Any stories about where Catherine and Abbie came from in Ireland.

I'm hoping that the Mack family might have learned some stories about where Catherine Sheehan is from. Her sister--my great-grandmother--Abbie, was born in Cork, Ireland. I'd be interested to know if there are any docs that can get us closer to where in Cork. Also, after she came over (and I wonder if she and Catherine came over together?), she worked in NY as a ladies maid for several years before she met and married Michael Sullivan (and then moved to WI). Does anyone in your family have any info on that?

Colleen,
I'm afraid we have no information about Catherine besides her name and a death record (which has no useful info). The only info that was passed down by the family was that her maiden name was "Catherine Sullivan", and even that turned out to be wrong. I learned early on her maiden name was Sheehan. It was by chance that we found out Abbie was her sister, and it explains why someone on our side got confused about her maiden name.

I'm very excited to find you because I never really had any hope of learning anything about the Sheehan side of our family. How did you come to know they were from Cork and that Abbie worked in NY? And how do you know the names of their parents? Do you have a death record for Abbie or wedding record?

Hi Tony! We DO have a death record for Abbie, but as far as the names of her parents (on that record), I don't really trust it. It says her father's name was Paul, but no one born in Ireland in those days had that name. So who knows what else they got wrong? And I actually mis-spoke about the Cork thing. Abbie is from Co. Kerry--near the town of Milltown. I was confusing her with another great-grandmother who is from Cork.

Anyway, most of the info I have for Abbie (and her husband, Michael Sullivan), came from my second cousin (Father Meinrad Dindorf, the grandson of Patrick Sullivan). Abbie and Michael stayed with Pat & his wife Ellen in St. Paul when they were older. So a lot more info passed down that line. Sadly, a lot of that info was with Father Meinrad's only sibling -- a sister who died together with her husband in a tragic car accident just about 1.5 yrs ago. He promised me he would see what he could do about finding documents, etc., but he's no spring chicken and doesn't live near his sister's kids.

But do check out Abbie's "timeline" b/c I think I put a lot of the info we know there. We haven't really gotten to the point of uploading docs yet. I just started this about 1 year ago and I'm still quite disorganized. I'm finding that the MN History Center and the MN Irish Genealogical Society are amazing resources, but, as I work full-time, I don't have a lot of free time to pursue this as I'd like to. I will say that I have become a tad "obsessed" -- like I've been bitten by some kind of bug. So I do my best to find whatever spare moments I can. It's so rewarding!

I've been to Ireland MANY times in my life (I'm 7/8 Irish!), but never with the idea of pursuing my ancestors. I never thought it possible because of the lack of info. It was only last year--after I got the "genealogy bug" that I started to find out that even in our situation (where nearly nothing has passed down), we still can find a lot!

So my goal is to have good solid info on my 3great-grandparents from Kerry (that would be: Abbie Sheehan, Michael Sullivan (her husband, who was also from Kerry, but they didn't meet until they got to this county), and Dennis Slattery. I also have a great-grandmother from Cork and then all of my Great-great grandparents (except 2) were born in Ireland. But I'm starting with the greats!

Anyway, I'll be happy to share whatever I learn. Nothing that Abbie had a sister named Catherine might help me a bit more as I search the Irish records.

Milltown, eh? Just a couple weeks ago I found the first records (actually only index entries so far) of Macks back in Ireland. Four baptism records of siblings of Catherine's husband, Michael. And they were in Milltown! It must be that these people all knew each other and word spread that Ettrick was a nice place to settle.
By the way, you might already know this, but the Irish equivalent of 'Abbie' is 'Gobnet'. Make sure you try that in searches for Abbie Sheehan. That's what was listed for the mother in my records, who was also named Abbie.
Oh, and I agree with you that Paul would have been a rare name for that place and time based on some of the browsing I've done.
I don't know if you read Michael Mack's obituary...
http://www.geni.com/photo/view?photo_id=6000000004078892505
It describes how he died in St Paul on the way to Minneapolis. It turns out it was at Patrick Sullivan's house that he died. So they must have been fairly close.

I noticed that Michael Mack's obit said he was from Co. Cork. Milltown is in Co. Kerry. But there are several Milltowns in Ireland. I did know about the "Gobnet" thing. Funny. Also Debbie is another variant ... and I have actually seen Abbie's name that way in a few docs. When you say that "Gobnet" is the name listed for "the mother" in your records ... do you mean Abbie and Catherine's mother? I have her name as Mary. Of course that was from the same death record that listed Abbie's father as Paul. That's interesting that he died in Pat Sullivan's house. I didn't see a date on that obit, by the way. Do you-all have any photos of Catherine (or Abbie?). I have seen photos of Abbie's husband, Michael Sullivan, but never of Abbie. I wonder if Abbie and Catherine came over to USA at the same time? The 1910 census says that Abbie came over in 1852. If so, she would only have been about 12 at the time. And I guess Catherine would have been only 7. Were they neighbors in Ettrick? I always thought Abbie and Michael lived in Gaylesville. But we know nothing about it really.

