Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
St. Patrick’s day always means corned beef & cabbage (and maybe a wee pint or two). 🙂 A couple of years ago I found a wonderful recipe for corned beef in the crock pot which has always turned out very flavorful and makes all the cabbage, potatoes, turnip & carrots absorb the deliciousness. For some great Irish music to set the mood for the day I suggest checking out the Irish & Celtic Music podcast.
I thought it a fitting day for the first “real” post on the Potato Roots blog, about the Dennehy side of the family. My great-grandfather Daniel Dennehy was the son of Michael & Margaret Dennehy.
Photo above: Michael Dennehy (seated) with sons Patrick and John.
Michael Dennehy married Margaret (also spelled Margret) Sheahan on February 3rd, 1874 in Ballyshea, Co. Cork. The priest was listed as J.R. and their witnesses were John and Mary Foley.
Their children were:
- Daniel Dennehy, born Dec 9 th, 1874
- John Dennehy b. 1877
- Michael Dennehy
- Patrick Dennehy, b. June 24th, 1884
Above is a photo of the Dennehy family home. The parents and John stayed in Ireland, but their son Daniel emigrated to Massachusetts and his brothers Michael and Patrick also came to the United States and went back and forth. We have a lot of information on Daniel and his family which I will post about in the near future. For now I am doing a bit more research on his brothers.
Recently I came across records for Michael Dennehy in the 1901 and 1911 Irish Census. In 1901, there is only a listing for heads of household so Michael is listed in Ballyshanedehy, in the parish of Effin, Limerick, Ireland. In 1911 there is an image, and the household filled out their own census record. We will perhaps never know why Michael filled in “America” as birth place because all of our other evidence suggests that he never set foot there, but I will lean toward the probability that he was joking around.
Sources: Marriage record (transcript): Irish Family History Foundation.
Photograph of the house: courtesy of my aunt Regina Hickey. Census image: 1911 Ireland Census.
Potato Roots 
Posted by michael on January 24, 2011 at 9:32 pm
I have much info on Daniel Dennehy, father of Michael Dennehy, who lived in Garrannafulla, near Waterville in Co. Kerry. They are said to have originated in Co. Cork. Please contact me for details.
Posted by bethhalbrooks on January 26, 2011 at 11:57 pm
Hi Michael, Thank you for your comment. I am curious to hear more about your Dennehy line and any birth, marriage or death records. I will e-mail you some of the dates and information I have to compare.
Thanks again,
– Beth