Person in this family

Mary Cooney

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

about 1886 – 29 August 1949

Mary Cooney was Andrew Joseph Farrelly's wife. The 1920 census names her, her daughter Helen Bridget's 1921 death record names her as the mother, and the censuses of 1930 and 1940 find her in Jersey City with Andrew and their daughters. Her own ages in those two censuses — 43 and 53 — put her birth about 1886 or 1887. Whether she is the Mary Cooney born at Derrycriff, County Mayo, on 11 December 1884 is still not proved, and it is the most consequential open question in this archive: if she is, the forty people of the Cooney family join it. She died at the Jersey City Medical Center on 29 August 1949.

Partly proved

Two civil records identify Andrew Farley’s wife as Mary and one names her as Mary Cooney; an Army card instead calls her Annie.

Born at Ireland Died at Jersey City Medical Center, 101 Jersey Ave (jurisdiction unverified)

Recorded as: Mary Farley, 29 AUG 1949, Jersey City Medical Center, 101 Jersey Ave

How is this person related?

Show the relationship to

Andrew John Leahey’s great-grandparent

Worked out from the recorded parents and marriages. No sex is recorded for anyone in this archive, so the wording stays neutral.

How this person is related to Andrew:
Mary Cooney is your great-grandparent.

Life

The 1920 federal census records Andrew Farley as head of his own Manhattan household and names “Mary Farley,” age 34 and born in Ireland, as his wife. The record rules out the former hypothesis that the Farleys were live-in domestic staff. It also gives Andrew an arrival year of 1914, which conflicts with the 1902–1903 Jersey City directory candidates previously attributed to him.

A second civil record is more specific. New York City death certificate cn 15717 for Helen Bridget Farley, who died on 21 June 1921, names the infant’s father as Andrew J. Farley and her mother as “Mary Cooney,” both born in Ireland. Together, these civil records make Mary Cooney the record-supported reading for Andrew’s wife.

The evidence still conflicts. Sergeant Peter Cooney’s Graves Registration card says “Mrs. Annie Farley, Sister” and later “Mrs. A. J. Farley (sister).” The latter is certainly Andrew’s wife whatever her given name, but the card does not explain why the civil records say Mary. Islandeady registrations document separate sisters Mary Cooney, born 11 December 1884, and Anne Cooney, born 11 August 1888. No record yet proves that Andrew’s wife was either Derrycriff child, so this American Mary remains separate while the identification is tested.

A family-tree entry reports December 1885–29 August 1949 and Jersey City, but those details remain unverified and are preserved as claims rather than merged with the civil evidence.

How we know this: Strong civil evidence supports the name Mary Cooney, her marriage to Andrew, and the parentage of Margaret and Helen; her Irish family of origin and the Annie/Mary conflict remain unresolved. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]

Family

Spouse

Andrew Joseph Farrelly

Children

See this family in the family tree

Where they lived

1920: New York City, New York
1930: Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey
1940: Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey

Use the place list first. The map below is optional.

Places listed on this page

Ireland
Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey
New York City, New York
New Jersey
New York
United States
Manhattan, New York City, New York
Jersey City Medical Center, 101 Jersey Ave (jurisdiction unverified)

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. 4 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 1885

Born

The 1 August 2026 Geni export supplies this birth date; it has not been verified against a record.

From our family tree - no record found yet

1920

Enumerated in Andrew Farley’s household

The federal census records “Mary Farley,” wife, age 34, born in Ireland, in the household headed by Andrew Farley in Manhattan Assembly District 22, ED 1449, sheet 30B, line 94. [1]

Proved by a record

21 June 1921

Named as Helen Bridget Farley’s mother

New York City certificate cn 15717 names the infant’s parents as Andrew J. Farley and Mary Cooney, both born in Ireland. [2]

Proved by a record

August 1949

Died — August 1949, confirmed by the state index

The family tree had given 29 August 1949 at the Jersey City Medical Center and nothing had ever tested it. The New Jersey death index for 1949 carries Farley, Mary, certificate 29315, month 08, and the month and the state both match. She had to be looked for under Farley, not Cooney. A death index files a married woman under the name she died with. The first search here ran under her maiden name and found a different Mary Cooney entirely, who died in January — a near miss that would have looked like a disproof of the family's date. What is confirmed is the month and the year, not the day: the index has no day column, so the 29th is still the family's word. Nor is identity proved — the index gives no age and no address. The one thing that would settle it also names her parents. [7]

Proved by a record

What the records say

4 of 7 records transcribed.

Record exhibit