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ANCESTOR 17: JEREMIAH QUINLAN (1837-1865)

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 My grandfather was named Leo Jeremiah Kirner when he was baptized. His middle name was for his grandfather, Jeremiah Quinlan, who died an unusual death in the Civil War, but not on a battlefield. Alexei Bogoliubov, Ship on Fire , 1888; image, Wikimedia Commons ( https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alexei_Bogoliubov_-_Ship_on_Fire.jpg : accessed 15 Dec. 2025). Jeremiah’s parents, Sgt. Patrick Quinlan and Mary Caulfield Quinlan, had him baptized at St. Paul’s Arran Quay Church in Dublin, Ireland, on June 23, 1837. [1] Irish Catholic babies were usually baptized a few days after birth, so he was probably born in Dublin. Jeremiah’s father was a sergeant in the British Army and served all over the world. He was stationed in Gibraltar a few months later, where Jeremiah’s brother and sister were born and, unfortunately, buried in 1842. [2] After that, his father was stationed in the Caribbean in early 1842; and Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland from 1842-1843. His father left ...
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ANCESTOR NO. 16: ROSANNA McGUIRE (~1842-1903)

My great great-great-grandmother Rosanna McGuire is another brick wall ancestor. So far, I have found no birth or marriage record for her, so we have no information about her parents or where she came from. She is also our most scandalous ancestor. Rosanna was born in Ireland, probably about 1842, and emigrated to America about 1855, settling in New York City . [1]  She was one of the fortunate ones who survived the terrible Irish Famine that killed over a million people from 1845 to 1849. In about 1860, she married an American-born son of German immigrants, John Joseph Körner. Over time, the name morphed to Kerner and then to Kirner. On May 27, 1861, Rosanna gave birth to John Joseph Kerner Jr., and on February 12, 1864, she had a second son, William Henry Kerner. [2] The family moved across the Hudson River to Jersey City, New Jersey about 1867. Rose’s last child, George Washington Kerner, was baptized at St. Boniface , a Catholic church attended mostly by German immi...
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NOW, THE GREAT GREAT GRANDPARENTS' GENERATION: ANCESTOR NO. 15: JOSEPH KIRNER, SR. (~1837-1907)

  Joseph Kirner is a brick wall ancestor . That means he is the most distant Kirner ancestor for whom I can NOT find evidence of parents. Every document found that names him occurs in the second half of his life. No baptism or marriage record has been found for him, and he is not found in any census record until he was in his mid-thirties. He was born in New York City, and his parents were German immigrants. [1] His surname evolved from Körner to Kerner to Kirner, and was sometimes assumed to be Kernan, Kearny, or Kiernan , an Irish name. His trade as a bricklayer, also called a mason, helps distinguish him despite the recorded name variations. On a few documents, he was named John Joseph, but most called him Joseph. German men of the era often had the first name John (Johann) and went by their middle names. Joseph probably married Rosanna McGuire/Maguire in 1860 in New York City, judging from the age of his eldest child, John Joseph Jr., who was born on May 27, 1861. [2] Hi...
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Location: Jersey City, NJ, USA
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