Maurice Lowney was born March 25, 1844 in Ardnaschiach (Bolesk), Castletownbere, Co. Cork, Ireland.
His parents were John Lowney and Mary Leahy.
His siblings included John "Jack," Julia and Ellen.
Maurice also had two half-siblings: Maurice Lowney (about 1826-1842); and Mary Lowney O'Neill (1828-1831 to 1911). The earlier Maurice and sister Mary were children of their father John's marriage to Mary Murphy, who had passed away. The earlier Maurice had come to Boston and died the same day he arrived.
He was Baptized as follows:
Diocese of KERRY , Parish of CASTLETOWNBERE R.C.
Baptism of MAURICE LOUNEY of BOLESK on 25 March 1844
Name MAURICE LOUNEY
Date of Birth 25 March 1844 (Based on other date information)
Address BOLESK
Father JOHN LOUNEY
Mother MARY LEAHY
Further details in the record
Child Denomination RC
Father Occupation NR
Sponsor 1 JEREMIAH NEIL
Sponsor 1 Address NR
Sponsor 2 MARY LEAHY
Sponsor 2 Address NR
About the record
Book Number Page Entry Number
3 N/R 2
The following narrative was told to family historian Bill Gawne by his mother Maureen Ryan Gawne--Maurice's grand-daughter--and is used here with his permission.
"The Lowney/Holland group [....] came from County Cork, in the SW part of Ireland, where the name Sullivan was very much in vogue [....] many of them are related to us since the Earl of Beara, was called O'Sullivan. His ancient castle was in the Beara Peninsula and replicated in the 1800 by the Earl of Dunboy, which was blown up in the 1916 times. [....] My grandmother was known as Mary Holland. She was born in 1861 just as the other granny Ryan. When she was 18 she was married to Maurice Lowney, who had returned from the great USA. with American silver in his pockets and bought [the dowry] her from her family for 500 pounds. and brought her to his little farm which he got
from one of his uncles. That was known as Derimihen West, Castletown Bere, Co. Cork, Ireland. Maurice was the last son of John Lowney, and a wife, whose last name was Leahy. Perhaps it was Mary, but she was his third wife, due to the others having died in childbirth. Maurice had been to America from 1869 until he returned around 1875. Maurice was born in 1843, just before the great famine, which drove so many Irish to the Americas. He used to tell his girls of the times he remembered going with his father to pick up the bodies of the poor and bury them. His father had a mill for spinning cloth and was able to live through the horrible years. [.....] Maurice and Mary Lowney had 9 girls, and one son. They were: Mary Anne, who married Dan Sullivan from the same Area, Inches, Eyeries, on the Beara Peninsula. [....] She was followed by three sisters, Julia, Nellie, Maggie, who all died from measles with in one year. Then there was Agnes, who married Pierce Powers in time. Then there was Lucy who died from a plague, around 1894. Each child was around two years apart. She was followed by Abigail, who married Jack Sullivan also from the Beara area, from a home on Beare Isl. [....] Then there was Catherine, born in 1892 when grandfather was about to leave for the last time to gather any money he had in America. He stayed for six years and returned at which time he remade an acquaintance with the above Dan, and encouraged him to sett le down with Mary Anne. When grandfather returned in 1898, he remained in his home until his death in 1907. At this time, he fathered one more daughter, Joanne, who married to Charles Ware, of Co. Kerry, which was over the mountain and about 30 miles distance. He was also tall, which suited our Auntie Jo. [....] Then the last child came and he was Uncle John Phillip Lowney, the only son. who we met in the hospitals in Detroit, although I knew him as a fine tall man of health and fun.
"While grandfather L. was growing up he remembered going with his father, John, to pick up the dead bodies of those around the valley, and bring them for burial. John was a weaver by trade and was able to make a fair living. Auntie Agnes remembered him more than NANA. In time Grandfather Lowney, Maurice went to America in 1869, to Boston, and then out to the west where the Irish were in demand due to their ability to work. They were not favored with any great love [....] due to their religious beliefs. He went to Virginia City, MT and then to VC, NV in time during which he accumulated a fair amount of wealth and kept on himself, a notebook, which he kept track of when he was able to go to church and to confession as the nearest church was often more than fifteen miles away. During his time he also worked in the mines in Leadville, Co, and Tonopah, NV. and then during his time in Virginia City, NV he was joined by two friends from Ireland, who along with him, located a vein of silver. He and they came up to buy as much stock and then cash in on [this]. [....] At that point, he realized that he was now at a n age where he should marry and also return home. So he went back to hi s sister, a widow, and bought her a farm in Lowell.
