Little is known of the origins of the McCarthy family. What we do know has been learned from tracing backwards from the few facts we have, namely Cornelius and Jeremiah were the sons of Daniel and Catherine, having been born and brought up in Lysander. Census reports and land deed records are basically the only source of information we have, coupled with a rare newspaper clipping. Vital statistics were not started in the county of Onondaga until 1880. Like the majority of Catholic church records those of St Mary's in Baldwinsville which was completed in 1852, are not readily available. We do however have access to the McCarthy family plot in the cemetery located on Tappan Street, Baldwinsville. From Daniel's gravestone we know he died in 1885 aged 74, simple maths tells us he was born in 1811. The gravestone also tells us that his wife's maiden name was Cary and she died 1866, aged 54.

Once we start examining the census records that are available we find that Catherine had been previously married and had given birth to a total of 10 children, presumbly Cornelius and Jeremiah being 2 of them. We also learn that after Catherine's death in 1866 Daniel remarried to another Catherine. Her maiden name was Horan or probably Hourahan[1] and she also must have been previously married as the 1900 census shows her to having had 6 children, 1 of which was still living.

We also believe Daniel had a brother named Patrick though we still have to find conclusive evidence of them being related[2]. The close association between the Sloan family and the McCarthys, the fact Daniel & Patrick owned sublots across from each other in Lot 60 in Lysander[3] plus they appear to have been naturalised on the same day all add weight to the idea.

The farmsteads were on Potter Road which has now been swallowed up as part of the Three Rivers Wildlife Management Area. From here Jeremiah moved to the village of Baldwinsville, giving up farming to become a mechanic. Cornelius having married Molly (Mary Ann Smith) moved to a farm built next to one owned by Molly's uncle, Patrick Sloan, on Smokey Hollow Road. Upon uncle Patrick's death in 1923 Cornelius & Molly inherited both farms and this became home for their 10 children. In 1942 the farm along with a great swathe of Lysander was seized by the Government in order to build a munitions factory. In reality very little of the 6,795 acres appropriated were built on, being completed in 1943 the chemical plant was in operation for less than a year, being shut down in March 1944. Due to this and marriages, the McCarthy's disperesed as far a field as California and Florida.

Footnotes:
[1] Catherine's death certificate lists her parents as David and Mary Horan. Horan along with O'Horahan, Hourigan, Hurrigan, O'Hurley, Hurley, Hearn, Heron (and a few more) are said to be variants of the name Hourahan which is said to be an anglicised form of the Irish name Ó hUaithne
[2] There is a lot of "circumstantial evidence" that suggests Daniel & Patrick were related, this is discussed more fully (or will be), in their various biographies.
[3] The significance of this coupled with a potted history of the Military tract that became the township called Lysander will hopefully find its way onto this website, providing we can find the time to write it..