Ancestor Report
generation I

1 (0)
man‎Myron Thomas Murphy‏‎
Born ‎8 Jun 1916 Bangor Township, Pope County, Minnesota, died ‎6 Aug 1918 Brooten, Stearns County, Minnesota‎, age 2 years and 1 month and 4 weeks and 1 day
generation II (Parents)

2 (1)
manHenry T Murphy‏
Born ‎13 Jul 1890 Saint Wendel, Stearns County, Minnesota, died ‎18 May 1972 Buffalo, Wright County, Minnesota‎, age 81 years, buried Saint Wendel, Stearns County, Minnesota
  Married ‎12 Aug 1914 Padua, Stearns County, Minnesota, age 24 years (married 48 years) to:
3 (1)
womanAgatha H "Agatha Mary" Rooney‏
Born ‎20 Aug 1890 Sedan, Pope County, Minnesota, died ‎8 Apr 1963 Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minnesota‎, age 72 years, buried Saint Wendel, Stearns County, Minnesota
generation III (Grandparents)

6 (3)
manThomas T ""Stuttering Tom"" Rooney‏
Born ‎6 Jan 1859 Wakefield Township, Outaouais, Quebec, Canada, died ‎28 Nov 1925 Sedan, Pope County, Minnesota Event Description: Padua Cemetery, Stearns, Minnesota‎, age 66 years, buried Padua, Stearns County, Minnesota
Thomas died at age 66 of heart trouble.

Ellen's grandfather John on the Avon Rooney side, given his date of birth and now in 2017 two instances of DNA matches on Ancestry (including one between David Gaffaney and Andrew Minzghor, who would be a 5C1R), was very probably a brother to Michael Rooney on the Padua Rooney side, making Ellen and her husband Thomas second cousins. That was a stated assumption among the relatives of long ago.

Tom Rooney stuttered except when he swore. He always smoke a pipe. Someone gave him a cigarette, and not being accustomed to it he left it to burn in his mouth. When it got short enough it started burning his whiskers. He said, "Damn your cigarettes!" and never touched another.



Originally published August 1998, Padua Cemetery, by Ginny Walz Borgerding

Thomas T. Rooney was born Jan 5, 1859 in Canada, the son of John and Mary (McCool) Rooney. He was ninth child of twelve children.

Ellen (Ellie) Rooney was born October 26, 1872, the daughter of William and Bridget (Hartigan) Rooney, of Avon, MN.

Thomas married Ellie and they had the following children:
Agatha - married Henry Murphy and had three children
Bridget Stella - married Frank Cowen
Clarinda - married Andrew Murphy
William Ryan - adopted son, married Mary Raden
William Joseph - died as an infant
Ellen - died as an infant

Ellie died on June 22, 1902 from blood poisoning (bacterial infection), according to church records.

In 1903 Thomas T. married Anna Murphy, the daughter of Bernard and Honora Murphy.

Thomas T. died on November 28, 1925 from heart disease? as best deciphered from church records.

Ellie, Wm Jos, and Ellen are listed on the tombstone with Thomas R. listed on the grave marker beside them.

Thomas T.'s second wife Anna Murphy Rooney, parents, brothers Michael J., James, William, and sisters Catherine Martin, MaryAnn Egan, Elizabeth Egan, grandmother Catharine Rooney, and many other relatives are buried in Padua
  Married/ Related to:
7 (3)
womanEllen "Ellie on tombstone" Rooney‏
Born ‎15 Oct 1872 Avon, Stearns County, Minnesota, died ‎22 Jun 1902 Sedan, Pope County, Minnesota Event Description: St. Anthony of Padua Cemetery, Padua, Stearns, MN‎, age 29 years, buried Padua, Stearns County, Minnesota
Ellen's grandfather John, given his date of birth, was very probably a brother to Michael Rooney ("Daddy Mick"), making her and her husband Thomas second cousins.

Tim Ahles says: "The Ellen Rooney that married Thomas T Rooney (grandson of Daddy Mick), is from the Rooney branch that we often refer to as the "Avon Rooneys." Ellen's parents are William Rooney and Bridget Hartigan. I do not have any records of Ellen's grandparents, but they might be the John Rooney and Helen Hennigan that you mentioned. We have often suspected a connection between our Rooneys and those from Avon but have not yet proven it."

