In Ireland's County of Kerry, Parish of Curns  , John 
		O'Mahoney (later to become Mahoney), his wife, Margaret, 
		and son, Dennis, suffered the Potato Famine and saw the mass 
		evictions of tenant farmers in the mid 1800s.  And like many 
		others they left Ireland to look for a better life in America.

		We do not know if John's parents were well off or not. But 
		even if his father was a landowner, there would have been no
		future for him in Ireland since there was seldom enough land 
		to pass down a livable portion to each son. So it was not 
		surprising that John would want to immigrate to America.

		John was born in 1810 when laborers out numbered farmers in 
		Ireland by ratios of three or four to one. So it was likely 
		that he and his father were laborers or tenant farmers. 87% of 
		Irish emigrants to America in the mid 1800s were laborers or 
		servants.

		Young men of the relatively affluent farmer class would usually 
		not bring a wife into his father's house until he was certain 
		he could support her, so marriages would be postponed until a 
		relatively late age.  The age difference between husband and 
		wife was often considerable. John could fit this scenario since 
		he was ten years older than his wife and was 39 when their 
		first child, Dennis,was born in 1849.

		John and Margaret landed in Boston in 1852, according to John's 
		citizenship declaration.  Their travels after that can be found 
		in the 1870 Census records:

		    		
				Born	 Place	             Death       Age		
	 
		John    		1810    Ireland	                1872	62		
		Margaret	1820    Ireland		1892	70		

		Dennis		1849    Ireland		1923	74		
		Mary		1852    New York State	  ?     		    	 
		Hanna		1853    Vermont		  ?		    	   
		Catherine	1855    New York State	1885	30		
		Ellen		1857    Canada		1894	37		
		Jeremiah	1859    Canada		  ?		    	    
		John		1861    Iowa		1892	31		

		
		After arriving in Boston, they apparently moved to New York, 
		then Vermont and back to New York. The next move was to 
		Canada (Ontario?) and finally, in 1861, they were settled in 
		Iowa. (See also a paper entitled "Our Ireland Ancestors", 
		author unknown, obtained from Irene Mahoney Brown who 
		said it was "found by Ester Rourke Peters ...among some 
		old papers")

		John purchased 160 acres in Johnson Co. in December, 1859.  
		Because Jeremiah was born in Canada in 1859, they must have 
		moved to Iowa in that same year after his birth.

		After John and Margaret bought that first parcel of land 
		they acquired an adjacent 160 acres in 1863 and added other 
		parcels in 1866, 1868, and 1873.  The 1868 parcel was 
		purchased from Timothy Kirk and J. H. Gill for $250; the 
		mortgage was paid off in June, 1889.

		John and Margaret had three sons and four daughters.  After 
		his father's death Dennis, as the oldest son, was farming 
		most of his father's land.  Perhaps his younger brothers 
		were also involved but the youngest, John, died at the early 
		age of 31. I don't know what happened to Jeremiah but Mable, 
		speaking of Hanna, once told me "she lived with her husband 
		and Jerry, her brother, on farm just east of farm where Robert 
		Dennis Mahoney lived".

		Dennis had four boys and two girls.  At least part of his 
		land went to Robert but I don't know if any land went to his 
		brothers.
	
		The chart above shows the other names that contributed to 
		the Mahoney family: Berry, Collins, Kutcher and Lenoch. 

		Dennis Mahoney married Mary Berry in March of 1870 when he 
		was 28 and she 19. They were living with his parents when the 
		census was taken in June of that year.  Ten years later the 
		census shows him with his wife and four children in a dwelling
		next to his mother, three of her children, and a hired hand. 
		John Sr. had died in 1872 and Dennis bought the adjacent 
		property in 1874.

		Mary Berry was the first born of John and Catherine Berry, 
		both of Ireland. She was born in New York in 1850 and her 
		younger sister was born in Iowa in 1852.  John Mahoney and 
		John Berry were both in New York state about 1850.

		Dennis Mahoney had a total of six children, two girls and 
		four boys.  Robert was the third child born on April 12, 1876.

		Robert married Anna Kutcher in 1800, a native of Johnson Co.  
		Anna's parents were John Kutcher (originally Kucera) and Anna 
		Lenoch who were born a year apart in Bohemia.  John's parents 
		are unknown but Anna's parents were Wesley Lenoch (Leenox in 
		the 1880 census) and Mary (last name unknown).

		Robert and Anna ("Mom and Pop") had nine children: Genevieve, 
		Robert, Margaret, Mabel, Elsie, Mary, Irene (Rene), Rosalie (Roly) 
		and Anna.