in the census for Darke County, Ohio along with their wives and children. Note that Williams birth month and year are given as May 1864.

By 1905, William Patrick Creeden and his family were living in Kansas and appeared in the 1905 state census for Kansas. William's age was given as 42 and Mary's as 43. William died in 1909 and is buried in Kansas. His tombstone in Kansas gives his year of birth as 1862. I have a few cases in my family tree where the wrong year appears on a tombstone, so it's possible that a family member gave the wrong information.

My conclusion is that Patrick William and William P. or W. P. Creeden are most likely the same person. Most of the records indicate that he was born in 1864 with the exception of his tombstone. That discrepancy leaves some room for doubt, but all of the other records with a date seem to indicate that he was born after 1862. Mary's tombstone also gives her year of birth as 1862 and this is more consistent with the census records which indicated she was a year or two older than her husband.

A final note is that my sister and I have several DNA matches to descendants of William and Mary Creeden. They are similar in size to our matches from the other children of Patrick and Hannah Hoover Creedan. The matches form a cluster where we are all sharing the same matches, so that indicates there is a relation between the Kansas and Clinton County Creeden families.

Sources: The Roman Catholic baptism registers for the diocese of Cincinnati are available on FindMyPast.com. The Quaker index is available on Ancestry.com. The other images in this post are available from FamilySearch.org.

Sunday's Obituary - Opal Mary Creeden Wagner

Opal Mary Creeden Wagner was the daughter of W. P. Creeden and Mary Catherine Snyder. She was born in the Jackson township of Darke County, Ohio in late October or early November 1899. The entry for her birth in the Ohio County Births ledgers for Darke County appears below and gives her date of birth as November 8, 1899. The ledgers are available to browse by county on FamilySearch.org.

I posted the obituary for Opal's father last week. His name was given as W. P. Creeden in his obituary and Wm. Creeden in the birth entry for Opal. In Opal's obituary, his name is given as Patrick Creeden, so that might be a little more evidence that he was Patrick William, the son of Patrick Creedan and Hannah Hoover of Clinton County, Ohio. It's also possible that this was just an error by the newspaper or person that provided the obituary information.

Opal also went by her middle name. In the birth register, her name is given as Mary Opal and she appears in the 1900 census in Darke County as Mary O. After that, the records show her name as Opal or Opal Mary.

Opal's obituary was published in the Hutchinson News in Kansas on Friday, September 7, 1990. The cities referred to in the obituary are in Kansas with the exception of Greenville, Ohio.

Opal was married to James Maurice Wagner in 1947 when Opal was 46 years old. I haven't found any records of the couple having any children.

OBITUARY:

COLDWATER - Opal Mary Wagner. 90, died Thursday, Sept. 6, 1990, at Comanche County Hospital, Coldwater.

She was born Oct. 28, 1899, at Greenville, Ohio, the daughter of Patrick and Mary Catherine Snyder Creeden. She graduated from Fort Hays State Teachers College, Hays. A former resident of Stafford and Gravette, Ark, she was a homemaker and retired school teacher.

She was a member of the Baptist Church, Ye Olde Tyme Club, Vashti Chapter No. 64 Order of the Eastern Star and the Rebekah Lodge, all at Stafford.

On Aug. 17, 1947, she married James Maurice Wagner at Sublette, he died Jan. 3, 1983.

Survivors include: a sister-in-law and several nieces and nephews.

Funeral service was 2 p.m. Saturday at Peacock-Milton Funeral Chapel, Stafford, with the Rev. Glen O. Morford officiating. Burial was in the Stafford Cemetery.

Sunday's Obituary is a prompt developed by Leslie Ann at Ancestors Live Here.

Sunday's Obituary - W. P. Creeden

The following obituary was published in The Pratt Republican in Kansas on September 30, 1909.

   W. P. Creeden died at his home in the second ward last Monday, of consumption. The remains were interred at Green Lawn Tuesday. Mr. Creeden has lived in Pratt but a short time, having come from Meade.

William P. Creeden is buried in Greenlawn cemetery in Pratt, Kansas. William was only in his 40s when he died. He was married to Mary Catherine Snyder in Clinton County, Ohio in 1885. The family was living in Darke County, Ohio when the 1900 census was taken. By 1905, William and his family had moved to Sedgwick, Kansas. Children listed in the 1905 census were Minnie, Elsie, Orval, Ralph, Ellsworth, William, Opal and Violet.

