searching for mccusker family.please help

[kcusker]

Ive been doing research for almost 2 years now combined with the information i have from the family tree that is sent out every year. however i am trying to break past this barrier i am stuck out and i feel im slowly getting through but i need some help. here is what im dealing with in a nutshell and if someone can help me that would be so awesome.
My 2x great grandfather is Thomas James (Mc)Cusker. he was born in fermanagh on april 6 1878. I know he was Born to Bernard McCusker and Ann Carbin. Thomas then came to america in 1900. and this is where my family tree begins.

However Thomas' Father Bernard had come to america on sept 5th 1851 aboard the ss.kalimazoo.he was 10. he was on board with his mother ellen age 35 jane 12 edward 7 neal 6 and hugh who was an infant. i have no other info on any of bernards siblings or his mother. i do know bernard entered the civil war in phili into the 27 reg. e company in 1861. he deserted in 1862 and went back to ireland.

that was the only info i had.. i acct went further and found at st tierneys church feb 11 1866 a bernard cosker from augh and a ann carbon from eshrow were married. this is possibly him. also there were 2 witnesses the brides father was one and a bernard cosker the grooms father. if this is the right person it will finally give us the missing father coming to america maybe he never went and maybe ellen bernards mother never went back to ireland.

i did find birth records stating bernard cosker,mcusker,mccasker. and ann carbin.carbon and carbino. being the parents of a patrick born 1868 rose, mary anne , catherine , and my greatgreat grandfather thomas .. all were born it states in brookboro except for thomas whos birth record states he was born in altagohan fermanagh ireland.

im sorry if i ran on with this but i was hoping maybe would share a common link or may have more experience with all this and help a newb out

Thank you so much
Kevin Cusker

[Merry]

Welcome to the forum, Kevin

I'm not particulary familiar with Irish research as I don't have any Irish ancestors, so I would like to know if the relationships of the witnesses at the marriage of Bernard Cosker and Ann Carbon were actually stated in the record?

[kiterunner]

FamilySearch has the marriage listed - Bernard Casker married Anne Carbine 11 Feb 1866 at Roslea, Clones, Fermanagh, Ireland, groom's father Bernard Casker, bride's father Johannis (=John) Carbine. If this is where you have your information from, then those names will be from the "father" column rather than the "witness" part. Unfortunately FamilySearch does not show the witnesses' names.

If you haven't seen the actual marriage certificate or a full transcription of it, Roots Ireland has a Bernard Cosker / Ann Carbine marriage in 1866 in Fermanagh and it looks as though it will show you the witnesses' names if you pay to view, also it will give you the groom's occupation and the fathers' occupations:
http://www.rootsireland.ie/

[Merry]

Have you looked for Ellen and her children on the US census?

Where is Brookboro, please?

[kiterunner]

And according to Roots Ireland, Thomas's birth or baptism in 1878 is listed as parish or district of Brookeborough, so not far from the other children in the family.

To fill in the years for the other children - Patrick 1868, Mary Ann 1870, Catherine 1872, Rose 1874.

[kiterunner]

Originally Posted by Merry

Where is Brookboro, please?

It is in County Fermanagh:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brookeborough

But I'm wondering whether the placenames for Bernard and Ann's residences on that marriage are correct because I can't find anything about those (Augh and Eshrow?)

Edit - found Eshrow now, it is a variant of Eshroe, in Clones.

[kiterunner]

Hmm, looking at the Kalamazoo passenger list on ancestry, Great Britain to United States 5 Sep 1851, these are the details shown for the McCuskers:
Ellen McCusker 35 F(emale) Sp(inster)
Jane McCusker 12 F Sp
Bernard McCusker 10 M(ale)
Neal McCusker 7 M
Edward McCusker 6 M
Hugh McCusker Inft M
with the boys bracketed together for occupation, shown as Children.

So if this is correct, Ellen wasn't married when the children were born.

It was quite common for people who were "illegitimate" to make up a father's name when they got married, to look respectable, or to give their actual father's first name and let the vicar / registrar assume that their father's surname was the same as their's, so it could be that Bernard McCusker's father really was called Bernard but had a different surname, or it could be that he didn't know his father's name and just made one up. Or of course it could be that the passenger list is wrong and it should say Widow instead of Spinster. Unfortunately a lot of Irish records have been destroyed, so it may not be possible to find baptisms for Bernard and his siblings to check. I'll see if I can find anything, though.

[kcusker]

wow that is a ton of info i didnt think id get this much of a responce. some one earlier in the thread asked if i looked up ellen or bernards others siblings in the us census.. well i did look it up but found nothing. and i know they came in to America through ny but then bernard went into the army in penn. and i do believed he left the army out of maryland

[kcusker]

so would this make ellens surname mccusker? like she mccusker is her maiden name?

Originally Posted by kiterunner

Hmm, looking at the Kalamazoo passenger list on ancestry, Great Britain to United States 5 Sep 1851, these are the details shown for the McCuskers:
Ellen McCusker 35 F(emale) Sp(inster)
Jane McCusker 12 F Sp
Bernard McCusker 10 M(ale)
Neal McCusker 7 M
Edward McCusker 6 M
Hugh McCusker Inft M
with the boys bracketed together for occupation, shown as Children.

So if this is correct, Ellen wasn't married when the children were born.

It was quite common for people who were "illegitimate" to make up a father's name when they got married, to look respectable, or to give their actual father's first name and let the vicar / registrar assume that their father's surname was the same as their's, so it could be that Bernard McCusker's father really was called Bernard but had a different surname, or it could be that he didn't know his father's name and just made one up. Or of course it could be that the passenger list is wrong and it should say Widow instead of Spinster. Unfortunately a lot of Irish records have been destroyed, so it may not be possible to find baptisms for Bernard and his siblings to check. I'll see if I can find anything, though.

[kiterunner]

Originally Posted by kcusker

so would this make ellens surname mccusker? like she mccusker is her maiden name?

Yes, if the entry is correct.