Passenger: Johana Hayes
Arrival Date: 20 Sep 1875
Birth Year: abt 1820
Age: 55
Gender: Female
Ethnicity/Race­/Nationality: Irish
Place of Origin: Ireland
Port of Departure: Liverpool, England and Queenstown, Ireland
Destination: United States of America
Port of Arrival: New York
Port Arrival State: New York
Port Arrival Country: United States
Ship Name: Wisconsin

Also traveling with Johanna is a daughter named Brid. (Bridget), age 30 and a son name John, age 20.  The ages for all three passengers match the known ages of the Johanna, Bridget and John of Limerick, Ireland.  Based on these facts, it is safe to conclude that this passenger manifest positively identifies that that these three family members arrived in the United States on 20 September, 1875.

So working with the information I found at pilot.familysearch.org, I went over to a site I seldom use because it is so incredibly expensive to do research on it.  In fact, it is more of a site to go to when you know EXACTLY what you are looking for. The site is run by the Irish Family History Foundation and can be found at brsgenealogy.com.  The Irish Family History Foundation is the coordinating body for a network of county based genealogical research centers on the island of Ireland. These centers have computerized millions of Irish genealogical records, including church records, census returns and gravestone inscriptions.  But their search tools are pretty week.  It is very difficult to narrow down your searches using known information about an individual.  I think they are hoping you will pay the $7.50 US per record to look at a set of possible records.    Obviously, that can add up quickly.

I can’t afford to do a bunch of research here, so I started with a sure thing.  The first thing I did was find the matching civil birth record for Patrick Hanly and purchased the information for about $7.50 US.

CIVIL BIRTH RECORD
Patrick Hanly
DOB: 13-Sep-1865
Parish / District: ROCKHILL & BRUREE
County: County. Limerick
Father: Daniel Hanly
Mother: Ellen Hayes
Sponsor 1: Edmd. Hayes
Sponsor 2: Hanora Fiitgerald

While I was looking for Patricks civil birth record, I came across a matching baptism record, with the last name being slightly different. But it was another match.

CHURCH BAPTISM RECORD
Patrick Hanley
DOB: 14-Sep-1865
Parish / District: ROCKHILL & BRUREE
County: County. Limerick
Father: Daniel Hanley
Mother: Ellen Hayes
Sponsor 1: Edmd. Hayes
Sponsor 2: Hanora Fiitgerald

According to the Irish Family History Foundation web site, civil birth record recordings did not begin until 1865 in Ireland, so anybody born before than will not have a “Civil Birth Record”.  Patrick was one of the first Irishman to receive a Civil Birth Record.  If a persons birthday is before, you need to hope that you can find a Church Baptismal Record.  So since most of the people I have been looking for were most likely born before 1865, I switch focus and began looking for Irish Baptism Records in County Limerick.  While I did not find any matching records for Catherine Hanley (Hanly), I did find a matching record for William Hanley.

CHURCH BAPTISM RECORD
William Hanley
DOB: 26-Jul-1863
Parish / District: ROCKHILL & BRUREE
County: County. Limerick
Father: Daniel Hanley
Mother: Hellen Hayes
Sponsor 1: Ptk. Riordan
Sponsor 2: Maria Hayes

At this point Thursday night, I composed a real quick blurry-eyed email to my Hayes cousins on my mothers side.  I was every excited to have made even this little bit of progress and wanted to share my findings with everybody

Feeling a little fresher the next morning, I decided to revisit the Irish Family History Foundation website to see what I could come up without breaking the bank.  This time, I tried a slightly different strategy.  I narrowed my search focus to include ONLY from the Rockhill / Bruree parish…..  BINGO!  The first thing I found was the marriage certificate for Ellen Hayes and Daniel Hanly.

CHURCH MARRIAGE RECORD
Daniel Hanly and Helen Hayes
Date of Marriage:  18-Feb-1860
Parish / District: ROCKHILL & BRUREE
County: County. Limerick
Husband: Daniel Hanley
Wife: Helen Hayes
Denomination Roman Catholic
Witness 1: Patrick Hayes
Witness 2: Joanna Fitgerald

The Hayes Family Of Bruree Found!

