The following is very long winded but if anyone can help me crack or even dent this brick wall I would be very grateful!
I have feelers all over the internet but nobody has been able to come up with anything so far!
James O'Neil was baptised 1840 Thurles Tipperary to Michael Neale and Margaret Cummins.
Brother Michael was baptised 1827 Thurles and married Allicia Martley/Markley Thurles 1854 had one child and then went to live in Cork City.
Sister Margaret was baptised 1837 Thurles married Denis Drscoll 1856 but Denis died and she remarried to Patrick Martley 1871. She had two children in Thurles and emigrated to Albany NY where she had more children.
Sister Mary was not baptised in Thurles but she married Thomas Martley Thurles and had many children. She died of cancer 1876 Thurles and Thomas and family moved to Albany NY.
Marriage of Michael Neale and Margaret Cummins took place probably around 1825 but not in Thurles and I am still searching for that marriage. Mary and John were not baptised Thurles so no doubt if I find their baptisms I might find the marriage in the same place!
I came across rootsweb and found someone researching the same family and left a message. A different branch of the family contacted me and over several e mails we realised we had the correct family as they were descendants of Patrick Martley and Margaret O'Neil. More importantly they had copies of letters sent to them from Ireland between 1857 and 1901. When I had copies of these letters I found one from Michael O'Neill in Cork (my Great Grandfather)to a brother John O'Neil in Albany NY 1875 signed with the words "God Save Ireland", just 8 years after the Manchester Martyrs had immortalised these words on the scaffold. there was a letter from James O'Neil to John 1859 detailing letters he had written to an Irish newspaper. There was a letter from Michael Neale Thurles to John O'Neil stating that James was an apprentice Baker or Draper to friend in Limerick. I searched Irish Newspapers and found letters that James wrote up to 1864 and then silence until 1869 Directory when he turns up staying in Albany with John O'Neil and his family and working working for RG Dunn and Co a Mercantile Agency NY. I have written to this agency with no luck. That is the last that anybody knows of James. There are two stories circulating.
The Americans have a story that James fled from Ireland with a price on his head and became involved with skirmishes on the Canadian/American border. I have proved that this was a John O'Neill from Monaghan, nothing to do with our family.
I have a story that the O'Neill family in Kilbarry Cork "hid" the Manchester Martys and that would have been my Great Grandfather Michael but judging by the letters that James wrote I think he was implicated in the Manchester Martyrs story. So what happened to James?????? He cannot be found on any American Census and any descendents he might have are not to be found either. We thought we had found him on the 1880 Albany Census but retracing that James O'Neil he is there for much longer than mine could have been so he hasd now been ruled out.
A new contact in Ireland on the Martley side had also heard about the Manchester Martyrs Story so I really feel there is some mileage in this story. I was told the story in 1990 by an old Uncle of 85 still living in the home where the Manchester Martyrs were supposed to have been hidden, but sadly I did not pursue the questioning and he died before I could get to see him again
Janet
I have feelers all over the internet but nobody has been able to come up with anything so far!
James O'Neil was baptised 1840 Thurles Tipperary to Michael Neale and Margaret Cummins.
Brother Michael was baptised 1827 Thurles and married Allicia Martley/Markley Thurles 1854 had one child and then went to live in Cork City.
Sister Margaret was baptised 1837 Thurles married Denis Drscoll 1856 but Denis died and she remarried to Patrick Martley 1871. She had two children in Thurles and emigrated to Albany NY where she had more children.
Sister Mary was not baptised in Thurles but she married Thomas Martley Thurles and had many children. She died of cancer 1876 Thurles and Thomas and family moved to Albany NY.
Marriage of Michael Neale and Margaret Cummins took place probably around 1825 but not in Thurles and I am still searching for that marriage. Mary and John were not baptised Thurles so no doubt if I find their baptisms I might find the marriage in the same place!
I came across rootsweb and found someone researching the same family and left a message. A different branch of the family contacted me and over several e mails we realised we had the correct family as they were descendants of Patrick Martley and Margaret O'Neil. More importantly they had copies of letters sent to them from Ireland between 1857 and 1901. When I had copies of these letters I found one from Michael O'Neill in Cork (my Great Grandfather)to a brother John O'Neil in Albany NY 1875 signed with the words "God Save Ireland", just 8 years after the Manchester Martyrs had immortalised these words on the scaffold. there was a letter from James O'Neil to John 1859 detailing letters he had written to an Irish newspaper. There was a letter from Michael Neale Thurles to John O'Neil stating that James was an apprentice Baker or Draper to friend in Limerick. I searched Irish Newspapers and found letters that James wrote up to 1864 and then silence until 1869 Directory when he turns up staying in Albany with John O'Neil and his family and working working for RG Dunn and Co a Mercantile Agency NY. I have written to this agency with no luck. That is the last that anybody knows of James. There are two stories circulating.
The Americans have a story that James fled from Ireland with a price on his head and became involved with skirmishes on the Canadian/American border. I have proved that this was a John O'Neill from Monaghan, nothing to do with our family.
I have a story that the O'Neill family in Kilbarry Cork "hid" the Manchester Martys and that would have been my Great Grandfather Michael but judging by the letters that James wrote I think he was implicated in the Manchester Martyrs story. So what happened to James?????? He cannot be found on any American Census and any descendents he might have are not to be found either. We thought we had found him on the 1880 Albany Census but retracing that James O'Neil he is there for much longer than mine could have been so he hasd now been ruled out.
A new contact in Ireland on the Martley side had also heard about the Manchester Martyrs Story so I really feel there is some mileage in this story. I was told the story in 1990 by an old Uncle of 85 still living in the home where the Manchester Martyrs were supposed to have been hidden, but sadly I did not pursue the questioning and he died before I could get to see him again
Janet
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