Patrick Needham, Hanora (Connolly) Needham and their oldest son Michael J. Needham from Galway

Diana,

Needham is associated with South County Mayo.

In County Galway the name is normally spelled "Nee".

Is is likely that they sailed from Galway docks to Boston.

If I find anything I will post it to you.

The records attached are from Griffith's Land Valuations taken c1855.

Source:  www.askaboutireland.ie - Free site.

Regards,

Diana,

Please see attached Civil Birth record No. 493 for a Michael Nee. Father - Patrick - Mother - Honor Conneely. Year 1867 not 1868. Could this be your relative?

Regards,

Thank you so much for replying, especially so quickly,  to my post. These records are certainly a possibility but hard to determine if they are "the" ancestors. Unfortunately,  I may never know. My DNA does reflect County Galway and County Mayo. 

Diana,

Please see attached Civil marriage record for a Patrick Nee and Honor Conneely in 1866 in Clifden.

Patrick's father was named "Michael" and Honor's was named "John" which corresponds with the detail you have published.

The entry record for Michael is 293, not 493 on the Civil birth record. Patrick's father is recorded as farmer as is the father of Honor.  

Regards,

Diana,

On the subscription site Roots Ireland, there is a birth record for Honor Coneely, born 8 Apr 1842 to John Coneely and Catherine Nee. One sponsor listed is Mary Nee. You mentioned that Mary was her mother's name, so perhaps the record was recorded incorrectly. You might want to check out the townland of Tullyvoheen listed on the marriage record mentioned above by McCoy as there are multiple Conneelys in Griffith's Valuation records in that townland. I do not know if Griffith's records are ever incorrect, but there are also two listings for Michael "Lee' and Frank "Lee" there. I mention this because the 1901 census record for Tullyvoheen shows Conneelys and Nees, but no Lees.

Regards,

Diana,

It looks like the birth record for Michael, above, is for your Michael. Parents' names, county Galway, and date of August 1867 all match the information you have.  If the day is off by a week or so from the info passed down to you, that is not unusual.

The marriage record also seems to be that of your Patrick and Honor. 

I hope this helps.

Townland information -Tullyvoheen - Clifden - County Galway.

Credit: Logainm.ie and Galway Archives

Regards,

Wow, thank you very, very much, McCoy, Carolyn and Patricia for all this information!  These records certainly could fit my ancestors.  One thing that surprises me is that as soon as they reached the United States all the records say Needham not Nee. Usually one hears about people shortening their names not the other way around.  I do remember one of my aunts saying that we had Nee relatives but I assumed they cut their name down when they came to the States. Also surprising is the Honor instead of Hanora. She went by Hannah on many of the records in the States. There is,  however, one child's birth record that has her maiden name as Conneely but most had Connolly, including her death certificate,  so I stuck with that. 

Patrick's father being Michael doesn't surprise me as they seemed to have stuck with the traditional Irish naming convention for the other pieces I know.

I will have to continue my research using Nee and seeing what I can find. It sounds like Nee is a real possibility and not just trying to get the pieces to fit.

As a side note my grandmother's best friend was named Anna Tully. Are there a lot of Tullys in Tullyvoheen or nothing to do with it? 

Diana,

I looked at the Griffith's Valuation, 1901 and 1911 census records for Tullyvoheen,  and found no Tully surnames there. I'd say it's just a coincidence. 

FYI, 

Johanna, Hannah, Anna, Hanora, Honora, and Nora are the same name! 

This may be drawing a very long bow but, my parents and I stayed with a Kate Nee in Connemara in 1955. She had a son and a daughter around my age (11). We met Kate in a pub and were on a quest to find someone who still wore the red petticoats. Kate's sister was such a person and we were taken to meet her. Our Bedford Dormobile in which we slept was parked by Kate's cottage during our stay

In the 1970s, I came across a book by Hugh Brody which was an account of his research on change and decline in the West of Ireland (Inishkillane, Penguin Books, 1973). Brody begins by mentioning his first meeting with Kate Nee in 1966 who was then 60 and living alone on a small mountain farm in Connemara. Describing her family, Brody says "...her sons married in Chicago and England, her daughters spread through Ireland and the world. Three of her thirteen children died in infancy, nine emigrated or moved away from life on the land, and only one girl married to a local farmer."

On arrival, Brody explained that he'd been directed to Kate by an old friend of hers living in England. "...no sooner had I said the friend's name than Kate cried 'My darling!', clasped me in a tight hug, and hurried to make the first of a thousand teas."

Relevant or not for Diana, I hope the above stories convey the warmth and generosity of Irish hospitality and how hardly any families have been untouched by emigration.

John James

Thank you John James for sharing such a nice story! I hope the above named Nees are my Needhams.

Carolyn Do you think Roots Ireland is the best subscription web site for Irish genealogy?  I had previously subscribed to it a while ago and completely struck out so I did not renew. Of course I was searching for Needham not Nee. Maybe I should give it another shot!

Diana,

As far as subscription sites go, I think it is very good. They continually add records to their online database, but of course, they don't have records from every parish. I cannot compare it to the other subscription site findmypast.ie because  I have never used it. What I do like about it is that prior to paying for a subscription, one can view what records they do have...just click on the county, then click on online sources for that county.

Regards,

Thanks,  Carolyn!