Hi
I’m searching for info on a Daly family. I’ll try to be brief…
My ancestor was James A. Daly, born in Ireland probably around 1830. The family histories say he was from Galway, but a tree made by a lawyer when searching for someone else’s heir indicates he was from Roscommon. My grandmother’s brother went to Galway in the 1960s and wrote that he found out that the Daly family was from Oranmore. [NOTHING else! ARG!] James moved to the U.S. sometime before 1851. He lived in Sacramento, CA (stories say he sailed around S. America). In Sacramento he was a property owner, saloon-owner and briefly was a City Alderman. To me, these occupations imply a link to “The” Dalys, mayors of Galway. But a newspaper write-up of him in Oct 1853 says “Jim Daly is one of our old citizens, a self-made man, the architect of his own fortune..." The “self-made man” implies he would not need financial help / political influence from Ireland? … From newspaper accounts James was not Catholic but family stories say he was. (Most likely family stories were changed to reduce the scandal of his impregnating the under-aged Catholic daughter of a landowner-class Irish immigrant (from Galway / Newcastle). At least he married her …
Sacramento newspapers indicate that James Daly had a brother, Bernard (b. ~1827 in Ireland). A 3rd brother, John (b. ~1825 in Ireland) was living with James & Bernard in Sacramento in 1852.
In addition to these brothers, James had many sisters. NOTE: This family was genetically incapable of telling the truth about a female’s birth date. Birth years and even order of birth are guesses! Mary Ann (b ~1828), Delia Bridget (b ~1830), Margaret (b ~1832), Rose (b ~1835), Jane M (b ~1836), Julia J (b ~1837) and Anna (b 1849 at sea -- I suspect she was actually the child of one of the older sisters.)
The family tree created by the lawyer says that James’ father was named Patrick Daly, but there is no other evidence for his first name. I believe Patrick died in Ireland. Based on children’s birth dates, I believe Patrick had at least 2 wives and that his first wife was the mother of John and possibly Bernard. His 2nd / last wife was Cecelia or Celia A, maiden name possibly Harkin or Harker. When she married Patrick she was the widow Joynt “from Albany”. She had 3 children by Mr. Joynt, all born in Ireland: Oren (Esq) (b ~1824), Robert (b ~1825, he lived in Albany when he was older) and William (no evidence).
Cecelia Daly and most of the children (John, Mary Ann, Margaret, Rose, Jane, Julia and Anna – born at sea) arrived in America on 31 Jul 1849 as cabin-class passengers on the Cremona from Galway. That’s 7 people who could afford to travel cabin class in 1849. They weren’t escaping starvation. This also makes me think that my Dalys are somehow tied to the Mayors of Galway - there was certainly a landholder tie somewhere!
And that is all I know about the Irish history of my Daly family.
I’d sure love some clues! (And yes, I own / have read "the" book about the Irish Dalys)
Thanks