Rooneys of Columbus

This is one of a series of posts about Maurice and Elizabeth Cunningham, their children and grandchildren, and their lives in Columbus, Wisconsin in the late 1800s. You can find the other posts here: Part 1 (overview), Part 2 (the cemetery), Part 3 (the church and farm), Part 4 (our current state of knowledge) and related posts on  Robert Steven Cunningham and  Wallenstown, Ireland.

The Rooney farm, as seen today

This isn't (just) a corn field. This was once the homestead of John Joseph and Elizabeth Kelly Rooney, my great-great-great-grandparents.

They were born and married in County Moneghan, Ireland, and arrived in the United States on one of the famine ships in 1848. Their eldest son, Patrick, was born on the voyage. They originally settled in New York, but by 1860, they, like the Cunninghams, had moved to Columbus, Wisconsin. Their farm was northeast of town (unlike the Cunninghams, who lived southwest of town), so they were in a different county, Dodge.

Map from 1873 showing the Rooney homestead in Dodge County, Wisconsin.

They had ten children. Their eldest daughter, Elizabeth Theresa Rooney, married the Cunningham's youngest son, Robert, and they became my great-great-grandparents.

While the Cunninghams farmed a full section of land, the Rooneys had only a quarter section. This must have made it difficult for them to get by, and eventually the whole family moved west to Minnesota. Most of the family, like my great-great-grandparents, moved to Minneapolis. however, the youngest Rooney son, Aloysius, staked a land claim in western Minnesota, near the town of Osakis, and his parents went with him. They died there in 1906 and are buried less than an hour from where I currently live.

The Rooney resting place in Osakis, Minnesota