The OMalleys from Cloonfoher - Original

 Please remember in this summary, the ages and dates are all subject to debate since they are listed numerous places in different ways.  The records and these facts, should be considered generalities at best.  Creating a loving family was priority and record keeping was not.  As more information becomes available on-line in Ireland, we may find additional information and changes. This  is what we believe is a framework of our history but not in any way do we believe this is absolute fact.

In anticipation of the O'Malley reunion to take place in June of 2016,  a bit of some family "history"- as we think we know it today.   Please note , this is far from gospel. The Irish are not particularly clear on details and as we attempted to piece some of this together, all the pieces simply did not and do not fit.  As an example, the ship manifest when grandma signed in to the USA,  lists her as 40 years of age which she obviously was not since she had 8 children after that!   

We always heard about the O'Malley's coming from Westport in County Mayo, but could find only earlier records of property for part of the family in Cloonhofer, just north of Westport.  It makes sense they would have said they were from Westport since it is the nearest (12 miles or so) from the farmland- Cloonhofer.

What follows, therefore, is some of what we have pieced together. NOTHING should be accepted as gospel since there are so many holes,loose ends and absolute inconsistencies. Because this 'history' is so sketchy, it should not be distributed outside of the family or used to establish any bets at Paddypower, the local bookmaker.

This is what we believe we know but is always open to continued revision.

The O'Malleys

The O'Malley family, at one time lived near the townland of Cloonfoher, north of Newport and Westport in County Mayo.  Cloonfoher, Newport and Westport are all in the same area of the west coast of County Mayo in rural western Ireland. Grandma had said they were from Westport and we assume this was because it was the largest town near them to be found on a map.

 Beautiful Burrishoole Abbey is on the road from Newport towards Cloonfoher. We believe some ancestors are buried here.

The Townland History from Burrishoole Parish provides a very general  background to part of the family history.

Below is the Griffith's Land Valuation of 1846 showing Peter Malley, born roughly around 1800, was both a tenant and landlord. Peter's landlord was the infamous Sir Roger Palmer who owned 90,000 acres in County Mayo. In 1848, at the height of the famine, Palmer sent his thugs in with crowbars to pull down homes of tenants who couldn't pay rent. Our Peter Malley somehow managed to hang onto his property.

You can see that Peter lived at property "f" and leased property "g" to Peter Joyce. John and James Malley, in properties "a" and "l",  are assumed to be Peter's brothers.

We just found this spot on the earth in the Spring of 2015. Until this time, we had no idea exactly where they were from. In this image from Google Satellite, the ruins of the homestead are still visible. Peggy O'Malley-Dean was able to walk the land in July, 2015 and met neighbors who knew and played with our cousins. This is the land and buildings as they stand today. 

Peter Malley had four sons. His eldest, Peter was born in 1830 (our great grandfather). John was born in 1835, James 1837 and Martin in 1840. (Martin's grandson, Michael John Fahey will be the cousin Michael Patrick stays with when he emigrates to America.) Junior Peter O'Malley married Rose McDonnell around 1860 (this is the family who remained on the Cloonfoher property until  approximately 1960 - went to England).

Peter and Rose (our great grandparents) had five children born and we believed lived in Cloonfoher: Mary born in 1866, Michael Patrick in 1868 (our grandfather), Peter in 1870, Anthony in 1872, and Sarah in 1875. 

Mary emigrated to Chicago in 1886 when she was 20 years old. She married Joseph Williamson, a Canadian immigrant who worked in Real Estate. Mary and Joseph had no children. She died in 1943 and is buried in Calvary Cemetery although there is no headstone.

Sarah, the youngest, emigrated in 1894 with two of her friends from Newport, Mary Cusick and Maryanna Coyne, to work as domestics at 62 East Huron in Chicago. Sarah married John Delaney in 1900. Sarah Delaney died very young in 1931 and was the first O'Malley sister to be buried in Calvary.




About the same time Sarah emigrated in 1894, her brother Michael moved to Glasgow to look for work. He found work as a bricklayer's laborer and also met and married Elizabeth Masterson. 

Married in Glasgow

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Masterson and Michael O'Malley were married in Glasgow in St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church on January 13, 1896.  Elizabeth's (Lizzie, Eliza) Irish parents were living in Glasgow for work as well.

Lizzie and Michael's first child, John was born in 1897, Patrick in 1900, Mary 1903, Rose 1904, Elizabeth 1905, and James in 1907. According to Elizabeth's birth record, she was born at home, 3 Claythorn Street in Calton, the oldest part of Glasgow. 

