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A.

The Connors and O’Brien Families

The Connors family had been living in the townland of Fantane, Glenkeen parish, Co. Tipperary, located about 8 km north of the village of Upperchurch. Thomas Connors came to the US with his mother Mary Ryan Connors Maher, his step-father Cornelius Maher and his half-sister Bridget Maher in 1851. Thomas and Maria Ryan Connors had 12 children and lived in Dog Hollow in the hills south of the village of Cuyler. Six of their children married once, one married twice and two married three times. Michael and Julia O’Brien’s youngest daughter Mary married Patrick Connors, the oldest son of Thomas and Maria Connors.

B.

The Roger Ryan Family of Cuyler

The Roger Ryan family was from the townland of Ballyboy, Upperchurch parish, Co. Tipperary. Ballyboy is located about 2 km southeast of the village of Upperchurch along the north side of the Angelsey Road (R503). Roger Ryan and Mary Ryan were married at Upperchurch on February 23, 1832. According to various records they had at least 9 children all of whom were born in Ireland. According to the information in the 1855 census it appears that most of the family arrived in the US in 1850 just as the famine was ending in Ireland. Their children Roger, Hanna and Maggie might have stayed behind with relatives but arrived in Cuyler in time for the 1860 census.

C.

The O’Donnell Families

The Thomas and Mary Maher family came to the attention of the author from a family genealogy document titled “Descendants of Thomas Maher.” The trail of this family picks up in 1859 in Pompey, NY where Thomas and Mary lived until they disappeared from the census records prior to 1892. Thomas and Mary had been born in Ireland and came to the US separately. The descendants of their only children, Mary and Sarah, remained in the Syracuse area and have been traced. Only Mary Maher Kinney had any children, a daughter Mable Kinney who married George Carr and they had no children. The family has died out. The Thomas and Mary O’Donnell Maher family is one of 10 O’Donnell families in the document.

D.

The Conan Family of Foilagoule, Moyaliff, Co. Tipperary

Jerry and Winifred Walsh Conan survived the Great Irish Famine on their small five acre farm in the townland of Foilagoule, in Moyaliff parish, Co. Tipperary, located 3  km southwest of the village of Upperchurch. As the famine came to an end various members of his family decided to emigrate from Ireland to America. Five of their six known children would leave Ireland in the next decade and they all settled in the Pompey area of Onondaga County in Central New York State. Mary, the second oldest, arrived in 1850 followed by her older brother, James, in 1852. Her younger brother John arrived in 1855, and another younger brother, Jeremiah, by 1860. The youngest member of the family, Honora, arrived in the Pompey area by 1863.

E.

The Descendants of Thomas Maher

Cornelius Maher married Mary Ryan Connors in Ireland in 1845 and they had two children in Ireland and a final child in Pompey in 1853. Mary had a history in Ireland and it was possible to find records of both of her marriages and the baptisms of her children. It was also possible to find the Connors/Maher land holding in the townland of Fantane, Glenkeen parish, Co. Tipperary, Ireland. Thomas Maher (b. 1817-1824) found his future wife, Mary O’Donnell in Pompey, NY and left no trace in the Irish records. The children of Thomas Maher and Mary O’Donnell were found in the Pompey census records. John Maher married Mary Coonan in Ireland, although they didn’t have any children until after they settled in Pompey, NY in 1850.  She was followed by her brothers James in 1852, John in 1855 and sister Honora by 1863. The children of John Maher and Mary Coonan were found in the US census records.