Will the person who visits this blog by searching on Bridget Farrell from Cumberland please email me. I think we're looking for the same Bridget Farrell!
Here's my email: dianew858@hotmail.com
The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2014/09/quick-note-bridget-farrell-from.html
Showing posts with label Thomas Farrell 1795 - 1851. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thomas Farrell 1795 - 1851. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Honoring his service: James O'Farrell 1842-1914
The name of James O'Farrell inscribed on the War Memorial
across from the Morgan County (West Virginia) Court House.
Notice that it's spelled "O'Ferrall."
across from the Morgan County (West Virginia) Court House.
Notice that it's spelled "O'Ferrall."
While working on the Thomas and Judah Farrell DNA project I wrote about their son James a couple of times which you can see here and here. Must admit that I was so impressed by his life and the way he survived the Civil War that I had to blog about it a couple of times, and probably spent a bit too much time on him. But there is a moment when it's past time to move on, and so I did. However on my recent trip to see Mom (who is an avid genealogist and just turned 96) we swung by Berkeley Springs and checked out the War Memorial to see if we could find his name inscribed on the Civil War side of it.
Guess I should mention that James' parents were Thomas and Judah Farrell who came to the United States from Ireland about 1840. Most likely fleeing unfortunate economic times in their native land, the couple left with their two oldest daughters, Mary Elizabeth (Farrell) House 1835 - 1919, and Catherine (Farrell) Boxwell 1838-1910. Once here, they had two sons and four more daughters and the line up for their children born here looks like this:
James O'Farrell (1842-1914), who used the O' convention for the rest of his life
Thomas Farrell (1843 - ?), who just disappears from the records
Ann Farrell (1845 - ?), she also has disappeared as far as we can tell
Ellen Farrell (1846 - ), she disappears as well
Bridget Farrell (1849 - ?), and she disappears from view too,
Sarah "Sallie" (Farrell) Wageley, who married John W.
Strangely, just before I set off on my trip, I heard from one of Mom's DNA matches who mentioned the War Memorial! I found out what I could and tried to google a good photo of it to see if it was worth the trip but the images weren't what I needed. Well, it was located right on the way after lunch, so Mom, Brother and sis-in-law all went in search of the memorial and hopefully to find Thomas' name.
We pulled up and all piled out when we saw it. It's an large imposing affair with a big bronze spread eagle atop. Mom waited in the car as it was on a small incline and surrounded by a couple of steps. "Not on this side. It's for WWII." "Not over here either. Wrong war." Then: I found it! Just happened to be on the right side for me. Everyone swarmed the good side and looked for names. James Snider and his brother William Hutchison Snider were found under those who returned and survived the war, which we found very curious as James died early on in the war.
So there's his name in the image up top. It was a thrill to see it there. He earned the right to be included on this war memorial roll over 150 years ago. And here we stood looking and paying respects.
Worth the trip? Oh, yes!
The War Memorial in front of the Court House in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia.
The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2014/08/honoring-his-service-james-ofarrell.html
Saturday, May 17, 2014
The Thomas and Judah Farrell DNA Project: A sidetrack I had to take and a timeline for James O'Farrell
Focus, focus, focus! That's what I say to myself often. Human behavior is fascinating and if I'm going to wander off track it will be because some shiny object connected to that fascinating stuff my ancestors and relatives did. In working with the Thomas and Judah Farrell DNA Project, both Cousin Rich and I have wandered from time to time. To his credit, he has wandered less - if at all - and his so-called wandering has had wonderful results that are relevant. But me, I'm a bad girl when it comes to wandering. And here's how I found myself so far afield of our primary objective just this week.
Our primary objective is, using DNA test results, establish which DNA chromosomal segments come from which of four prime families who were occupants of the area around the town of Magnolia, Morgan County, Virginia then West Virginia in the time period around 1850. The connected surnames are: Farrell, House, Hartley and Biggerstaff.