"Now Grandfather also stayed in Boston long enough to learn the art of bookkeeping, where he lived with his sister. and then returned to marry Mary, whom he had to pay L.500. to her father. Of course, she was only eighteen at that time, and already promised to another. He told this to Agnes his daughter. He also inherited a farm from his uncle,another Lowney in Berehaven, Co. Cork. It was 40 acres, 30 for planting and 10 for cutting into peat, therefore a bog.
"Consider this time, when this man of some elegance, was a beloved parishioner in this little sea town of Berehaven. He was 6/6 tall and serious in manner, not given to booze and interested in education. as he had paid for all of his girls to go to the convent school, which in those days was not cheap and did give an excellent education.
"At this point (1892) Grandfather had to go to America once again, as he wanted to finish his connections with the USA, and was getting much older and tired. So when Nana was six months old he took off and she or the others did not see him for almost six years. During this time, a cousin, John Lowney, took care of his farm, and saw the wife and children were o k.
"At this point, (1893) GF was in the west and working as an assayer, due to the miner consumption, which had invaded his body. Just as it later did with my father. so when he finally did get a message he returned a round 1898, to Boston, closed his share in the ship, which had been his income, and returned to Ireland to die when his day came. During this return voyage from the land which according to his last letter, he loved , he met once again a person,. Daniel Sullivan, who became his first child's husband. in 1899.
"Somewhere along the line he suffered a bout of smallpox. He had a pox mark that Nana used to tell me about. It left a hole in his nose.
(About his only son and youngest child, John Phillip, born in 1893)
"The John of course, was for the old father of my grandfather. And the Phillip came from the grand country of America. As you can see the boy of his dreams, was only a little fellow when his daddy died of miner's consumption. At the point of his return Maurice was tired from the mines of America and began to wear a beard, which he affected until his death. We had no pics of him with it. He also paid all his bills, and more of hem so that the girls would be able to attend the convent school where the Sisters of Mercy taught, and for much of the time our Nana told me that her Daddy coughed and spent much of his time resting or in his rather large chair.
"Now to the new children, they were his delight, and he talked to the others of the glory of his adopted land. by the way, he received his citizenship from the late Judge Lynch of Butte, Montana, who is famous there as a federal judge of repute. Nana and Auntie Agnes did remember their father as somewhat serious, but not unkind. Nana used to tell me that at his end he called for grandmom and then fell back on his bed, and died. It sounded so like the death of my dad and yours. Apparently he died just before his birthday, as she used to say he was 63. And I would have to research this. However, he was buried in the same grave, which is an old country custom, as the little girls who predeceased him. They just lifted up the old bones and put them in a box on top of the new casket. In the church yard of the Sacred Heart church in Castletownbere."
Between 1875-1879 Maurice Lowney is shown as residing in Storey County, Nevada, per Nevada census as follows:
Nevada State Census, 1875
about Lowney
Surname: Lowney
Age: 30
Sex: M
Race: White
Occupation: Miner
Place of Birth: Ireland
Mother/Father of foreign birth: Both
Head of Household: Separate households not identified for this part of Storey county. Not listed with anyone of the same surname.
Community: Storey
Note: Virginia City is in Storey County.
He also appears in the following: Bishop's Directory of Virginia City, Gold Hill, Silver City, Carson City and Reno, 1878-9. Lowney M., miner C. and C. shaft. Detail Notes: Page 165: Lowney M., miner C. and C. shaft.
On February 22, 1879 he married Mary Holland:
In Eyeries Church, Castletownbere, Castletownbere Parish, Co. Cork, Ireland.
Marriage: Maurice Lowney, of Derrymihan, Castletownbere Parish, son of John Lowney and Mary Leahy, of Ardnasciach, Filane, Castletownbere Parish. Fr. John O'Reilly P.P. officiated. Witnesses were James McCarthy (Parish Clerk), of Eyeries, and Patrick Harrington, Uxside, Ardgroom.
The following is a record of arrival at the port of New York. The passenger might or might not be *this* Maurice Lowney.
