Ancestor Report
generation I

1 (0)
generation II (Parents)

2 (1)
  to:
3 (1)
generation III (Grandparents)

6 (3)
manEdward Joseph "Edwin" Felling‏
Born ‎22 Sep 1907 Michigan, died ‎18 May 1976 Woodacre, Marin County, California‎, age 68 years, buried Padua, Stearns County, Minnesota
  Married ‎4 Jan 1937 Padua, Stearns County, Minnesota, age 29 years
St. Anthony of Padua
(married 39 years) to:
7 (3)
womanHelene Bernadette "Helen" Rooney‏
Born ‎1 Sep 1904 Raymond Township, Stearns County, Minnesota Event Description: the farm near Padua, died ‎8 Sep 1997 Lagunitas, Marin County, California Event Description: St. Anthony of Padua Cemetery, Stearns, Minnesota‎, age 93 years, buried Padua, Stearns County, Minnesota
Helene attended St Benedict's Academy at St Joseph, MN, St. Catherine's College in St Paul, and State Teachers College at Bemidji. She had been a successful teacher for several years before her marriage. Helen and her husband and Geraldine moved from Detroit to California October 14, 1973.

Helen B. Felling, 92, of Woodacre, Calif., died Monday, Sept. 8, 1997, in Kaiser Hospital, San Rafael, Calif.
Funeral services were held Sept. 13 in St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, Padua, with the Rev. James Statz officiating. Interment followed in the parish cemetery. Helen Felling was born on Sept. 1, 1904, to Michael and Margaret (Mruphy) Rooney on a farm near Padua. She attended the College of Saint Benedict, St. Joseph, St. Catherine's College, St. Paul, and teacher's college in Glenwood. She taught in rural one-room school houses until her marriage to Edwin Felling in 1936. After their marriage, they moved to Detroit, Mich., where she was active in church activities in St. Dominic's parish. During World War II she took a job to help with the war effort. Later she worked for the post office and in the 1960's, she helped spearhead President Johnson's war on poverty. She worked for the Poverty Program in Detroit as a senior counselor until she retired at age 70. In 1974, Helen and her husband moved to Woodacre, Calif. Edwin died May 18, 1976. Helen continued to live in California, but spent most of her summers in Padua. She lived in Woodacre until age 91 and has since lived with her daughter Geraldine and son-in-law Joseph Walsh in Lagunitas, Calif. She was a member of St. Cecilia's Parish in Lagunitas. Survivors include: eight children, Edwin and wife Ann, and Michael, all of Marathon, Fla., Bernard and wife Barbara, Jerry, Geraldine Walsh and husband Joseph, all of Lagunitas, Mary Bommarito of Grosse Pointe, Mich., Daniel and wife Suzette of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., and John and wife Christi of Woodacre, C alif: 18 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents; sister, Mary Majerus; and brothers, Francis and Ambrose Rooney. Pallbearers were Edwin, Michael, Bernard, Daniel, David and Jerry Felling; Joe Walsh and Richard Rooney. In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Padua. Arrangements were made with Patton-Schad Funeral Service, Sauk Centre.
generation IV (Great-Grandparents)

14 (7)
manMichael Ward Rooney‏
Born ‎25 Jan 1844 Ireland, died ‎12 Dec 1918 Padua, Stearns County, Minnesota‎, age 74 years
Most of this narrative was from a June 7, 1937 interview of Margaret Murphy Rooney by Dorothy Hansmann:

Michael Rooney was born in Ireland. His mother died in Ireland while Michael was an infant. When he was three years of age his father, Thomas Rooney, and an Aunt, Katherine Rooney, brought him to Wakefield Township, Quebec, Canada. His father was employed in the woods near Ottawa, Canada for about seventeen years. He decided to take up farming and heard there was much land being given away in the United States and in 1855 he removed to New York City and a few years later to St. Anthony, MN where he was employed until about 1863 when they came to Stearns county and settled on a homestead in Raymond township.

[The 1900 and 1905 census say Michael arrived in the U.S. in 1867. This would be about the same time as the other Rooney's in Minnesota. The 1910 census says it was 1847, which makes no sense.]

Thomas Rooney and his son Michael Rooney took adjoining claims and during the winter Thomas Rooney went to live at the home of his son. A claim jumper came through the country and finding the log cabin unoccup ied moved his family in and laid claim to the property.

In 1872, the grasshoppers came and destroyed all the crops and Michael Rooney left his father on his homestead and went to Montana to hunt buffalo. The hides were worth $30 each and the government granted them permission to shoot a certain number.

In 1896, Michael Rooney and Margaret Murphy were united in marriage at the Assumption Church in Eden Valley. Margaret was born in Ottawa, Canada of a family of eight children. To Michael and Margaret were born four children that eventually lived on their own farms in Raymond township near Padua, MN.

The Rooney families were the first to settle in Raymond township. They erected a church and a school building in Padua. The original church structure was sold to Michael Rooney and a new church was erected in 1886. (This church burned down in 1943 and the present church was then built).

