McCUSKER, Catherine - about 1846 to about 1914

[jj.carroll]

My great grandmother was CATHERINE McCUSKER.  She lived in County Tyrone, Ulster, Ireland.  McCosker, McKusker or McKuskar may be variants of her name.  She was born in the Irish townland of Augharonan, which is near the market town of Fintona, in the civil parish of Donacavey sometime between 1846 – 1851, depending on which documentary source is most accurate.

Catherine McCusker's father was a farmer by the name of PATRICK McCUSKER.  We could not locate any records of her mother’s name; it may very well have been Catherine.  While the information is not definitive, it is known that a Pat McCUSKER of Augharonan died in 1868.  He did not have a will on file.  Pat McCusker would have been born around. 1813.  And the name of the registrar’s informant indicates that there was a John McCusker in the family.

We do know that Catherine had a number of siblings: possibly JOHN McCUSKER of Legamaghery, but little is known of him except that he was a single farmer.  Another possible connection was Thomas M’GARRITY and JANE McCUSKER of Augharonan.  There also was JAMES McCUSKER, an unmarried farmer who was aged 40 according to the 1901 census.

Catherine married OWEN McCARROLL, also formally known as Eugene, “at full age."  However, family oral histories have indicated that she was only 17 at the time of her marriage, and she was living at Legamaghery.  She was married in Fintona which is also in the civil parish of Donacavey.  They were wed on 25 June 1867 in my great grandmother’s church at Donacavey (Fintona).

After her marriage she moved to her husband’s small farm in the townland of Corkill (sometimes referred to as Corkhill, as the years pass), where they raised her family.  Corkill is about 2 ½ miles south of Augharonan and Legamaghery and it is in the civil parish of Clogher, and the Catholic parish of Clogher.  It had a chapel within walking distance, in Eskragh (Eskra).

But, as is the case with most old Irish records, there is a discrepancy as she listed herself as a 60 yr old widow in the 1911 census, while the 1901 census indicated that Catherine was a 45 year old widow. That may be the result of the old age pensions that went into place in 1908.

Owen and Catherine had at least seven children, all born at Corkill.  All of the baptisms were actually located in the original church records in Clogher when viewed in 1982, but they were not found in the PRONI records in 1997.  There is some discrepancy between the birthdates and the baptism dates, as recorded.

There was Ellen, b. 1871, d. 1917, baptised 24 January 1871, who married Andrew Bogan.  They had seven children: Tommy, Owen, Charles, Jack, Hugh, Catherine and Mary.  Patrick (also known as “The Yank” or “Madman”) was born in 1873, baptised as Patrick Carroll on 7 March 1873, and we don’t know when he died. (He appears to have been buried in the family plot at Eskragh, or at least his death was noted on the headstone).

Then there was Thomas, b. 1875, baptised 27 February 1875, who married Catherine (Kitty) Daly (Daley?) and emigrated to San Francisco, CA, USA.  Kitty was perhaps from Newtownsaville, and they had four children: Patrick Joseph, Helen, Mary and Thomas.

Owen was born in 1877, baptised 30 December 1877; he married Brigid Conroy in Beragh, and they lived in Curr and was closest to Catherine until she died.  They had four children: Thomas, Mary (who married Jack Donnelly from Curr), Dympna and Kathleen.

My grandfather was next: Michael Joseph (Mickey), b. 1879, d 1924 at Omagh, and he was baptised 7 (or 29) September 1879.  He left for San Francisco but was to return with his wife to be in 1912.  He became a publican/merchant in Fintona before he passed away and his wife, Agnes Bridget (nee Gaffigan), returned with their children to San Francisco in 1924.

Then there were: Jane, b. 1871, baptised 18 July 1881; and Hugh, b. 1883, and baptised 20 December 1883.  Both children lived in Corkill with their mother Catherine until her death in 1916.

Owen passed away at age 55 in Augharonan on 13 July 1895 with Catherine in attendance.  She returned to Corkill to live with her youngest unmarried children Jane and Hugh.  Her son Owen registered her death on 8 September 1916 at age 68 and she was buried in Eskragh R.C. (Eskra) graveyard with her husband, and some of her children.

The family farm house in Corkill was there when I first visited, but it was removed about 1982.  I understand that the property is possibly owned by Devine family, who are also cousins I understand.

Descendants of Owen and Catherine include the children of Andrew Bogan (Ellen) who still are in the Fintona area (Tullyrush), while some have moved on to Dublin. The Donnelly’s live in Curr, Beragh; and they are related to Owen McCarroll and Brigid Conroy. The Coady family, who also owe their lineage to Ellen and Andrew Bogan, still reside in the Dublin area.  Catherine “Kitty” Coady had a greengrocer store in Irish Town before she passed away, but she had three children: Mary, John and Patrick who married Fiona Duffy still reside in the Dublin area.

[aghadowey]

Going through older posts and noticed this one had not received a reply. You've a lot of details about the McCusker family but were you looking for help with anything in particular?

[jj.carroll]

  I really appreciate that you monitor this as much as you do, and that you help many of us when we could use that help. 
While I may have put much of what little information that I have about my great grandmother in my post, there are still many things that I have not found, and one of them (something that I share in common with a lot of folks that post to this board) is that I really don't know what it is I am looking for - but anything about her will help fill in the voids.
  One of the things that I found recently was that Griffith's listed her father as a McCOSKER, which means that there may be a link somewhere.
  Again, and I think that I can say that for a lot of other people, THANK YOU for your constancy.  It tells us that someone out there that knows so much about this genealogy thing and the internet will help us.

