Blakes from Clare

Hello Bridget,

Sometimes a person's place of origin in Ireland turns up in their U.S. marriage record, their children's baptismal/marriage records, on their headstone, in obituaries and other newsletter articles, in their will, etc.  So if you haven't uncovered Edward's place of birth in those sources, perhaps you might consider taking a DNA test. This might point you in the right direction.  

Another idea is to research Mollie Tuohy, who was called "niece" in the 1880 census.  If it turns out she was the child of Edward Blake's sister, you could research the sister to see where she was born. That would likely give you Edward's birthplace too.

Good luck!

Bridget,

The surname "Blake" can be found in various parts of Ireland in the 1820's to 1840's - Source: Tithe Records - www.nationmalarchives.ie/genealogy

There is a townland in North County Clare called "Blakemount" in the parish of Kilkeedy. There is a Thomas Blake recorded there with a land holding of c30 acres.

Blake surname was very common in County Galway and County Clare.

Regards,

Bridget,

Clare library - Clarelibrary.ie has a record from the Kilkeedy Catholic parish - now Tubber for Pat Blake 1839 and a Tom Blake in 1844.

There is a record of an Edmund Blake of Doonbeg having married in 1840.

The address "Blakemount" does not appear in Griffith's Valuations, but a townland name "Blakesmountain" is recorded for the Civil Parish of Killonaghan which is close to the Atlantic.

Following Patricia's advice I tried to find a Blake/Touhy marriage in the time frame and there is only one such marriage between Michael Tuohy and Ellen Blake in 1867 in Limerick. Unfortunately I don't know if Ellen is the mother of  Molly (Mary Tuohy) Will keep trying. There are many Blake families in Co Clare particularly in Ennis, Ennistymon, Scariff, Tulla etc  As Patricia suggested go back and check Immigration applications, Birth, Marriage and Death certs, there just might be some information that will open the door.

IN THE 1930 U.S. census, Mollie (Tuohey) Rigden was married and had three children: Edward, Helen, Patrice.  

She was born in Missouri, her parents in the Irish Free State.

Patricia,

In researching Bridget request, I took your suggestion to research Molly. I am assuming I am looking at the same person on Ancestry. 

When she married, she was going by the name Blake.

When she died Blake was also used. Since she was a niece, I am not sure if the parents were correctly identified.

In the 1900 census Bridget Blake was living with Mollie's family and was identified as the widowed mother-in-law. She died in 1904.

Bridget Kidney married Edward in 1858. Molly was born in 1868. Perhaps Bridget had previously married a Mr. Kidney and her maiden name was Touhy. As her aunt, she might have adopted Mollie? Just a thought.

On a tree on Ancestry, Mary Mollie Touhy is the daughter of Catherine Touhy 1825-1873 and Matthew Touhy 1834-1879. They both had died before the 1880 census.

Regards- Mary

My hunch--just a hunch--is that Mollie was taken in by her aunt and uncle and began to call them her parents and to use their surname.

Perhaps search Matthew and Catherine?

I agree. Following the Touhy family does not lead to the Blake family which is who Bridget is trying to connect to.

Regards- Mary

Thank you all for these responses! I do know about Mollie Tuohy later going by Blake; when she married William Rigden, she listed the Blakes as her parents, although clearly they had been her aunt and uncle. The Blakes ran a saloon called "The Shamrock" on the levee road in a lawless part of East St. Louis. After Edward commits suicide (publicly, taking rat poison in a glass of whiskey after shooting a man in his bar), Bridget and her "daughter" Mollie run a boarding house until Mollie's marriage. Bridget moves in with Mollie and William Rigden and dies in 1904. Bridget Kidney may well have been a Bridget Tuohy originally. When an Eleanora Toohey dies in 1873 in East St. Louis, the local paper published that her funeral would commence from her son-in-law's house, Edward Blake. Edward Blake is buried with Tuohy's and Hogans in the St. Louis Calvary Cemetery, in a plot purchased by his wife. I am also not entirely certain if Edward married a second Bridget!

I know that in the 1860 Kansas City census, a woman named Mary Dwyne is living with Bridget and Edward Blake, and her occupation is "living with her daughter", to further muddy the waters.

I know that their second surviving son, Edward "Ned" Blake, who is living with them in 1860 but then in 1870 with his older brother Richard and an aunt and uncle, Pat and Ellen Cronin, in Kansas City, (along with Mary Dwyne), is my direct ancestor. Ellen's maiden name in her marriage record is Devine, which is close enough to Dwyne to satisfy me. Edward "Ned" is in the 1880 census but Richard is nowhere to be found. The family story is that some of the family returned to Ireland post-famine, but I have no solid evidence of Edward, Bridget, or Richard returning.

I suppose I could have the incorrect Edward and Bridget Blake in East St. Louis, but I also have no death records for them in Kansas City. If they returned to Ireland, leaving their sons in Kansas City, what happened to Richard between 1870 and 1880? And where did they go? And then why did Edward "Ned" Blake choose to move to St. Louis around the same time Edward Blake committed suicide in 1884, if that family is not the same?  Even if I do have the wrong East St. Louis Edward and Bridget Blake, I know I have the correct ones in Kansas City--which brings me right back around to Edward Blake sailing for America before 1850, from somewhere in County Clare. 

It has become the most tantalizing enduring mystery for me. All my other family lines I can anchor to a place in Europe (Ireland, northern England, Scotland, Germany) and the one with whom I share a last name I cannot find!

I appreciate all the responses and I have plenty to mull over for the remainder of my summer before I return to the classroom. Thank you!

Bridgett Blake

St. Louis, MO, USA