McNealy Family

~~Trying to locate place of origin of family of Anthony McNealy (1804) and Bridget Kilday (Gildea) (1811-1815). Anthony thought to be son of John McNealy and Winifred (Fanny) Carragan;  Bridget thought to be daughter of John Kilday and Mary Lawless. Dates of birth have high degree of probability.

Children, all born in Ireland are John (1835), Margaret (1837), Anthony (1840), Winifred (Fanny) (1843) and Mary (1845-1848). Family left Ireland approximately 1850 for Edinburgh, Scotland and all are present for 1851 Scottish census. Anthony died in Edinburgh in 1859 and Bridget died in Lasswade, Scotland in 1884. John married Ann Kerrigan in Edinburgh in 1852.  They began a family there but emigrated to the United States in about 1859.  Anthony married Sarah Malley (or O’Mealie) there in 1859; they too began a family and then emigrated to the U.S. in about 1865. Margaret, Winifred, and Mary all married, but never left Scotland.

Although he is not listed in the 1851 census, there is strong circumstantial evidence that there was an additional brother named Joseph. In 1855 he married Sarah Reilly in Edinburgh and both listed County Mayo as their place of origin. They did not leave Scotland.

I have scoured both the civic and church (St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church) records for Edinburgh and vicinity. There are numerous citations for this family but, except for the instance noted for Joseph above, none indicate any place of origin other than “Ireland”. 

I do not know the exact spelling or pronunciation of the family name in Ireland but strongly believe it was “McNealy” or some variation thereof. Quite possibly there was an “a” or “e” sound between the “c” and the “N”, whether written or not. I am fairly certain the name was not “McNally”.
In Scotland the name was often shortened to “Connolly”, with various spellings thereof. Variations of “McNealy”, such as “McNeillie” or “McEnally” were common and on one document “Connolly” was crossed out on two pages with McEnally written above it.

~~The only possible leads I can offer are:
John McNealy, found on Landholders of Main Street Newport in 1855
Anthony McAnelly, Westport, from Clew Bay Heritage Center, date unknown
Austin McAneely, Thornhill, twice, from Griffith’s (first name is repeated in family)
Catholic Church at Thornhill in 1837
John Lawless, Ballintleava, from Griffiths

I have been searching for this family for many a year and am delighted that your organization now stands ready to help.  John R. McNealy