A Mysterious Puzzle

Following the Noonans and McNevins from Oral Histories to a Paper Trail to DNA Matches.

I am told that Irish Genealogy is a mystery and a puzzle. I have also been told that it takes the patience of a Saint.

My “research” started with family stories that contained scraps of information. My Grandpa Mac, Thomas Joseph McNevin, was proud that his father Patrick had been a shoemaker. Great Aunt Margaret told my mom, Mary McNevin, a story about changing trains in Saint Paul, Minnesota on their way to the farm in Darnen Township outside of Morris, Minnesota. Someone told them to go back to Ireland. She was offended because she was born in Syracuse, New York. Great Aunt Kitty told my mom about the house on Grotto in Saint Paul that she had lived in.

When my sister Laurel and I started searching records the biggest find was the 1880 Federal Census from Delaware, Ohio. Listed under Naven are all the right first names. Patrick is a shoemaker and Thomas is a baby. In 1885 the Patrick McNevin family is listed on the Minnesota State Census in Darnen Township outside of Morris, Minnesota. In Morris I found marriage records, death records, and newspaper articles. Then I traced Patrick McNevin and Mary Noonan’s children and their descendants across the country.

I have Grandpa’s notes about his parents, his grandparents, and his mother’s siblings. His Aunt Johanna Noonan and her husband Michael O’Gorman were early settlers in Darnen Township. Thomas said that Johanna and Mary’s mother came from Ireland to Darnen Township with Nora or Hanora. He also said they had brothers named Cornelius and Michael. I was not able to find a paper trail for Honora or Nora Noonan. I did find a DNA match on Ancestry that turned out to be her descendant. Honora Noonan was married to John Mangan in Saint Paul on her way to the Morris area.

The most interesting DNA matches are between Patrick McNevin descendants and the descendants of James McNevin and his sisters Alice and Catherine in Syracuse, New York. James was a shoemaker there when the Patrick McNevin family was living there. Several family trees have James McNevin coming from Ballybunion, Kerry, Ireland which is where Patrick McNevin and Mary Noonan were married. I am not sure of the exact connection between James, Alice, Catherine, and Patrick. It will take some Irish luck to find the paper trail.