Name: Maurice Lowney
Arrival Date: 4 Nov 1891
Estimated birth year: abt 1846
Age: 45
Gender: Male
Port of Departure: Liverpool, England and Queenstown, Ireland
Destination: Vermont
Place of Origin: United States of America (American)
Ship Name: City of Paris
Port of Arrival: New York
Line: 19
Port Arrival State: New York
Port Arrival Country: United States
1901 Census of Ireland
Residents of a house 4 in Derrymihin West (Killaconenagh, Cork)
Surname Forename Age Sex Relation to head
Lowney Maurice 57 Male Head of Family
Lowney Mary 41 Female Wife
Lowney Agnes 14 Female Daughter
Lowney Abbie 11 Female Daughter
Lowney Catherine 9 Female Daughter
Lowney Johannah Female Daughter
Maurice was 6'6" tall and blond.
On May 31, 1907 Maurice died in Castletown, Berehaven, County Cork, Ireland of Miner's Consumption (death certificate says bronchiectasion).
______________________________
Ireland, Civil Registration Indexes, 1845-1958 for Maurice Lowney
Name: Maurice Lowney
(This is the web link to learn more about the Indices and how to order the film with the originals on it.
https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Ireland,_Civil_Registration_Indexes_%28FamilySearch_Historical_Records%29#How_to_Use_the_Index_to_Locate_Original_Records_on_Film
Registration District: Castletown
Event Type: DEATHS
Registration Quarter and Year: Apr - Jun 1907
Estimated Birth Year: 1844
Age (at Death): 63
Mother's Maiden Name:
Film Number: 0101603
Volume Number: 5
Page Number: 32
Digital Folder Number: 4201707
Image Number: 00329
_______________________
Maurice's granddaughter Maureen Elizabeth Ryan Gawne said, "[Grandfather] was buried in the same grave, which is an old country custom, as the little girls who predeceased him. They just lifted up the old bones and put them in a box on top of the new casket." Maurice Lowney and his daughters Julia (1881-1885), Ellen "Nellie" (1883-1885), Margaret "Maggie" (1885-1885) and Lucy (1888-1893) are buried in the same grave in Foildarrig (Lower) Cemetery.
Maurice Lowney was born March 25, 1844 in Ardnaschiach (Bolesk), Castletownbere, Co. Cork, Ireland.
His parents were John Lowney and Mary Leahy.
His siblings included John "Jack," Julia and Ellen.
Maurice also had two half-siblings: Maurice Lowney (about 1826-1842); and Mary Lowney O'Neill (1828-1831 to 1911). The earlier Maurice and sister Mary were children of their father John's marriage to Mary Murphy, who had passed away. The earlier Maurice had come to Boston and died the same day he arrived.
He was Baptized as follows:
Diocese of KERRY , Parish of CASTLETOWNBERE R.C.
Baptism of MAURICE LOUNEY of BOLESK on 25 March 1844
Name MAURICE LOUNEY
Date of Birth 25 March 1844 (Based on other date information)
Address BOLESK
Father JOHN LOUNEY
Mother MARY LEAHY
Further details in the record
Child Denomination RC
Father Occupation NR
Sponsor 1 JEREMIAH NEIL
Sponsor 1 Address NR
Sponsor 2 MARY LEAHY
Sponsor 2 Address NR
About the record
Book Number Page Entry Number
3 N/R 2
The following narrative was told to family historian Bill Gawne by his mother Maureen Ryan Gawne--Maurice's grand-daughter--and is used here with his permission.