2017: We have now "proven it" through at least two DNA matches in Ancestry between persons on the Padua Rooney branch and one or two on the Avon Rooney Branch (Andrew Minzghor and perhaps one other).

Cause of Death: Childbirth.


Originally published August 1998, Padua Cemetery, by Ginny Walz Borgerding

Thomas T. Rooney was born Jan 5, 1859 in Canada, the son of John and Mary (McCool) Rooney. He was ninth child of twelve children.

Ellen (Ellie) Rooney was born October 26, 1872, the daughter of William and Bridget (Hartigan) Rooney, of Avon, MN.

Thomas married Ellie and they had the following children:
Agatha - married Henry Murphy and had three children
Bridget Stella - married Frank Cowen
Clarinda - married Andrew Murphy
William Ryan - adopted son, married Mary Raden
William Joseph - died as an infant
Ellen - died as an infant

Ellie died on June 22, 1902 from blood poisoning (bacterial infection), according to church records.

In 1903 Thomas T. married Anna Murphy, the daughter of Bernard and Honora Murphy.

Thomas T. died on November 28, 1925 from heart disease? as best deciphered from church records.

Ellie, Wm Jos, and Ellen are listed on the tombstone with Thomas R. listed on the grave marker beside them.

Thomas T.'s second wife Anna Murphy Rooney, parents, brothers Michael J., James, William, and sisters Catherine Martin, MaryAnn Egan, Elizabeth Egan, grandmother Catharine Rooney, and many other relatives are buried in Padua
generation IV (Great-Grandparents)

12 (6)
manJohn Rooney‏
Born ‎24 Jun 1820 Galway, Ireland, died ‎19 May 1880 Raymond Township, Stearns County, Minnesota Event Description: St. Anthony of Padua Cemetery, Padua, Stearns, MN‎, age 59 years, buried Padua, Stearns County, Minnesota
The 1844 John R. Rooney and Mary McCool marriage record at St. Paul's Catholic church, Aylmer, Gatineau, Quebec, Canada:

"The sixteenth day of October, one thousand eight hundred and forty-four, after the banns of marriage have been once published at the parish (place?) of the mass of our mission between John Rooney of Wakefield son of age of Michael Rooney and Catherine Caufield [or Callfield], County Galway in Ireland, on the one part, and Mary McCool of Hull, daughter under age of the late Michael McCool and of the late Sarah Flannigan [or Flanigan] on the other part; no impediment having been discovered and whereas the publication of two bans has been by us granted in virtue of our powers, we the undersigned priest missionary have received their mutual consent to marriage and have given them the nuptial benediction in presence of Eliza Paul, James McCool, James Cassidy and Bernard Cassidy, who as well as the parties have declared they could not sign.
J. Desantels, priest"

This family, through Sarah, is in the 1851 Canada census of Quebec (Canada East), Ottawa (county), Wakefield. The family through Thomas (8 kids) is in the 1861 census of Canada, Township of Wakefield. Next to him is his brother Thomas Rooney and Bridget and their three children (the oldest being from Thomas's first wife).

Sometime during 1865 or 1866 the family moved to Minnesota. They we're found in the 1865 Minnesota state census.

[There's a John Rooney in the 1869 Minneapolis city directory as a laborer, living between Helen and Oregon streets, which are the 2nd and 3rd streets south of Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis. Minneapolis and St. Anthony were joined in 1872 under the name Minneapolis. He is more likely to have lived in St. Anthony, so this one may not be related.]

John and family are in Raymond Township, Stearns County in 1870.

Helen Felling's papers: John Rooney (the father) left with a team of oxen to get [or to sell] a load of seed wheat about a mile north of his home. His wagon tipped over and the sacks of grain smothered him [he was found dead buried under the load]. He is listed in the 1880 federal mortality schedule of deaths in Stearns county, the cause of which is listed as "accidental." The Sauk Centre Herald reports this on May 28, 1880.
  Married ‎16 Oct 1844 Aylmer, Hull, Quebec, Canada, age 24 years St. Paul's Catholic Church (married 35 years) to:
13 (6)
womanMary McCool‏
Born ‎1823 Donegal, Ireland Event Description: or 1828, died ‎30 Nov 1895 Raymond Township, Stearns County, Minnesota Event Description: St. Anthony of Padua Cemetery, Padua, Stearns, MN‎, age 71 or 72 years, buried Padua, Stearns County, Minnesota
According to maps made from Griffiths, McCool is almost exclusively an Ulster name. The name concentrates in Donegal.

