Rooney Family Tree

Geraldine Felling Walsh:
"The 26 hour shoeless walk in 1844 from Parish Moore to Sligo for my great grandfather Thomas, his sister Catherine and the two wee boys must have been a nightmareà I continue to wonder about Catherine. Why was Catherine still in Ireland if her parents went much earlier to Canada? Why would Catherine, one of the younger members (and a female) not travel with her parents? Possible reasons:
"She was ill; she was in love with a local man and didn't want to go; she was the babysitter for Thomas' children. Perhaps Thomas' wife was sickly and they needed Catherine. To further add to the mystery, my genealogical record shows Catherine being born in County Clare!!! AND IT SHOWS HER DYING IN Cranbrook, B.C.
Now I know Thomas' sister Catherine is buried in the Padua Cemetery so something is definitely wrong with this family record."

David Gaffaney:
The children of Catherine and Patrick Killeen were born in Canada, except for Michael, who was born in New York, and Lizzie, who was born in Minnesota. The family apparently went back to Canada after having lived in New York and then re-entered the U.S. and settled in Minnesota.
In her last years, Catherine lived with her daughter Lizzie (Mrs. Thomas C.) Armstrong in Fort Steele, British Columbia where she died at the age of 74 and Lizzie took her body back to Minnesota for burial in 1901.
[In the 1880 census of Raymond Township, Stearns County, Minnesota, Catherine and her husband are both listed as the same age, and we have his birth year as 1826. She died in January at the age of 74, and it's most likely that her 75th birthday would have occurred some time later in the year, confirming that her birth year was 1826. Also, I don't know where the County Clare birth comes from. Seems more likely to have been Galway or Roscommon.]
Cause of death was heart failure caused by the severeness of an attack of la grippe.
Fort Steele and Cranbrook, B.C. are within a few miles of each other, along a road going northeast out of Idaho.

Fourth cousin Jill DaSilva (jfham1@gmail.com), Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 2/10/2016:
Patrick Bunam KILLEEN and Catherine ROONEY were my 2nd great grandparents. Their youngest daughter, Bridget Elizabeth KILLEEN or (Elizabeth Bridget depending on what record you find) was my great grandmother. She married Thomas Charles ARMSTRONG, a tinsmith, who had been born in Ontario. They met in Minnesota, then moved to Montana and then to Fort Steele, British Columbia, then Cranbrook, British Columbia.
Catherine (Rooney) KILLEEN, died of influenza in Cranbrook, British Columbia, and Thomas, who adored her, built a tin-lined coffin and shipped her body back to Padua, Minnesota so she could be buried there.
There is a facsimile of Thomas's tinsmith shop built at Fort Steele, which is a historic town. My sisters and I, as kids, used to play in the buildings when it was just a ghost town. The shop contains a few items that he built, and there are some remnants of his work in nearby churches and towns. http://fortsteele.ca/attractions/trades/

Originally published Thursday, February 7, 1901, Cranbrook Herald

Mrs. Catherine Killeen aged 74 years, died at the residence of her daughter, Mrs. T. C. Armstrong, on Thursday evening at 8 o'clock. Mrs. Killeen had been suffering from a severe attack of la grippe, and the direct cause of her death was heart failure, caused by the severeness of the attack of la grippe.

Originally published August 1998, Padua Cemetery, by Ginny Walz Borgerding

Patrick Bunam Killeen was born in 1826 County Clare, Ireland. He was the son of Bryan and Mary (Calahan) Killeen. When Patrick first came from Ireland, he was put ashore at Grosse Isle, Canada.

Catharine Rooney was born in 1827 in Ireland. She was the daughter of Michael and Catharine (Caulfield) Rooney. She immigrated to Canada from Ireland with her brother Thomas Rooney in 1847. She was 20 years old when she left Ireland with her brother Thomas. Thomas was a widower traveling with his two young sons, Michael (age 3) and John (age 2). Catharine helped with the care of the children.

Patrick Killeen married Catharine Rooney on February 17, 1851 at St. Joseph's, Upper Wakefield, Quebec, Canada. Patrick was employed in the timber lands in Wakefield Township. They had three children: Thomas, Mary Ann, and Bernard. When his work was finished, Patrick moved his family to New York City where their son Michael was born in 1855. Patrick and family returned to Ontario, Canada, but was not satisfied to stay there. As there was a big land boom in Minnesota, just at that time, Patrick decided to locate there. Patrick and Catharine had two more children during this time: Patrick J. and Catherine Judith. According to an oral interview with Michael (Patrick and Catharine's son) given in 1937, " he (Patrick) boarded a steam boat at Lake Superior and came to St. Paul by way of the Mississippi about 1863. He secured an ox team in St. Paul and made his way over land to Stearns County, where he obtained 160 acres in Section 24 Raymond Township." Patrick hired Joe McDermatt, who had a team of horses and a plow, to put in his first crop which was 10 acres of wheat. While living in Padua they had two more children: Dennis and Elizabeth.

Patrick served as director of the Padua School Board in 1872, and it was he who had to sign the document establishing him as school board director with an X because he did not know how to write.

Patrick and Catharine farmed near Padua along with their eight children: Thomas, Mary Ann, Bernard (Barney), Patrick J. (P.J.), Catherine Judith (Katie), Dennis, and Elizabeth.

Patrick died on April 4, 1884. Catharine later moved to Cranbrook, British Columbia where she stayed with her daughter Elizabeth and family. She died of a heart attack that was caused by a severe attack of la grippe (influenza).

Patrick and Catharine's sons P.J. and Michael and daughter Katie (Catherine Judith) are buried in Padua. Catharine's mother, Catharine Rooney, is buried next to Patrick. Catharine's brothers Thomas and John, and sister-in-law Ellen (wife of Patrick) Rooney are also buried in Padua.