"The Lowney/Holland group [....] came from County Cork, in the SW part of Ireland, where the name Sullivan was very much in vogue [....] many of them are related to us since the Earl of Beara, was called O'Sullivan. His ancient castle was in the Beara Peninsula and replicated in the 1800 by the Earl of Dunboy, which was blown up in the 1916 times. [....] My grandmother was known as Mary Holland. She was born in 1861 just as the other granny Ryan. When she was 18 she was married to Maurice Lowney, who had returned from the great USA. with American silver in his pockets and bought [the dowry] her from her family for 500 pounds. and brought her to his little farm which he got
from one of his uncles. That was known as Derimihen West, Castletown Bere, Co. Cork, Ireland. Maurice was the last son of John Lowney, and a wife, whose last name was Leahy. Perhaps it was Mary, but she was his third wife, due to the others having died in childbirth. Maurice had been to America from 1869 until he returned around 1875. Maurice was born in 1843, just before the great famine, which drove so many Irish to the Americas. He used to tell his girls of the times he remembered going with his father to pick up the bodies of the poor and bury them. His father had a mill for spinning cloth and was able to live through the horrible years. [.....] Maurice and Mary Lowney had 9 girls, and one son. They were: Mary Anne, who married Dan Sullivan from the same Area, Inches, Eyeries, on the Beara Peninsula. [....] She was followed by three sisters, Julia, Nellie, Maggie, who all died from measles with in one year. Then there was Agnes, who married Pierce Powers in time. Then there was Lucy who died from a plague, around 1894. Each child was around two years apart. She was followed by Abigail, who married Jack Sullivan also from the Beara area, from a home on Beare Isl. [....] Then there was Catherine, born in 1892 when grandfather was about to leave for the last time to gather any money he had in America. He stayed for six years and returned at which time he remade an acquaintance with the above Dan, and encouraged him to sett le down with Mary Anne. When grandfather returned in 1898, he remained in his home until his death in 1907. At this time, he fathered one more daughter, Joanne, who married to Charles Ware, of Co. Kerry, which was over the mountain and about 30 miles distance. He was also tall, which suited our Auntie Jo. [....] Then the last child came and he was Uncle John Phillip Lowney, the only son. who we met in the hospitals in Detroit, although I knew him as a fine tall man of health and fun.
"While grandfather L. was growing up he remembered going with his father, John, to pick up the dead bodies of those around the valley, and bring them for burial. John was a weaver by trade and was able to make a fair living. Auntie Agnes remembered him more than NANA. In time Grandfather Lowney, Maurice went to America in 1869, to Boston, and then out to the west where the Irish were in demand due to their ability to work. They were not favored with any great love [....] due to their religious beliefs. He went to Virginia City, MT and then to VC, NV in time during which he accumulated a fair amount of wealth and kept on himself, a notebook, which he kept track of when he was able to go to church and to confession as the nearest church was often more than fifteen miles away. During his time he also worked in the mines in Leadville, Co, and Tonopah, NV. and then during his time in Virginia City, NV he was joined by two friends from Ireland, who along with him, located a vein of silver. He and they came up to buy as much stock and then cash in on [this]. [....] At that point, he realized that he was now at a n age where he should marry and also return home. So he went back to hi s sister, a widow, and bought her a farm in Lowell.
"Now Grandfather also stayed in Boston long enough to learn the art of bookkeeping, where he lived with his sister. and then returned to marry Mary, whom he had to pay L.500. to her father. Of course, she was only eighteen at that time, and already promised to another. He told this to Agnes his daughter. He also inherited a farm from his uncle,another Lowney in Berehaven, Co. Cork. It was 40 acres, 30 for planting and 10 for cutting into peat, therefore a bog.
"Consider this time, when this man of some elegance, was a beloved parishioner in this little sea town of Berehaven. He was 6/6 tall and serious in manner, not given to booze and interested in education. as he had paid for all of his girls to go to the convent school, which in those days was not cheap and did give an excellent education.
"At this point (1892) Grandfather had to go to America once again, as he wanted to finish his connections with the USA, and was getting much older and tired. So when Nana was six months old he took off and she or the others did not see him for almost six years. During this time, a cousin, John Lowney, took care of his farm, and saw the wife and children were o k.
"At this point, (1893) GF was in the west and working as an assayer, due to the miner consumption, which had invaded his body. Just as it later did with my father. so when he finally did get a message he returned a round 1898, to Boston, closed his share in the ship, which had been his income, and returned to Ireland to die when his day came. During this return voyage from the land which according to his last letter, he loved , he met once again a person,. Daniel Sullivan, who became his first child's husband. in 1899.
"Somewhere along the line he suffered a bout of smallpox. He had a pox mark that Nana used to tell me about. It left a hole in his nose.
(About his only son and youngest child, John Phillip, born in 1893)
"The John of course, was for the old father of my grandfather. And the Phillip came from the grand country of America. As you can see the boy of his dreams, was only a little fellow when his daddy died of miner's consumption. At the point of his return Maurice was tired from the mines of America and began to wear a beard, which he affected until his death. We had no pics of him with it. He also paid all his bills, and more of hem so that the girls would be able to attend the convent school where the Sisters of Mercy taught, and for much of the time our Nana told me that her Daddy coughed and spent much of his time resting or in his rather large chair.
