Updated 23 November, 2001
Tim Murnen of Ann Arbor, Michigan (University of Michigan) is one of the most active of the Murnane-Marnane-Murnen-Murnain (etc.) researchers who regularly contribute to this website. He recently discovered the "point of origin" of his family with some help from a kind lady at Bantry Parish in County Cork.
Most of Tim's narrative is included in the Bulletin Board on the Murnanes of Tipperary, Cork and Limerick. It is reprinted here with some additional information that was not included in the Bulletin Board.
After you've read Tim's narrative, you can visit Tim's website by following this link.
I Found Old Owen Murnane and Catherine Cronin!
I have some great news to share.
I received a reply letter from Mrs. O'Brien, the sacristan/genealogist at Bantry parish, County Cork, Ireland. In the envelope were 4 certificates: 1 marriage certificate and 3 baptismal certificates.
In the parlance of genealogists, I have found the Point of Origin of our ancestors in Ireland!! And of course there is a story as to how I came about the information, but I'll spare you those details for now.
Here is what we have already known about our family origins, from family lore as well as genealogical research done by Jean Murnen Lynn and her brother Edgar Murnen of Washington, research done by Mary Alice Murnen of Ohio, and correspondence between Florence Murnen McDonald and Kathryn Murnen Fahey:
Owen Murnane and his wife Catherine Cronin left Ireland in 1847 or 1849 with at least one child--Patrick. Owen left behind his parents Timothy Murnane and Nora Sullivan. Owen and Catherine arrived in Montreal, Canada where they were processed. From there, they went to Ogdensburg, New York along the St. Lawrence River, where they lived for the rest of their lives. They had 8 children: Patrick, Margaret, John Henry, Timothy, Mary, Owen Hannah, and Michael.
Patrick and Mary never married, but remained at home, and cared for their mother into her old age. Hannah went to a convent in Syracuse, and became Sister. Dioneysha. John Henry went west, and settled in Washington, and raised a large family. Timothy and Owen ended up in Toledo, Ohio, where there are still many of his descendants. And Michael stayed in Ogdensburg and raised a family as well. Most of you on this list are descendants of either John Henry, Timothy, or Michael.
Enough of the background info. Here is what I found out from the folks in Bantry parish!!
1. Owen Murnane & Catherine Cronin were married in the church of St. Finbarr, Bantry parish, Diocese of Cork-Ross, County Cork, on 26 January 1839. The witnesses were John Cronin (Catherine's brother, probably) and Owen Murnane (I don't know if this is a different Owen, or whether one can claim to be witness at one's own marriage. I am guessing this is another Owen, but that will be another mystery to unravel down the road. It is not Owen's father, as his name was Timothy.)
2. Elisabeth Murnane was born/baptized on 16 November 1842 in the church of St. Finbarr, Bantry parish, Diocese of Cork-Ross, County Cork by the Reverend Chris Freeman. The parents are listed as Owen Murnane and Mary Cronin. (Perhaps "Mary" is a mistake, but I doubt it. As far as we know, this Elisabeth was never on our radar screen. There is no mention of her in family lore as far as I know, and she didn't make the crossing with Owen and Catherine and Patrick and Margaret in 1847 or 1849. My guess is that she is the daughter of the other Owen Murnane. I know this might sound absurd--this two Owen theory--but there were so many overlappings of names in these old church records that it is more likely than you'd think. For example, in one set of parish records I studied, there were 5 Catherine Cronins and 9 John Cronins all born within about three years of each other in the same parish! So I'm sticking to my "two Owen" theory for now.) The sponsors were John Casey and Mary Donovan.
3. Patrick Murnane was born/baptized on 22 March 1844 in the church of St. Finbarr, Bantry parish, Diocese of Cork-Ross, County Cork by the Reverend Chris Freeman. The parents were Owen Murnane and Catherine Cronin. The sponsors were John Cronin and Mary Cronin. (These were mostly likely Catherine's brother and (probably) sister-in-law.)
4. Margaret Murnane was born/baptized on 30 September 1846 in the church of St. Finbarr, Bantry parish, Diocese of Cork-Ross, County Cork by the Reverend Chris Freeman. The parents were Owen Murnane and Catherine Cronin. The sponsors were Patrick Cronin and Margaret Harrington.
That's the info that came to me in the mail, from the sacristan/genealogist of Bantry parish.
This much we knew already:
Owen & Catherine came from County Cork, leaving behind Timothy Murnane and Nora Sullivan (Owen's parents). They came to North America in either 1847 or 1849.
They arrived by way of Montreal, Canada, and came up the St. Lawrence to Ogdensburg, New York, where they settled and lived for the rest of their life.
Catherine's brother John Cronin and his daughter Mary Cronin came over with Owen and Catherine and also settled in Ogdensburg. Patrick made the crossing with Owen and Catherine. Owen and Catherine had 8 children.
