Ohio Families

I am pretty sure that John and Henry O'Rourke, who were living in the Collinwood section of Cleveland in the late 1800's and early 1900's are sons of this couple, John Rourke and Catherine Rourke.

John's death record said he was born December 6, 1846 and there is a baptism record saying December 3. I believe this is close enough. Either the priest or John's son's erred by a few days, or John himself didn't know the exact date of his birth. Any of the three are possible.

Henry's death record says he was born August 25, 1849, and there is a baptism record saying August 27, 1848. In this case, I would guess the death record is wrong by a year. The record also gives the names of his father as John O'Rourke and the maiden name of his mother as Catherine O'Rourke, with an "OK" next to Catherine, as if to indicate "yes this is her maiden name, not her married name."

I have counted them as brothers since 1) they were in the same neighborhood, 2) both worked for the railroad (although that might go with the first reason, since Collinwood was a railroad neighborhood), and 3) the names of their sons. John named his sons John, William Francis, George, and James Henry. Henry named his sons John Henry, Francis J, and William T. Their birth family included sons named John, Henry, James, and Francis.

Another factor in including them as children of a couple from Kilkeel is the surnames of their wives. John married Anna Rogers, and Henry married Selina Sloan. Both names are common in the Kilkeel area, and though they married in Cleveland, it also was a common occurrence for a man to marry a woman from his home area.

If I am wrong, please let me know. The email address should be on the home page of this site, or at the bottom of any of the article pages.