Person in this family
Bridget Cooney
Born 16 February 1886; death not recorded
The War Department’s own 1929 correspondence addresses Mrs. Bridget Cooney Horan at 75 Nelson Avenue and directly calls her Sergeant Peter Cooney’s sister. That record corroborates the earlier unsourced compilation, but does not by itself prove that she was the Derrycriff child or that Frank Horan and their children lived at the address.
Partly proved
Bridget Cooney is presented by our family tree as a daughter of Peter Cooney and Margaret Needham and later as Bridget Horan.
Born at Derrycriff, Islandeady, County Mayo, Ireland
Recorded as: Bridget Horan
How is this person related?
Andrew John Leahey’s no relationship found in this archive
Gina D. Cacace’s no relationship found in this archive
Abigail Ann Leahey’s no relationship found in this archive
Marie C. Fitzgerald’s no relationship found in this archive
Kevin Leahey’s no relationship found in this archive
Worked out from the recorded parents and marriages. No sex is recorded for anyone in this archive, so the wording stays neutral.
Life
Our family tree names Bridget Cooney as a daughter of Peter Cooney and Margaret Needham, the wife of Frank Horan, and the mother of Mary Virginia and Vincent. It also gives her later name as Bridget Horan.
This archive separately quotes a Derrycriff birth-register sequence that includes “Sixteenth February 1886, Bridget” among the children of Peter Coony or Cooney and Margaret Needham, with the father recorded as a farmer. That establishes a child named Bridget in the household, but no quoted marriage or later record connects that child to Frank Horan or the listed children.
How we know this: Mixed: Bridget’s place in the Derrycriff birth sequence is documented, but her Horan identity and later family are only claims recorded here. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]
Family
Parents
Siblings · birth order
Spouse
Children
See this family in the family treeWhere they lived
- 1929: 75 Nelson Avenue, Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey
Use the place list first. The map below is optional.
Places listed on this page
- Islandeady, County Mayo, Ireland
- Derrycriff, Islandeady, County Mayo, Ireland
- County Mayo, Ireland
- Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey
- Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, France Cemetery or burial place
- New Jersey
- Ireland
- France
- 75 Nelson Avenue, Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey
The map could not load. The complete place list is above it.
The pins show approximate places. The line only joins them in time order; it does not prove the route travelled. 3 of the places listed above are recorded only as a county or country, so they are not pinned. Cemetery and burial places have red pins.
Images of these addresses and sites
Insurance maps show a historical footprint, while recent street photographs show the site today. A recent view is not proof that the family’s building survives.
Historical or recent place photograph, 1910; read the scope note before treating it as a building image.
Building survival: this image does not establish survival unless the note below says otherwise.
Credit: Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division, Sanborn Maps Collection. Cropped from Hudson County volume 4, sheet 12.
Licence: Public domain
Timeline
Birth registered
Her birth was registered on 9 March 1886 by her father, Peter Coony, a farmer of Derrycriff, who could not write and made a cross. As written: “Peter Coony his ✗ mark, Father, Derrycriff”
Proved by a record
Unassigned same-name marriage lead [INFERENCE]
A statewide bride-index row pairs Bridget Cooney with Henry Westdyke, but supplies no age, parents or residence. It is not assigned to the Derrycriff Bridget and does not displace the compiled Francis Horan relationship. [1]
From our family tree - no record found yet
Her brother killed in action
Her brother Peter Cooney was killed in action in France on 14 October 1918, serving as a Sergeant with Company M of the 165th Infantry. Army correspondence about him names his three sisters — Bridget Horan of Jersey City, Nellie Cooney and Annie Farley — of whom she is Bridget Horan of Jersey City. She wrote to the Army about her brother in 1929.
Proved by a record
Army correspondence documents Peter Cooney’s sister
The Army addressed “Mrs. Bridget Cooney Horan, 75 Nelson Avenue, Jersey City, N. J.” and wrote that its records showed she was the late Sergeant Peter Cooney’s sister. This is federal correspondence, not the earlier unsourced compilation; it does not place Frank Horan or their children at no. 75. [2]
Proved by a record
Original records
Tap to open a larger copy1929 Graves Registration letter identifying Bridget Horan as Peter Cooney's sister
This old record gives information about the person or family named here. It matters on this page because it records information connected with Bridget Cooney.
