Going back further with the Cookes

Like the O’Rorkes, the Cooke’s have a long history that can be traced back many centuries. I spoke recently with a fellow family historian, Kieran Cooke, Kieran lives in county Galway and is a very prominent name in modern Cooke genealogy, and he saw one of my posts on a genealogical website and asked to speak to me. The most amazing conversation ensued, he said that he had gathered DNA from various Cooke’s, to see if there was a relative connection between him and them. He had contacted one of the Kilmacow Cooke’s, and proved that he was related to him through a DNA test. I asked him where he was going with this, and then he lay down the line. He said that he had traced his family back to 16^th century county Carlow, where the Coke family had a stately home in Oak Park (formerly Painstown), just outside Carlow town. The Cokes had to change their name, so as to keep their home, it’s a story for another blog, they changed their name to Cooke. Prior to living in Carlow, Kieran informed me that they came from British nobility, based mainly around Norfolk.

Now, my grandmother’s father was John Cooke, who was born in Ullid, near Kilmacow in 1858. His father was Patrick Cooke, and his father was Thomas Cooke, supposing that they were around thirty five when their children were born, this would put Thomas as being born around 1775.

I was also informed by Kieran that there is a grave in old Shankill church graveyard in Paulstown, county Kilkenny with the inscription:

“Erected by Michael Cooke in the memory of his father Thomas Cooke, late of Kellymount, died 16 December 1801, age 70 years. Headstone carved by John Brennan, stone-cutter, Royal Oak”

I feel that this Thomas is possibly the father of Thomas(1775) Amazing to see the connection between Kilkenny and Royal Oak, county Carlow, Kellymount is about one mile west of Paulstown.

Like the O’Rorkes, the Cooke’s seem to play their part in history, just to summarise what I have briefly read, but Cavaliers, James II of Britain, and Oliver Cromwell all play a part in the Cooke history. I will at some point write a larger blog dedicated to that history, but that is way down the line, and I have to study it a bit too.

Cookes of Kilmacow

My Grandmother on my mothers side was Bridget Cooke, she was born in Narrabane, Kilmacow, county Kilkenny. She was the third eldest of eleven children born to John Cooke and Joanna Kelter. She is seen as a toddler in the 1901 census in Narabane, but is seen as a servant in a house in nearby Aglish in the 1911 census. She met my grandfather who was a civil servant at the time, around 1924. They married and lived in Waterford city. They had three daughters, but in 1929, Michael, her husband died, leaving her alone with the kids, Bridget moved back to Narrabane, but things just didn’t work out, and as with alot of single mothers at the time, the children were taken and put into convents, and bridget moved away to Britain, she ended up in Bournemouth, where she married again. After she left the children she did not see them until the late forties, when she became ill and wanted to see them before she passed away, for a short period she caught up with her daughters, who all lived in London by this time, shortly after she died.

Bridget had eleven siblings:

Name	DOB	DOD
Bridget	Abt 1896	November 1948, Bournemouth,
Patrick	Abt 1898	1967 Thomastown
Ellen	Abt 1899
James	Abt 1900
John	Abt 1902
Thomas	Abt 1904
Andrew	Abt 1905
Margarette	Abt 1906
Josephine	Abt 1906
Mary	Abt 1893
Catherine	Abt 1895

I know a little bit about this group, but could definitely know more. Firstly I have an obituary for Patrick, or paddy:

