Immigrant Ancestors Part 1: Patrick Kilcoyne and Barbara Coyne

Immigrant Ancestors Part 1: Patrick Kilcoyne & Barbara Coyne

Patrick Kilcoyne and Barbara Coyne ca 1860

This is the first post in a series on our immigrant ancestors.  These forbearers decided that life in the United States offered more than in their country of birth so they took the bold step of migrating here.  

Patrick Kilcyone, my great-great grandfather, appears to be the first of our immigrant ancestors to arrive in the US.  He came in 1850 or 1852 and settled in Marcellus, NY.  He was born in Clifden, County Galway, Ireland in 1826, the oldest of five children born to Patrick Kilcoyne (ca 1800-1870) and Mary O'Malia (1804-1885). There are conflicting data in the historical record on the immigration dates are not always consistent, but it appears that Patrick's brother Martin immigrated before him and their other siblings and their parents arrived later.  Family history notes claim that the parents arrived after 1863. 

Barbara Coyne, Patrick's future wife, was born in County Mayo, Ireland in 1841, the oldest of about nine children born to Patrick Coyne (ca 1809-1891) and Mary Condry (ca 1811-1879). Barbara immigrated to the US either in 1859 on her own or perhaps ca. 1850 with her parents and siblings. The first theory is supported by the 1900 census, whereas the second theory is supported by the 1855 NY State Census, which has a Patrick and Martin Kilcoyne as boarders with Patrick and Mary Coyne (the 1850 US Census has Martin living with the Coynes). There are some inconsistencies with the census data, for example, Coyne is spelled Koyan in 1850 and Kyne in 1855, but mistakes in census data are common for many reasons. In any event, Barbara and Patrick were married in Marcellus in 1860. 

Interestingly, two of Patrick's brothers married two of Barbara's sisters!  Martin Kilcoyne married Bridget Coyne ca. 1870 and raised their family in Marcellus. Michael Kilcoyne married Catherine Coyne ca. 1866 and they raised their family first in Camillus, NY and then in Sugar Notch, Pennsylvania (near Wilkes-Barre).  The children in these three families are "double cousins" to each other. Double cousins share 25% of their DNA whereas regular first cousins only share 12.5% of their DNA. A family tree of the Kilcoynes, created by Genevieve Zaroda of Mountain Top, PA, is shown below. Genevieve is a descendent of Mary Kilcoyne and Teddy Welsh and she worked with my great aunt Clara Fenlon on the genealogy of the family.  

Kilcoyne Family Tree created by our distant cousin Genevieve Zaroda in 1984. 

As shown in the tree, Patrick and Barbara had a total of eight children between 1862 and 1881.  There is one mistake in the birth order, my great-grandmother, Elizabeth Kilcoyne, was born on 17 March 1878, making her the sixth child and great-great-uncle Willie was born in July 1875 (or 1868) making him the fifth child.  Below are photos of Patrick and Barbara ca. 1900 with their children that were living at the time (Erma died at 20 years old and Catherine died when she was 8) at their farm on West Hill, now Limeledge Road, which is not too far from the present day Marcellus airport. 

Kilcoynes ca. 1900 at their home in Marcellus. Front row (L to R): Clara E. Kilcoyne, Patrick Kilcoyne, Barbara Coyne Kilcoyne, Patrick H. Kilcoyne. Back row: J. Anna Kilcoyne, M. William "Willie" Kilcoyne, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Kilcoyne Fenlon, and Martin R. Kilcoyne. 

Martin, Lizzie, Patrick, Clara, Anna, Patrick, Barbara, and Willie in front of their home on Limelidge Road, Marcellus. 

Patrick Kilcoyne was a farmer.  The US government would take a census of agriculture every decade, so we have some data on Patrick's farm from 1879-1880.  The farm included 55 acres tilled, 10 acres of pastures/orchards and five acres of forest. He had three horses, three cows, two pigs, 30 sheep, and 64 chickens. Three calves dropped that year and he sold two of them; 30 lambs dropped and he sold all of them.  He sold 200 pounds of fleece, 200 pounds of butter, and 250 dozen eggs. In terms of crops, Table 1 below lists what he harvested in 1879. The value of the farm buildings, land, machinery, and livestock was $3800, which translates to about $100,000 in today's dollars. 

Patrick Kilcoyne died on 21 Aug 1904, before any of his children were married.  (Only two of his children would eventually marry.) He is buried in St. Francis Xavier Cemetery in Marcellus and was a long-time member of that congregation. Part of his newspaper obituary is shown below. 

Patrick Kilcoyne's obit in the Marcellus Observer in 1904. 

Barbara died a decade later, on 21 Oct 1914.  She lived to see her daughter Elizabeth marry Edward J. Fenlon, Sr. in 1907 and her son Martin marry Sarah King ca. 1910.  Barbara also saw the birth of six grandchildren: Edward J., Jr. and Emmett M. Fenlon on 12 Nov 1909, Clara E. Fenlon on 5 Feb 1911, Barbara Kilcoyne on 11 Oct 1911, Marcella A. and Mary A. Fenlon on 29 Dec 1913. 

Gravestone of Patrick Kilcoyne and his wife Barbara Coyne in St. Francis Xavier Cemetery, Marcellus, NY.

Patrick's mother (and presumably his father too, although I cannot find the gravestone) is buried in St. Francis Xavier, as are Barbara's Parents. The gravestones are shown below. 

Gravestones of Mary O'Malia Kilcoyne and Patrick and Mary Coyne.

Immigrant ancestors Dennis Treacy, Janet MacDonell, Edward J. Fenlon, Sr. will be featured in future blog posts. For now I leave you with a portrait of Patrick Kilcoyne looking very much like the Amish farmers that live near me. 

Portrait of Patrick Kilcoyne (1826-1904).