Foley

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A surname of England, Ireland and Guernsey (Channel Island); in England and Guernsey,? a variant of FOLLETT; in Ireland (O) Foley, Ó Foghladha, Ir. foghlaidhe - plunderer, though in Co. Roscommon a synonym of Mac Sharry, MacSearraigh, from searrach - foal. MacLysaght states that "The distinguished English family of Foley is said to be of Irish origin," but Cottle suggests that the Worchestershire family has probably another origin. (MacLysaght, Cottle, Bardsley, Turk). See also FOWLER. Traced by MacLysaght in the south Munster and Co. Roscommon, by Cottle and Bardsley in Worchestershire and neighbouring counties, and by Spiegelhalter in Devon.

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At Caplin Bay: Voter's List for Caplin Bay: 1840, 1841, 1842, 1844, 1845, 1846, 1847, 1849, 1852, 1855, 1859 - Patrick Foley.
  Lovell's 1871 Directory: Thomas Foley, fisherman.
  McAlpine's 1894 Directory: Thomas Foley, fisherman.
  McAlpine's 1898 Directory: Thomas Foley, fisherman.
  McAlpine's 1904 Directory: Thomas Foley, fisherman.
  Voter's List for Caplin Bay: 1908 - Thomas Foley.
Family History: According to an old map of Caplin Bay, Thomas Foley had several properties on the northeastern end of the Old Woman's Pond. We know very little about the origins of the Foley family, other than the fact that Thomas' father, Patrick, had been at Caplin Bay since at least 1840. Thomas Foley married Mary Healey, a daughter of Edward (Ned) Healey and Johanna Malone, probably about 1860. The Healey family initially lived at Ferryland but moved to Caplin Bay in the 1840s. It appears that Thomas and Mary Foley had six children, three sons and three daughters at Caplin Bay. Over two decades, starting in the early 1890s, their three sons, Edward H., Joseph J. and Thomas J. (Jr.) and their three daughters, Johanna, Flora and Catherine, all moved to Bristol, Connecticut.
  In the Rossiter family research of the late Ray Curran, he stated that John Foley married Bridget Rossiter (both from Caplin Bay) after they emigrated to the United States. They lived in Bristol, Connecticut, and had sixteen children, six of whom died young. Thomas Foley (Jr.) married Elizabeth (Bessie) Kelly of Ferryland. After the birth of their only child, Patrick, at Caplin Bay, this couple emigrated to the United States, also settling in Bristol, Connecticut. Most of this information is verified as being factual based on the data recorded in the United States Census of 1900. I discovered in my research that Edward Foley married Mary Power (a Newfoundlander) in Bristol and although they had no biological children, they adopted a daughter. It appears that Flora Foley never married but her sister, Catherine P. married in Bristol, Connecticut when she was about thirty years old. Her husband, Laurence J. Winters, a widower, was also born in Newfoundland. The last daughter to emigrate in 1910 was Hannah (Johannah). She was married to Joseph Shea from Torbay. They had three children in Newfoundland before they moved to the US. In the Newfoundland Census of 1921, for Caplin Bay, there is no instance of the Foley surname.
Current Status: It doesn't appear that any descendants of this Foley family are living in Canada, but in the United States, there are likely quite a few descendants of the Foleys of Caplin Bay.

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