Person in this family
Ellen Cooney
Born 1 August 1894; death not recorded
Ellen Cooney is presented by our family tree as a daughter of Peter Cooney and Margaret Needham and later as Ellen Corcoran.
Family story - not yet proved
Ellen Cooney is presented by our family tree as a daughter of Peter Cooney and Margaret Needham and later as Ellen Corcoran.
Born at Derrycriff, Islandeady, County Mayo, Ireland
Recorded as: Ellen Corcoran
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 Ellen Cooney as a daughter of Peter Cooney and Margaret Needham, the wife of John Corcoran, and the mother of Pauline and Virginia, with another child entered as Margaret Virginia. It gives her later name as Ellen Corcoran.
This archive separately quotes a Derrycriff civil-register sequence that records “First August 1894, Ellen” as a child of Peter Cooney and Margaret Cooney formerly Needham; Peter was recorded as a farmer. No quoted marriage, census, or later record proves that this child became Ellen Corcoran.
How we know this: Mixed: the 1894 Derrycriff child is documented, but the Corcoran marriage and children remain claims recorded here. [1][2]
Family
Parents
Siblings · birth order
Spouse
Children
See this family in the family treeWhere they lived
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
- New York City, New York
- Ireland
- France
- New York
- 37 West 50th Street, Manhattan, New York
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.
Timeline
Birth registered
Her birth was registered on 21 August 1894 by her mother, Margaret Cooney, who could not write and made a cross. As written: “Margaret Cooney her ✗ mark, Mother, Derrycriff”
Proved by a record
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 Nellie Cooney.
Proved by a record
Original records
Tap to open a larger copyCivil birth register, Ellen Cooney, 1 Aug 1894, Derrycriff
Civil registration means an official government record of a birth, marriage, or death. It matters on this page because it records information connected with Ellen Cooney.
What the records say
1 of 2 records transcribed.
Record exhibit
Irish Gleanings extraction
This old record gives information about the person or family named here.
Partly proved
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
Irish Gleanings | Peter COONEY kia 1918-10-14 Sergeant, Co M, 165th Infantry, 3 sisters - Mrs Bridget HORAN, Jersey City, NY, Nellie COONEY & Mrs Annie FARLEY, W 50th St, NYC; his mother died in Ireland in 1921 date 1921-06-02. | Mrs Annie FARLEY | 37 W. 50th St. | Mrs Annie FARLEY, W 50th St, NYC | Company M, 165th Infantry, | 37 W. 50th St., New York City. | serial/service number, | place of birth, | 37 W.Show the full recordHide the full recordFull record, about 150 words
50th St., New York City | Mrs Annie FARLEY, W 50th St, NYC. | 15 Apr. 1867 to 30 Mar. 1881. | his mother died in Ireland in 1921 date 1921-06-02. [COMPILED] “Peter COONEY kia 1918-10-14 Sergeant, Co M, 165th Infantry, 3 sisters - Mrs Bridget HORAN, Jersey City, NY, Nellie COONEY & Mrs Annie FARLEY, W 50th St, NYC; his mother died in Ireland in 1921 date 1921-06-02.” [CONFLICT] The Derrycriff Margaret’s civil death was 17 March 1922.
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.
Historical context
These background articles explain the places, work, and events in this entry.
Bayonne and the Industrial Waterfront, 1870–1920
The Bayonne in these family records was a new city built around water, rails and heavy industry. Bayonne Township was formed only in 1861, uniting older settlements on Bergen Neck; it became a city in 1869. The…
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,…
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 Ellen Cooney, born at Derrycriff on 1 August 1894, marry John Corcoran?
- Which records confirm the children attributed to Ellen Corcoran?
- [UPGRADED ON THE 1901 CENSUS] The parent link on this page was carried as unchecked until 9 August 2026. The **1901 census of Derrycreeve** settles it: this child is in Peter Cooney and Margaret Needham's household at aged seven, exactly the age the civil birth registration implies.
- [INFERENCE] Nellie can be a familiar form of Ellen, but the compiled sister name does not prove that the Derrycriff child was the sergeant’s sister; no Corcoran marriage was established.
- [LIKELY RESOLVED] The “Nellie Cooney” named as one of Sgt Peter Cooney's three sisters is almost certainly this Ellen — Nellie being the ordinary familiar form of Ellen — since the other two names in that group, Bridget Horan and Annie Farley, match her sisters exactly.