In the 1900 census, William and his family were living next to John Creedan and his family. John was the son of Patrick Creedan and Hannah Hoover of Clinton County, Ohio. I suspect that John and W. P. were brothers or cousins. Patrick and Hannah had a son named Patrick William that may have gone by William. I lose the trail of Patrick William around the time that W. P. married Mary Snyder. 

My sister and I have several DNA matches to descendants of John and William, so we're related to both of these families. The matches are similar in size which indicates our relationship to John and William could be the same. John was a half-brother of my 2x great-grandfather Timothy Creeden.

I've seen several Ancestry.com trees giving William's parents as Timothy and Ellen Creeden from Hamilton County, Ohio. An obituary for Timothy and Ellen's son William shows he died in 1901. This William was married to Margaret Nolan and some of their children were born in the same years as W. P. and Mary's children.

Related posts:

• Patrick William Creedan
• Which William is which? 
• Which William is which? - Part 2
• Obituary for Timothy and Ellen's son William 
  

Sunday's Obituary is a prompt developed by Leslie Ann at Ancestors Live Here.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 11 - Flowers - Rose Creeden

The theme this week is "Flowers."  Spring isn't far off for those of us in the northern hemisphere, and with that comes thoughts of flowers — which, not coincidentally, is this week's theme! Any Roses, Daisys, or Petunias in the family?

 

Rose Creeden was the half sister of my 2x great-grandfather Timothy Creeden. I've posted about Rose before, but have found a couple of new records for her since then. Timothy became her guardian after their father Patrick's death in 1883 and the guardianship papers showed that they moved from Clinton County to Mercer County, Ohio. These records helped to provide proof that Timothy was the son of Patrick Creedan of Clinton County.

Rose was born on 02 May 1861 in Clinton County, Ohio to Patrick Creedan and Hannah Hoover. She was baptized in St. Brigid's parish in Xenia, Greene County, Ohio. I've only recently become aware that a lot of my family's church records are in Greene County probably due to that being the closest Catholic church during the 1850s and 1860s. The baptismal record from St. Brigid's is shown below. The full record is available on FindMyPast.com.

Patrick's will of 1883 left two shares of his estate to be used for the care of Rose. According to the will and guardianship probate records, Rose was unable to care for herself. Timothy served as her guardian until at least 10 December 1895 when Rose was admitted to the Mercer County Infirmary. I don't know if she was admitted to the home because Timothy could no longer care for her financially or if her condition became worse. The money set aside for her care in Patrick's will may have run out by then. Timothy died in 1899 and there was no mention of Rose in his will.

In 1914, the infirmary underwent renovations and an inspection according to a newspaper article in The Coldwater Chronicle, published on 05 May 1914. The article states: "The women that were not too feeble to be about greeted the visitors warmly... Rose Creeden was busy with her day’s round of cleaning, in which she takes extraordinary pride.". Rose was also listed as a housekeeper in the 1880 census, so it does seem like she was able to do some tasks. The paragraph of the article the mentions Rose is shown below. The full article is available at The Coldwater Chronicle archives.

 

Rose lived out the rest of her life in the Mercer County Infirmary and died on 30 June 1922. 

#52Ancestors is a series of weekly family history prompts developed by Amy Johnson Crow.

Sunday's Obituary - William Creeden of Cincinnati, Ohio

The following obituary was published in The Cincinnati Post on 11/21/1901.

William Creeden, 37, a carpenter living at 3554 Haven Avenue, Avondale, died late Wednesday at the City Hospital from injuries received by being struck Monday night by a Zoo-Mt. Auburn car at Vine and Shields Streets. His skull was fractured, and he never regained consciousness. He leaves a wife and three children. Coroner Schwab is investigating. Creeden will be buried Saturday morning at Reading, O., near which place he was born.

A death notice was also published on the same day:
CREEDEN -- William, beloved husband of Margaret Creeden, suddenly,
Wednesday, Nov. 20, at 9:30p.m. Funeral from residence, 3554 Haven Avenue, Avondale, Saturday, Nov. 23. Requiem high mass at St. Andrew's Church at 8 a.m.

