Person in this family

Mary Cooney

This entry is about Mary Cooney (Born 11 December 1884; death not recorded). For other family members with the same first and family name, see Mary Cooney (about 1886 – 29 August 1949).

Born 11 December 1884; death not recorded

Mary Cooney was born 11 December 1884 at Derrycriff to Peter Cooney and Margaret Needham. She was a separate sibling of Anne, born 11 August 1888. Two American civil records name Andrew Farley’s wife as Mary, but they do not yet prove that she was this Derrycriff child; the Army file’s Annie wording remains conflicting evidence.

Proved by a record

Mary Cooney was born at Derrycriff, County Mayo, on 11 December 1884 to Peter Cooney and Margaret Needham.

Born at Derrycriff, Islandeady, County Mayo, Ireland

How is this person related?

Show the relationship to

Andrew John 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

Mary Cooney was born on 11 December 1884 at Derrycriff in the Islandeady registration district of County Mayo. Her civil birth row reads “Eleventh December 1884,” “Mary,” father “Peter Coony,” mother “Margaret Coony formerly Needham,” and father’s occupation “Farmer.”

Mary was a separate child from her sister Anne, whose birth was recorded on 11 August 1888. That distinction now matters because two American civil records name Andrew Farley’s wife as Mary: the 1920 census calls her Mary Farley, and Helen Bridget Farley’s 1921 death record calls the mother Mary Cooney. Sergeant Peter Cooney’s Army file instead calls Mrs. A. J. Farley Annie. These records establish a genuine given-name conflict, but none names the American woman’s parents or birthplace more precisely than Ireland.

A New Jersey death-index row for “FARLEY MARY” records Jersey City locality codes and August 1949, but it does not give a day or identify relatives. Another possible record has dates from December 1885 to 29 August 1949. Neither has been shown to describe Mary Cooney of Derrycriff. A search of the New York City marriage-certificate index for Mary Cooney and Andrew Farley or Farrelly found no shared certificate number.

Mary of Derrycriff is now a testable candidate for Andrew’s wife, not a proved identification. A marriage, death certificate, obituary, or other record naming parents is still required.

Until August 2026 this archive also carried a second Mary Cooney, said to have been born about 1880 at Castlebar and to have died about 1946 at Jersey City. Nothing supported any of it — no birth, no death, no census, no memorial — and it came from a family tree. The 1901 census of her father's house at Derrycreeve settles the matter: the household holds one Mary, aged seventeen, which is this one. There was never a second daughter of that name, and the other page now redirects here.

How we know this: Strong original evidence documents Mary’s birth and parents; no later record has been securely connected to her. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]

Death and burial

Evidence distinction: [RECORD] means text read from the photographed stone. [COMPILED] means volunteer-typed memorial information and is only a lead.

Find a Grave memorial 290544597

Why this memorial is attached

Matched by exact documented birth date, spouse George Hoffman, and daughter Catherine. Find a Grave memorial 290544597 (findagrave.com).

18 Sep 1884 | Spouse George J Hoffman 1885–1937 | Child Catherine Veronica Hoffman Leahey 1910–1976

[COMPILED] Volunteer-typed memorial fields

These fields are leads, not civil or church records, and do not replace documented dates. Find a Grave memorial 290544597 (findagrave.com).

Name: Mary Florence Lynch Hoffman Birth: 18 Sep 1884 Death: 4 Feb 1948 (aged 63) Cemetery: Mount Olivet Cemetery, Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, USA Plot: Block H, Lot 687, Grave C Family links: Spouse: George J Hoffman 1885–1937 (m. 1905). Child: Catherine Veronica Hoffman Leahey 1910–1976.

Photograph status: no headstone photograph was available to download when the memorial was fetched. Find a Grave memorial 290544597 (findagrave.com).

[RECORD] No readable inscription for this person is visible in the fetched photograph.

No headstone photograph was present on the fetched memorial (‘Request Photo’). Find a Grave memorial 290544597 (findagrave.com).

Family

Parents

Siblings · birth order

See this family in the family tree

Where 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
Ireland
Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey
New York City, New York
New Jersey
New York
Westport, County Mayo, Ireland
United States
Manhattan, New York City, New York
264 West 155th 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. 5 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

December 1884

Born

Irish civil birth register: “Eleventh December 1884,” “Derrycriff,” “Mary,” father “Peter Coony,” mother “Margaret Coony formerly Needham,” occupation “Farmer.” [1]

Proved by a record

December 1884

Life event

The civil row reads “Eleventh December 1884 … Mary … Peter Coony … Margaret Coony formerly Needham.” [1]

Proved by a record

11 December 1884

Born

Birth: 11 December 1884, Derrycriff, Islandeady registration district, County Mayo. [7]

Proved by a record

11 December 1884

Born at Derrycriff

Born at Derrycriff, Islandeady, County Mayo, and registered on 19 December 1884. Her father Peter Cooney, a farmer of Derrycriff, registered the birth with a cross. [15]

Proved by a record

14 October 1918

Her brother killed in action

Army correspondence about Sergeant Peter Cooney names his three sisters as Bridget Horan of Jersey City, Nellie Cooney, and Annie Farley. With Bridget and Ellen accounted for, and Anne now known to have married Michael Cawley, Mary is the sister who married a Farley — which is what the 1920 census and her daughter Helen Bridget's 1921 death certificate both say, naming Andrew Farley's wife as Mary Cooney.

Proved by a record

1920

Possible American wife/address match [INFERENCE]

The woman at 264 West 155th Street is recorded only as “Mary”, “Wife”, age 34, born Ireland. Neither that schedule nor the infant-death index names her parents, exact birth date or townland, so she is not proved to be the Derrycriff-born Mary Cooney. [8]

From our family tree - no record found yet

August 1949

Life event

The plausible American row is only “FARLEY MARY 29315 09301 09301 08 49”; the index supplies August 1949, not the 29th. [5]

From our family tree - no record found yet

29 August 1949

Life event

Its dates were December 1885–29 August 1949 [7]

Proved by a record

What the records say

15 of 17 records transcribed.

Record exhibit