To be candid, Rich and I don't even know if this is possible. But we're trying. As we go, we take time to fill our genealogical baskets with even more records and enjoy interesting side trips filling out the picture we have of our ancestor's time and place. For example, Rich just went to the National Archive to dig up a Civil War Pension file for James Farrell/ O'Farrell. It was positively scrumptious!
I won't go into lots of detail about the pension file here because I'm seriously making an effort to stay on task (who me?) But I do want to take a moment to revisit the life of James O'Farrell, as he called himself as an adult. (See previous post about him here.) Timelines are often very helpful in getting a feeling for the arc of a subject's life. I use them, not for every ancestor, but whenever there's a lot of twists and turns in a life, when the subject and family moved and maybe disappeared, or to aid thinking and inspiration when facing a problem. So I thought to do one for James O'Farrell for a different reason. It simply looked interesting.
In it I saw that his story of time in the Civil War is the stuff of Hollywood, and not because it's extraordinary but because it was probably typical of many who served in that war. So now I'll post part of it here and I think that you'll see what I mean. Let's pick up the timeline at the point when James' father, Thomas Farrell dies. As you might remember, both Thomas and Judah Farrell were born in Ireland, had two daughters there, and immigrated to the US.
1862, JUL & AUG: company took leave
1862, SEP: back with company
1864, OCT: company records, "Nothing heard of him since."
1880: US Census, Flat Creek, Pettis County, Missouri.
See, right away I spot that we haven't found James in the 1870 US Census. He was married to Hattie in March of 1867 and they had their first child, William Clem in December of that year still in West Virginia. They had their second child, Margaret or Maggie in 1872 and they lived in Pettis County Missouri then. Arthur came along in 1874 and Elmer in 1981. So where were they in 1870? Wherever they were, they are still to be found by us.
I'm chuckling just a bit as I look at the names of James and Hattie's kids. William Clem, Margaret, Arthur, and Elmer. Whatever the inspiration for those names, it was not the father's Irish family... or Hattie's brother, Isaac Newton! Do you ever wonder about the ancestors and how they named the offspring?
The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-thomas-and-judah-farrell-dna_17.html
Our primary objective is, using DNA test results, establish which DNA chromosomal segments come from which of four prime families who were occupants of the area around the town of Magnolia, Morgan County, Virginia then West Virginia in the time period around 1850. The connected surnames are: Farrell, House, Hartley and Biggerstaff.
To be candid, Rich and I don't even know if this is possible. But we're trying. As we go, we take time to fill our genealogical baskets with even more records and enjoy interesting side trips filling out the picture we have of our ancestor's time and place. For example, Rich just went to the National Archive to dig up a Civil War Pension file for James Farrell/ O'Farrell. It was positively scrumptious!
I won't go into lots of detail about the pension file here because I'm seriously making an effort to stay on task (who me?) But I do want to take a moment to revisit the life of James O'Farrell, as he called himself as an adult. (See previous post about him here.) Timelines are often very helpful in getting a feeling for the arc of a subject's life. I use them, not for every ancestor, but whenever there's a lot of twists and turns in a life, when the subject and family moved and maybe disappeared, or to aid thinking and inspiration when facing a problem. So I thought to do one for James O'Farrell for a different reason. It simply looked interesting.
In it I saw that his story of time in the Civil War is the stuff of Hollywood, and not because it's extraordinary but because it was probably typical of many who served in that war. So now I'll post part of it here and I think that you'll see what I mean. Let's pick up the timeline at the point when James' father, Thomas Farrell dies. As you might remember, both Thomas and Judah Farrell were born in Ireland, had two daughters there, and immigrated to the US.
1851: Thomas Farrell (father) died in Morgan County, Virginia
1855, 20 AUG: Mary Elizabeth (sister) marriage to Samuel Albert House, Morgan
County, Virginia
1856, 16 SEP: Catherine Farrell (sister) marriage to James Edward
Boxwell, Morgan County, Virginia
1857: Judah Farrell (mother) died in Morgan County, West Virginia
1857, 12 NOV: Sale of Judah Farrell’s estate
1861: Civil War began
1861, 17 APR: West Virginia seceded from Virginia
1861, 24 NOV: James
Farrell enlisted in the Union 1st Virginia Volunteer Infantry, Company B, Capt.
