I have enjoyed much reading the information from this list serve, and am amazed at the quality and helpfulness of the respondents. Dare I seek some input and your good offices? Here is what i know about my Morrissey ancestors. My gggrandfather Timothy Morrissey and his wife Ellen lived in Tipp. Their son Patrick (born 1834) came to the States in about 1850, stopping for a few years in Wisconsin and then traveling on to southern Minnesota and settling in Waseca County. It was there that he lived, had eight children, and died. The forty acres of land that he farmed and lost for taxes is today lush bottom land with corn that grows eight feet tall. I am from the issue of Patrick through his son Jeremiah, and my father William Leo. My focus on South Tipp is because many years ago, when I was young and callow and paid too little attention to what dad said, he told me that he would write letters to Tipp for his father, and they were addressed to Ballinastick, Whites Estate, County Tipp. I can only assume they were to immediate family still living there. Of course I am searching for the original plot of land, like all foolish Irish Americans, where Patrick was born and where Timothy and Ellen might have been born, married, and buried. It is a pitiful amount to go on, but hope springs eternal. I have family history telling of another line from Tipp, Thomas Michael Ryan married Alice B. O'Brien, and they came to America about 1850 as well. I think that it is highly likely that Patrick Morrissey came to the New World with them. Grandfather Jeremiah maintained that we were related to two men who held the heavyweight championship of the world, John Morrissey (nicknamed Old Smoke, and later a Senator from the State of New York) and Paddy Ryan. Both were from the Templemore area, and I am told were cousins. So, if local folk yet today claim to be related to these famous pugilists, then they are kin of mine! Any thoughts or assistance or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. Sincerely, Mike Morrissey 731 5th Ave. NW Valley City, ND 58072 701-845-8958

Hi Mike, I too have an interest in the area around Templemore in Co. Tipperary. My main interest there is in people with the surnames Keyes and Kavanagh, but in the process of tracing them, I have discovered some connections to Morrisseys also. In investigating those connections, I discovered that prize fighter John Morrissey also came from Templemore and accumulated some information about John, including the following, which says that his parents were Timothy and Julia: ============ [References to gravestones of prize-fighter John Morrissey and his family in Troy NY.] from http://www.connorsgenealogy.com/troy/tombstoneM2.htm and http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/CoTipperary/2003-07/1057337647 [CoTipperary-L Archives] From: "Janet Crawford" <reojan@eircom.net> Subject: Tro, NY cemeteries - M Date: Fri, 4 Jul 2003 17:54:07 +0100 MORRISSEY St Peter's RC Cem [Troy NY] Erected by John Morrissey Sept 1, 1866 Side 2: In memory of his mother Julia, wife of Timothy Morrissey of Templemore Co. Tipperary Ireland who died March 13, 1860 aged 54 Side 3: John Morrissey Jr.* Aug 6, 1855-Dec 30, 1876 (obit Jan 3, 1877) Side 4: John Morrissey Feb 12, 1831-May 1, 1878 *(repeated in Oakwood Cemetery; see following stone) [Note by GWB: The Smith family was buried in Oakwood Cemetery - see websites above for more about them. ] see also TROY MORNING WHIG Thurs, May 2 -Mon, May 6, 1878: John Morrissey died May 1, 1878 at Saratoga. Former boxer, N.Y. State Senator and U.S. Congressman. Owner of opulent gambling casino in Saratoga [now a Museum] where great excitement was caused when his beautiful wife Susan visited it for afternoon tea (no ladies were permitted in the gambling area).. Funeral from home of his mother-in-law Mrs. Levi Smith, 583 River Street, Troy from http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/John_Morrissey Birth John was born in County Tipperary, Ireland in 1831. In 1833 his parents emigrated to the US and settled in Troy, NY. Early Life John's father Tim worked on the docks along the Hudson River earning a dollar per day. Early in his life, Morrissey developed a reputation with the local authorities. Desperate to escape poverty, he worked as a cargo thief and also as a collection angent for Irish crime bosses in the area, and before he was 18, he had been indicted twice for burglary, once for assault and battery, and once for assault with intent to kill. Along with his criminal and ferocious fighting abilities, Morrissey also displayed driving ambition, teaching himself to read and write while working as a bouncer at a South Troy brothel. After spending two months in jail, Morrissey left Troy for New York City. [etc. - see website for more] ==================== According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paddy_Ryan , Paddy Ryan was born at