Back in Newport/ Westport 

While Michael and the girls left Newport or Westport, Anthony and Peter stayed near home.

Their father, Peter, was quite a curmudgeon as seen in this 1896 newspaper article about a case from Petty Court.

Peter takes his son and wife to court


Anthony had married Lisabeth in 1898 and they had two girls, Rose born in 1902 and Sarah born in 1904. 

Peter (great uncle), the dutiful middle brother who protected his mother, married Bridget Grady in 1902 and they had five children: Mary, James, Rose, John, and Sarah was born in 1916.  Bridget died in 1931 as a young woman and she is buried in Burrishoole Abbey cemetery. They remained on the Cloonfoher property until about 1960.

Lord have mercy on the soul of Mrs. Bridget O'Malley of Cloonfoher

Lord have Mercy on the soul of Peter O’Malley of Cloonfoher
died 12th March 1955 aged 84 years

John O'Malley moved to London where his children and their families still reside.

To America

The economy in Newport/ Westport could not support these young men with new families so Anthony, Lisabeth and their two infant daughters sailed for America in 1905. By 1910, Anthony is working in building construction in Chicago and another girl has arrived, Lizzie, born in 1907. 

Michael followed his brother Anthony and sailed to Chicago on April 25, 1906. He sailed from Queenstown, listed his profession as a laborer and was 35 years old. He was going to stay with someone he listed as his nephew, Michael John Fahey, who lived at 57 Superior St in Chicago. Michael John was actually his cousin, Maria O'Malley Fahey's son. Maria's father, Martin and Peter were brothers, all growing up in the same townland of Cloonfoher. Michael John had emigrated a few years after his cousin Sarah.

Elizabeth sails with six children




On September 29, 1907 Elizabeth Masterson O'Malley followed her husband to Chicago. Records say she was 40 years old but this is obviously not correct.  She traveled with her six children: John 10, Patrick 7 (both boys and their mother could read and write), Mary was 4, Rose 3, Eliza 2 and James was 6 months old. Their last known residence  was listed as Newport, County Mayo.  Their destination was to meet with the children's father, Michael O'Malley, who lived at 129 Dearborn Ave in Chicago Illinois.
They sailed on the Eustracia.  
Mary remembers wearing a blue velvet coat on the boat and her 'ma' being very sick for the entire trip. We believe she was pregnant with Sarah/ Sal who was the first child born in the USA but the dates on this are confusing at best- again, facts seem a bit loose at best and often contradict each other.

The O'Malleys on Lovejoy

Sarah was the first child born in the United States in 1909, Peter was born in 1913, Ann in 1914, Edward in 1915, Cecilia in 1918, Jeanette died as an infant, Vincent in 1919, and Gordon in 1920.   The children were born at home and baptized at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago.

In 1918, when Patrick registered for the draft, their home address was 1145 N. Franklin. The story is told one of the girls was a "runner" and was tied up in the front yard to play. She was hit by a street car but recovered and the settlement provided the funds to purchase the home on Lovejoy.

The next record is 1930 when the family was living in the beautiful home at 5300 Lovejoy in the Jefferson Park neighborhood of Chicago. The parish was St. Cornelius where the children went to school.  

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Memories shared at the 1997 reunion about the house on Lovejoy:

Uncle Ed, Uncle Gord, Kevin and Peg O'Malley went on a field trip to visit the Lovejoy home and it was quite a trip.  Watching these 2 leprechauns visit the home was amazing. They remembered who slept in each bedroom (3).  The boys had at least 6 in one bedroom.  They remembered the great smells and good food 'Ma' made in the kitchen. The woman who owned the home was shocked so many people lived in this home and was even more shocked when Uncle Gord told this story as he was touching the radiator in the living room.

Gordon remembers being caught smoking in a "fox-hole" across the street.  When Grandma saw him, he swallowed the lit cigarette and Grandma made him sit on the radiator and smoke Grandpa's pipe as punishment. 

Aunt Sal: The house was so beautiful. It had a sweat room off the bathroom. I shared a bedroom with Mary. Mom had to know exactly when we came in. The dining room had a huge leather window seat. 

Dorothy: Mom had beautiful crystal --

Stemware glasses in the large cabinets. 

Kathy Keegan: We wanted to go down the dirty clothes shoot on the 2nd floor but thought Grandmother wouldn't like it.