Zeller's Co., in Williamsport, Virginia.
1861, DEC: contracted mumps, "affecting his testicles",
Williamsport, Maryland
1862, JAN: James
Farrell’s unit is absorbed into Union Company H of the 1st Regiment of the Maryland
Cavalry1862, JUL & AUG: company took leave
1862, SEP: back with company
1862, DEC: contracted rheumatism from exposure
(The Company
Description Book gives us a picture of him. He was, at age 20, five feet
seven and a half inches tall. His hair was light as was his complexion, and his
eyes were blue. He was a farmer.)
1863, MAR: contracted small pox affecting his head
and hearing, Arlington Heights, Virginia
1863, end: enlistment
time up, reenlists and received $100 bonus, becomes a Union Veteran Volunteer
1864, JAN: contracted diseases of the eyes from
exposure, Brandy Station, Virginia
No Date: Near Brandy Station in the state of
Virginia: contracted scurvy in the mouth from use of Army food
1864, 29 SEP:
disappeared from line of fire at Chapin Falls, Virginia, near Dutch Gap
1864, 30 SEP: deemed
"missing" by company
1864, 1 OCT: at a
prison camp at Richmond, Virginia
1864, 2 OCT: company
records show "Missing from picket lines near Newmarket Road - Oct 2nd
1864, OCT: company records, "Nothing heard of him since."
1864, OCT: moved to
POW camp at Salisbury, North Carolina
1864, OCT - DEC:
population at Salisbury increased from 5,000 to 10,000 crisis level overcrowding, inmates begin die in great numbers
1864, Fall: fearing
starvation, James enlisted in the 8th Confederate Infantry
Date unknown: while in service of Confederacy, captured
by Union General Stoneman’s troops.
1865, 5 JUL: “Confined at Nashville Tenn. And was
released on taking the oath of allegiance July 5 / 65”. ( Source: MEMORANDUM FROM PRISONER OF WAR RECORDS)
1865, 23 JUL: returned to his
original Union unit
1865, 8 AUG: mustered out. Owed $290
for back pay and bonus
1867, 14 MAR: marriage to Henrietta
Michael, Hattie, Morgan County, West Virginia1880: US Census, Flat Creek, Pettis County, Missouri.
See, right away I spot that we haven't found James in the 1870 US Census. He was married to Hattie in March of 1867 and they had their first child, William Clem in December of that year still in West Virginia. They had their second child, Margaret or Maggie in 1872 and they lived in Pettis County Missouri then. Arthur came along in 1874 and Elmer in 1981. So where were they in 1870? Wherever they were, they are still to be found by us.
I'm chuckling just a bit as I look at the names of James and Hattie's kids. William Clem, Margaret, Arthur, and Elmer. Whatever the inspiration for those names, it was not the father's Irish family... or Hattie's brother, Isaac Newton! Do you ever wonder about the ancestors and how they named the offspring?
James O'Farrell's land in Missouri.
The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-thomas-and-judah-farrell-dna_17.html
Sunday, April 20, 2014
The Thomas and Judah Farrell DNA Project: James O'Farrell and the Civil War
Let's take a break from the DNA aspect of this project and talk about the people involved starting with James. For me, it always comes back to the people, my people: who they were in life. I want to know them as best I can. After all I do have some of their DNA.
Thomas and Judah Farrell's oldest son was James Farrell (or O'Farrell as he used his surname in daily adult life, 1842-1914) and the third born child falling in line after two sisters, Mary Elizabeth (Farrell) House (1835-1919) and Catherine (Farrell) Boxwell (1838-1910). The girls were born in Ireland and James was the first Farrell child born in Virginia, now West Virginia. His father Thomas died in 1851 and his mother in 1857 leaving the children to fend for themselves. They were of very modest means.
