Patrick Houlihan and Mary Catherine Leahy
As with so many of our Ireland generations, we know very little about Patrick Houlihan and Mary Catherine Leahy, who were identified as Bartholomew Houlihan’s parents on his death certificate.
Online Irish church records seem to suggest a sibling relationship between four Houlihans in the town of Firies, County Kerry. Bartholomew Houlihan and Thomas Houlihan witnessed the marriage of Catherine Houlihan to Patrick Quirk on 25 February 1873. Bartholomew was a baptismal sponsor for Thomas’s second child, Helen, and Thomas named his first son Bartholomew (born 1874). Helen Houlihan was a baptismal sponsor for Patrick and Catherine’s second child, Patrick, in 1876.
The exact ages and relationships, however, are still a little murky. (All generic dates are guesses at this point.)
Patrick Houlihan (b. ca 1820, Ireland - d. aft. 1854, Ireland)
m. possibly ca 1844, Ireland
Mary Catherine Leahy (b. ca 1820, Ireland - d. aft 1854, Ireland)
Children:
i. Bartholomew Houlihan (b. 27 Nov 1846, prob. Co Kerry, Ireland - d. 3 Dec 1896, Worcester, MA); m. Johanna McCarthy
ii. Thomas Houlihan (b. ca 1847, prob. Co. Kerry, Ireland - d. aft 1874, place unknown); m. Helen (Ellen) Sullivan
iii. Catherine Houlihan (b. ca 1852, prob. Co. Kerry, Ireland - d. aft 1876, Co. Kerry, Ireland); m. Patrick Quirk
iv. Helen Houlihan (b. ca 1854, prob. Co. Kerry, Ireland - d. aft 1876, place unknown)
Children of Thomas Houlihan and Helen Sullivan:
i. Catherine Houlihan (b. 12 Apr 1870, Co. Kerry, Ireland - d. ?)
ii. Helen Houlihan (b. 26 Nov 1871, Co. Kerry, Ireland - d. ?)
iii. Bartholomew Houlihan (b. 7 Nov 1874, Co. Kerry, Ireland - d. ?)
iv. Mary Houlihan (b. 2 Apr 1876, Co. Kerry, Ireland - d. ?)