[aghadowey]

Have only in the last few days taken over as moderator of Tyrone board which is why I've been tryiong to read each old post to sort things out a bit. Since the information you are wanting to find is pre civil registration it might be that you will not be able to get all the details you'd like. In cases like this it's important to keep checking records and make notes of what information you do, and don't, find with the source in case you later need to re-check something.

[j.coady]

kitty coady had 6 children in order of age james, Michael, Kelly(william)(my dad deceased), Mary, Paddy and john (who passed away last week)(the twins) thanks for you article it was very interesting.

[jj.carroll]

  Yes, I realize that now having looked over my old yellowed scratch sheet - the one that I used in 1982 when I returned to Ireland around Christmas time.  Kitty Bogan Cody was the daughter of Ellen McCarroll (d. around 1917 in her early 40's) and Andrew Bogan.  They are buried at Eskragh.
Your grandmother Kitty was a Catherine, as I understand it, and named after your great great grandmother Catherine McCusker (who was the daughter of Patrick McCosker). Kitty left the Eskragh area and had a green grocer in Irishtown that her daughter Mary was managing when I visited the first time.  Kitty was a friend of my father when he lived in Fintona.
  Let me try and straighten out the lineage from there, not three children but six: there was James who was a pilot living in Dublin (in 1982); Michael; Mary who gathered the produce from the Dublin wholesalers with me, and ran the store while Kitty was upstairs having her tea; William Kelly and that makes you a Kelly and not a Coady (hmmmmm, got that one straight, I guess?), John (or Jock and that was how I remembered him) who was with Customs and Inland Revenue (taxed the outgoing liquor, and had me stay with him while I froze to death), and his brother Patrick who married Fiona and they later moved from around Dunsaghlin (my, what spelling!) to South Dublin.  Patrick and Fiona did not have any children then, and he was with Xerox.  I got away from Jock and that old freezing place of his and stayed a couple of days with Paddy.
Sorry to hear about Jock.
Now back to Micheal, he had a farm by the bridge that my father often visited, from Fintona.  When I was there he had some dairy cows and I believe it was in Tullyrush.  I have been back a number of times and tried to visit Michael but for some reason we did not meet again.
Also, I never met with your parents who have remainded a mystery to me. So, now this opens up a new vista.

[j.coady]

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[jj.carroll]

Regarding a Jane McCusker that we found while searching the Catherine McCusker ancestral backgrounds in County Tyrone, unfortunately the only reference was one that is contained in an Ulster Historical Foundation In Depth Search Report that I had done a number of years back.

The report stated:

"The one connection we have found is a McGarrity/McCusker one.  The Jane McGarrity, aged ten in the 1911 census, living with Andrew Bogan's family was actually the daughter of a McCusker (sometimes reported as McCosker), not a McCarroll.  Her parents were Thomas McGarrity and Jane McCusker of Augharon (sic)."

I believe that should be Agharonan. And if you will do a little research don't forget to use the McCosker name as that was what it was in Griffith’s. At that time there were two citations for McCusker (McCosker) in the townland of Agharonan: households numbered 34 and 35 (a) through (c).

[ It should be noted that the household numbers in Griffith’s were not the addresses but the serially numbered leaseholds that were visited.  For example, the Patrick McCosker’s lived at location numbered 34 on the Griffith’s map.  When one looks at later ordnance survey maps they may find that the number changes because the number was only the indication that when he visited it was the 34th call in the townland.]

There were no McGarrity's located in Agharonan when Griffith’s did his survey, but there were a number that lived in surrounding townlands or areas.  This leads to further speculation.  The Jane McCusker of Augharon may have been the sister of Catherine.  But we do lack proof, other than speculation, and that is not proof.  During the 1924 funeral of Michael Joseph McCarroll, late of Fintona and a native of Eskra (Corkhill) parish, attendees John McCusker of Legamaghery and Patrick Joseph McGarrity of Augharonon were listed as cousins to the deceased.  (I know, you have to watch these obits.)

Another reminder, make sure when you do your search that you use the various spellings of both the name and the location as they change over time, as we found out with Patrick McCosker, father of Catherine McCarroll (nee McCusker).  In the Griffiths Valuation there was a paucity of McCuskers.  It became very clear that most of the McCusker’s of later years "started" out as a McCosker, at least according to Griffith.

[jj.carroll]

That should not be a little sister, but the niece would be a good guess.  The McCuskers that lived up there may have been related and they may have been brothers and sisters, or even cousins.  But there was a connection.

We have found that Patrick McCosker (McCusker) had other children besides Catherine, but we have been unable to locate any definitive evidence of that.  One of the problems that we have is there is no record of Catherine's mother, only some assumptions that have been made given the little evidence we are left with. 

With Jane being the daughter of a Jane McCusker can we assume that Jane was the sister of Catherine, or could she have been a niece of Patrick which would make her a cousin of Catherine?  We simply don't know with the evidence that we have. 

We have traced Catherine until her death, but have little knowledge of when Owen McCarroll passed.  On the basis of elimination and the places where they have been found we made the assumption about his death.  And the fact that Catherine went to live variously in Corkhill, Curr, Legamaghery, and Agharonan - and switched back and forth - leads us to believe that however tenuous the connections are, they are still there.

Jane is not a key, but someone who led us down a pathway that is new to us and we hope that she might be able to point us in a new direction, or at least one that will tell us more.