Colleen,
I don't know what to make of the "Cork" reference. I looked for a long time to find records in Cork, and came up with nothing. The only thing I've found are the Kerry records...
The "Gobnet" I'm talking about is the mother of Catherine's husband, Michael Mack.
I have no photos of Abbie Sheehan Sulllivan, Catherine or anyone from that generation. Unfortunately! Photos are what I love best about doing genealogy. BTW, I'd love to see any old Sullivan photos you have.
Catherine died in 1891 (only 46 years old), so she didn't make it to the 1900 census where they asked about year of immigration.
Do you have any idea where/when Abbie and Michael were married? If it was down there in Ettrick/Galesville, there's a good chance we could get the record. That would really nail down her parents names 100% since it would be directly from her, rather than what her kids/husband remember after she died.
Ettrick is just a few miles from Galesville, so in my mind they were neighbors. Ettrick is very small compared to Galesville, and I imagine people from Ettrick would go to Galesville a lot, like if they had to go the bank, for example.

Yes, I did have a "duh" moment when I realized I'd asked you several questions that I could have found easily in your tree. I did look for Macks in the Kerry church record database and found records for 4 of the Mack children (father was Timothy Mack and mother was Gobnet Cullity). Not Michael, however. It seemed to stop at Julia. I wonder if they moved after that? Maybe he WAS born in Cork. Cork isn't far from where they lived, but was unusual for them to move around like that in those days. Anyway, I printed out the baptismal info on those 4 children I found (It has the townland, parents, dates, and witnesses). But I left it at work. Will have to get it to you next week.

What's the story behind the name McGillicuddy? I saw that your tree said the father's name was Timothy McGillicuddy, but the church records do confirm that it was Timothy Mack. Was that maybe Timothy's mother's name?

Abbie and Michael were married in the early 1860s somewhere in NY. They had their first child (Patrick, in whose house Michael Mack died), in Elmira, NY (Dec. 1865). I contacted the only catholic church there and there is no baptismal record for Patrick, nor is their a record of Abbie & Michael's marriage. They might have married in NYC and then moved upstate. I need to do a lot more research on that. I don't know where Abbie had her job as a ladies maid. I assumed NYC, but maybe it was upstate, or maybe it was Michael who had the Elmira connections. Lots of Irish men were up in that area working on building things like the Erie Canal. Nasty business. I have a great-great grandfather on my Slater side who died in that area and was never heard from again.

Anyway, I do know that they didn't stay long in Elmira. By the 1870 census they were in Gaylesville. I also am not sure when they moved from Gaylesville to St. Paul. I'm so bummed that the 1890 Fed census was destroyed. That's precisely the critical time when many of my Irish ancestors were on the move. Oh well.

As to photos, we do have some that I think you'd be interested in. Some of them have Michael Sullivan (he didn't die until 1929, I think!). Some of them were taken at Pat Sullivan's house on Blair Ave. in St. Paul. That seems to have been a kind of "magnet" house for the family. I guess that makes sense since Patrick was the oldest son. I also have a cool father-daughter photo of Michael Sullivan and Mary (Sullivan) Kennedy (their only daughter). It was taken in the early 1920s. So I'll scan and try to upload them (I haven't done that yet, but it will be good practice for me!

Colleen,
I love the photos you uploaded. Thanks for doing that.
I guess it's possible the Macks moved to Cork. BTW, I have the information from the Kerry index with names, dates, location and witnesses. Some time when I get to the Irish Genealogical Society, I'll ask how to get the original record.
Our name was originally McGillicuddy, but they often used 'Mack' for short. Part of the reason it took me a while to find those Kerry baptisms was I assumed they would have used 'McGillicuddy'. The story had always been that they changed it when they came to the US, but now I realize they used Mack even before they came here. Also, from what I understand there are not many McGillicuddys left in Ireland because all of them have changed to Mack.

Yes I noticed there were hardly any McGillicuddys in the church record index. Too bad. It's a cool name! My great-grandmother changed her name from "Slattery" to "Slater" after he husband died in the late 1880s. I've been thinking about changing my name back to Slattery. But then I think about the fact that Slattery wasn't the original name either. It was "Slatara" in Irish Gaelic. It means something like "the strong one." So then I figure I might as well just keep it Slater. I am a member of the Irish Genealogical Society and I live fairly close to the library. I try to go on "Irish Saturdays." I think the next one is this coming Saturday. There's a woman who really knows her stuff who volunteers on Irish Saturdays--Beth Mullinax. You might know her already. I think you might have to either get the originals from Ireland, or perhaps order them in Microfiche from the LDS. But she'd know for sure.