Fruits of One Tree

  Daniel Fennessy: An Irish Immigrant's Life in Brooklyn Daniel Fennessy was born in May 1840 in Ardfinnan Parish, County Tipperary, Ireland. Baptized on May 14, 1840, at the local church, he was the son of John Fennessy and Mary Bushel. [1] In those days, Catholic infants were typically baptized within a week or two of birth, suggesting Daniel came into the world in early May of that year. Daniel grew up in a large family in the Irish countryside near Ardfinnan, a village in County Tipperary. Parish records reveal at least four siblings: Mary, baptized in March 1827; Michael, baptized in September 1830; Edward, baptized in 1834; and Joanna, baptized in October 1837. [2] The family likely lived in the rural areas surrounding the village, coming into town for church services and shopping. Life in mid-nineteenth-century Ireland was difficult for Catholic families like the Fennessys, who faced economic hardship and limited opportunities under British rule. From 1845 to 1849, the...

 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 ...