Then digging deeper and widening the possible range of birthdays, I was able to come up with a bunch of records the clearly establish the Hayes family of Bruree

CHURCH MARRIAGE RECORD
Patrick Hayes and Joanna Currey*
Date of Marriage:  27-Jan-1837
Parish / District: ROCKHILL & BRUREE
County: County. Limerick
Husband: Patrick Hayes
Wife: Joanna Currey *
Denomination Roman Catholic
Witness 1: James Naughton
Witness 2: Maria Currey
*THEY BELIEVE THAT “CURRY” SHOULD ACTUALLY BE READ “COWHEY”

CHURCH BAPTISM RECORD
Maria (Mary) Hayes
DOB: 24-Apr-1843
Parish / District: ROCKHILL & BRUREE
County: County. Limerick
Father: Patrick Hayes
Mother: Joh. Cowhey
Sponsor 1: MI Russell
Sponsor 2: Mgt. Kennelly

CHURCH BAPTISM RECORD
Patrick Couhy Hayes
DOB: 08-Jul-1851
Parish / District: ROCKHILL & BRUREE
County: County. Limerick
Father: Patrick Hayes
Mother: Joh. Couhy
Sponsor 1: Edmd. Calleghan
Sponsor 2: Maria Kennelly

CHURCH BAPTISM RECORD
Edmond Hayes
DOB: 09-May-1848
Parish / District: ROCKHILL & BRUREE
County: County. Limerick
Father: Patrick Hayes
Mother: Joh. Couhy
Sponsor 1: Edmd. Hayes
Sponsor 2: Maria Hayes

CHURCH BAPTISM RECORD
John Hayes
DOB: 11-Jun-1854
Parish / District: ROCKHILL & BRUREE
County: County. Limerick
Father: Patrick Hayes
Mother: Joh. Cowhy
Sponsor 1: John Toohill
Sponsor 2: Ellen Nunan

For some reason, the only female baptism record I have been able to find is for Maria Hayes.  I am thinking it has something to do with the spelling of their names. For instance, the person I knew as Mary Hayes was actually recorded as Maria Hayes.  And I have seen Ellen Hayes listed as Helen Hayes

In Summary

Based on this information we can safely assume that the Hayes family inhabited the Bruree Parish between 1837 and roughly 1877 when Patrick, the father of Maria, Patrick, Edmond, John and Ellen, died.   Before that, Ellen (Helen) Hayes Hanley came to the United States in 1867 with her husband and three Irish born children.  Ellen’s husband, Daniel, died shortly after arriving and contracting TB from one of the worsted mills in Pennsylvania. According to information from Edward Hayes,

I had initially given up hope for finding any real records of the Hayes family in Limerick. Some time ago, cousin Jim Hayes had a genealogy report created by a “professional genealogist” in Ireland.   The genealogist had stated that at that time, the Parish Register for the Rockhill / Buree area started in 1842,  Based on what I have found, that is clearly incorrect.  I was able to find a marriage record from 1937.

I have learned several lessons form this wonderful find.

1.  Never give up.  New records and information appear every month on various web sites.  It is always good to revisit a troubled branch with a fresh brain after giving yourself some time off to contemplate new options.

2.  Further research will require us to look at numerous naming alternatives.  For instance, when researching for Johanna Coughy, we need to consider the following name variations:

• Johanna
• Joanna
• Joh.
• Coughy
• Coughey
• Cowhey
• Couhy
• Cowie

So while I have not positively linked my branch of the Hayes family to the Bruree Hayes family, there is enough circumstantial evidence to say they are all related.  Maybe the baptism record for Ellen Hayes will show up sometime in the future.