"Now to the new children, they were his delight, and he talked to the others of the glory of his adopted land. by the way, he received his citizenship from the late Judge Lynch of Butte, Montana, who is famous there as a federal judge of repute. Nana and Auntie Agnes did remember their father as somewhat serious, but not unkind. Nana used to tell me that at his end he called for grandmom and then fell back on his bed, and died. It sounded so like the death of my dad and yours. Apparently he died just before his birthday, as she used to say he was 63. And I would have to research this. However, he was buried in the same grave, which is an old country custom, as the little girls who predeceased him. They just lifted up the old bones and put them in a box on top of the new casket. In the church yard of the Sacred Heart church in Castletownbere."
Between 1875-1879 Maurice Lowney is shown as residing in Storey County, Nevada, per Nevada census as follows:
Nevada State Census, 1875
about Lowney
Surname: Lowney
Age: 30
Sex: M
Race: White
Occupation: Miner
Place of Birth: Ireland
Mother/Father of foreign birth: Both
Head of Household: Separate households not identified for this part of Storey county. Not listed with anyone of the same surname.
Community: Storey
Note: Virginia City is in Storey County.
He also appears in the following: Bishop's Directory of Virginia City, Gold Hill, Silver City, Carson City and Reno, 1878-9. Lowney M., miner C. and C. shaft. Detail Notes: Page 165: Lowney M., miner C. and C. shaft.
On February 22, 1879 he married Mary Holland:
In Eyeries Church, Castletownbere, Castletownbere Parish, Co. Cork, Ireland.
Marriage: Maurice Lowney, of Derrymihan, Castletownbere Parish, son of John Lowney and Mary Leahy, of Ardnasciach, Filane, Castletownbere Parish. Fr. John O'Reilly P.P. officiated. Witnesses were James McCarthy (Parish Clerk), of Eyeries, and Patrick Harrington, Uxside, Ardgroom.
The following is a record of arrival at the port of New York. The passenger might or might not be *this* Maurice Lowney.
Name: Maurice Lowney
Arrival Date: 4 Nov 1891
Estimated birth year: abt 1846
Age: 45
Gender: Male
Port of Departure: Liverpool, England and Queenstown, Ireland
Destination: Vermont
Place of Origin: United States of America (American)
Ship Name: City of Paris
Port of Arrival: New York
Line: 19
Port Arrival State: New York
Port Arrival Country: United States
1901 Census of Ireland
Residents of a house 4 in Derrymihin West (Killaconenagh, Cork)
Surname Forename Age Sex Relation to head
Lowney Maurice 57 Male Head of Family
Lowney Mary 41 Female Wife
Lowney Agnes 14 Female Daughter
Lowney Abbie 11 Female Daughter
Lowney Catherine 9 Female Daughter
Lowney Johannah Female Daughter
Maurice was 6'6" tall and blond.
On May 31, 1907 Maurice died in Castletown, Berehaven, County Cork, Ireland of Miner's Consumption (death certificate says bronchiectasion).
______________________________
Ireland, Civil Registration Indexes, 1845-1958 for Maurice Lowney
Name: Maurice Lowney
(This is the web link to learn more about the Indices and how to order the film with the originals on it.
https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Ireland,_Civil_Registration_Indexes_%28FamilySearch_Historical_Records%29#How_to_Use_the_Index_to_Locate_Original_Records_on_Film
Registration District: Castletown
Event Type: DEATHS
Registration Quarter and Year: Apr - Jun 1907
Estimated Birth Year: 1844
Age (at Death): 63
Mother's Maiden Name:
Film Number: 0101603
Volume Number: 5
Page Number: 32
Digital Folder Number: 4201707
Image Number: 00329
_______________________
Maurice's granddaughter Maureen Elizabeth Ryan Gawne said, "[Grandfather] was buried in the same grave, which is an old country custom, as the little girls who predeceased him. They just lifted up the old bones and put them in a box on top of the new casket." Maurice Lowney and his daughters Julia (1881-1885), Ellen "Nellie" (1883-1885), Margaret "Maggie" (1885-1885) and Lucy (1888-1893) are buried in the same grave in Foildarrig (Lower) Cemetery.
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