December 2016: An online family tree of distant relatives has identified the location of the birth (1823) of our great, great grandmother Mary McCool, who married John Rooney. They provided a picture of where she and her parents, Michael McCool and Mary (or Sarah) Flanagan, lived in Cullionboy, Donegal.

The McCool homestead was a two-room thatched roof stone structure with an attached shed which was used for the animals. This building, located in the townland of Cullionboy--about 5 miles from Donegal Town--was inhabited until 1967 and, as can be seen in the recent photo, is still standing, minus the thatched roof.

One of the witnesses to her marriage to John R. Rooney was her brother James McCool. Also perhaps an Eliza McCool and two people with the last name Casidy (Cassidy?).

In the 1851 census of Rigaud, Vaudreuil, Canada, there is a family of "McCall" next to the Avon John Rooney and family, and the Mary has the correct birth year. Parents were Denis McCall and Helene Chanan.
14 (7)
manWilliam B Rooney‏
Born ‎15 Mar 1841 Montreal, Quebec, Canada Event Description: or 5 Dec 1839, died ‎8 Dec 1914 Avon, Stearns County, Minnesota Event Description: Old Saint Benedict's Cemetery, Avon‎, age 73 years
Tombstone reads born March 15, 1841. He died of carcinoma of the face. He first arrived in the U. S. 1 Nov 1865 from Pig's Eye, Quebec.

An 1896 map of Avon Township, Stearns County shows that William Rooney owned about 96.4 acres in Section 10 of Avon Township (about 3 miles NNW of the city of Avon), and his son J. P. Rooney owned 63.5 acres adjacent to that, including an abode.

The 1900 census shows they had 8 children of which 5 are alive. The 1905 census has an 8-year-old John Rooney living with them, born in New York, his parents born in Canada. He is probably one of the orphan train children; the 1910 census says he is an adopted son.

They also have a William Murphy, age 10, living with them. This may be their deceased daughter Elizabeth's son, though he's back with his family in 1910.

The 1910 census says they arrived in the U.S. in 1886, but it was perhaps meant to be 1866.
  Married ‎1864 Canada, age 22 or 23 years
or 1871 per 1900 census
(married 49 or 50 years) to:
15 (7)
womanBridget Hartigan‏
Born ‎4 Sep 1842 Vaudreuil, Vaudreuil-Soulanges, Quebec, Canada, died ‎28 May 1917 Avon, Stearns County, Minnesota Event Description: Old Saint Benedict's Cemetery, Avon‎, age 74 years
Her 1842 date of birth is on her tombstone, which differs from her death record of 1840. In the 1900 Federal census states that her birth month and year were September 1842. Her Minnesota death record says her year of birth was 1840; she should have known better than anyone, while she was alive, what her birth date was.
generation V (Great Great-Grandparents)

24 (12)
manMichael ""Daddy Mick"" Rooney‏
Born ‎1782 Ireland, died ‎12 Jan 1857 Wakefield Township, Outaouais, Quebec, Canada Event Description: St. Camillus Catholic Cemetery, Farrellton, Quebec, Canada, age 74‎, age 74 or 75 years, buried ‎Jan 1857 Farrellton, Outaouais, Quebec, Canada
Michael Rooney and Catherine Caulfield emigrated to Canada around 1845 (although there are land records showing Rooney's in the Canada farm census of 1841). In their 60's, they followed several of their grown children, the earliest who was in Canada by 1829. They settled in the Gatineau River region of Quebec, north of Ottawa, near the town of Farrelton (present day La Pêche).
The two oldest boys - Patrick (b. 1808) and Michael (b. 1809) - had their own farms in Canada. They also probably did some contract lumbering as this region was rich in lumber and this was the heyday of lumber being shipped by boat to Great Britain.

Michael and Catherine's grandson Thomas T. Rooney, son of John R. Rooney (1854-1925), was possibly a second cousin to his wife Ellen E Rooney (1872-1902). Her grandfather, John Rooney, would have been born at an age to be a brother to Daddy Mick. John's descendants coincidentally fit into the Michael and Catherine Rooney line when a granddaughter married married a Daddy Mick Rooney grandson.