Michael Rooney served on the school board and as assessor for several years. He died in 1918, at age 74 years, and is buried in St. Anthony's cemetery at Padua.

Cause of death: Dyspepsia.

Geraldine, 4/29/2015:

When my Mom was doing Rooney family history in the '70s and 80s, she and I would go to the Pope Co Historical Museum in Glenwood and look for family obituaries. Hugh M. Rooney was one of those obits she sought out and took great delight in reading, especially about his time in Montana. She seemed to agree with everything in the obit ... she told me that Hugh and her Dad were such good friends, went to Montana together, etc. I'm not certain of the year but my grandfather did purchase various Lots of land in downtown Billings so I could probably trace it that way. My Mother was not certain how many times her Dad went to Montana ... there might have been several expeditions. There was one tintype of my grandfather, Michael Rooney (sitting), and Hugh M Rooney (standing). The tintype itself has gone missing but we have a print made from it [included in her email]. My Mother thought it was made during their Montana travels or could it have been just before they left?

Further notes I have, possibly from my visit with Ambrose Rooney in June 1975, shortly before he died: Michael arrived in the U.S. November 9, 1865, age 21. He was granted citizenship December 16, 1872. He purchased Montana land (near Billings, I believe) October 8, 1883 and had his Montana tax bills mailed to Minnesota in 1887. He got married on April 14, 1896 at the age of 52. Ambrose Rooney said his father used to return to Montana to shoot Buffalo to live on.
  Married ‎14 Apr 1896 Eden Valley, Meeker County, Minnesota, age 52 years
Assumption Church, Eden Valley
(married 22 years) to:
15 (7)
womanMargaret Murphy‏
Born ‎13 Apr 1861 Templeton, West Ottawa, Quebec, Canada, died ‎20 Dec 1948 Padua, Stearns County, Minnesota Event Description: St. Anthony of Padua Cemetery, Padua, Stearns, MN‎, age 87 years
Margaret was born in 1861 in Ottawa, Canada. She's in the 1881 census in Quinnville, Canada with her parents and sister Honora (Hannah, Anna) and brother John.

She first shows up in the U.S. with her sister Bridget and husband Bernhard (that spelling) Lynott in the June 1885 census in Minneapolis, Wards 1-5, age 23. (The Lynott's first show up in the June 1880 U.S. census, living in Washington County, Minnesota, having just arrived a few months before.) However, Margaret is back in Canada in their 1891 census (age 29, it says), living with her parents and brother John in Templeton.

In the 1892 Duluth city directory, "Maggie Murphy" is boarding with her sister Bridget and husband Bernard Lynott as well as sister Hannah and brother William at at 2118 West 4th Street in Duluth. She's only there that one year in the 1890's.

It's possible that she worked for one of the priests in either the French church near East Hennepin in Minneapolis or the predominately Irish congregation of St. Anthony of Padua parish just a mile or two north of there, between 1885 and 1891 when she's first here from Canada, or between 1892 and 1895 when she's back from Canada and before going to Manannah.

(St. Anthony of Padua in northeast Minneapolis is where William Martin and Catherine Rooney were married in July 1867 and where Sarah Rooney and John Darcy were married in May 1869).

Margaret is next in 1895 in Manannah Township, Meeker County, with the Rev. John McDevitt, a Catholic priest (he's 53, born in Ireland). One would assume she's his housekeeper. "John" is incorrect - the reverend's correct name is Hugh.

In the 1900 census she had 2 children of which 2 are alive. It says that she arrived in the U.S. in 1892. That date would be incorrect, given the 1885 census, but it may be correct following her having gone back to Canada so would make sense. In the 1910 census it says she had 5 children of which 4 are alive (the one who died must have been born between 1900 and 1910), and again that she arrived in the U.S. in 1892.

Upon her marriage to Michael Ward Rooney, they made their home on the farm he had homesteaded in 1871. Michael died in 1918 and Margaret continued to make her home there until 1939, when she went to live with her daughter and son-in-law, Mr and Mrs Mathias Majerus. She died at her daughter's home in 1948, following a three-week attack of flu.
generation V (Great Great-Grandparents)

28 (14)
manThomas Rooney‏
Born ‎17 Mar 1817 County Roscommon, Ireland, died ‎23 Apr 1897 Bangor Township, Pope County, Minnesota Event Description: St. Anthony of Padua Cemetery, Padua, Stearns, MN‎, age 80 years, buried Padua, Stearns County, Minnesota
Thomas Rooney

Died, at his home in Bangor Friday evening April 23rd, Thomas Rooney, aged 83 years. Deceased was born near Athlone, County Roscommon, Ireland in 1814 [his gravestone says he was born in 1817]. In 1847 he emigrated to Canada, settling near the Gatineau river, where he remained until 1867 when he removed to Raymond township, Stearns county, Minn. in which place and in Bangor, Pope county he resided until his death. His death was caused by cancer of the throat which the best available medical skill sought to overcome in vain. The last six months of his life were months of intense suffering which death alone had the power to allay. The funeral services were held from the Raymond Church on Sunday and the large procession which followed his remains thither was an indication of the high esteem in which he was held. Whole souled kindness and benevolent affection made him an ever welcome gue t where-ever he went and those who knew him best will be saddest for his departure from this world. A wife, three sons, Michael, John, and Thomas and two daughters, Winifred and Mary, are left to mourn his death, and scores of relatives and friends will cherish his memory through life.