This is one of the William Creedens that I've been researching in the hopes of identifying the correct families for each of them. This is a quick tree I've done for this William on Ancestry.com:

 

A baptism record shows that William was born on 22 Feb 1863 and baptized on 15 Mar 1863 at the Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Reading, Hamilton County, Ohio. The parents were given in Latin as Timotheus Creeden and Helena Callaghan. One of the sponsors was John Creeden. 

William married Margaret Nolan on 31 May 1883. There is a note on the marriage license where his father Timothy gives his consent for the marriage. The civil record is shown below. A church record shows that the marriage was at Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Reading, Ohio and one of the witnesses was Daniel Creeden.

 

 

William and Margaret had 3 sons: Thomas W. born in 1886, Michael J. born in 1888 and Lawrence born in 1892.

After William's death in 1901, Margaret appears in several Cincinnati city directories and is named as his widow.

Margaret and Thomas Creeden, 1903 Cincinnati City Directory

Margaret and Michael Creeden, 1913 Cincinnati City Directory

Margaret eventually moved to California where her son Lawrence and other relatives lived. She lived there until her death in 1930.

Updating to add that none of the records I have show the middle name or initial for this William. I think I can rule him out as being my Patrick William or the William Patrick Creeden that went to Kansas.

Related posts:

• Patrick William Creedan
• Which William is which? 
• Which William is which? - Part 2
  

Sunday's Obituary is a prompt developed by Leslie Ann at Ancestors Live Here.

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52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 23 - Bridge - Nowland Land Patents in Maryland

The theme this week is "Bridge." A bridge connects two things that are separated, whether it's land or people (maybe even time?).

I'm going to use this prompt to write about land records for tracts of land called Woodbridge and Bandon Bridge in Cecil County, Maryland. Bandon Bridge was granted to Darby Noland and Woodbridge to Dennis Nowland.

My Nowland ancestors came from Ireland to Maryland in the 1600s and settled in Cecil County. I'm still sorting out some of the relationships, but my current Nowland tree is shown below. Dermond and Dennis are thought to have been born in Ireland. Dermond's wife Anne is referenced as Anne Browning/Browne in some of the land sale and probate records, so she most likely remarried to a Browning. The Browning name is also mentioned in the Rent Rolls for the land.

The book Settlers of Maryland, 1679-1783. Consolidated Edition has the following entries for Dermond and Dennis: The book is available on Ancestry.com.

Note that the entry for Dennis Nowland should be for Woodbridge and not Moodbridge. I included the entry for Pierce Noland since he was in Cecil County at the same time. He sold his land without developing it and settled in Virginia. His will didn't mention Darby or Dermond, so I don't know if they were related.

The patent record for Bandon Bridge is in Book NS B, page 535. The patents are available on the Maryland Archives website. The patent record entry is long, so I'm showing a shorter transcription from Book 22, page 351 below.

 

The record shows that Darby Nolan was granted 60 acres of a tract of land called Bandon Bridge on the South of St. Augustine Creek in Cecil County in May 1687. It describes the location of the land and says that it bounds a tract of land called Woodbridge and also mentions a tract called Coch's Forrest.

The patent record for Woodbridge is in Book EE 6, page 76 and is dated September 9, 1714. 

 

The record states: "Patent to Dennis Nowland of Cecil County, son heir at law and devisee of Dermond O'Houllaughane aka Nowland late of the said county for a tract of land lyeing in the said county called Woodbridge originally laid out in the year of our Lord 1680 for one David Mackinna for two hundred acres and by him conveyed to one Cornelius Machneahin? and the Dermond in Joint Tenancy with said Dermond being the survivor became possessor of the whole."

The names given in the Woodbridge record are interesting and I'm guessing spellings may have been mangled. I can't find any references to the surname O'Houllaughane, although I found a few with similar spellings. Darby can be a nickname for Dermot, so Dermond might not be the correct spelling either. An index of Irish surnames from 1659 lists Holaghan,    Hologhane, Hologhan and O Hollahan and a Hoolihan name study lists variants for Ó hUALLACHÁIN including Nolan.

I found a little more history of Woodbridge on page 200 of The History of the Society of Jesus. The text states that David Mackenny sold Woodbridge to Darby Nowland and that his son Dennis sold the land to James Heath.

I was able to find more about the Nowlands in the rent rolls, land sales and probate records for Cecil County, so I'll follow up on those records in future posts.

