by Justin Durand
Recent genealogical research into frontier-era figures led me to examine the life and lineage of Michael “Mike” Roark, a relatively obscure outlaw associated with the 1878 Kinsley Train Robbery. While Roark has been noted in historical accounts of 19th-century crime, little has been done to trace his personal history or genealogical roots. This brief report outlines newly discovered details about Roark’s birth, marriage, and death, and aims to place him within a broader migratory and ethnic context—particularly relevant to Irish-American family research.
Background
My interest in Roark originated from a personal genealogical inquiry. I descend from a Roark line that eventually settled in Oregon—a branch my father once described as “river rats and interstate auto thieves.” Upon encountering Mike Roark in a discussion within the Wild West History Association (WWHA) Facebook group, I became curious about a possible familial connection.
This curiosity soon revealed a broader problem: Roark’s criminal notoriety is well documented, but his personal life—birthplace, family, and ultimate fate—is largely absent from the record. Most historical attention centers on the Kinsley Train Robbery and other criminal activities, without situating Roark in any clear genealogical or community framework.
Methodology and Sources
I began by contacting the Kansas State Historical Society, though access delays and pandemic-related staffing shortages hampered progress. Eventually, I was directed to an article by historian Chris Penn in the WWHA Journal. With help from the WWHA Facebook group, I connected directly with Penn, who provided critical references that shaped the direction of my research.
A pivotal clue emerged from a court record reported in the Utica Weekly Herald (5 July 1887), cited in Penn’s article:
“Before being sentenced, [Roark] was asked about his age and responded that he was ’41 years on the 27th of last April.’”
—Chris Penn, “The Train Robber and the Elocutionist: ‘Big Mike’ Roark’s Last Train Robbery,” WWHA Journal, vol. 3, no. 4 (August 2010), p. 32, n. 72.
This self-reported age places Roark’s birth on April 27, 1846. Further research suggests a likely birthplace in Tennessee, consistent with migration patterns of the Roark family in the 19th century. He later married Caroline “Carrie” Cotter on May 27, 1885, in Oswego County, New York, and likely died on May 25, 1925, in Orange County, Texas.
These biographical markers have been compiled into a public profile at FamilySearch:
🔗 Mike Roark – FamilySearch Profile
Genealogical Significance and Ethnic Origins
The surname Roark is almost certainly a variant of the Irish name O’Rourke (Ó Ruairc), a widespread surname originally associated with County Leitrim and surrounding regions in Ireland. Roark is among the many Anglicized forms that evolved during Irish emigration to the United States, often altered in spelling and pronunciation upon arrival or in subsequent generations.
This linguistic link adds to the plausibility of a connection between Mike Roark and the wider network of Irish-American Roarks who migrated westward across the United States in the 19th century, including those who settled in Oregon. If Roark was born in Tennessee in 1846, he likely descended from earlier Irish immigrants who settled in the South or the Appalachian borderlands before the Civil War.
Invitation to Collaborate
Given how little documentation exists on Roark’s early life and family background, I encourage other researchers—particularly those with Roark or O’Rourke ancestry—to review his FamilySearch profile. If you have family records, oral histories, or documents that may pertain to this individual, I invite you to contribute them directly through the FamilySearch platform.
🔗 Contribute to Mike Roark’s profile on FamilySearch
Collaborative research platforms like FamilySearch offer a powerful way to reconstruct overlooked lives—especially those, like Roark’s, that sit at the edges of both history and genealogy.
Conclusion
While preliminary, this research provides the first genealogically grounded outline of Mike Roark’s life, establishing birth, marriage, and death dates that can be used for further tracing. These findings also reopen the possibility of familial links between Roark and other Irish-American families in the western U.S., particularly in Tennessee, New York, and Oregon.
As genealogists, we often focus on those who left clear records: landowners, community leaders, church members. But figures like Mike Roark—outlaws, drifters, and marginal characters—also belong in our family histories. Recovering their stories is not only a matter of curiosity but a way to complete the record of who we are and where we come from.
Sources Cited
- Chris Penn, “The Train Robber and the Elocutionist: ‘Big Mike’ Roark’s Last Train Robbery,” Wild West History Association Journal, vol. 3, no. 4 (August 2010), pp. 20–32.
- Utica Weekly Herald, 5 July 1887.
- Oswego County, New York Marriage Records, 1885.
- Texas Death Index, Orange County, 1925.
- FamilySearch.org. “Michael Roark.” Profile ID G5BV-FQG. https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/G5BV-FQG
Revised August 6, 2025