Thurles, Co. Tipperary on 14 March 1851 and later also lived in Troy NY. I could find no connection between Ryan and Morrissey... However, I have collected some records for people named Keyes from the Templemore area that happen to mention Morrisseys and Ryans. About 3 years ago, I discovered that my ggg-gparents Daniel Kavanagh and Ellen Keyes lived along the Tipperary-Laois border at Clonbugh, just east of Templemore. They had 11 children baptized in the Catholic parish of Templemore / Clonmore between 1823 and 1845. Of the 22 baptismal sponsors mentioned in these records, 6 had the surname Ryan - no Morrisseys there, but other Keyes families did have Morrissey connections. Daniel and Ellen Kavanagh and nearly all their children came to the US between the late 1840s and mid-1850s. Some settled in Paterson, New Jersey (about 13 miles west of New York City), while others went west and settled in Dakota County, Minnesota (just south of Saint Paul). My branch stayed in Paterson. Many other Keyes families arrived in Paterson between the 1840s and early 1900s from the area just east of Templemore, both from County Tipperary and neighboring County Laois. Other families from this same area of Ireland also settled in Paterson, or lived in Paterson for a while before settling elsewhere. I suspect many of these families were related to (or at least knew) each other and my Ellen Keyes. I have been trying to figure out exactly how these Paterson families were related for at least the past 15 years using both US records and, in the past few years, Irish records. The fact that Catholic marriage records in Ireland usually did not state the names of the parents of the bride and groom hampers research considerably. My investigation has also been limited by the fact that Ellen and most of the older generation who settled in Paterson in the early years were born between 1790 and 1810 - just before the start of Catholic records in Templemore parish. So it is hard to determine if they were siblings or cousins of some kind. Another problem is that the Archbishop of Cashel & Emly has allowed records to be available only through Tipperary Family History Research (TFHR), which offers searches for a fee. TFHR requires you to make specific requests for particular families - no blanket lookups for people with the same surname, for example. It is ususally easier to make new discoveries if the records are open for searching. However, I recommend that you try TFHR since you have the names of a set of parents (Timothy & Ellen) and at least one child (your Patrick) who was born in the period for which Catholic records exist in the Templemore area. If your family was from anywhere in the Archdiocese of Cashel & Emly, they should turn up in a search. Have you already commissioned a search from TFHR for them? Do you know if Patrick had any siblings? Is there any chance your Patrick stopped in Paterson for a few years before heading to Wisconsin? Were there other relatives already living in the US that he was joining? I have commissioned many searches from TFHR for Keyes families from Paterson that I have identified through my research in US records. So far, I have found only one Keyes family in Paterson that did not come from the area near Templemore (and I have documented that they came from Co. Fermanagh in northern Ireland and were not Catholic, so very likely unrelated to the others). One of my requests to TFHR for Keyes information yielded the following records for the family of William KEYES and Margaret MORRISSEY. My comments appear in square brackets below [ ]. Included are comments about possible identities of some of the children, sponsors and witnesses. Note that one sponsor was also named Morrissey. MARRIAGE: 22 April 1830 William Keyes & Margaret Morrissey married, witnesses: John O'CARROLL, James DELAHUNTY [There were connections between Keyes and Delahuntys in Paterson also - perhaps the same family.] BAPTISMS of their children: 1. Catherine Keyes bapt. 19 Apr 1830 Dromard; sp. Mary KEENAHAN 2. Margaret Keyes bapt 2 Sep 1832 Dromard; sp. John FITZPATRICK, Mary MORRISSEY [Was this the Margaret Keyes age 28 living in Paterson with John Keyes the grocer in 1860 after his first wife died? Was she a cousin perhaps? Don't know yet...] 3. Ellen Keyes bapt 6 Mar 1835 Graffin; sp. Michael FANNING, Ann FITZPATRICK [Ref. T/More 511] [i.. The sponsor Michael Fanning was probably the father of Edward Fanning, who was baptized 28 Dec 1833 in Templemore/ Clonmore. The Fanning family lived at Dromard at that time (many Keyes lived in Dromard). Edward later lived in Paterson NJ and served in the Civil War. Edward was a known relative of my family - his mother was Catherine "Kitty" Keyes, possibly a sister of my Ellen. ii. This Ellen could be the "daughter of William &Margaret" who m. John LYNCH in Paterson on 8 Nov 1868 - they had children John b. abt 1872 and Margaret A. b. abt 1874 in NJ.] 4. Mary Keyes bapt 15 June 1837 Dromard; sp. Patrick DELAHUNTY & Joanna [DELAHUNTY?] [Are these sponsors the parents of Bridget Delahanty who married Patrick KEYS (son of William & Kitty nee DWYER of Monamonra, Co. Laois) in Paterson on 14 Nov 1869?] 