John Cunneen, Ennis to NYS Attorney General

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smcarberry
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Joined: Fri Mar 30, 2007 4:31 pm
Location: USA

John Cunneen, Ennis to NYS Attorney General

Post by smcarberry » Tue Nov 18, 2008 7:14 pm

There are several biographies online for this Ennis-born man who came on his own as a young teenager to upstate NY
where his legal skill resulted in his being the state's attorney general for many years. He eventually brought over his family, whose identities are also detailed on at least one website. All of that is accessible with Googling. However, until this week I had not seen a photo of him, which appears in the George E. Matthew & Co. 1898 publication (Buffalo NY) entitled The Men of New York; A Collection of Biographies and Portraits of Citizens of The Empire State, a Google book.

The final paragraph provides personal details, as follows:
"John Cunneen was born at Enis, Ireland, Mary 18, 1848; came to the United States in 1864, and settled in Albion, N.Y.; was admitted to the bar at Rochester in 1874; married Elizabeth E. Bass of Albion January 26, 1876; practiced law in
Albion 1873-90, and has practiced in Buffalo since 1890."

posted by Sharon Carberry USA
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Sduddy
Posts: 1826
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:07 am

Re: John Cunneen, Ennis to NYS Attorney General

Post by Sduddy » Sun Feb 13, 2022 11:35 am

This is one of the biographies for John Cunneen: https://orleanshub.com/historic-childs- ... y-general/

John Cunneen was born in 1848. I could not find him in the Ennis (Drumcliff) parish baptisms. A Wikipedia entry on him gives his birthplace as “near Ennis," but I could not find him in the Kilmaley baptisms, or Doora-Kilraghtis, or Clarecastle, or Quin-Clooney. That article mentions a brother, Cornelius, born in 1868 (20 years after the birth of John): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cunneen. I looked for the birth of Cornelius in the civil records, but failed to find him. Maybe he was born in the U.S.
Findagrave.com has an entry for John (and Cornelius): https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/100 ... hn-cunneen
A Bridget Cunneen 1824-1896 is included also and may be the mother of John.
Does anyone know which Co. Clare parish John Cunneen belongs to?

Sheila

murf
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Location: Qld Australia

Re: John Cunneen, Ennis to NYS Attorney General

Post by murf » Sun Feb 13, 2022 11:52 pm

Hi Sheila
There is a baptism record for a John Cuneen in:
RC Baptism Records for Clare Abbey and Killone (now Clarecastle and Ballyea) 1834-1853 (3,178 records) donated by Clarecastle Pastoral Council and Eric Shaw 4th December 2019

This transcription is listed on the Donated Materials page, but does not appear on the Local Studies page at:
https://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/libra ... llaloe.htm

If you bring up the Registers by Date part of the Eric Shaw transcription you will see that the dates are very imprecise. John Cuneen appears in a large group listed under 1 Mar 1848. The following group is 1 Jun 1848.
If this John Cuneen is the one you are looking for then the birth date of 18 May 1848 must have come from another source.

The transcript lists baptisms of three children of Daniel Cuneen, viz John 1848, Michael 1851 and Bartholomew 1853.
The mothers given are, respectively Bridget Cuneen, Mrs Cuneen and Bridget Scanlan. So it would appear that Bridget Scanlan was the mother of all three. Note that the obituary you referred to states that John Cuneen
"...made the trip to Albion by packet boat where he was met by a cousin named Scanlan...."
So that ties in nicely.

Two more children of this couple, James 1855 and Peter 1862 appear in the later transcript. I haven't located Cornelius, but the 20 year gap has closed significantly.

Sduddy
Posts: 1826
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:07 am

Re: John Cunneen, Ennis to NYS Attorney General

Post by Sduddy » Mon Feb 14, 2022 10:56 am

Hi Murf

Yes, that ties in very nicely indeed. Full marks to you!

One of the baptisms gives the address as Reaghfa (townland). The link to www.askaboutireland is out of action at the moment, but I see from the clarelibrary transcription for Killone parish (https://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/cocla ... tm#reaghfa) that a John Cunneen was one of the tenants living in Reaghfa in 1855. John was probably the father of Daniel Cunneen and grandfather of John who went to the U.S..
There’s a headstone in Killone Abbey Graveyard (https://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/cocla ... urname.htm), which is inscribed: IHS | Underneath this tomb | stone lyeth the Remains | of Daniel Cunneen who | departed this life March the | 21st 1816 aged 35 yrs | This tomb stone was erected | over his Remains by his | sons Michael & John | Cunneen for them & | posterity. May he rest in | peace. Amen.
This old headstone, erected at a time when most people did not have one (or used a stone to mark the spot), makes me think that the Cunneens were people of some substance at one time.

The Tithe applotment book for Killone shows Michael and John Cunneen living in Freaghfa - Freaghfa is a version of Reaghfa (https://www.logainm.ie/ga/6353): http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarc ... _00459.pdf

There are no Cunneens in Reaghfa in 1901, but of course there may be some “submerged” Cunneens, i.e. decendants of a female Cunneen.

Sheila

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