Genealogy Jottings

The name C. J. Ryan was on a list of people in the newspaper death notice for my great-grandfather Ryan. C. J. was the only person who appeared to be related on the Ryan side of the family.

I continue to follow up on this clue as I search for my great-grandfather’s family.

I determined that C. J. was likely Cornelius J. Ryan of Nebraska. He lived for a long time at McCook but died at Omaha a few years after the death of my great-grandfather. Further research revealed that he had grown up in Illinois, as did my great-grandfather.

C.J.’s parents were Edmund/Edmond/Edward Ryan and Mary Real. This information presented an odd coincidence. This Edmund was too young to be the father of my great-grandfather father Daniel Ryan, yet his second marriage record says his parents were named Edmond and Mary as well. Perhaps Daniel Ryan and Edmund-father-of C. J. were brothers. If so, did Daniel’s parents Edmond and Mary have a son and daughter-in-law with the same names? Or did Daniel give a brother’s name instead of his father’s when he married?

Either way, I am working with the hypothesis that Cornelius and his father Edmund are related to my family. This week I went hunting for more information about them to see if I could find a connection between them and Daniel.

Here is what I found:

1. Cornelius’ sister Julia died at Grafton, Fillmore County, Nebraska in 1883. My great-grandfather lived in this community about that time. This tempts me to think that my great-grandfather settled there with his Ryan cousins.
2. Daniel Ryan enlisted in the Union Army in 1861 at Galva, Illinois. Cornelius’ family was living near the border of the adjacent Putnam County in 1870. If they lived so close together, again I am tempted to believe they were related.
3. My great-grandfather was born in Peoria County, IL in 1852. Cornelius lived in Peoria County in 1860. This is yet another clue of geographical proximity between people with the same surname.
4. Someone has posted a tree on Ancestry that looks a lot like it could be this family. It shows Edward Ryan with a son Cornelius who matches all the information I have collected about Edmund and Cornelius. The tree also includes a brother for Edward, named Daniel, born the same time as my Daniel. This family hails from Limerick. On this tree, Edmund/Edward and Daniel were brothers, and C. J. was Edward’s son.

I feel like I am on the right track. My Daniel died young in the Civil War, but Edmund/Edward lived until 1881. He must have left behind a lot more records for me to find. I think he and Cornelius are the key to finding a family for my Daniel.