About Clan Curley

Our specific Curley family branch began back in Ireland, with the most distant known Irish ancestor being one Bernard Curley. Due to the scarcity of Irish records for the time period we are interested in and the fact that many of the Curley first names have been repeated for hundreds of years, it is difficult to trace the lineage with accuracy prior to our Bernard Curley. I have not tried personally but others with more experience searching the historical records have hit the proverbial brick wall with Bernard. One of Bernard's sons, Hubert "Hugh" Curley emigrated to New York in the early 1800s. Bernard had other children but the primary focus here is our direct descent from Bernard through his son Hubert (Hugh). Hugh had a son named James H. Curley who was born in New York, and subsequently moved to New Jersey and founded our lineage there, in the mid-late 1800s. James had at least two sons, William H. Curley and George W. Curley who form the main central New Jersey lineage known today.

There are other Curley families found in New Jersey that are not paternally related to this lineage, this was found through YDNA testing. There are also Curley families that are related to us but have ancestors that emigrated from Ireland at different points in time. Through YDNA testing we have connected with several Curleys living today that are descendants of William and George and relationship levels have been verified through both the dna results and the paper trail history. A special thank you goes out to all of those that have helped over the years. Through the efforts of these individuals, we've made a tremendous amount of progress in a fairly short period of time.

Back in Ireland, most of our somewhat distant Curley cousins are found mainly in and around Athlone, this appears to be the hot spot for Curleys, going back to at least the 1500s when what appears to be the first anglicized variants of the name appeared in historical records. Athlone straddles counties Roscommon and Westmeath. There is also a paternally unrelated Curley lineage that seems to be more Galway centric and this paternally unrelated lineage appears to be well represented, although they appear to be much more active in DNA testing as opposed to the main Athlone area group. Both of these Curley groups have been using the anglicized Curley surname or a pre-Curley variant for at least the past 500 years or so.

At present we do not know the origin for the anglicized Curley surname, most of the speculation found on the internet is not based in factual evidence but there is quite a bit of unsubstantiated conjecture. If you'd like to share any information you have on the Irish Curley family, feel free to drop me a line. There may be families that have been passed down important information through the generations that might help better understand our ancient origins.

Our Curley Lineage - Athlone Ireland to the United States of America
For the sake of brevity, clarity and privacy, many descendants and branches of this lineage have been omitted

1. Bernard Curley - (mid 1700s) Athlone Ireland. The main Curley lineage is still very strong in and around Athlone Ireland, in
    Counties Westmeath and Roscommon.
2. Hubert "Hugh" Curley - Son of Bernard Curley, emigrated from Athlone Ireland to New York early 1800s. Civil War Veteran NY
3. James H Curley - Son of Hugh Curley, born in New York, moved to Monmouth County New Jersey, approx. mid 1800s. James' wife
    was Mary Vanarsdale. Two sons of interest are William H Curley Sr and George W Curley Sr.
4. George Williams Curley Sr - Son of James H. Curley, Monmouth County New Jersey, had several sons and daughters with wife
    Mary Ackley. George's brother was William H Curley
5. Charles Leroy Curley Sr - Son of George W. Curley Sr., Monmouth County New Jersey
6. Charles Leroy Curley Jr - Son of Charles Leroy Curley Sr., Monmouth/Ocean County New Jersey, had two sons,
    Charles Leroy Curley III and William D Davison Sr as well as a daughter
7. Bill Davison Sr - Son of Charles Leroy Curley Jr., Monmouth/Ocean County New Jersey, half brother of Charles Leroy Curley III
8. Bill Davison Jr - Son of Bill Davison Sr., Monmouth County New Jersey

Elizabeth Clark-Davison (Grandmother) Charles Leroy Curley Jr. (Grandfather)

Bill Davison Sr. *Paternal Curley Charles Leroy Curley III (Uncle)

Bill Davison Jr. *Paternal Curley (Webmaster)
"Chief" self-appointed, someone should be doing it..

William D Davison Jr - Curley - Amateur Genealogist / Unofficial Clan Curley Founder and Curley Genealogy Pioneer

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