Mary married Joseph Greenwood 3 Sept 1858 at St. Raphael's Catholic Cathedral in Dubuque. They farmed in Whitewater Township, and then in Taylor Township in Dubuque County for the duration of their married life. Joseph and Mary had 5 children:
James, born 1861
Catherine, born 1863
William, born 1865
Mary, born 1868
Mary (Delehanty) Greenwood died 21 Feb 1894. Various censuses from 1856-1880 indicate that Mary was born about 1828, although the last census she was listed in indicated 1829-30. Mary's death certificate lists her age at death as 65 years, 7 months, 3 days, which would be 18 Jul 1928-29. Mary's grave marker lists her birth date as 17 Mar 1831. I do believe that Mary celebrated her birthday on March 17th. The year of her birth is likely to be between 1828 and 1831.
One of Mary's obituaries said that she was born in Kings County, Ireland and mentioned that she was survived by a brother but gave no name or location. That was the starting information in the search for Mary's parents and siblings.
There were a few other Delehants living in Dubuque County in the various years that Mary was living there. There were only two families living close to Dubuque County with parents of a possible age to be Mary's parents. The first was that of John and Honora (Powers) Delahunt who lived just south of the Dubuque County line in Mosalem Township, Jackson County who emigrated to the US and were in Jackson County by the time of the 1849 census. John Delahunt of this family was originally from Birr, Kings County and Honora Powers was from Thurles, Tipperary, Ireland. Tipperary is the adjacent county to Kings County, now known as County Offaly.
The family of Matthew and Margaret Delahunt lived in the Galena Territory of Jo Davies County, Illinois which is about 20 miles east of Dubuque and documents say they were from County Wicklow, Ireland.
Considerable research was done trying to prove whether the families of John and Honora or the family of Matthew and Margaret were possibly Mary's parents. Matthew and Margaret had a daughter Mary and were from County Wicklow, a significant distance from Mary's birthplace of Offaly County, which allowed them to be ruled out.
Looking at John and Honora (Powers) Delahunty as possible parents of Mary, there is little documentation that names who their children were. Those mentioned in the censuses living with, or associated with Honora after John's death in October 1849 and generally proven are:
Julia (Delahunt) Redden b. 1833
John Delahunt b. 7 Mar 1830 has often been considered as a son of John and Honora (Powers) Delahunt, but no paper documentation exists.
Frustrated with lack of any source documents listing Mary and connecting her with any family members, I turned to DNA matching.
To date, I have 7 DNA matches with descendants of John Delahunt b. 7 Mar 1830, through two of his children, Daniel, and Mary Ellen. This proves a genetic relationship between Mary (Delahunt) Greenwood and John Joseph Delahunt, suggesting that the connecting ancestor couple could be shared parents or a more distant relationship.
John Joseph Delahunt married Anna Maher 15 Nov 1857 in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio. They had the following children:
Katherine, b. Jan 1861
Daniel, b. 6 Mar 1863
Mary Ellen, b. 6 May 1865
Andrew, b. 25 Oct 1869
Anna, b. 1 Jun 1871
John Joseph, b. 1 Jun 1873
I also have a small DNA match to Ann Delehant. Her 2nd great-grandfather was William Delehanty. His obituary states that he was born 1822 in Kings County (now Offaly), Ireland, emigrating to the US in 1849 and settling in Niagara County, New York in 1850.
William married twice, (1) Bridget Tyrell and (2) Ellen. His children, all born to Bridget are:
Edward b. 1853
Catherine b. 1854
Daniel b, 1855
Ellen b. 1856
Mary b. 1857, died young
William b. 1858
Bridget b. 1860, died young
Mary b. 1861
Bridget b. 1863
William's obituary states that he was survived by a brother and sister in Dubuque, Iowa, and a brother and sister in Denver, Colorado. At the time of William's death 3 Oct 1893, Mary (Delahunty) Greenwood was living in Dubuque County and the above John Delahunt (mar. Anna Maher) had moved from Dubuque County where they had farmed for many years to Fremont County, Iowa.
