Person in this family
Thomas Cooney
Born 16 February 1887; death not recorded
Son of Peter Coony and Margaret Needham of Derrycriff; the 1889 year recorded here is contradicted by the birth record. Thomas was the third child found, arriving almost exactly one year after Bridget; the civil register corrects our family tree's birth year from 1889 to 1887.
Proved by a record
Thomas Cooney was born at Derrycriff, County Mayo, on 15 February 1887 to Peter Cooney and Margaret Needham.
Born at Derrycriff, Islandeady, County Mayo, Ireland
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
Thomas Cooney was born on 15 February 1887 at Derrycriff in the Islandeady registration district of County Mayo. The civil birth row reads “Fifteenth February 1887,” “Thomas,” father “Peter Coony,” mother “Margaret Coony formerly Needham,” and father’s occupation “Farmer.”
This original record corrects a family-tree birth year of 1889. Nothing in this archive documents Thomas after his birth.
How we know this: Strong for birth and parentage; no later-life evidence is presently connected to Thomas. [1][2][3]
Family
Parents
Siblings · birth order
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
- Ireland
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. 2 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
Born
Entry 179 in the Islandeady register, read from the image. His father Peter Coony, farmer of Derrycriff, registered him on 18 February and made his mark. The index gives the fifteenth; the register gives the sixteenth. [1]
The record itself
Tap to open a larger copyCivil birth register, Thomas Coony, 15 Feb 1887, Derrycriff
Proved by a record
Born
Entry 179 in the Islandeady register, read from the image. His father Peter Coony, farmer of Derrycriff, registered him on 18 February and made his mark. The index gives the fifteenth; the register gives the sixteenth. [1]
Proved by a record
Original records
1 further record is shown in the timeline, beside the event each one documents.
What the records say
1 of 3 records transcribed.
Record exhibit
Irish civil birth register — Thomas Coony, 16 February 1887, Derrycriff, Islandeady, Co. Mayo
Civil registration means an official government record of a birth, marriage, or death.
Proved by a record
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
Sixteenth February 1887 | Derrycriff | Thomas | Male | Peter Coony, Derrycriff | Margaret Coony formerly Needham | Farmer | Peter Coony, his x mark, Father, Derrycriff | Eighteenth February 1887 | Thomas Gillman, Registrar
Record exhibit
Index
An index is a list that points to where the full record can be found.
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.
Historical context
These background articles explain the places, work, and events in this entry.
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Islandeady and Derrycriff, County Mayo
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The Irish Road to Ipswich, Queensland
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What we still don't know
- Find Thomas in the 1901 and 1911 Irish censuses.
- Trace his later civil, migration, marriage, or death records.
- [TWO SIXTEENTHS OF FEBRUARY] His sister Bridget is recorded as born on 16 February 1886 and he on 16 February 1887 — the same day in consecutive years. The two entries are on different pages of different register volumes and each has been read from its own image, so this is not one record copied twice. It may simply be a coincidence, and it may be that one of the two dates is wrong in the register itself. Nothing currently distinguishes the possibilities.
- [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 fourteen, exactly the age the civil birth registration implies.
- Search the 1901 and 1911 Irish censuses and later civil/migration records for Thomas.