This info, as far as I know, is new info:
Margaret was also born in Ireland, and would have made the crossing with Owen, Catherine, and Patrick. Until now, we weren't sure if she had been born in the US or not.
Elisabeth might be a daughter we never knew about, or she might be the daughter of a different Owen Murnane.
So we now know these details of where our ancestors are from:
Townland: Letterlicky East
Civil Parish: Kilmocomoge
Catholic Parish: Bantry
Church: St. Finbarr's
Diocese: Cork-Ross
County: Cork
What follows does not appear in the Bulletin Board.
Now, are you interested in how this info came into my hands? I'll try to keep this story short.
A few months back, my brother Dave was playing on the Internet, as he does every once in a while at work:) When he's bored, he taps in the word "Murnen" and looks around to see what pops up. I'm sure you all do this every once in a while, looking to see if your name shows up out there in cyber space. Anyway, he found a message left on one of those genealogy web boards. There was a woman in Decatur, Illinois--Dolores--searching for any information on a Mary Wallace, married to an Owen Murnen of Toledo, Ohio. Mary turns out to be a woman my father and aunts and uncles in Toledo always called Mayme Murnen. She was married to Owen Murnen--brother of John Henry, Timothy, and Michael.
As young men, Owen and Tim ended up in Toledo. Owen and Mayme had one daughter--Kathryn--who never had kids, so Owen and Mayme and Kathryn sort of drop off of our family tree radar screen, especially for those of us in my generation. Anyway, Dave responded to Dolores' inquiry regarding Mayme, and he then put me and my father in touch with Dolores via email. All summer, Dolores and I have been helping each other with our research. I've been sending her photos of Mayme and folks, and guiding her through the streets of Toledo at the turn of the last century as she studies old city directories of Toledo. I helped her locate two nieces of Mayme who became Adrian Dominican sisters (There's another story or two here!) And Dolores helped me immensely, searching her CDs and online genealogy subscriptions. I am a rank amateur, but Dolores is a high-tech genealogist:)
Anyway, she ran a search for the names Owen Murnane and Timothy Murnane in the Griffiths Valuation (if you don't know what it is, be happy--actually, Griffith's was a list of taxpaying property owners between 1846 and 1864) and up popped the two names, with townland and parishes included. These were townland names that neither Edgar or Jean had been able to discover when they started their research in the days before personal computers and internet databases. Well, armed with new & concrete information, but still just playing a hunch, I hunted down the names of the current parish priests in the Catholic churches that correspond to civil parish Kilmocomoge, and sent them off an inquiry letter asking them to search their parish records.
And yesterday I received my reply.
So thanks to many people who have helped in this search: Aunt Jean, Uncle Edgar, Aunt Mary Alice, Aunt Evelyn, my dad Tom, Uncle Dick, my brother Dave, Dolores Puckett of Decatur Illinois, Aunt Mayme, Aunt Kathryn McNulty, cousin Sarah, Ed Murnane of Chicago, Joe & Tim Murnane of NY State, and Mrs. O'Brien in Bantry Parish and to countless others who have been and continue to be interested in family history and who have prodded me along to find out more (Jessers, and others).
To Mary Henley: I called your mother (Aunt Jean) right away when I received the letter--I had to tell someone, and she was the one who got me started in the right direction with all of this. I'll snail mail her all of this info. But keep her up to date, and send me her email address.
To everyone in Washington/Oregon: I wish Edgar were in on this one. He would have loved genealogy on the Internet, I am sure. This one is for him!
To Kathryn McNulty: Well. I'm a year too late finding out this info--it didn't help your daughter's trip to Ireland--but I had a hunch even then that Bantry or Skibbereen might be likely locations!
To Ed Murnane, Joe & Tim Murnane: Sorry to bore you with all of my family details, but I thought you might like to know, since all of you have been very instrumental in my research.
To Terry S and John P. Gibboney: I thought you would enjoy my discovery.
To all "Murnens": Your ancestors were Celts whose names appear among those who defended Ireland against Viking invaders in the 900s. And they come from one of the last places in Ireland (far west Cork) where the Gaelic language is still spoken--defiant to the end alongside clans of McCarthys, O'Donoghues, O'Learys and Sullivans who still dominate West Cork. And there are no doubt Murnanes (and Cronins and Sullivans, etc) living in the Bantry area who are descended from the same folks we are. So there's lots more to research, if anyone's interested!
So who's coming with me to Ireland to stomp around the old sod! Summer 2004 anyone?!! I'll celebrate my 40th birthday, sipping Irish whiskey, overlooking Bantry Bay. We'll hire Irish pipers to play in the distance, or learn to play the pipes ourselves!
Feel free to contact me via email, and if you'd like to know more about some of these other folks on this email list that you don't know, I can arrange that, too. I'll send you a huge genealogy chart that will pinpoint most of you.