“Mr Patrick Cooke of Narabane died at St Colomas hospital, Thomastown age 68, in his youth started his career in kilmacow cooperative creamery where his late father john Cooke had the contract of transporting butter to Waterford city, prior to the advent of the lorry. In 1918 he joined the great southern and western railway with service at Rosslare. When things got slack, during the Anglo Irish war, he left and entered the Free State army after the treaty. in an engagement with republican forces at the time of the civil war, he was severely wounded in an ambush in county Wexford and spent a considerable time in hospital being subsequently partially incapacitated and unable to assume employment due to his disability however, paddy as he was more popularly known, never lost his smile and always had a keen sense of humour up to the end, though he had been in hospital in Thomastown for some years, the end nevertheless came unexpectedly.  as he was confined to bed for only a few weeks, his demise was unexpected by his many friends he was husband to Winifred who was a native of Gowran and fathers of Messrs john Cooke of Foxrock Dublin accountant of the staff of first city bank Dublin, James Cooke, Rathmines attached to the county staff of the irish times, Senan Cooke of the staff of Waterford glass, and former all Ireland minor hurler Canice Cooke Narabane, Mrs Phyllis Cooke, Cabra, Joan Pugh, Middlesex, internment took place at Kilmacow cemetery, Waterford good Friday morning with prayer in the church and at the graveside being recited by the reverend cannon Dunne.

Flowers placed at grave by wife and family, with deepest sympathy from John, Avril and family, his loving daughter Joan, David and family from Mark and Eva with deepest regrets from the edge cutting department of Waterford crystal.”

I was told by my mother that he lost his leg in an incident during the civil war. The thing about alot of the information I have on these people is what my mother and her sisters have told me in the past. It was only in the late 80’s that they decided to go back to Ireland and start tracing their uncles and aunts and cousins, they were successful, and so the information I have is got from online information, a small amount of contact with the cookes, and information from my mum and aunts.

It says in the obit that joan pugh lived in Middlesex but she did in fact move back to Narrabane. Andrew Cooke is another one that I have heard a little about. He was in the Royal Navy for a long time, he served in the second world war, and I have been told that he received an OBE for his services, i was also told that he lost an arm in an attack in the north atlantic. Another brother, Thomas, was killed in the second world war. As for the rest of the siblings, I know little. I have a picture below, which i published of Pierce Cooke, who was also killed in WW2. I will gather more info in the future.

One thing I do have though is plenty of pictures, so maybe people can fill me in on information, and as I always say on every blog, please feel free to offer any advice on how I can improve this blog, as the information I put down may be a little skewed, and I like to get it right.

Bridget Cooke

Thomas Cooke

Pierce Cooke

Andrew Cooke

Andrew Cooke

Andrew and John Cooke

andrew and paddy cooke

lady lane, waterford in the 1970's

bridget, ellen, mary and josephine cooke c1908

bridget cooke shortly before she died

Going further back with the O'Rorkes

                        

  My grandfather, Michael O’Rorke

Next up is my O’Rorke and Cooke grandparents and their ancestors. Amazingly enough, with the O’rorkes, I have had the facility to trace a direct line back to a man called Muirdeach Tireach, who was born in 310AD, the route is as follows..

