Born ‎1 Feb 1925 Los Angeles, California, died ‎9 Feb 1984 Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota Event Description: Ft. Snelling National Cemetery‎, age 59 years, buried Fort Snelling National Cemetery, Minnesota

Born ‎1 Dec 1921 Pope Co, MN, died ‎23 Dec 2001 Little Falls, Morrison Co, MN‎, age 80 years

Born ‎6 Dec 1887 Stearns County, Minnesota, died ‎24 Sep 1975 Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota‎, age 87 years

Born ‎11 Mar 1889 Bangor Township, Pope County, Minnesota, died ‎21 Jun 1971 Anoka County, Minnesota‎, age 82 years
Baptismal sponsors: Edmund Egan, A Rooney

Born ‎8 Aug 1848 Quebec, Canada, died ‎11 Jan 1919 Sedan, Pope County, Minnesota Event Description: St. Donatus Catholic Cemetery, Brooten‎, age 70 years, buried Brooten, Stearns County, Minnesota
Martin's gravestone in St. Donatus Catholic Cemetery, Brooten says he was born in 1850.

Born ‎29 Aug 1859 Wakefield Twsp, Quebec, Canada, died ‎24 Feb 1943 Pope County, Minnesota Event Description: St. Donatus Catholic Cemetery, Brooten‎, age 83 years, buried Brooten, Stearns County, Minnesota
There's a Martin Gannon (son of Martin and Mary) in the 1871 census of Low, Ottawa West, Quebec, Canada, age 22 (i.e. born 1849). He is the oldest of 8 children, all born in Quebec. His parents, ages 54 and 52, were born in Ireland. There is just this one Gannon family in the area at that time.

In the 1940 census, Catherine is living with two daughters and their husbands in Long Beach, Pope County, Minnesota.

Born ‎1829 Ontario, died ‎28 Feb 1882 Wakefield Twsp, Quebec, Canada Event Description: burial at Farrelton, Quebec, Canada‎, age 52 or 53 years, buried Farrellton, Quebec, Canada
There are no Kilroe's in the 1851 census of Wakefield or Low Townships, Ottawa county, Quebec. There is one family in Wakefield in the 1861 census, spelled "Killrow" or something like that.

This family is in the 1861 Canada census (under the name "Killrae").

This family is in the 1871 census (under the name "Rillsoe"). These are the birth dates: John and Bridget, 1832; Thomas 1858; Elizabeth 1860; Catherine 1862; Mary Ann 1864; Ellen 1868. Tim Ahles has John Kilroe's birth year as 1829.

MikeWhittiker1951 in his tree on line shared this from a stone in Farrellton, Gatineau, Canada, though he wrote a couple of the dates incorrectly and they are corrected here):

In Loving Memory of John Kilroy, Died Feb 28 1882 AE 52 yrs
His Wife Bridget Tracy, Died Jan 12 1901 AE 75 Yrs
Their Son Thomas Died Apr 5 1904 AE 49 Yrs
Their Daughter Ellen Bridget, Died Sep 4 1878 AE 6 Yrs

Born ‎between 1828 and 1832 Ireland, died ‎12 Jan 1901 Wakefield Twsp, Quebec, Canada Event Description: buried at Farrelton, Quebec, Canada‎, buried Farrellton, Quebec, Canada
Bridget may have stayed in Ireland with the parents when her brother and sisters immigrated to Canada, before or after marrying into the Rooney's. The father died in the late 1840's and Bridget traveled with her mother to Canada, to be with the oldest son, Michael. (Of course, the whole family could have moved here, but no record or grave for Morgan Tracy, the father, has been found in Canada.) Bridget is perhaps the youngest sibling.

The "Tracy" name seems to disappear in the Gatineau valley after the 1861 census.

Born ‎± 1805 Ireland
The Kilroe family never left Canada and are buried in the old pioneer location in Canada.

Born ‎± 1806 Ireland, died ‎Sep 1879‎, age approximately 73 years
A couple of on line trees show that Bridget had a first husband named Michael Cunniff, b. 1800, and they had a daughter Catherine. Not much corroborating evidence for this, though.

One online tree has Bridget being buried in the Ford Cemetery, Lancashire, England, but that doesn't make sense.

George and Evie Kukowski said she was born in 1832 and John in 1829 and that they had six children. Nothing more.

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?

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).