As of 2017, it has been proven by finding DNA matches on Ancestry between the Padua Rooney branch and descendants of the Avon Rooney branch. However, the exact connection is still to be determined.

The Egan's and Rooney's intermarried eight times (all of the couples dying in Pope or Stearns County):

James Rooney (1848-1926)
Ann Egan (1846-1914)

Mary Ann Rooney (1865-1937)
Dennis Egan (1849->1910)

William Edward Rooney (1897-1980)
Mary Emily Egan (1897-1990). Mary was an orphan train adoptee, so not genetically an Egan or a Rooney, even though her "grandfather" was John R. Rooney. Also, her husband William Edward Rooney was one of the "Avon Rooney's." Though not genetically an Egan or a Rooney, even though her "great grandfather" was Michael Rooney on the Padua side, she married William Edward Rooney whose great grandfather was John Rooney the Avon side. Thus by prior relationship they were 3rd cousins, but unrelated by consanguinity.

Mary Rooney (1837-1905)
James Egan (1826-1912)

Eleanor Rooney (1842-1902)
Patrick Egan (1833-1892)

Elizabeth A Rooney (1866-1904) (first-cousin once-removed to her husband)
Thomas Edward Egan (1862-1928)

Martin Gannon (1848-1911) (son of Mary Egan and grandson of Thomas B Egan)
Catherine Kilroe (1859->1940) (granddaughter of Bridget Rooney and great granddaughter of Daddy Mick/Mammy Kitty Rooney)

Daniel Michael Rooney (1955-2014) was related to his wife, Karen Ann Majerus (1957-living): His great great grandparents were Michael and Catherine Rooney, while Karen's 4x great grandparents were Michael and Catherine. Thus, they were third cousins twice-removed. Also, Karen is an Egan descendent as well.

Including the three cousin marriages listed just above, there are these additional three:

In 1877, Sarah Margaret Tracy, daughter of Ann Rooney, married her first cousin, John J. Rooney, son of Patrick Rooney.

In 1888, Hugh M. Rooney married his first cousin, Winifred Sophia Rooney.

In about 1889, Thomas T. Rooney of the Padua Rooney branch married his second cousin, Ellen E. Rooney, of the Avon Rooney branch.


Randy Rooney says (May 2016):

"I have been in contact with my closest Y-DNA result match who has a genetic distance of 1 out of the 37 markers I had tested. His great grandfather, Patrick [Rooney] b. ~1845, was from Dundalk, County Louth , just south of County Down. Is it possible that we aren't finding Rooney's in the area of Parish Moore since Michael wasn't from that part of Ireland, but just started his family there because Catherine was from there? And if Michael didn't have strong family ties to the area, did that prompt their emigration from Ireland. It seems reasonable they lived near Parish Moore at one time if Thomas married Ellen Ward there, and Michael/Catherine are listed as being from Co. Galway on the Canadian marriage record of John Rooney/Mary McCool. However, what else is known about where they had lived prior to Canada? The more we learn, the more questions there seem to be…"

Earlier in his email Randy said: "Clonburren and Moore South graveyards, [the two others besides the Kilbegley Cemetery associated with the Parish of Moore in Roscommon], have been completed already [cleaning, reading and photographing old monuments], so you can see what Kilbegley eventually will include. I found the Moore South graveyard interesting since there were many Caulfield's, but no Rooney's."
Ten Caulfield's, to be exact.


July, 2017:

Looking at Geraldine Felling Walsh's Ancestry DNA pages. She and her siblings and several of her living first cousins are closer to the Rooney ancestors genetically than are any of the rest of us. There are a number of people related to her that have a Rooney in their family tree, but those Rooney's have no known connection to us. The furtherest ancestor any of them listed could be as close as a first cousin or a nephew or niece to "Daddy Mick." They appear so far to come from either Leitrim or Mayo in Ireland. Maybe they are from a "Leitrim" branch?
  Married/ Related to:
25 (12)
womanCatherine ""Mammy Kitty"; Catharine on gravestone" Caulfield‏
Born ‎1783 Ireland, died ‎17 Feb 1875 Raymond Township, Stearns County, Minnesota Event Description: Padua Cemetery, Stearns, Minnesota, age 91‎, age 91 or 92 years, buried Padua, Stearns County, Minnesota
After "Daddy Mick" died in 1857 and was buried in the Catholic cemetery in Farrelton, Mammie Kitty emigrated to the U.S.A. with eight of her nine grown children and their families. They came first to St. Anthony Falls, site the present-day Minneapolis, which was so small it could be covered in a half hour by horse and buggy. Later they moved to Stearns County, Raymond Township - a place at first called "Rooneys' Settlement, later called Padua, between 1865 and 1870.