Descendants of Muirdeach Tireach

1.       Muirdeach Tireach(born Abt AD310)

2.       Eochu Mugmedon(D abt AD360)

3.       Brion (Ancestor of Ui Briuin of Connaught)

4.       Duach Galach

5.       Eoghan Sreibh

6.       Muiredeach Mal

7.       Fergus(May have been Muiredeach Mals brother)

8.       Fergna

9.       Aedh Find

10.   Scanlan

11.   Crimhthann

12.   Fedlim

13.   Blaithmac

14.   Baithin

15.   Donchadh

16.   Dub Dothra (D AD743)

17.   Cernach (Or Cearnachan)

18.   Sellachan

19.   Tighernain Mac Seallachan Ua Ruarc (King of Breffni 888, B abt 830)

20.   Ruarc Mac Tighernain Ui Briun Breffni Ua Ruarc (King of Breffni 893)

21.   Art  Mac Ruarc Ui Briun Breifne(B875)

22.   Sean Fearghaill Ua Ruairc(1^st Ruairc king of Connacht)

23.   Aedh Mac Sean Fearghaill O’Ruairc(King of Breifne 1015)

24.   Art Uallach(oirdnide) O’Ruairc(2^nd king of Connacht B965)

25.   Niall Mac Airt O’Ruairc(King of Breifne 1047)

26.   Ualgharg Mac Niall O’Ruairc (B1010)

27.   Tighernain Mac Ualgairg O’Ruairc(B1035)

28.   Domnall Mac Tighernain O’Ruairc(4^th King of Connacht)

29.   Fergal Mac Tighernain(5^th King of Connacht 1157)

30.   Domhnaill Mac Ferhaile(Lord 1207)

31.   Art Mac Domhnaill(King of Breifne 1209-1210)

32.   Amlaib Mac Airl (King of Breifne 1257-1258)

33.   Domhnaill Charrach Mac Amlaib(King Of Breifne 1307-1311)

34.   Ualgharg Mac Domhnaill Charraig(King of Breifne 1316-1346)

35.   Tighernain Mor Mac Ualgharg(King of Breifne 1376-1418)

36.   Tadhg Mac Tighernain Mhorn(king of breifne 1419-1435)

37.   Tighernain Og Mac Mhoirn(King of Breifne 1449-1468)

38.   Eoghan Mac Tighernain(B1468, D1528. King of Breifne 1500-1528)

39.   Brian Ballach Mor(D1562, King of Breifne 1528-1562)

40.   Tigheaman Ban(D abt 1629)

41.   Eoghan Mor(D abt 1661)

42.   Eoghan Og(Chief in 1662)

43.   Donnchadh

44.   Sean

45.   Rev Thaddeus O’Rorke (D1799)

46.   Rev John O’Rorke(1776-1849, Married three times and had many children)

47.   Michael O’Rorke(B abt 1815 Co Galway)

48.   Thomas O’Rorke(B 1842 Dunmore, Co Galway)

49.   Michael O’Rorke(B 1873 D1929 Vicarstown, Queens County(Laois))

50.   Mary O’Rorke(B 1927 Waterford)

To me this shows that my children can look back fifty two generations, it means that muirdeach tireach is my children’s Great(50X)Grandfather. I haven’t even started to look about these people yet, and know absolutely nothing about them other than the fact that were from Breffni, which was an ancient province of Ireland, and that some of them were kings of Breffni and even Connaght.

I’ll tell what I know at this moment, my mother’s father, Michael was born in county Laois, his father, Thomas was a policeman in the RIC, though he was originally from Dunmore in county Galway. He was redeployed many times during his career, so ended up having children in different counties, Tipperary, Waterford, Carlow and Laois, from what I know. He married Mary Heraghty from Vicarstown.

The children were.....

Michael James 1876, Vicarstown, Laois

Mary Teresa 1899, County Tipperary

Cecelia Frances, 1884, County Carlow

Rose Anna, 1878,

Anne Kate, 1891, county Tipperary

Thomas Patrick, 1880, Sallypark, Waterford city

Of these, I only know of one who married and that was Mary Teresa who was a duff at the time of her father’s death. As she was the registered reporter of his death, in Ballymore Eustace in county Kildare. I will in time come to this end of my family, but at present I am concentrating on my Curran side.

Going back to Michael, he has been seen as a civil servant, a junior clerk and a sergeant major in the British army during the First World War. He had travelled quite widely around to, between Britain and all over Ireland, here is his obituary, to sum him up in other words.

“A popular and much esteemed figure has just passed away in the person of Michael j O’Rorke of lady lane. The deceased was well known in musical circles in Waterford, being a member of the Waterford instrumental society, and one of the orchestra at the local cinema, where performances on the double bass were always appreciated. In his earlier days he was an official of the land commission department, before he joined the royal army pay corps, retired at the rank of sergeant major. In post war days he joined the staff of local income tax departments, where he was engaged upwards of seven years. He was also a keen student of the Irish language, at which he was proficient as a fluent speaker, and always wore his insignia of the fainne. He leaves a widow and three children to mourn his loss, and with them as with many other members of his family, sincere sympathy is felt in their sad bereavement.”

Michael’s father, Thomas, as you know was a policeman from Dunmore, County Galway. He was born there back in 1844, his parents were Michael O’Rorke and  Margaret McDermott, around this area O’Rorkes owned alot of land, and so too do the McDermott’s. This led to the fact that Michael’s father was Reverend John O’Rorke who is the first step back into the big line of O’Rorkes.