Glenwood Herald, April 30, 1897.

Geraldine says, "The 26 hour shoeless walk in 1844 from Parish Moore to Sligo for my great grandfather Thomas, his sister Catherine and the two wee boys must have been a nightmare."

Geraldine writes: "Thomas Rooney, Jr obit says he came from Canada with his family to Getty Grove in 1871. So Thomas and Bridget could have been in Minneapolis from 1867 to 1871. [I cannot for the life of me find them in this period, after spending quite a few hours doing lots of searches - David.]
"I'm wondering is it possible to check church/government death records in both Canada and Minnesota to see if another child was born to Thomas and Bridget between 1867 and 1871 but did not survive.
If we located a child, we can maybe get a better date for when they came to Minnesota.
"We know definitely Thomas & Bridget were in MN in 1871 as their last living child, Mary Ann, is born in Raymond Township on Sept 1, 1871."

The family is listed in the 1875 Minnesota state census in Raymond Township, Stearns County with all the other Rooney's and relatives.

Emigration ... Parish Moore to Sligo to Liverpool to Grosse Isle to Ottawa
Thomas Rooney, his sons Michael & John and his sister, Catherine Rooney
Departed Liverpool (via Sligo) 9/13/1847
Arrived Ottawa 11/01/1847
Thomas Rooney's younger son, Baby John, died on the voyage. Deplorable ship conditions.
Ship: the Lord Ashburton
  Married ‎between 1842 and 1843 County Roscommon, Ireland, age 25 or 26 years to:
29 (14)
womanEllen "Elenor (per Kilbegley Cemetery gravestone)" Ward‏
Born ‎1821 County Roscommon, Ireland, died ‎Jun 1846 Ballydangan, County Roscommon, Ireland Event Description: Kilbegley Cemetery, Ballinasloe, Galway, Ireland‎, age 24 or 25 years
Initial dates for her were about 1814 to about 1827 and that she was born and died in County Cork. However, as of about 2016, locals were able to read a gravestone in the Kilbegley Cemetery which is probably hers, and send that information and photos to Randy Rooney. The vital information has been changed to match that stone.

This cemetery is in the Parish of Clonfert, Parish More, where the records burned in the late 1800's.

Geraldine says: "My grandmother, Margaret Murphy Rooney, wrote on a small piece of paper: Ellen Rooney, Kilbegley Cemetery, Parish Moore, Pat and Stephen Ward. My Mother never knew how Pat and Stephen Ward were related to Ellen."

[In about 1975, Helen Rooney Felling's mother, Margaret Murphy Rooney, wrote a note on possible brothers or parent of Ellen Ward Rooney: "Pat and Stephen Ward last known address in 1847: Parish of Clonfert - County Galway, Parish More - Kilbegley Cemetery."]

Geraldine says, "The 26 hour shoeless walk in 1844 from Parish Moore to Sligo for my great grandfather Thomas, his sister Catherine and the two wee boys must have been a nightmare."

June 23, 2016:

"Hi everyone,
I heard from Mary Dolan again and Ellen Ward Rooney's tombstone has been added to the historicgraves.com website: http://historicgraves.com/ kilbegly/ro-klbg-0248/grave. They are still working to get photogrammetry done on it, but had to wait for the weather to improve. Hopefully it will be available soon.
Mary sent the following as well. I'm trying to confirm with Mary how the sibling relationship was established, but thought you would be interested...
With regard to details on Eleanor Ward Rooney, she appears to be a sister of Stephen and Patt Ward. Stephen Ward lived in Kidlawn, Ballinasloe. He was born in 1808 and died on the 5 May 1883. He married Bridget Caulfield in 1844. Their daughter Eleanor was born in 1847 a year after Eleanor Rooney died, so she may have been named after her. This Eleanor was Mary Ward Dolan's husband's great grandmother. Patt Ward died on 1st Aug 1890 aged 80 years.
So, Mary said it looks as if Eleanor Ward is related to her husband and not to her, even though her maiden name is Ward and her ancestors also came from the Townland of Kidlawn. (If you are looking up Kidlawn it was also known by its Irish version, Curraghnagower, pronounced curr a na gower, which means "goats field" hence Kidlawn.)
I'll let you know when/if I hear more that may be of interest.
Best regards,
Randy [Rooney]"
generation VI (3rd Great-Grandparents)

56 (28)
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:
57 (28)
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).