Ambrose Rooney said that his father used to talk about "Grandma Kitty " and thought that there was something funny about her. Ambrose Gaffaney said his mother used to talk about a lady who smoked a pipe (Mary McCool, wife of John Rooney, smoked a pipe; Marilyn Rooney Lysen is now in possession of the pipe).
28 (14)
manJohn Rooney‏
Born ‎between 1792 and 1796 Ireland, died ‎between 1871 and 1874 Avon Township, Stearns, Minnesota, USA‎
My observation: Could this John Rooney be a brother to "Daddy Mick?" John's descendants coincidentally fit into the Michael and Catherine Rooney line when a granddaughter married married a Daddy Mick Rooney grandson: Ellen E. Rooney (1872-1902) married Thomas T. Rooney (185 4-1925).

I emailed Tim Ahles to ask him what he knew.
Tim says: "The Ellen Rooney that married Thomas T Rooney (grandson of Daddy Mick), is from the Rooney branch that we often refer to as the "Avon Rooneys." Ellen's parents are William Rooney and Bridget Hartigan. I do not have any records of Ellen's grandparents, but they might be the John Rooney and Helen Hennigan that you mentioned. We have often suspected a connection between our Rooneys and those from Avon but have not yet proven it."

Best online tree so far seems to be "Mally."

March 24, 2017 email from Randy Rooney:

David - the DNA match with Evie [Rooney Kukowski] is a grandson of George Steven Rooney. Below is what they have in their tree for Rooney males.

Ellen and Thomas T. would have been 2nd cousins, if John and Daddy Mick were brothers.

"Avon Rooneys":

John Rooney, b. ~1796 in Ireland, d. Avon?, m. Helen (Anna) Hennigan

John had two sons:
2. a. John Rooney, b. 1834 in Quebec, d. 1859-1860 in Canada
2. b. William Rooney, b. 1841 in Quebec, d. 1914 in Avon, m. Bridget Hartigan

William had four daughters (including Ellen "Ellie" who married Thomas T.) and one son:

3. John Patrick Rooney, b. 1871 in Avon, d. 1942 in Stearns Co, m. Alice Keenan

John Patrick had four daughters and three sons:

4. a. William Edward Rooney, b. 1897 in Stearns Co, d. 1980 in Stearns Co, family unknown
4. b. Daniel John Rooney, b, 1900 in Stearns Co, d. 1972 in CA, family unknown
4. c. George Steven Rooney, b. 1904 in Avon, d. 1969 in Los Angeles

George Steven had two daughters, one is the mother of the DNA match with Evie - which still needs confirmed if it is due to Rooney DNA or someone else. The match is with "T.R. (administered by kathleenriedel1)," if you want to check your results. I have contacted Kathleen, and she is supposed to be passing on my contact info to a Rooney aunt of her husband, T.R.

April 11, 2017

I now have my own match to a descendant on the Avon Rooney branch, Andrew Minzghor! We are 5C1R and share 7.2 cM of DNA on one segment, and no shared matches (even though I think Tim Ahles independently matches him). His line, as he shows it: Andrew > mother > father > Agnes Cecelia Voit (b. 1908) > Gertrude B. Rooney > William Rooney.

John Rooney is in the 1861 Canada census at Rigaud, Vaudreuil, Canada.
  Married ‎before 1830 Ireland (married 43 or 44 years) to:
29 (14)
womanHelen Anna "Anna; HENEGAN; HANAHAN" Hennigan‏
Born ‎1801 Ireland, died ‎between 1871 and 1874 Avon Township, Stearns, Minnesota, USA‎, age 72 or 73 years
Her name in the 1851 Canada census is listed as Anna Henegan. In her son John's baptismal record it's Hanahan. In the 1861 census it's Helen Hennigan.