I know that Rev. John owned thousands of acres, and going back in the past, the O’Rorkes had moved from county Leitrim after being driven out by the Normans, they moved initially to the Moylough area, but obviously spread out to where my GGGF Michael lived in Dunmore. The Breffni O’Rorkes are quite a major player in pre Norman Irish history, and it will be interesting in the future to gain more knowledge on them.

onto the O'Rorke's

Now over to my mother’s side, Mary O’Rorke is my mother’s name, she was born in Lady Lane, Waterford city in 1927, she was one of three sisters, the other two being Patricia (1926) and Brighid (Breeda, 1929). They were born to Michael O’rorke (1876-1929) and Bridget Cooke (1896-1948).                                                                                                          Firstly, I shall talk about my mother, sadly her mother passed away when she was two, and things went slightly downhill for her and her two sisters. According to what I have been told, their mother, Bridget, after the death of her husband, moved back up to her family home, Kilmacow, county Kilkenny, but she had hit upon hard times and was unable to support her three daughters. Apparently Michael had left money to the church, and the at this point the three girls were sent to live in convents in county West Cork, Mary and pat in Clonakilty and Breeda in Kinsale. They all grew up here and at around the end of the war, they all moved over to England, I can only really speak of my mother’s journey, I know that initially she moved to Wales, but eventually ended up in London. In the meantime, Bridget, her mother had moved to Bournemouth, with a friend called Winnie Maloney, also from Kilkenny. They worked within the hotel industry, and Bridget was working as the chef in the Eastcliffe hotel there. She also remarried to a man named Taylor, but little is known of the marriage, and if there were any offspring. Around the latter part of 1948 her husband died, and she became ill, she called upon her daughters, who were contacted via the convent in Clonakilty, and they spent sometime with her, before her departure, once again, like most family stories of the time and before, there is much speculation, which I am not going to elaborate in any way, as to not get into trouble with anyone. Bridget passed away the day prince Charles was born, and is now buried in Bournemouth. Mary and her two sisters worked mainly around nursing and domestic work, and all ended up in London in the 1950’s. Incidentally, Pat has been very helpful in what she has given me in the line of information about the O’Rorkes and Cookes.  Mary met my father, whom together they had four children in the same home, not long after they married, and had five more children together, and generally lived around the Battersea and Clapham areas of London, they even moved out to Australia for a couple of years, but  it didn’t work out, so they came back to Battersea, unfortunately this marriage ended up in divorce in the 70’s. Mary continued to live in the family home until the 90’s, but is now residing elsewhere in Battersea.

Pat O'Rorke

Going back into her ancestry, her father Michael was born in 1876 in Vicarstown, county Laois, he was one of at least six children, of Thomas O’Rorke and Mary Heraghty, Thomas was a policeman, so he got redeployed quite regularly, so all his children, at least the ones I know of are born all over the place. Mary, his mother, I am to believe that she was from the Vicarstown area.

Her mother, Bridget was born in Narrabane, Kilmacow, County Kilkenny. She was one of at least eleven children of John Cooke and Joanna Kelter, both from farming families.

I shall talk about the genealogy of these people in my next blog.

The Gauls of Knocksquire

Margaret about 1901

Margaret Gaul was my Grandfather, Martin Curran’s first wife, she was from Knocksquire or Knockguire(that’s what it says on the ordanance survey map) which is 3 ½ miles as the crow flies south of Drumphea. Like most people in the area, Margaret was from farming stock. Her father James Gaul(c1815-1894) and mother Margaret Quirk(1833-1913) had six children...

Name	DOB	DOD
Margaret	1868 all Knocksquire	1903 Dublin
Bridget	1865	1930
Anne	1866
Phillip	1871
Mary	1872
Michael	Abt  1876

Other than Margaret, I only have a small amount of info for Bridget, who married Patrick Healy about 1885, they had plenty of kids, so I am pretty sure there are modern descendants.

James Gaul and Margaret Quirk, Bridget Gaul and the Healys are all buried in Rathanna Cemetery. Michael Gaul, from the list above can be seen in the 1901 census, living with the Curran’s at 23 Eastwall as a Boarder.

