Notes on John and Bridget in New York State

All of John and Bridget's first four children (Margaret, John, Mary, and Michael) were born in New York state, with the last of the four, Michael, being born in 1862. Ellen, their fifth child, was born in Pennsylvania (in 1867) – as were all of their other three children. Though we've been unable to find other concrete evidence of their residence in New York, it seems that they must have been there from 1855 – 1862, at least.

There's a John and Bridget Sweeney family in the 1860 census in Portland, NY:

John, age 35, b. Ireland

Bridget, age 25, b. Ireland

John, age 4, b. NY

Mariah, age 6 mo., b. NY

But John senior's age is wrong, Margaret is missing, and “Mariah” is wrong.

There's a 1865 Schroon, Essex, New York, Census entry for John/Bridget Sweeney, but it is not our John/Bridget (because that John's birthdate is ten years later than our John's, and the children's names are wrong). 

It's clear that John and Bridget were living in New York at that time but, for whatever reason, there are no census entries for them.

From Janet Kennedy Sweeney: “In a telephone interview with Edward Sweeney, he remembered hearing the story that his great-grandfather, John Sweeney had served with the Confederate Army during the Civil War and was captured and imprisoned by Union forces. John Michael Sweeney had also talked about this story. We know that the oldest children were born in New York State from Census records, and the younger children were born in Pennsylvania. There is a five-year gap between the first set and the second set of children. The Civil War could account for the gap. However, as yet this information has not been authenticated or documented.” ¹

I did various Web searches, I found a Ft. McHenry Prison record (for "J.M.”Sweeney) – I don’t see the middle initial “M” used anywhere else -- and the Detailed Soldier Record (for John Sweeney) – but since there were at least twenty men named John Sweeney in the Confederate army (– almost all, no doubt, Southerners --), it’s hard to set much store by that. I also checked with the Crawford County Historical Society. Nothing there. I checked with the Chautauqua County Historical Society/McClurg Museum. They checked with the County Historian regarding the Confederate participation in the area: “There were soldiers from the area who did support and fight in the Confederate Army.” 

I also contacted The Dunkirk Historical Society ( dunkirkhistoricalmuseum.org ), who responded as follows....

You are right in stating our info is limited but I looked at what we have (the Barris Genealogy books and a couple of books we have dealing with Western New York and the Civil War.)

I also consulted with a local genealogy expert who knows far more than I  and who has access to more info.

First, neither of us believe you will find anything helpful here in Dunkirk. There is certainly nothing that refers to locals joining the Confederacy and it struck us as unlilkely anyone would--and if they did no local institution such as the paper (The Beacon at the time)  would probably have recorded it.  It stands to reason that if someone had joined the Confederacy that person would have simply left town to go south to do so since stating in town that those were his intentions would have been the actions of a traitor. Dunkirk's Armory was the place where men in this part of the county mustered to join the North's army --and I can't imagine the military in the local Armory would just "allow" another local to announce his intentions to be join the Confederacy. Neither of us have seen any burial records (St. Mary's would have been the burial ground of any men of Irish descent) of men who may have fought for the South or died there and whose bodies were returned.    

We have both seen no indication of anti-Union sentiment in this area of the state. 

There are no records of John/Bridget Sweeney here. We do have mention of some Sweeney's going back to the 1870's but none with the names you mentioned.

I know most of the historians in the area (as far down as Jamestown) and asked if they'd heard anything especially of men going to join the South--and none have.

Diane