LaVergne remembered leaving home on Fridays after school and going to Grandma and Grandpa's for the weekend and coming home on Sunday. Her dad said it was her "home away from home." She also remembers going to the basement to get canned veggies.

Bill Devaney remembered Grandma dropping to her knees when she heard the Angelus ring, even on the sidewalk. Grandpa played the tin whistle and encouraged the children to do the jig.

Shirley Boyd remembers shortly after getting engaged, attending a wake and upon entering the woman's room, where many O'Malley girls were smoking, she heard someone say "Mom's coming" and there was a mad scramble to dispose of the cigs. For such a little woman, she had great control. Impressive!

John

John was born in 1896 in Glasgow. In 1919, he married Mae Connell and they moved to West Addison St. in Chicago where they had two children, LaVergne and Jack.

Patrick

Patrick was born in 1898 in Glasgow. In 1940, he was still living with his family on Lovejoy, working as a typesetter. He died in 1962 of pneumonia. 

Mary

In 1935, Mary moved to Palm Beach Florida and married Daniel Conway. She did not have any children. She was always dressed up beautifully with earings and bracelets. She worked in the retail industry.

Cele, Mary, Sal, and Rose

Rose

Rose married J. Campi and passed away a few short years after the '87 O'Malley Reunion.  They had a daughter, Jane who died in 2014.

Elizabeth

Lizzie married Robert James Boyd in 1925. Robert had grown on up on Winchester, the same street the Fahey's lived on after their first residence on Superior where Michael stayed in 1905. 

By 1930, the Boyd's lived two blocks away from the O'Malley home on Lovejoy. They had five children, Elizabeth, Patricia, William, Cecelia and Robert, born in 1941.

James

James Joseph became a naturalized citizen in 1933 and married Helen Schoentgen. In 1938, James got a job in Detroit, working as a printer in the Rotogravure Publishing industry. Dennis was born in 1939. They had two more children, Michael and Maureen, and eventually moved back to Chicago.

Sarah 

Sal married Al Keegan in 1933. They had three daughters, twins Nancy and Mary Beth and Kathleen in 1938 and they grew up not too far from Lovejoy.  They lived in Bellwood until their move to Florida to be with Mary and Ann and then to Iowa City to be with Nancy, Jude and Kathy.

Jeanette

Jeanette died before reaching her first birthday and is buried in Calvary Cemetery on the Evanston/Chicago border.

Peter Francis

Peter Francis married Dorothy Marguerite Cradick in 1939 and moved to St. Louis. He and Dorothy had four children, Madonna, Michael, Kevin, and Peg and 10 grandchildren. Pete worked in the food industry. Pete died in 1995 and Dorothy in 2006.  Yearly visits were made to Chicagoland to see his siblings and many made the trip down 55 to STL.

Alice

Alice passed away at two years old in 1916 when influenza took so many lives.

Ann Margaret

Ann Margaret married Hal Edwards in 1936. They had two daughters, Noell and Denise and lived in South Florida. 

Edward Cornelius

Edward Cornelius married Bette Sexton in 1933 and moved to Bemidji, Minnesota. They had four children: Mary Bon, Patrick, Elizabeth and Sarah and 5 grandchildren.  Ed also served in the Great War and was a decorated war hero earning the Silver Star and the ........  He did not like to talk about it but on rare occasion would share the story.

Cecilia

Aunt Cele was ordained into the Sisters of Mercy in 1942 and took the name Sr. Mary Ita (she had no idea why she took this name).  She taught in Chicago schools her entire career, mostly in kindergarten and 1st grade.

Vincent

Vincent Paul was enlisted and served as Pfc in the Great War. He married Jacqueline Mildred Meyer after returning and had two boys, Terrence and Timothy.

Gordon

Gordon Vincent was the last child, born in 1920. He was a radar specialist in the war and married Gloria Feliciani upon his return. They had four children: Mary Margaret, Gloria Jean, James and  Geraldine.

Gord also served in WWII. 

In 1940, Michael was a Nightwatchman for a printing company and some sons followed him into the business. 30 year old Patrick was a typesetter. Mary, 28, was a Dental Assistant. James at 22 years old was a Roto Printer and Sarah, 20, was a stenographer. Peter worked in the grocery business. The younger boys still lived at home and were soon to be GIs in the war.

Michael died in 1952 at age 83 and Elizabeth passed in 1957 at the age of 79. She had her first child at age 19 and her last at 42 years of age.