Fáilte - Barryroe Community Website

Fáilte and welcome to the Barryroe Community Website

The initial aims of this brand new website launched on 26 April 2026 are to:

List Local Events
List Local Organisations and Businesses in the Directory
Publish Community News
Build a library of interesting local History

Please do Add an Event or Add Your Listing

New website launched!

John Cohalan

John Cohalan owned a small holding in Courtmacsherry before he left for the United States at the height of the famine in 1848. His wife, Catherine McCarthy, had already died and John Cohalan was accompanied to America by his three young daughters and his son, Timothy, who was twelve years old.

It is worth noting that Catherine McCarthy’s family already had a notable connection with the United States. She was the daughter of Captain Eugene McCarthy who had served as an aide-de-camp to the Marquis de la Lafayette during the American Revolution. Eugene McCarthy had returned to Ireland after the Revolution.

The Cohalan family first settled in Pierrepoint in upstate New York but by 1849 they had moved to Middletown, Orange County, a town in the Hudson Valley. John Cohalan, according to the 1861 Census did not remarry and had begun trading as a grocer.

Timothy Eugene Cohalan

Timothy, son of John Cohalan, became involved in the building trade and also established a very successful glass business. Timothy Eugene Cohalan died 8 December 1909. The following obituary published in the Southern Star gives a comprehensive outline of his life and career.