Open the larger document
Original source (catalog.archives.gov)
What the records say
7 of 10 records transcribed.
Record exhibit
New Jersey bride index — unassigned Bridget Cooney / Henry Westdyke row, 1906
An index is a list that points to where the full record can be found.
Proved by a record
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
COONEY BRIDGET | WESTDYKE HENRY | 32 90 | 1906.
Record exhibit
War Department letter to Bridget Cooney Horan, 75 Nelson Avenue, 1929
This old record gives information about the person or family named here.
Proved by a record
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
[RECORD] “Mrs. Bridget Cooney Horan, 75 Nelson Avenue, Jersey City, N. J.” | “The records of this office show that you are the sister of the late Sgt. Peter Cooney, Co. M, 165th Inf., whose remains are now interred in the Meuse-Argonne Amer. Cty.” [RECORD] This corroboration comes from the Army’s own correspondence, not the earlier unsourced compilation.
Record exhibit
Jersey City Sanborn index — Nelson Avenue, 1910
An index is a list that points to where the full record can be found.
Proved by a record
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
[RECORD] “Nelson Avenue” | “1–81” | sheet “12”.
Record exhibit
Jersey City Sanborn sheet 12 — 75 Nelson Avenue site, 1910
This old record gives information about the person or family named here.
Proved by a record
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
[RECORD] The odd-numbered frontage shows “77” and “65” with intervening subdivided lots but no building footprint at no. 75. [INFERENCE] No. 75 was vacant on the 1910 map.
Record exhibit
Compiled property page — 75 Nelson Avenue, Jersey City
This old record gives information about the person or family named here.
Partly proved
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
[COMPILED] “75 Nelson Avenue” | “single-family house” | “The Heights” | “built in 1925”. [INFERENCE] The vacant-1910, built-1925 and Bridget-at-no.-75-in-1929 sequence makes the present house a strong candidate, but an assessor card or permit chain is still required to prove survival.
Record exhibit
1930 federal census — 75 Nelson Avenue address check
A census is a government list of the people who were living in a home.
Proved by a record
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
[NEGATIVE] “Nelson Ave” and adjoining house numbers “74,” “75,” and “80” control the street segment; on census day no Horan or Cooney headed no. 75. This is a one-day address negative only.
Record exhibit
House/context image — 75 Nelson Avenue, Jersey City; address site between numbered properties 77 and 65
This old record gives information about the person or family named here.
Proved by a record
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
[RECORD] Saved “75-nelson-avenue-sanborn-1910.jpg” as map site. Address: “75 Nelson Avenue, Jersey City; address site between numbered properties 77 and 65”; date: “1910”; licence: “Public domain”; attribution: “Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division, Sanborn Maps Collection. Cropped from Hudson County volume 4, sheet 12.”. [INFERENCE] The image documents the place or map footprint, not a person’s identity or residence unless independently recorded.
Record exhibit
Christening of Vincent De Paul Horan, Jersey City, 12 August 1912
This old record gives information about the person or family named here.
Partly proved
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
The exact words from this record have not been typed out yet.
Record exhibit
Peter Cooney household, 1901 census of Ireland, Derrycreeve, Islandeady, County Mayo
A census is a government list of the people who were living in a home.
Partly proved
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
The exact words from this record have not been typed out yet.
Record exhibit
Bridget Cooney, Social Security NUMIDENT
This old record gives information about the person or family named here.
Partly proved
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
The exact words from this record have not been typed out yet.
Historical context
These background articles explain the places, work, and events in this entry.