Margaret Gaul herself, married Martin around 1891, they had six children, of which three died in infancy, the story about them is on my blog referring to my Grandfather.....

 http://genealogy-ireland.blogspot.com/2011/05/now-for-my-grandad-on-curran-side.html

I can go back with the Gauls too, Margarets father, James’s fathers name, was John, and James also had a brother John too. There was also another group of Gauls living locally who were the descendants of James's brother John.

The Doyles of Ballypierce and Kildavin, and the Redmonds of Clonegal

Margaret Doyle with Ivy Curran and her two sons Andrew and Martin c1952                                                                                                  Margaret c1920

Staying on the Curran side, ever so slightly, I now move onto the Doyle’s of Ballypierce and Kildavin. My Grandfather, Martin Curran’s second wife was Margaret Doyle, born in Ballypierce, county Carlow in 1880, she was born to farming stock (like my grandfather). Her mother and father were Peter Doyle and Mary Redmond, Peter was from Kildavin around about 1833, and Mary was from Clonegal, two very local places to Ballypierce. Peter was the original Doyle to move to Ballypierce. His father and mother were Thomas Doyle and Anne Willis, both born around 1805. Margaret Doyle GM had quite the number of sibling too:

Name	DOB	DOD
Margaret	1880	1977, Beaumont, Dublin
Mary	1868 (all born in Ballypierce)	1958, Hollywood, Dublin
Catherine(Katie)	1865	1893, Ballypierce?
Anne	1863	Abt 1908
Thomas	1872	1916, Campile, Wexford
Bridget	1885	1902, Dublin?
Patrick	1875	1953, Knocknacree, Kildare
Sarah	1870	1956 Ballypierce
Johanna(Josie)	1882	1967, Sherwood, Carlow
James	1877	1964, Bunclody, Carlow

Firstly we will start with my Grandmother, Margaret. The first major event for Margaret that I can see was the passing away of her mother, Mary in 1887, when Margaret was just seven years of age, there were adult members in her siblings, and I am not to clear what happened, but I do know that Margaret and her younger siblings went to live with their grandmother, Anne Willis, though she only lived until 1891, leaving Margaret at the tender age of eleven. Being from farming stock, Margaret and her siblings would definitely have mucked in on the farm, with their dad, peter. By the time Margaret reached her late teens, she had moved up to Dublin with her sister Bridget, I have been told that they done mainly domestic work, and that Margaret described these days later as being very hard to deal with. I know for a fact that prior to her meeting my Grandfather, Martin Curran, a Dublin policeman, she lived in the east wall area of Dublin with a family called the Spellman’s. Apparently she stayed well in touch with them for long after, and even named one of her sons after Alfred Spellman. Eventually she got a job as a nanny, looking after the children of Martin Curran, his wife had passed away in 1903, and they obviously developed a relationship, and later married in 1908. Margaret had five children, which you can read all about in another blog about my father’s siblings. Margaret lived to the ripe old age of 97.

Bridget Doyle was only 17 when she died, but I did hear a couple of details about her, as I said before she moved up to Dublin when she was in her mid teens, with my grandmother, unfortunately, whilst in Dublin, she became very ill, my aunt Kathleen told me that she may have had flu, though Nanny Ireland (the name I knew Margaret by) said that she had terrible pains in her head, and that it was thought initially that she may have had meningitis. She passed away at the tender age of 17.

                               Margaret(right) with Mary Hosey(mid) and Mary Weldon(left)

Next up is  Mary, twelve years senior of Nanny Ireland, also moved up to Dublin, maybe around the same time as Margaret too, she married John Weldon about 1904, and they went on to have many descendants, some of whom still live around the family home in Hollywoodrath in north county Dublin. Mary passed away in 1958, and kept in touch with my grandmother, they are now buried together in Mulhuddart cemetery, north Dublin.

                                                          Anne Doyle and James Foley

Anne Doyle married James Foley, but unfortunately they had no children and Anne passed away at the age of 41, only three years after her marriage to James. They lived in his family home in Cranemore, just outside of Kildavin.

