Tracking My Ancestor's Siblings

My youngest great-grandparent was John O’Riordan(1870-1945). A native of Massytown, Macroom, Cork, Ireland, he became a mason like his father, Daniel. Daniel O’Riordan(1831-1908) married Mary Ann Desmond(1838-1922) in 1861 at Macroom. They had a large family between 1862-1880: Ellen, 62, Julia, 64, Catherine, 66, Mary Anne, 68, John, 70, Denis, 72, Jeremiah, 73, Jeremiah, 75, Margaret, 77 and Nora, 80.

Over the years I was able to find Daniel and Mary Ann in the 1901 and 1911 Irish censuses. I was also able to receive the church records first from the pastor at St. Colman in Macroom and later from the Heritage Center at Mallow.

RootsIreland eventually offered a digitized database with the church records of their parish. This was very useful but did not open up any paths of research to answer the questions when did Mary Ann Desmond (O’)Riordan die and what became of their other children?

I recently have been able to utilize the scanned pages of marriage and death records available at irishgenealogy.ie to look for the potential marriages.

I figured out years ago based on the appearance of my grandmother’s cousin Evelyn McSweeney in the 1901 census at Macroom with her Riordan grandparents that at least one daughter had married a man named McSweeney and had a daughter in June 1890.

Evelyn’s birth record listed her parents as Patrick McSweeney and Ellen Riordan. The marriages showed a match for this couple in 1887 at Cork SRD. That certificate showed that Julia Riordan was the maid of honor, presumably Ellen’s sister. Katie Riordan, Massytown, Macroom, was present for Evelyn's 1890 birth.

Those documente suggested that Julia Riordan and Catherine Riordan had lived to adulthood. Checking both the indexes online for both Cork SRD and Macroom SRD, I had a lot of records to open hoping that I could identify that it was the correct woman. The marriage record would reveal her father’s name and occupation and possibly if he were dead or alive.

Finally, I came upon an 1891 marriage between Eugene McAuliffe and Julia Riordan. They married at St. Finbarr parish, where her brother John would later baptize all 8 of his children between 1895-1909. The best piece of evidence was her father’s name and occupation; Daniel, mason. This alone did not prove she was John’s sister but it took a step towards that conclusion.

Eugene McAuliffe lived in Mallow. I was able to search for potential baptisms for children of this couple at Roots.Ireland. There were 7 children born between 1892-1907. I was able to take the names learned from the baptismal register and find their birth registrations at irishgenealogy.ie

I wasn’t sure it was them particularly because none of the baptismal sponsors appeared to be connected to Julia Riordan. 

I was also able to find an 1899 marriage at St. Finbarr, of another daughter of Daniel Riordan, mason. Catherine Riordan married Cornelius Foley, also of Mallow. Mallow is a town that is 35 km northwest of Cork City. The baptismal records at Mallow also found children born to this couple between 1900-1908. The godmother for the Foley child born in 1904 was Mary Riordan. This could possibly be the sister of John Riordan.

Both the McAuliffe and Foley families were enumerated at Mallow in both 1901 and 1911. These provided extra details. 

I wrote to my uncle to see if he had ever heard of these people. He got back to me and informed me that we had McAuliffe cousins that had emigrated to the USA in the 1940s. He filled in a few dates I did not have and I was able to determine that the cousins were the children of Thomas McAuliffe(1907-1944) born to Eugene and Julia. 

I was also able to track the siblings of Thomas. Two sisters died as children, two married and immigrated to NYC, the last sister traveled to the US married a man there and then settled in his home country, England. The older brother born in 1905 settled in England as well. 

There are indexes on Ancestry for English births, deaths and marriages that with enough information on the person, one can find his vital events. With a name of a person born in 1941, I was able to find his death in 2002, his marriages in 1969 and 1993. With the maiden name of his wives I could find the names and years of his children’s births in 1972, 1976, 1978 and 1996 and 1998. It does not list their exact date of birth or address but it does reveal that they exist. I am surprised that these indexes were made available through 2005 online at Ancestry. I suppose one could find links of someone that was not your collateral relative, so beware of going down a rabbit hole and getting stuck in a ditch.

I also tried to find a death certificate for an elusive great-great grandmother. I knew that Mary Ann Desmond Riordan was born in 1838. She was counted in both the 1901 and 1911 Censuses. I had tried finding her in both Cork and Macroom SRD to no avail. I started looking at women that were younger than expected and came her fourth daughter Mary Ann Riordan, unintentionally. 

Mary Ann Riordan, 40,(sic) was living in Massytown in 1917 when she died. She was recorded as a spinster and the daughter of a mason. This strongly suggested that this was the fourth daughter of Daniel and Mary Ann Riordan. The informant was a woman named Julia Desmond, possibly a maternal first cousin.

It took quite a few more searches to find a likely candidate for her mother. On 15 Apr 1922 a widow named Mary A. Riordan, died at Cork District Hospital. She was late of Macroom. This was a possible death for my ancestor. The one stumbling block is that she was 90 on the certificate but my Mary Ann would have only been 83. I will have to find a headstone, burial record or obituary that definitively links this woman to my family to be certain. No other likely possibilities had been discovered.

John Riordan was the fifth child of the couple. I knew his story. 

The sixth child was Denis Riordan born in 1872. He was a mason living with his brother’s family at 4 St. Finbarr Street in 1901. I had no luck finding him after that.

The baby boys born in 1873 and 1875 both died as infants. 

The eighth child was a daughter named Margaret. She was apparently a baptismal sponsor for her niece Honora Riordan in 1897. 

A Margaret Riordan married William Reid at St. Finbarr in Cork City on 25 Jan 1902. She dwelled at 4 St. Finbarr Street. The male witness was Denis Riordan. The father of the bride was Daniel Riordan, mason. This was an exact match for my Margaret Riordan born 1877. 

The 1911 Census and the birth registry showed that they had three children between 1902-1907. They lived in Monkstown. William was born in Liverpool and was Presbyterian.(A married couple identified as cousins in law piqued my interest. I will write about them next time.)

I found a Denis Riordan in the 1911 Census that about the right age and he was married and had four children. The couple had married in County Kerry but both lived in County Cork. This man was a civil engineer and the father identified on the marriage record was Daniel Riordan, builder. I need to find some more evidence to conform a connection.

The first two children were born at Monkstown SRD and the third at Milstreet. The fourth was born at Dublin. A fifth child was born back in Millstreet in late 1911. It may be a coincidence that the witness at the Reid-Riordan wedding was Denis Riordan, but both Denis Riordan and William Reid and families lived in Monkstown in 1904-1905.

Finally, tenth child and sixth daughter, Nora Riordan was born in 1880. She was enumerated in the 1901 Census with her parents, sister Mary and niece Evelyn at Massytown. I had not seen signs of her after that. She was not a godmother for any of her siblings’ children that I could ascertain.

In 1915 a Nora Riordan married a soldier named Thomas Copperthwaite at St. Finbarr in Cork City. She lived at 28 Bandon Street; he at Glasheen. His father was James and a brewer. Her father was Daniel Riordan, builder. I need more evidence to solidify my theory that builder could be synonymous with mason.