Click to enlarge

Click to Enlarge

Patrick Hayes
b. 22 Jun 1852 in Ireland, d. 7 Nov 1917 in New York

Catherine Berry Hayes
b. abt 1865 in Dromore, Ireland, d. 20 Oct 1942 in New York

John Hayes, Infant son
b. 27 Sep 1891 in new York, d. 27 Sep 1891 in New York

Mary Josephine Hayes, 9 month old daughter
b. 12 Mar 1893 in New York, d. 9 Jan 1894 in New York

Catherine (Katie) Hayes, 4 day old daughter
b. Jul 1896 in New York, d. Jul 1896 in New York

Edward Hayes, 1 day old son
b. 10 Aug 1897 in New York, d. 11 Aug 1897 in New York

Johanna Hayes, 6 year old daughter
b. 10 Aug 1894 in New York, d. 5 Jun 1900 in New York

and

David Barry, brother of Catherine Barry Hayes
d. 13 Nov 1892 in New York

• FindAGrave.com Memorial

A lifelong Republican, Jim has had a long and successful career in magazine publishing, including Fortune. A traditional conservative believing in small government and fiscal responsibility, Jim has also been deeply concerned about the deep polarization in America over the last couple years even as the problems we face grow in severity. Obama’s promise to work toward national unity appealed to Jim as well as his belief that the route to economic prosperity starts with building a strong middle class.

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To Learn More, check out the website and video at:

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Several months ago, I had found a Tierney cousin by gambling and sending a letter to a him in hopes that he he had the same name and followed in his father’s footsteps in being a lawyer. Well it worked. But not because he followed in his father’s footsteps.  In fact, the Raymond Tierney I found turned out to be the son of the person I was looking for.  This Raymond’s father had nothing to do with legal profession.  I guess I just got lucky!

Since that strategy worked once before in finding relatives on the Tierney side of the family, I took a chance and thought it might work again.  So last month, I sent an email to an attorney named James V. Hayes who I found on the interent.  He was part of a Law Firm in New York City.  After several weeks, he responded back to me to let me know that he did not believe that we were related. His family came from the Boston area.  Bummer… so it wasn’t going to be that easy.

Last week  I came across several articles, which I’d seen before, but had dismissed because the generations didn’t seem to match up with what I expected. After reviewing two obituaries and a marriage announcement, I became convinced that I had found the correct descendants of James B. Hayes. So using Google and other tools on the Internet I found a bunch of possible snail mail addresses. I decided to send them a letter in hopes that they would respond.

Once again I quickly received an excited phone call from Mary Ann Mummma of Larchmont, New York, confirming that I had found the correct descendants of Patrick Hayes and Johanna Cowhey.  We had a very nice conversation in which she told me that she didn’t think she had any cousins.  Well, I let her know that she had twelve cousins in Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut.    She gave me her brother’s telephone number in Colorado and told me that he had been extensively researching the Hayes’ of Limmerick, Ireland for sometime now.  In fact, he had even been to the place where they were allegedly from.

Now here is the kicker.  I am her second cousin, twice removed!  My branch of the family tree had squeezed in two additional generations.  So while she was talking about her great grandparents Patrick and Johanna, I was talking about my great-great-great grandparents Patrick and Johanna.  That explains the generation issue I had trouble with early on.

After speaking to cousin Jim in Colorado, I learned that the Hayes’ came from a little place called Bruree, which is just outside of Limerick, Ireland.  We agreed that between the two of us, we should be able to put together a well documented history of the Hayes’.  So the work begins…

Related articles

• James V. Hayes Obit
• Agnes B. Hayes Obit (wife of James)

County Lawyers Association, died Saturday at his home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan after a long illness. He was 85 years old.

At the time of his death, Mr. Hayes was a senior partner in the law firm of Donovan Leisure Newton & Irvine, which he joined in 1943. In one of the firm’s notable antitrust trial cases, he defended Howard Hughes and the Hughes Tool Company in a suit brought by Trans World Airlines.

Mr. Hayes was a native of Manhattan. He graduated from Fordham Law School and went into practice in 1926. He was assistant United States attorney for the Southern District of New York before being appointed a special assistant to the United States Attorney General in 1938.

Mr. Hayes was an officer and then president of the New York County Lawyers Association in the late 1960′s.

He is survived by his wife, the former Agnes Clare Brine; a daughter, Mary Ann Mumma of Larchmont, N.Y.; two sons, James B., of Scarborough, N.Y., and John V., of Manhattan; and 10 grandchildren.