Family:Michael Haley and Winifred Unknown (1)

[MICHAEL?] HALEY was born in Ireland at a date unknown. He does not seem to have emigrated. He married, at a date unknown, [WINIFRED?] [--?--].

The presumed progenitor of the Haley family is Michael Haley. On 2 June 1861, a James Haley, son of Michael and Winifred, married Mary O'Hara at St. Peter's R.C. Church, Belleville, Essex County, N.J. This James is perhaps a sibling to the known Haley children. The fact that both Hugh Haley and Mary Haley Havey named daughters Winifred would seem to support this supposition. It is undetermined whether the parents came to the United States or remained in Ireland. Family tradition, since confirmed by a number of records, places their residence in Ireland in County Roscommon. On her tombstone, Bridget Haley Oles's birthplace is given as Rahara, County Roscommon.^N1 It seems that all of the children did not emigrate at the same time. Most seem to have come between approximately 1828, the estimated date of the marriage of Mary Haley and Patrick Havey in Ireland, and 1845, the year of marriage of Hugh Haley and Catherine Riordan in Belleville, Essex County, N.J., at which Patrick Haley and Margaret Haley were witnesses. Bridget Haley Olis’s son Thomas was born in Ireland about 1849, and so she presumably did not come until sometime after that date, perhaps after the death of her husband, since no record has been found of him in the United States.

In many records, the family name is given as Healey. In one letter to his wife, Hugh signs his name ‘Haley’ but in another he signs it ‘Healey’. It seems to me that if ‘Healey’ is said with an Irish accent, it could certainly sound like ‘Haley’. ‘Haley’ or ‘Haly’ appear in the records more often than ‘Healey’, and so I have chosen Haley as the preferred spelling.

1.   Bridget Oles tombstone, Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Bloomfield, Essex Co., NJ.