Bayonne and the Industrial Waterfront, 1870–1920
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What Sponsors and Witnesses Can Tell Us
Catholic registers often preserve the people standing just outside a family photograph. A baptism normally names the child, parents, date and sponsors or godparents; a marriage normally names the couple and wit…
Sgt. Peter Cooney and the Fighting 69th
The Peter Cooney buried in France was a sergeant in Company M, 165th Infantry—the wartime number of New York’s celebrated 69th Regiment. His unit belonged to the 42nd “Rainbow” Division, assembled from National…
Reading Irish Civil Registration
The year 1864 is the dividing line in this family’s Irish paper trail. Civil registration began in 1845 for non-Catholic and civil marriages, but from 1 January 1864 the law required registration of all births,…
Farmers and Labourers in North Cork
Two words in the Cork records—“farmer” and “labourer”—describe different positions in the same rural economy. When John Fitzgerald married Margaret Fraher at Kildorrery in 1870, the register called John, his fa…
Islandeady and Derrycriff, County Mayo
Islandeady is not an island off Galway. It is a rural parish between Castlebar and Westport in County Mayo, set among lakes and low hills in the shadow of Croagh Patrick. That distinction solves a long-standing…
The Irish Road to Ipswich, Queensland
Most branches on this site point toward New York or New Jersey. The Hickey–McGreevy–McGuire cluster points in the opposite direction, to Ipswich, Queensland. The Australian evidence is uneven: cemetery records …
What we still don't know
- Did the Bridget born at Derrycriff on 16 February 1886 marry Frank Horan?
- Can marriage and birth records confirm the children attributed to Bridget Horan?
- [I WAS WRONG ABOUT HER — RETRACTED WITHIN THE DAY] Earlier on 9 August 2026 this page said she was **'one of the most doubtful links on the Cooney side'**, because her parent link was flagged *compiled* and she is absent from the 1901 census household. That was written without reading the evidence already on this page. **Her own civil birth registration is here, quoted**: *'Sixteenth February 1886 | Derrycriff | Bridget | Peter Coony | Margaret Coony formerly Needham | Farmer.'* It names both parents outright and always did. Her Social Security record, found the same day, names the same two independently. The link is **documented**, the stale flag has been corrected, and the lesson is that a confidence flag is not evidence — **read the record before doubting it**.
- [CONFLICT] Her birth is **16 February 1886** on the Irish civil register and **4 January 1889** on her American Social Security record. The register is the contemporary document and is preferred. Note also that a January 1889 birth is impossible beside her sister **Anne, born 11 August 1888** — five months apart — which is a further reason to keep 1886.
- [A CHILD REMOVED] **Vincent Horan has been detached from this couple.** He was attached as *compiled* — unchecked — and his christening, the 1920 census and the Social Security index all make him the son of John Horan and Ann Hogan of Hudson County, one of ten children. See his page. **The couple's two remaining children are flagged compiled as well and have not been tested**; whoever built this family did so without records, and one of the three has already proved wrong.
- The 1906 Bridget Cooney–Henry Westdyke bride-index row is an unassigned conflicting lead only; obtain the certificate before associating it with this Bridget.
- Obtain an assessor building card or permit chain to determine whether the house described as built in 1925 is the same structure that received Bridget’s 1929 Army letter.
- [NEGATIVE] On the 1930 census day, the controlled 75 Nelson Avenue entry was headed by another surname, not Horan or Cooney. This does not prove Bridget had left Jersey City.
- [CONFLICT] The War Department proves Bridget Cooney Horan was the sergeant’s sister; the 1886 Derrycriff birth proves a Bridget was daughter of Peter Coony and Margaret Needham. No fetched record joins those facts, so the American and Irish identities remain unproved.
- She is still **absent from the 1901 census household** at fifteen, along with Anne and Helen, and that is still unexplained. It is no longer a reason to doubt her parentage; it is a reason to read the census image and see whether the index dropped three of the children.
References
- [1] New Jersey bride index — unassigned Bridget Cooney / Henry Westdyke row, 1906Back to citation 1a Back to citation 1b
- [2] War Department letter to Bridget Cooney Horan, 75 Nelson Avenue, 1929Back to citation 2a Back to citation 2b
- [3] Jersey City Sanborn index — Nelson Avenue, 1910Back to citation 3
- [4] Jersey City Sanborn sheet 12 — 75 Nelson Avenue site, 1910Back to citation 4
- [5] Compiled property page — 75 Nelson Avenue, Jersey CityBack to citation 5
- [6] 1930 federal census — 75 Nelson Avenue address checkBack to citation 6
- [7] House/context image — 75 Nelson Avenue, Jersey City; address site between numbered properties 77 and 65Back to citation 7
- [8] Christening of Vincent De Paul Horan, Jersey City, 12 August 1912Back to citation 8
- [9] Peter Cooney household, 1901 census of Ireland, Derrycreeve, Islandeady, County MayoBack to citation 9
- [10] Bridget Cooney, Social Security NUMIDENTBack to citation 10