By airmail today from Maurice Bursey, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina --sharing this enquiy with you all, I believe the surname may be Comyn or Cumming..(even Cummins ?), I explained to Maurice that there is no charge for any assistance we can give. I have asked Michael to subscribe Maurice to the List, Mr. Michael Purcell, P.C. Kennedy Street Carlow Ireland 17th June 2010. Dear Mr. Purcell: I learned of your willingness to perform genealogical research in County Carlow and the surrounding area from a list at the website of the National Library of Ireland. For decades I have been trying to find Irish records of my great-grandfather, Patrick James (or James Patrick) Comen, who told his grandchildren that he was from Carlow. In our family Bible we have an unattributed date of 4 April 1848 written by itself, which may be his date of birth. He came to America near the end of the American Civil War, as nearly as I can establish, became an American citizen with his father-in-law as witness, spent the rest of his life in Baltimore, Maryland, and died in 1920. I can tell you about my unsuccessful attempts to learn more about him. First, beginning in 1958, the family has made four trips to Carlow Town. On the first trip, we learned that there are no longer (if there ever were) Comens/Comans in Carlow Town, and that the family removed to Tipperary long ago. On the last, in 2006, I engaged the Carlow genealogical centre, which seemed to consist of a small group of young people in front of personal computers in an upstairs office in the centre of town; after several months, they admitted they had had no success, but sent me copies of their findings, records of a few persons named Comen or Coman (but not Patrick James), but none born within fifteen years of what I think might have been his year of birth, 1848. Second, I have scoured the Internet for information, but have come up empty-handed. It occurred to me that Patrick James Comen’s story of his origins might be somewhat creative, since I had no replies from persons whom I thought would likely be relatives. On the other hand, my aunt remembered that he spoke often of the Barrow and “another river,” which I would guess would be the Burren. Another possibility is that his name changed to Comen from something else aboard the ship that brought him to America. I should very much appreciate your assistance on undertaking what could be done next, and am happy to pay you reasonable fees. I had thought of writing every parish that existed in County Carlow in about 1845 and asking to see the records of baptisms. I was going to inquire of each parish if records show any families named Comen or Coman with children baptised in the 1830s, 1840s, or 1850s in the parish; or, if my suspicion that he changed his name holds water, if any families at all had a boy by the name of Patrick James (or James Patrick) baptised there in 1848. But I hesitate, because of the difficulty in finding all the parishes. If you would be interested in solving my mystery – and perhaps even suggesting other approaches that did not involve such brute force (but recalling that the genalogical centre had no luck) – I would be delighted, and happy to engage your services. Yours truly, Maurice

By all means, Mick, you can refer him to the Carlow Cummins website, and to me directly. You know I always love a new Cummins challenge! In the meantime, I'll start digging around my notes. Sue http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~cummins/ ----- Original Message ----- From: "michael purcell" <carlowmike@gmail.com> To: irl-carlow@rootsweb.com Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 2010 6:03:11 AM Subject: [IRL-CARLOW] Comen / Comyn / Cumming / Cummins.... By airmail today from Maurice Bursey, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina --sharing this enquiy with you all, I believe the surname may be Comyn or Cumming..(even Cummins ?), I explained to Maurice that there is no charge for any assistance we can give. I have asked Michael to subscribe Maurice to the List,