Conkey of Killyleagh area, Saintfields; McVeigh, Middleton, 1800s & earlier

[miles_hagen_bown]

Hello

I am following the Conkey family; our line ended up in Rochester New York.

From my mother-in-law's research in the 1970s and grandmother-in-law's research in the early 1960s we have

Gen 1
Mary Alexandria Conkey married James Christie in Albion, Orleans, New York in April of 1892. I have two days, April 13 and April 19, to sort out.

She was born May 6, 1870 in Killyleagh, County Down, Ireland; died June 6, 1946 in Rochester, Monroe, New York. She was orphaned at about the age of 12 (family history) or 14 (checking the actual dates) and came to the United States alone to live with her married sister Isabella.

Mary was the daughter of

Gen 2
Samuel Conkey born 1842. Mary told someone in the family that Samuel was born in Scotland, as were her two older sisters, Sarah Jane and Isabella, but we can find no record that the family lived in Scotland; if they did, they must have lived there briefly, they were not caught on the 1840, 1850 or 1860 Scotland Censuses and I cannot find a birth record for Samuel, Isabella or Sarah Jane in Scotland via Scotland's People or any other records there for any of said family names. Mary Alexandria was about 4 when her father died and about 10 or 12 when her mother died. She may have been told they were from Scotland when she came to the US to live.

Her father Samuel Conkey (b. 1841) died 1874 in Killyleagh, County Down, Ireland. He was a shopkeeper. We have an official copy of the marriage record, copied by a townsperson from the Killyleagh city records which says Samuel married Mary Middleton (1842-1884) on Nov 8, 1862, Killinchy and Killyleagh Parish, County Down, Ireland. Mary Middleton's father was John Middleton. I do not know more about his family, but he may have been married to Mary Kelly; I do not know if he had just the one wife.

We have 5 children listed of the couple, Sarah Jane, Isabella (both came to New York) Eliza A., Mary Alexandria, and Samuel John

The marriage record gives Samuel's residence as Raffrey (which I do not see on Google Maps, but may be in County Down), and his father as

Gen 3
Alexander Conkey, Laborer
b. 1814 Ireland (family record)
d. 1889 Ireland (family record)
Laborer, servant
Here they do not have a wife.

I have found an IGI record, no sources given, that he was born 1817, died 1900 and married Isabella McIlveen in 1838, Killinchy Parish, B Macreely, Down, Ireland. (Where is B Macreely?)

and

Alexander Conkey, Killinchy Parish, of Ballymacashen; leased a house from Joseph Minnis in 1863, a GV record.

Back to my earlier family records of about 1960, they have Alexander's father tentatively as:

Gen 4
Samuel Conkey who was living at Ballymacashan in 1833 (recorded in the Tithe Book, Killyinchy Parish, 1833). I have also found the same Tithe Book record online.

Where is Ballymacashan?

The 1960s record says "tentatively" but the later 1970s record says he was the father, and that this Samuel's parents were Arthur Conkey and Margaret Greenfield.

Between the 1960s and 1970s the family had found a descendant living in the Killyleagh area still, a McVeigh, who provided some facts. The McVeighs would descend from Alexander Conkey Gen 2 (above), from his daughter Martha who married James McVeigh so I think that the later information must have come from them, but my mother in law has passed so I cannot ask.

IGI gives d.o.b. for this Samuel as abt 1788, Kelinchy, Down, Ireland, with no sources sited, and parents Arthur Conkey and Margaret Greenfield.

I would like to know his wife.

Gen 5
Arthur Conkey and Margaret Greenfield

IGI information, no sources given:
Arthur Conkey
b. abt 1760 Saint Field, Down, Ireland
m. abt 1784 County Down, Ireland
Margaret Greenfield
b. abt 1763 Saint Field, Down, Ireland

So my other questions are - does anyone have anything on Gen 4 Samuel Conkey which I do not, d.o.b, marriage, death? likely of Ballymacashan, or that would firm up this link to Gen 3 and Gen 5?

Or any more on Arthur Conkey and Margaret Greenfield, by chance?

Or any more information about this line of Conkeys?

Thank you very much for any leads.

Jane
Brooklyn, New York

[aghadowey]

3 children of Samuel Conkey and Mary Middleton listed in I.G.I.- www.familysearch.org:
1. Eliza born 10 Oct.1867 Co.Down
2. Mary Alexander born 8 May 1870 Co. Down
3. Samuel John born 19 Nov.1872 Co.Down

[miles_hagen_bown]

Ok that is interesting. I have to double check the family notes on Mary Alexandria, I think she may have been Mary Alexander, there was some discussion in the family because another female descendant also was given Alexander as a middle name. That would have been my mistake. Good catch.

(Later) Oh rats, all my family trees, mother in law and grandmother in law have Alexandria, but I bet it is Alexander and it was forgotten in the US later. Interesting that her son would revert, and give Alexander to his daughter. I am going to stick with Alexander.

As to May 8 for d.o.b. we have May 6. However this may have been, again, another family story error, I don't know. Her headstone which I recently received a photograph, gives her dates as 1872-1946, Mary A. Christie which aligns with family stories that she came by herself to America at age 12, but I think, since her burial and the 60s and 70s research, the notes I have do give 1870 as y.o.b. I would suspect May 8 might have been a christening date rather than d.o.b. but again, with all of these little errors, it could be d.o.b.

As to Eliza and Samuel then, that follows Mary's story to her children that the three youngest children were born in Ireland (We have Eliza A. not Eliza Jane). That still leaves a question as to the two older daughters, Isabella and Sarah Jane whom Mary Alexander said were born in Scotland. Interesting. As I said, I could not find the family in Scottish censuses, or in the BMD or Scotlands People at all. Hmm.

Thank you for this.

[aghadowey]

I.G.I. has some, not all, Irish births 1864-c1882 so the fact that not all the children are listed there just means those records weren't extracted, they were born before the start of registration or they were born somewhere else.

Civil registration index is online-
http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#c=1408347;p=collectionDetails

[miles_hagen_bown]

Ok I found the two older children, thanks for the Civil Parish link. Sarah Jane and Isabella were under Conchy, an alternate spelling I had for the family, though Conkey is the most frequently used later on.

Registered at the same location as the other children, Downpatrick. So the Scotland story is not holding up.

Thanks for the lead!

[aghadowey]

Checking I.G.I using the surname Conchy shows Isabella's birth- 12 Oct.1865 Killyleagh district (page 523 in civil register).
      

[miles_hagen_bown]

It surely must be her. Here in the States they recorded her birth as December 10, 1865, likely reversing the 10 and 12 as they often do... So I will correct that. My mother in law had tracked down either Isabella's family or Sarah Jane's in New York, and gotten that date, but no place of birth. Someone gave her Conchy with a question mark.

[kbjones82]

My great grandfather Samuel Conkey was born in 1876 in Ireland and migrated to Dayton Ward 10, Montgomery, Ohio in 1881.  According to the 1910 census he was married to Hettie and had children Samuel B. (my grandfather born 1901) and daughter Rhoda born 1909.  The 1930 census shows that he was married to Thalia Learman and the last name is still Conkey.  When my mother was born in 1931, Mac was handwritten onto her birth certificate.  We were always told that Samuel Conkey came from Scotland and not Ireland.  I am really confused if anyone can help.

[kbjones82]

Sorry left out that my grandfather Samuel B. Conkey (later MacConkey) lived in Buffalo, New York until 1950.