Born ‎14 Nov 1945 Los Angeles, California, died ‎10 Oct 1999 Los Angeles, California Event Description: Forest Lawn Memorial Park , Covina, LA, CA‎, age 53 years

Born ‎3 Dec 1906 Sherwood, Renville, North Dakota, died ‎15 Oct 1987 Redondo Beach, Los Angeles, California, USA Event Description: Riverside National Cemetery, California‎, age 80 years
In the 1930 there is a James Morris, 27, born in North Dakota, a boarder and mechanic in Nashwauk, Itasca County.

In the 1940 census Michael J. Morris, born in North Dakota, is a laborer in Ward, Ravalli, Montana in gardening and farm, associated with no other familiar names. It says his inferred residence in 1935 was Prescott, Yavapai, Arizona.

Michael James Morris's death certificate in California says his mother's maiden name was O'Connell. He was a TEC3, US ARMY, in WWII enlisting 7 Oct 1940. His last residence was 90277 Redondo Beach, Los Angeles, California, USA. His Social Security card was issued in Arizona before 1951. His wife's name and dates are on their shared grave plaque.

Debora Weathers says (August 14, 2016) of her brother-in-law:
"Don't be surprised if there are other members of these lines that are found in mental wards of hospitals [other than Lawrence Vincent Morris]. Michael James Morris had breakdowns in the 1970's and was in the VA hospital. The family said it was because of his service in the war. That being said one of his granddaughters has had mental problems that is said to be the results of drug use. That could be the case but I know there are several members of Michael's family that has had various types of serious medical problems. Many times I have wondered about the health dna in the Morris family lines. Maybe Michael James was talking about Irvin when he was telling stories about his brother being a teacher in Texas. Maybe I was confused or Michael was confused! It was a long time ago and the few notes I wrote down about the family was in bits and pieces."

Born ‎1 Jan 1919 New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, died ‎24 Dec 1999 Torrence, Los Angeles, California‎, age 80 years

Born ‎3 Oct 1875 Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minnesota, died ‎11 May 1955 Umatilla, Umatilla County, Oregon Event Description: Umatilla County Hermiston Umatilla County Hermiston Umatilla County Hermiston Cemetery‎, age 79 years
In 1900 John and his parents lived in Tintah, Traverse County, for a period of time. In 1910 John and his own family is in Hamerly, Renville County, North Dakota. In 1920 John is working in the iron mines in Irondale, Crow Wing County, Minnesota.

All seven of the children were in the St. James Orphanage in Duluth on January 10, 1920. In March of 1920, they're back with the family in Deerwood (same 1920 census, but two months apart). (The orphanage records, for example, get this exactly right: Genevieve M. Morris, age 12, born in Wisconsin, father in Minnesota, mother in Pennsylvania. And all her siblings are listed there.) Something catastrophic happened in the family.

Debora Jean Sargeant Morris says, August 14, 2016:

Now the problem of John Lawrence Morris and Margaret Tresea O'Connell family. Thank you for your 1920 census link as it worked. How interesting as I also found another orphanage listing in 1925 for four of the children.
Both 1920 census records for the children brings up a question to me about Cecelia Rose and her true age. I have a notarized birth statement given by Michael James Morris that he was present at the birth of his sister, Cecelia Rose Morris, child of John L Morris and Margaret O'Connell born in Sherwood North Dakota on the 21st day of April 1921. There are many different years in the records listed for her and at different periods she went by Cecelia Rose and Rose Cecelia as I knew her. She was married to Edward Moore and died in Oregon.
John Lawrence also died in Oregon.
My thoughts got away from the census research and why the children were not always with the parents which was a puzzle. I found four of the children in a Catholic Orphanage in Fargo, North Dakota on April 1, 1925. I have not found the 1930 census record for the family yet. As I said before I have not spent much time on this research yet. I do know that Michael James sister Genevieve was known to the family as Jennie. I don't remember anything said about Madison. Edna Filistis was know to the family as Filistis. She was born with a club foot and I remember her living in Idaho in the 1970's. I never met her and have not done research on that line. John Irvin went by the name Irvin. He lived in Montana. There also was a May. Her name might have been Marie or Mary but was known to the family as May. She lived in the state of Washington. There was Lawrence Vincent. He might have taught school somewhere in Texas as I remember. Michael James named his first son, my husband, after his two brothers, Lawrence and Irvin.
There is a lot of research time that needs to be done for the families of John Lawrence Morris and Margaret Tresea O'Connell. I can't even begin to think about John's parents families.

Born ‎1 Jul 1876 Pennsylvania, died ‎20 Aug 1967 Deerwood, Crow Wing County, Minnesota‎, age 91 years
Margaret's maiden name may have been O'Connell (middle initial "T"), per son Michael James's California death certificate. Or, it may have been Flanigan, per her son John I's California death certificate.

Born ‎12 Dec 1843 Quebec, Canada, died ‎13 Apr 1914 Page Township, Cass County, North Dakota‎, age 70 years
The family is in the 1885 census of Bangor Township, Pope County.

In the 1895 census the family is in Reynolds Township, Todd County.

In the 1910 census they're in Hamerly, Renville County, North Dakota with the three youngest: Arthur E, Mabel G. and Alice.

Born ‎21 Aug 1851 Wakefield Township, Outaouais, Quebec, Canada, died ‎9 Dec 1937 Fargo, Cass County, North Dakota‎, age 86 years, buried Page Township, Cass County, North Dakota
The 1900 census - Tintah, Traverse County, says that she and her husband came to the U.S. from Canada in 1866.

Born ‎± 1812 Ireland, died ‎1 Jun 1874 Raymond Township, Stearns County, Minnesota Event Description: St. Anthony of Padua Cemetery, Padua, Stearns, MN‎, age approximately 62 years
The "Tracy" name seems to disappear in the Gatineau valley after the 1861 census. Michael arrived in Canada from Ireland about 1832.

Born ‎1818 Ireland, died ‎1897 Stearns County, Minnesota Event Description: St. Anthony of Padua Cemetery, Padua, Stearns, MN‎, age 78 or 79 years
Her husband, Michael “Tracey,” has a gravestone, but it’s not clear th at Ann is buried there.

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).