Thomas Doyle, married Mary Grennan, and they moved to Campile, Wexford. They married in 1907 and had seven children, of which there are descendants. After seven years of marriage, and seven children, Patrick passed away when his youngest child was only two months old.

Margaret, Sarah and Patrick Doyle

Patrick Doyle married Mary Hosey from ballyhade county Kildare, they moved into Knocknacree, near Castledermot, county Kildare. Patrick and Mary had six children, who in turn had many descendants. Patrick passed away in the 1950’s age 78. Incidentally, I made contact with one of Patricks descendants, a gentleman named Michael, who really passed on a pile of information to me, and I likewise to him.

                                                      Thomas Murphy and Sarah Doyle

Sarah Doyle married Thomas Murphy, but the marriage didn’t produce any children. There has been alot of speculation about this marriage, and to be honest, I don’t want to write it here in case I get into trouble. Anyway, they married in 1910, and lived in the Doyle family home in Ballypierce, Thomas at one point tried to make a new start in Canada, but it didn’t work out, and they finished their days in Ballypierce. Sarah passed away in 1956 age 85.

Group of Doyle sisters, my dad is the child, with his mum, margaret, Joannah Doyle with the hat,             I don't know who the middle one is, and then you have Mary Doyle and Mary Hosey

Johanna Doyle was the last of the Doyle children to leave home, she married Patrick Redmond and they moved into a place up in Sherwood, just outside Clonegal(only down the road), not much is known about her, accept that they had two children, but as yet, no known descendants. Johanna lived until she was 85, in Sherwood.

James Doyle married Mary Dixon in 1926, from Aughrim county Wicklow, they lived in Bunclody, no more than a stone’s throw from Ballypierce too. And had four children of which there are descendants. James passed away aged 87 in the 1960’s.

The last one is Catherine, whom I know the least, all I know is that she died aged 28 from tuberculosis, and we don’t think she was married.

As I say in every blog I do, if you can add any flesh to these bones, I would love to hear from you. Particularly little stories about them.

Stepping back another generation with the Doyle’s, my GGF, Peter Doyle was born in the Kilns in Kildavin, and I know a few of his siblings too:

Name	DOB	DOD
Peter	1833, all Kildavin	1919, Ballypierce
Sarah	1836
Catherine	1838
John	1843
Margaret	18??

I can only speak of two individuals in this table, that’s the two men. I found the girls on parish records, and that is all I know. Peter I have told you all about, and then John. John as far as I know lived and died in Kildavin or locality, he was married to Brigid Breen possibly in the late 1860’s, and they had six children as far as I know, which have many descendants. I have been in contact with a lady in Australia, who is a direct descendant of John, and alot of info was exchanged.

Going back again, my GGGF Thomas Doyle and Anne Willis lived in the Kilns in Kildavin village, I think that Anne was originally from Ballypierce, I have been told that Thomas was born in the Kilns too, but I am not so sure personally. The Willis’s were a protestant family in the area at the time, so did Anne convert to RC to marry Thomas? There is a Church of Ireland graveyard in Kildavin, as well as two RC ones, and a fair fraction of the names in there are Willis’s. I know little else about them.

As I said before, my GGF Peter Doyle was married to Mary Redmond, I can step back a generation with her too, Her mother and father were James Redmond and Catherine Kenny, James born Abt 1793 and died 1877, they lived in the Clonegal area. They had alot of children too.

Name	DOB	DOD
Mary Redmond	1842 all clonegal	1887 Ballypierce
Anne(Annie) Redmond	1858
Bridget Redmond	1841
Timothy Redmond	1847
Margaret Redmond	1849
James Redmond	1851
Catherine Redmond	1853
John Redmond	1855
Julia Redmond	1861

Of these, I know Timothy married a lady called Catherine from County Carlow, and they had two children. James married a lady called Kate and they had three children and they lived in Ballyredmond, county Carlow, and finally Catherine married a man called Richard Abraham and they had five children, and possibly lived in Boley.