John Delahunt b.ca.1830 is found in the 1860 Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio census (official date 1 Jun 1860) with the following people living in his household:
Anne 2 F b. Ireland
Thomas 35 M b. Ireland
MAHER, John 24 M b. Ireland
The 1860 census does not identify specific relationships, but research shows that there should have been Anne (Maher) Delahunt b.1827 and son Michael b.1859 in this household. They have not been found in any other household and the census taker may have started with Anne who would have been 32 on the official date of the census and omitted baby Michael, who was born in Iowa. Although there are Michael and Thomas Delahunt living in the household, it is hard to say what the relationship might be though it would seem quite possible they were brothers/cousins/uncles to John Delahunt who was head of the household. Research shows that John Maher is the brother of Anne (Maher) Delahunt.
John Delahunt is also found posting an advertisement in the "Missing Friends” of the 28 Jan 1860 Boston Pilot under Information Wanted:
OF THOMAS DELAHUNTY, from the parish of Roscrea [King's co.]; when last heard from October, 1858, was in St. Louis, Missouri. any information as to his whereabouts will be thankfully received by his brother, John Delahunty, Cincinnati, Ohio.
John is listed 4 months later in the above 1860 census, with a Thomas living in his household. It seems probable that this is the same Thomas, listed as a brother of John's.
Changing gears, and looking for Delahunts living in the Denver, Colorado area, I found a handful of names but the only ones I could not associate with a different family was the family of Daniel Delehanty, b. 8 Jan 1822 in Ireland. He married 1869 to Margaret Regan in Denver and living in Weld County, adjacent to Denver and today considered part of the Denver metropolitan area. Daniel is listed in the 1860 through 1900 censuses and would have survived William Delehant who had a "surviving brother and sister" at the time of his death in 1893.
Daniel and Margaret (Regan) Delehant had the following children:
Thomas b. 1872
Mary b.1874
Using the research I had done, I put together a theoretical family for Mary using the potential links of DNA, census information and obituaries:
Daniel b. 8 Jan 1822
Michael b. abt 1827
Mary b. 17 March 1828-1831
John Joseph b. 7 Mar 1831
Thomas b. ca 1825
An unidentified sister
Knowing that the likely place Mary and the others were from was Roscrea Parish, Kings (now Offaly), Ireland the search was started with that location in the Irish baptismal records. What was tricky is that Roscrea Parish is generally considered to be in Tipperary County, but there is indeed a very small piece of the parish that strays into County Offaly.
There, in the Roscrea parish records, County Offaly is found this family:
Michael Delehanty and Catherine Whelan
Their children:
Johanna, baptized 29 June 1825
Michael, baptized 13 July 1827
Mary, baptized 20 March 1829
John, baptized 17 April 1831
Thomas, baptized 31 July 1833
Catherine, baptized 14 Apr 1835
Sarah, baptized 14 Aug 1838
Layering the above family next to my theoretical family for Mary is the following
Theoretical family Children of Michael & Catherine (Whelan) Delahanty:
Daniel b. 8 Jan 1822 William and Daniel, twins, baptized 7 Jan1822
Johanna, baptized 29 June 1825
Michael b. abt 1827 Michael, baptized 13 July 1827
Mary b. 17 March 1828-1831 Mary, baptized 20 March 1829
John Joseph b. 7 Mar 1831 John, baptized 17 April 1831
Thomas b. ca 1825 Thomas, baptized 31 July 1833
Catherine, bap 14 Apr 1835
Sarah, bap 14 Aug 1838
Unidentified Sister
These are very close matches for Mary (Delehanty) Greenwood and her theoretical siblings.
Other things to take into consideration:
1. William's obituary says 2 brothers and 2 sisters survived his death on 3 Oct 1893. At that time Mary, John Joseph and Daniel were all living. I have not been able to find Catherine or Sarah from the above family yet to rule them in as the surviving sister, or out. I have no additional information on Thomas or Michael, but this would indicate they had died prior to William.
2. Mary's obituary says 1 brother survived her. John Joseph and Daniel would have survived her, as well as the unidentified sister. There was no family lore passed down through Mary's lines so it is unknown if Mary had an ongoing relationship with any of her siblings and what her family may have known about them.