#52Ancestors is a series of weekly family history prompts developed by Amy Johnson Crow.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2021 - Weeks 11 and 12 - Fortune and Loss - Edward C. Councell

Week 11's theme is "Fortune." Merriam-Webster gives several definitions for fortune: A large sum of money; prosperity attained partly through luck; or destiny, fate. Week 12's theme is "Loss." Loss is universal. There are many ways to explore this theme, whether it's the loss of a loved one, a livelihood, freedom.

Edward C. Councell was working for The Charleston Daily Courier newspaper in Charleston, South Carolina when he had the good fortune to win $15,000 in the Union Canal lottery of May 1828.  

The Charleston Daily Courier, May 16, 1828

In June of the same year he married Agnes Wallace, daughter of Thomas Wallace of Charleston.

The Charleston Daily Courier, June 09, 1828

Edward worked at several newspapers in Georgia and South Carolina before branching out to run his own book and job printing business. He was running a successful business in 1852 when misfortune struck and he was forced to sell his shop due to rapidly declining health. Edward died in May of 1854 due to consumption.

One of my Maryland ancestors is Edward Carey Councell of Maryland, so I was intrigued to see whether or not the lotto winning Edward C. Councell from Charleston was related to him. An obituary for Edward from May 19, 1854 in The Baltimore Sun confirmed my suspicion that Edward was from Maryland.

The Baltimore Sun, May 19, 1854

Another article from the Charleston Courier printed on June 22, 1854 states that Edward was a native of Talbot County, MD and left behind a widow, sister and an only son.

I found some mentions of Edward in Talbot County records that show he was the son of John Council. Edward C. Council was indentured to a printer in 1813 at the age of 15, placing his birth year at 1798. The following image is from the book Bound to serve: the indentured children of Talbot County, Maryland by R. Bernice Leonard. The book is available on FamilySearch.org.

Indenture of Edward C. Council in 1813

Edward was named as a grandson in the will of Elizabeth Browning written in 1807 and filed in 1809 in Talbot County, MD. She left most of her estate to her three daughters Eleanor, Elizabeth and Mary and grandchildren Edward, Eleanor and John Council Jr., but also mentions her sister Ann Council, wife of John in the will.

From Maryland, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1655-1850 on Ancestry.com, Eleanor Counsell married Henry Newcomb in January 7, 1823 in Talbot County, MD. Eleanor Newcomb was named as a niece in the will of Mary Browning in 1826 in Talbot County.

In a Talbot County land sale recorded in book JP 62, page 288 Edward C. Councell and his wife Agnes sold land to Nicholas Willis. The record states that Edward and Agnes are living in Chatham County, GA and are selling land in Island Creek, Talbot County, MD. The tract of land was known by the names Hier Dyer Lloyd and Clora Dorsey and was from the estate of their deceased mother Ann Marie Councell. The deed was recorded on September 25, 1849.

There are additional land records in JP 59, starting on page 510 that show sales of parts of Hier Dyer Lloyd and Clora Dorsey from John Councell and his wife Ruth and from Ellen Newcomb. Both of these sales are also to Nicholas Willis and mention their deceased mother Ann Marie Councell. The land records are available on MDLandRec.net.

The records and articles listed above establish that John Councell and his wife Ann Marie Browning had at least 3 children: John Jr., Edward C., and Eleanor and that their child Edward was the one from Charleston. I believe that John the father may be the brother of my 4x great-grandfather Edward Carey Councell, but need to do more research to be sure.

#52Ancestors is a series of weekly family history prompts developed by Amy Johnson Crow. Newspaper articles in this post are available on Newspapers.com.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2021 - Week 8 - Power

The 52 Ancestors prompt for this week is Power.

This is a new prompt in the 52 Ancestors series this year and it reminded me of an article I came across about the power of Mother Nature. The article tells the story of a young girl who was struck by lightning in her home in Clinton County, Ohio. My Creeden family also lived in Clinton County, but had moved to Mercer County, Ohio by the time of this story.

The following article was published in The Journal Republican in Wilmington, Ohio on March 26, 1913. Mary Creeden was dressing for school when a lightning bolt struck the house and knocked her unconscious. The article mentions that she was in the house of Mrs. John Creeden.and that Mary was the fourteen year old daughter.