5. Judith Keyes bapt 11 Sep 1839 Dromard; sp. George REDDIN, Mary HEAD [Ref. T/More 512] 6. Michael Keyes bapt 12 Sept 1841 Dromard; sp. James FITZPATRICK, Judith CARROLL [Ref. T/More 512] [Was this the "son of William" who m. Mary KAYS in Paterson in 1866? A Margaret, widow of William, was listed with Michael in 1871 at 133 Mechanic in Paterson.] 7. John Keyes bapt 11 Feb 1844 Dromard; sp. Martin KEYES, Ellen KEYES [Ref. T/More 512] 8. William Keyes bapt 15 Aug 1846 Dromard; sp Charles DUNNE, Margaret DELANEY [Ref. T/More 512] 9. Bridget Keyes bapt 11 Feb 1850 Dromard; sp. John CARROLL, Anne REDDIN [Ref. T/More 513] I have records for another Keyes family from the Templemore area who also settled in Paterson - Morrisseys appear as sponsors for two of their children (note the Jeremiah in particular): baptisms of children of MARTIN KEYES & FANNY REDDAN (who later came to Paterson) 7. James Keyes bapt. 5 Oct 1841, Dromard; sp. John Keyes, Honoria Morrissey 9. Patrick Keyes bapt. 7 Mar 1847, Clonmore; sp. Jeremiah Morrissey, Margaret Morrissey Some of the Keyes who settled in Paterson lived in neighboring Co. Laois, in the Catholic parishes of Rathdowney and Aghaboe (not in Diocese of Cashel & Emly). These are adjacent to Templemore/Clonmore parish, but in another county and diocese. I have been tracing them as well, but in those cases, I have been able to look at the records myself. The limiting factor there is again the start date of the records in Aghaboe, which are available from the Family History Library. I have found some Morrisseys mentioned in the Aghaboe Catholic parish records. The Catholic records for Rathdowney are available only in Dublin, and although they begin in the mid-1700s, there is a 40-year gap in the early 1800s that makes it extremely hard to connect families before and after the gap. I just returned from a trip to Dublin during which I searched the Rathdowney records. I still have much analysis to do, but it to me appears that all the Catholic Keyes families in this area could be related. I may have extracted some Morrisseys in the process - I haven't put all my extractions from that trip onto the computer yet. A Timothy Morissey also appears in Bordwell civil parish in Co. Laois, near the Tipperary border. My ggg-gfather Edward Harold (born in Co. Tipperary) was living in this part of Co. Laois when Griffith's was done. I have found many cases where families moved around in this border area - at least in the 1830s through 1850s. Regards, Geralyn Wood Barry from Oregon Mike Morrissey wrote: >I have enjoyed much reading the information from this list serve, and >am amazed at the quality and helpfulness of the respondents. Dare I >seek some input and your good offices? > >Here is what i know about my Morrissey ancestors. My gggrandfather >Timothy Morrissey and his wife Ellen lived in Tipp. Their son Patrick >(born 1834) came to the States in about 1850, stopping for a few years >in Wisconsin and then traveling on to southern Minnesota and settling >in Waseca County. It was there that he lived, had eight children, and >died. The forty acres of land that he farmed and lost for taxes is >today lush bottom land with corn that grows eight feet tall. > >I am from the issue of Patrick through his son Jeremiah, and my father >William Leo. My focus on South Tipp is because many years ago, when I >was young and callow and paid too little attention to what dad said, he >told me that he would write letters to Tipp for his father, and they >were addressed to Ballinastick, Whites Estate, County Tipp. I can only >assume they were to immediate family still living there. > >Of course I am searching for the original plot of land, like all >foolish Irish Americans, where Patrick was born and where Timothy and >Ellen might have been born, married, and buried. It is a pitiful amount >to go on, but hope springs eternal. > >I have family history telling of another line from Tipp, Thomas Michael >Ryan married Alice B. O'Brien, and they came to America about 1850 as >well. I think that it is highly likely that Patrick Morrissey came to >the New World with them. Grandfather Jeremiah maintained that we were >related to two men who held the heavyweight championship of the world, >John Morrissey (nicknamed Old Smoke, and later a Senator from the State >of New York) and Paddy Ryan. Both were from the Templemore area, and I >am told were cousins. So, if local folk yet today claim to be related >to these famous pugilists, then they are kin of mine! Any thoughts or >assistance or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. >Sincerely, > >Mike Morrissey >731 5th Ave. NW >Valley City, ND 58072 >701-845-8958 > > >