Person in this family
Thomas Needham
Birth not recorded; died before 26 February 1884
Thomas Needham was a **landholder** — not a labourer — of the Islandeady country in County Mayo, and was **dead by 26 February 1884**, when his daughter **Margaret** married Peter Cooney at Islandeady chapel and the register recorded him as deceased. That entry is the only record of him this archive holds, and until 9 August 2026 nobody had read it.
Proved by a record
Thomas Needham was a **landholder** — not a labourer — of the Islandeady country in County Mayo, and was **dead by 26 February 1884**, when his daughter **Margaret** married Peter Cooney at Islandeady chapel and the register recorded him as deceased. That entry is the only record of him this archive holds, and until 9 August 2026 nobody had read it.
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
A written life story has not been added for this person yet.
Family
Children
See this family in the family treeWork and occupation
- Landholder
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
- Westport, County Mayo, 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. 1 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
Named as deceased father of the bride
Margaret Needhan’s marriage names her father Thomas Needham, dead, labourer. [1]
Proved by a record
Recorded as deceased at his daughter's marriage
Named in his daughter Margaret's civil marriage register at Islandeady as “Thos Needham”, Landholder, with “deceased” written beneath. He therefore died before 26 February 1884. [2]
Proved by a record
Original records
Tap to open a larger copyCivil marriage register, Peter Coony and Margaret Needhan, 26 Feb 1884, Islandeady
Civil registration means an official government record of a birth, marriage, or death. It matters on this page because it records information connected with Thomas Needham.
What the records say
3 records transcribed.
Record exhibit
Irish civil marriage register — Peter Cooney and Margaret Needham, 26 February 1884, Islandeady, County 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.
Twenty sixth February 1884 | Roman Catholic Chapel of Islandeady | Peter Coony, | Full, | Bachelor, | Labourer | John Coony, | Margaret Needhan, | Spinster | Thomas Needham, | Dead, | Labourer. | Party 1 Name: Peter Coony, | Party 2 Name: Margaret Needhan, | Date of Event: 26/02/1884, | SR District/Reg Area: Westport. | Island Eddy. | Derrycriff | Margaret Cooney formerly Needham | Twenty sixth February 1884, | Roman Catholic Chapel of Islandeady, | Dead. | Labourer, | Spinster, [RECORD] “Twenty sixth February 1884 | Roman Catholic Chapel of Islandeady | Peter Coony | Full | Bachelor | Labourer | John Coony”; “Margaret Needhan | Full | Spinster | Thomas Needham | Dead | Labourer.”
Record exhibit
Irish civil marriage register, Peter Cooney and Margaret Needham, 26 February 1884, Islandeady, Co. Mayo
Civil registration means an official government record of a birth, marriage, or death.
Partly proved
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
Marriage No. 11, 26 Feb 1884, Roman Catholic Chapel of Islandeady, Registrar's District of Islandeady, Union of Westport, County of Mayo. Peter Coony, full age, Bachelor, Landholder; father John Coony, Labourer. Margaret Needham, spinster, residence Derrycriff; father Thos Needham, Landholder, deceased.
Record exhibit
Irish civil birth register, Peter Cooney, 15 October 1890, Derrycriff, Islandeady, Co. Mayo
Civil registration means an official government record of a birth, marriage, or death.
Partly proved
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
157 | Fifteenth October 1890, Derrycriff | Peter | M | Peter Coony, Derrycriff | Margaret Coony formerly Needham | Farmer | Peter Coony his x mark, Father, Derrycriff
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…
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…
What we still don't know
- His death, some time before February 1884 — Irish civil death registration was running by then, so a record should exist for a Thomas Needham in the Westport union.
- His wife, whom the marriage register does not name; the form records fathers only.
- His wife, exact birth, exact death, residence and burial remain unknown.
- Thomas Needham was dead by 26 February 1884. Irish civil deaths run from 1864, so his death may be findable in the Westport or Castlebar districts between 1864 and February 1884.
- His death has been searched for and NOT found. Controlled negative: adult Needham deaths in the Westport district 1864-1884 return 25 results, but none is a Thomas. He was dead by his daughter's marriage in February 1884. The likeliest explanation is that he died BEFORE 1 January 1864, when Irish civil registration of deaths began, in which case no civil record exists and only a parish burial register or a gravestone could reach him. A Thomas Needham died at Swinford in 1870 aged 50, but Swinford is a different Mayo district from Islandeady's, and nothing links him to Derrycriff.
References
- [1] Irish civil marriage register — Peter Cooney and Margaret Needham, 26 February 1884, Islandeady, County MayoBack to citation 1a Back to citation 1b
- [2] Irish civil marriage register, Peter Cooney and Margaret Needham, 26 February 1884, Islandeady, Co. MayoBack to citation 2a Back to citation 2b
- [3] Irish civil birth register, Peter Cooney, 15 October 1890, Derrycriff, Islandeady, Co. MayoBack to citation 3