   During the hard thunder shower that prevailed for several hours Tuesday morning, the house of Mrs. John Creeden in south-east Wilmington was struck by lightning and the fourteen-year-old daughter, Mary, was very seriously injured. The sharp dash of lightning came at about twenty minutes of 8 o'clock as many people about town remember. Mary was in her room dressing for school when the bolt struck the house. She was rendered unconscious and for a time it was believed that she had been killed. Others of the family in other parts of the house did not feel the effects of the lightning to any serious extent. It seems that the full force of the bolt was directed upon the room in which Mary was dressing and she alone of the family felt its deadly power. Some members of the family were at the church and they, with Rev. Father Higgins, hastened to the home. Dr. Austin was summoned and rendered medical aid to relieve her sufferings. Though she was badly burned about the face and the right side of the body, it is believed that she will recover. The fright and great pain have produced a nervous condition that augments the gravity of the danger.

Given how severe Mary's injuries were, I wondered what became of her. From census records for Clinton County, Ohio, Mary was the daughter of John Creeden and Margaret Ann Dooley. Mary's father died in 1909 in Clinton County according to Ohio death records. In the 1920 census, Mary is living with her sister Sarah in Washington DC and both are working as clerks for the government. Mary is working for the Department of the Treasury. In the 1930 census, Mary is living in Alexandria, VA with her mother and has a government job as a clerk. Her brother Joseph is also living with them and is a fireman. 

In the 1940 census, Mary is again living with Sarah and still working as a government clerk. She owns her home and is making a salary of $2000 a year. The census shows that she completed 4 years of high school and that Sarah completed 4 years of college.

A short obituary for Mary appeared in The Cincinnati Enquirer on March 8, 1976. It appears that she moved back to Ohio maybe to be closer to family after retiring.

 

 #52Ancestors is a series of weekly family history prompts developed by Amy Johnson Crow. Newspaper articles are available on Newspapers.com.

 

Sunday's Obituary - Jeremiah Creeden (1841 - 25 Nov 1916)

Jeremiah Creeden came from Ireland and settled in Indianapolis, Indiana with his wife Mary Toomey. I have a DNA match to a descendant of Jeremiah, but don't know for sure if they connect to my Creeden family. I don't recognize any of the other surnames in the trees I've seen for Jeremiah, so he seems like a possible connection for this match.

This funeral notice for Jeremiah was published in 1916 in The Indianapolis News. From the notice, Jeremiah died on November 25, 1916 and was buried at the Holy Cross cemetery.

I did a little digging in other newspaper articles and found that Jeremiah and Mary had a large family including the following children: Daniel G., John B., Catherine, Jeremiah M., Nora Gertrude Mosher, Rev. Leo Francis, Hannah R., Mary, Margaret A. Finn and William Henry Creeden. Most of them also lived in Indianapolis and were buried at Holy Cross.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2020 - Week 2 - Favorite Photo

The 52 Ancestors prompt for this week is Favorite Photo.

This was one of the first photos I saw in my dad's collection and it's always been one of my favorites. It's one of the few photos I have of my great-grandfather Charles Creeden when he was younger. I love the clothes and hats in the picture. The back of the photo is labeled with "Charles and brothers". I know that Charles is the one in the middle, but I'm not sure which of his brothers are in the picture.

Charles Creeden (middle) and brothers

Charles was born in 1886 and was married in 1907. The family picture in the header of my blog shows Charles and his young family around 1911. I think he looks a little older in the family picture, so maybe the picture of the brothers was taken before then. The clothes in the picture are consistent with being in that time period and may provide some clues.

My guess is that Charles' younger brother Joshua is on the left and his brother Edward is on the right. Joshua was born in 1894 and Edward in 1884. Just for fun, I uploaded the photo to Microsoft's how-old.net site. This site is not known for being accurate and I do think it's quite a bit off in this case! It did suggest that Charles was the older brother in the picture and I agree with that.

Age guesses from how-old.net

The other possibilities for brothers would be Daniel, born in 1879 and Dennis, born in 1878. Since they were both a few years older than Charles, I don't think they are in the picture. I don't have any other photos of Edward and the ones of Joshua were taken when he was quite a bit older. The brother on the right doesn't look like Joshua, so I'm going with the theory that he is Edward for now. And of course, one other possibility is that the picture was labeled wrong and those aren't Charles' brothers after all!

#52Ancestors is a series of weekly family history prompts developed by Amy Johnson Crow.