Timothy C. Hanley : Short Biography

Timothy C. Hanley is my 3rd great-grandfather, who died in Dubuque, Iowa on March 11, 1913. Per his obituary, he was born on November 21, 1821 in Kilfinane, County Limerick. The obituary does not make it clear whether this was in Kilfinance Town or Parish. Also per his obituary, he emigrated to the United States via New York in 1848 and married Naphy Fahy (native of County Galway) in Buffalo, New York in 1852. By 1862 he was in Table Mound Township, Dubuque County, Iowa per US Civil War Draft Registration records, and his naturalization papers were filed October 12, 1868. The 1870 US Census indicates that his parents or someone of that age were living with him, John and Margaret Hanley, aged approximately 70 however I have not been able to find definitive records for them beyond this reference, along with a gravestone in Dubuque, Iowa for Margaret Hanley 1793-1876 which I believe to be the same person.

I am searching for additional information regarding Timothy, his parents, and any other extended family. Timothy was Catholic and farmed in Iowa; given this along with the year of his departure, it seems likely that his immigration was primarily driven by the Great Hunger, and as a single young man without a family he would have been a prime candidate to move. I have found records for a number of Hanley households in the Kilfinane town and parish areas in later years but nothing definitive to connect Timothy to any one of them.