Ancestor Report
generation I

1 (0)
womanSarah B Egan‏
Born ‎21 Feb 1915 Bangor, Pope County, Minnesota, died ‎27 Mar 1983 Shakopee, Scott County, Minnesota‎, age 68 years
generation II (Parents)

2 (1)
manJohn Thomas Egan‏
Born ‎11 Feb 1865 Wakefield Twsp, Gatineau Co, Quebec, CAN, died ‎20 Feb 1940 Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minnesota Event Description: Calvary Cemetery, Sauk Centre MN‎, age 75 years
Baptismal sponsors: John Rooney & Bridget Rooney.
  Married ‎27 Sep 1899 Douglas, Alaska Territory, age 34 years (married 40 years) to:
3 (1)
womanAnna Maria Fontaine‏
Born ‎26 Aug 1877 Wrangell, Alaska, died ‎13 Mar 1969 Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota Event Description: Calvary Cemetery, Sauk Centre MN‎, age 91 years
generation III (Grandparents)

4 (2)
manJames Egan‏
Born ‎Jul 1826 Mayo, Ireland, died ‎6 Feb 1912 Bangor Township, Pope County, Minnesota Event Description: Padua Cemetery, Stearns, Minnesota‎, age 85 years, buried Padua, Stearns County, Minnesota
The family is in the 1870 census of Raymond Township, Stearns County, Minnesota.


Originally published February 16, 1912, The Brooten Review

James Egan

James Egan passed away Tuesday, Feb. 6, 1912, at the farm home five miles west of Brooten, aged 87 years. He was a sufferer for years with rheumatism and with his advanced age his death was not unexpected.

He was born in Ireland and emigrated to America and was one of the earliest settlers in this locality. He was well known and was honored and respected by all.

He leaves to mourn his death, three sons and three daughters, namely John Egan and Joe Egan, of Brooten, James Egan, of Donnybrook, N. Dak., Mrs. M. O. Batterbury, of New London, Mrs. James Chisom and Mrs. Ed Callahan, of Seattle, Wash.

Funeral services were held at Padua, Friday Feb. 9. The pallbearers were Hugh Rooney, Martin Gannon, Robert Haug, Frank Landwhier, Carl N. Nelson and Mr. Daniels.

The sympathy of the people of this community is extended the bereaved relatives.

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

James Egan was born about 1826, probably in County Mayo, Ireland, since that was where his father was from. He was the second son, born to Thomas Egan and Mary Ann Welsh, both of whom are buried in Farrellton, Quebec, Canada.

Mary Rooney was born May 28, 1837, in Canada, to Patrick and Ellen (Tracy) Rooney. She was the oldest of nine children.

James Egan married Mary Rooney on June 18, 1860, in Canada. They had four children while living in Canada. The youngest, Mary Ann, died as an infant in January of 1867. Probably later that year they made their way to Minnesota with their other three children: Ellen, Edmond, and John Thomas. When they moved to Minnesota, it was probably to join others in the Rooney Settlement (Padua). In Padua, they had five more children: Juliana, Mary Louise, Elizabeth Agnes, James G., and Joseph Michael.

James was known by the children in the area as "The Candy Man", since he could always dig in his pocket and find a piece of candy. He died on February 6, 1912. Mary died on May 26, 1905, in Bangor Township, Pope County. James and Mary's children, Edmond and Juliana Ann Flahavin, are buried in Padua. James' brother Patrick, and Mary's mother Elenor Rooney, sister Elinor, and brother Thomas are buried in Padua.
  Married ‎18 Jun 1860 Farrellton, Outaouais, Quebec, Canada, age 33 years Marriage witnesses: Patrick Egan & Bridget McGary(?). (married 45 years) to:
5 (2)
womanMaria "Mary" Rooney‏
Born ‎14 May 1836 Wakefield Township, Outaouais, Quebec, Canada, died ‎26 Aug 1905 Bangor Township, Pope County, Minnesota Event Description: Padua Cemetery, Stearns, Minnesota‎, age 69 years, buried Padua, Stearns County, Minnesota
Originally published September 1, 1905, The Glenwood Herald

Mrs. James Egan

Mother is dead. These short words are comparatively meaningless to those who have not suffered the loss of their dearest friend on earth. To those who have a world of sadness they convey. On Saturday morning of last week, James Egan and the several members of his family realized as they never did before the sad and solemn meaning of these words. On that morning the ever true and loving wife and mother bade adieu to dear ones and closed her eyes forever in the dreamless slumber of death.

Mary Egan was born in Canada 68 years ago. During the last 20 years together with her husband and family she has lived in the town of Bangor, this county. About 4 mos. ago she suffered a stroke of paralysis disabling completely one side of her body. A day or two before her death she experienced a second stroke affecting the other side and terminating in her demise as already stated. Sad and lonely is the home she loved so well. No more is heard the familiar sound of mothers voice -- her place in the family circle is vacant, never to be filled again. Her taking away means to the husband, the three sons and three daughters the loss of a true, loving and solicitous wife and mother, to the community in which she lived a kind friend and christian neighbor.

On last Monday her remains were consigned to their last resting place in the cemetery at Padua, Stearns Co. Friends, neighbors and relatives from far and near being in attendance to manifest for the departed on their last token of esteem and love. May she rest in peace.

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

James Egan was born about 1826, probably in County Mayo, Ireland, since that was where his father was from. He was the second son, born to Thomas Egan and Mary Ann Welsh, both of whom are buried in Farrellton, Quebec, Canada.

Mary Rooney was born May 28, 1837, in Canada, to Patrick and Ellen (Tracy) Rooney. She was the oldest of nine children.

James Egan married Mary Rooney on June 18, 1860, in Canada. They had four children while living in Canada. The youngest, Mary Ann, died as an infant in January of 1867. Probably later that year they made their way to Minnesota with their other three children: Ellen, Edmond, and John Thomas. When they moved to Minnesota, it was probably to join others in the Rooney Settlement (Padua). In Padua, they had five more children: Juliana, Mary Louise, Elizabeth Agnes, James G., and Joseph Michael.

James was known by the children in the area as "The Candy Man", since he could always dig in his pocket and find a piece of candy. He died on February 6, 1912. Mary died on May 26, 1905, in Bangor Township, Pope County. James and Mary's children, Edmond and Juliana Ann Flahavin, are buried in Padua. James' brother Patrick, and Mary's mother Elenor Rooney, sister Elinor, and brother Thomas are buried in Padua.
generation IV (Great-Grandparents)

10 (5)
manPatrick Rooney‏
Born ‎2 Feb 1808 Ireland, died ‎9 Apr 1889 Bangor Township, Pope County, Minnesota Event Description: St. Anthony of Padua Cemetery, Stearns, Minnesota‎, age 81 years, buried Padua, Stearns County, Minnesota
Cause of death: Old age
  Married ‎± 1834 Ireland or Canada, age approximately 26 years (married approximately 35 years) to:
11 (5)
womanElenor "Ellen" Tracy‏
Born ‎1816 Ireland, died ‎25 Apr 1869 Padua, Stearns County, Minnesota Event Description: St. Anthony of Padua Cemetery, Padua, Stearns, MN‎, age 52 or 53 years
Ellen died of a stroke.

The "Tracy" name seems to disappear in the Gatineau valley after the 1861 census.
generation V (Great Great-Grandparents)

20 (10)
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:
21 (10)
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).