John Markey

 

(about 1827-1879)

 

Both John Markey and Mary Crorkan were from Ireland, and I assume that they emigrated to Scotland in the 1840s, during the potato famine.  John was born in Drumgoon, (Cootehill) County Cavan (Ireland) and he worked at the Forth Iron Works in Oakley (Scotland), at the time of his marriage in 1853 until at least 1864 or so.  The ironworks didn’t operate much longer than that and I am assuming that the family then moved to Rutherglen, a suburb of Glasgow, as later records show the family living there.

 

Oakley is a small village in the parish of Carnock, county of Fife in Scotland.  I assume that either word of mouth of jobs at the Iron Works found its way to County Cavan or the Iron Works advertised for workers in Ireland, as there were many Irish laborers to be found on the 1851 census of the area. 

 

Kay and George visited Oakley in 2005, along with a Markey relation who lives in Edinburg, Scotland.  There was only 1 of the original buildings left from the Iron Works, but several of the old streets remained, and a few of the building on 'Store Row' still held original stone buildings.  John's son, Andrew (Kay's grandfather), was born while the family lived on 'Brick Row'.  

 

Following the trip to Scotland, Kay and George visited County Cavan in Ireland, and located Cootehill, Drumgoon.   There seem to be several Markey families in the area, but Kay has not yet managed to find the connection to 'her' John Markey.  A local historian, however, assured her that 'all the Markeys are related, whether they claim to be or not'.  Click here to see John Markey's family tree.

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