3. The English and the Irish often followed a traditional naming pattern. Although not all families adhered to this naming pattern, this is generally the format that was followed:
2nd son - named for maternal grandfather
3rd son - named for the father
1st dau - named for maternal grandmother
2nd dau - named for paternal grandmother
3rd dau - named for the mother
In William's family:
1st known daughter - named Catherine
a son named Daniel, presumably after William's twin
a son named Mary, possibly named for William's sister
In Daniel's family:
a son named Thomas, possibly after Daniel's brother
a daughter named Mary, possibly after Daniel's sister
In Mary (Delehanty) Greenwood's family:
1st daughter - named Catherine
2nd daughter - named Mary
3rd son named William - there are no known William's in Joseph's family
In John Joseph's family:
2nd son - named Daniel - Anna's father by transcription is "Darbutis"
3rd son - named Andrew
4th son - named John Joseph after his father
1st known daughter - named Katherine
2nd known daughter - named Mary. Anna's mother was Maria
3rd daughter named Anna - mother of this child also named Anna
There is substantial reason to believe that these families named their children following at least a semblance of a naming tradition or named them after parents and siblings.
4. There are no daughters in William, Daniel, Mary, or John's families named Honora (Nora, Annora). There are no sons named John in these families except that John Joseph named his 4th son, John Joseph, but gave his first-born son the name of Michael.
5. John and Honora (Powers) Delehant emigrated to the US about 1840 and were living in Iowa no later than 1849 when they are listed in the 1849 Iowa census. Out of William, Daniel, Mary, and John Joseph, William emigrated was the first to arrive, about 1849. The other 3 arrived several years later. In addition it does not make sense that John and Honora would have brought 3 of their young children, James (13), Mary Anna (12) and Julia (7) and left behind Mary (11) and John Joseph (9). Mary emigrated about 1855 and John states in the 1900 census that he emigrated in 1851.
6. William and Daniel were twins. Twins appear to run in this family line as Mary had 4 sets of twin grandchildren: 1 set through son Joseph and three sets through her son James. While this is not proof of relationship, it is interesting.
Based on the evidence above, I believe the following to be the family of Mary (Delehanty) Greenwood:
Parents: Michael Delehanty and Catherine Whelan
Their children, all baptized Roscrea Parish, Kings County (now County Offaly), Ireland:
Johanna, baptized 29 Jun 1825
Michael, baptized 13 July 1827
Mary, baptized 20 March 1829, likely born 17 March 1829
John Joseph, baptized 17 April 1831, likely born 7 Mar 1831
Thomas, baptized 31 Jul 1833
Catherine, baptized 14 April 1835
Sarah, baptized 14 Aug 1838
Nothing more is known at this point about the birth, marriage, or death dates or locations of Michael Delehanty or Catherine Whelan.
I do feel this conclusively proves that John and Honora (Powers) Delehanty are not the parents of Mary (Delehanty) Greenwood nor of John Joseph Delehanty b. 7 Mar 1831. John Delahunty b.abt 1800 was supposedly born in Birr, Kings County and Honora Powers born in County Tipperary. John b.abt.1800 is likely related at some point further back on the Delehanty line. Research could be done to verify whether the children that John and Honora had were baptized in Roscrea Parish or an adjacent parish prior to their emigration in 1849.
Sources and Proof documents available on request.
Joseph Greenwood, father of
Sadie (Greenwood) Von Fumetti Bush, mother of
Cyril Von Fumetti, father of
Karla (Von Fumetti) Staudt
© Karla Von Fumetti Staudt
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored on a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without prior permission of the copyright owner and publisher.
Congratulations on your breakthrough. It must feel great. I really have enjoyed hearing about your genealogical studies over the years and really enjoyed your documentation here. Thank you for your passion, your diligence, and the ultimate outcomes!
ReplyDeleteAmazing documentation!! (& the collection process!)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, & what a feeling of satisfaction? pride? accomplishment? fulfillment?... that you must feel when those puzzle pieces fall into place!
It's like a feather pillow being opened and tossed in the air, and the last feather finally comes to rest where it was destined.
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