James' nineteenth birthday was on January 9th of 1861 and the American Civil War began three months later when Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter on April 12th. James heard the clarion call that young men through the ages hear, now sounded by his newly embraced county. He marched to war on behalf of the Union in a time and place where some of his neighbors joined the Confederacy. Even his two older sisters were at odds: Catherine's husband, James Edward Boxwell (1831-1910) served with the Union while Mary Elizabeth's husband, Samuel Albert House, enlisted in the Confederate army and that cause tremendous trouble in the family. It was in fact brother-in-law fighting brother-in-law. If Ireland had been a place of turmoil for the Farrells, this new county was quickly becoming another one. Was there to be no peace for the Farrell family?
It was pretty easy to find James O'Farrell in the 1890 Veteran's Schedule which was the starting point and gave information about his service record. With his unit designations in hand, it was off to Fold3.
1890 Veteran's Schedule.
I have to admit, I love looking at the service records on Fold3. Luckily, both the Maryland and West Virginia Union company records are 100% complete so I wasn't missing anything. Even though I had the company info from the 1890 Veteran's Schedule it was set aside and the search began fresh. I searched and then I browsed, first in Maryland and then in Virginia and West Virginia making certain to look for all the variations of Farrell and O'Farrell. As a safeguard, I did the same without a state preference, and finally without a preference for Union or Confederate just to cover all the bases. It took a while. By process of careful review and then elimination, all of the files but one were deemed not to be our James O'Farrell. He was found in the same unit listed in the 1890 schedule.
Let me tell you about the guy described by those service records, and both Cousin Rich and I are pretty sure he is our James O'Farrell. This is the kind of dramatic story you hope you'll find and when you do, you're really scared for him. He served in the Maryland Cavalry and was captured, imprisoned as a POW at Salisbury where conditions were a nightmare, and then... well let's get to the whole story and begin at the start of the war.
James enlisted in the 1st Virginia Volunteer Infantry on November 24, 1861 and joined Company B, Capt. Zeller's Co., in Williamsport, Virginia. The unit had formed during the period when pro-Union citizens got together in April of 1861 right after the state had voted for secession and West Virginia became a state. By January of 1862 after serving three months active duty, his unit seems to have been incorporated somehow into a Maryland unit, but as of yet I'm not entirely certain how that came about. He was now a private in Company H of the 1st Regiment of the Maryland Cavalry. In July and August of 1862 his unit took leave and presumably he went home for a rest. In September he was back with his unit which spent a lot of time guarding a very important asset of the North, the railroad.
The Company Description Book gives us a picture of him. He was, at age 20, five feet seven and a half inches tall. His hair was light as was his complexion, and his eyes were blue. Just like Mom! He was a farmer.
By the end of 1863, James O'Farrell's term of service was up. He re-enlisted and received a $100 bonus and was now a Veteran Volunteer. He fought with his unit until September 29th, 1864 when, while out on maneuvers with his company, he just disappeared at Chapin Farms, Virginia, near Dutch Gap while a battle was raging. By the next day, October 30, he was deemed missing for sure and the records indicate that he was "Missing from picket lines near Newmarket Road - Oct 2nd 1864." "Nothing heard of him since."
It's only natural they'd have to entertain the thought he might have gone AWOL - he had just received his reenlistment bonus of $100 - but it turns out he was captured. He did not fare well at the hands of "the Rebels," as the reports call the enemy. He was initially at a prison camp at Richmond, Virginia on October 1st, but soon moved to the horrors that were the POW Camp at Salisbury, North Carolina.
The Salisbury facility, opened in October 1861, was originally intended as a place of incarceration for Confederate men who committed infractions. By December of the same year it's purpose was changed to holding captured Union troops. In the early years there were enough rations, shelter, water and sanitation for the imprisoned. But the captured kept on coming in increasing numbers such that by the fall of 1864, specifically on October 5th when my relative was likely moved in and 5,000 soldiers arrived from other facilities such as Richmond, things took a nasty turn. All shelters were full and over capacity and by the end of October the numbers of incarcerated had shockingly skyrocketed to about 10,000 in a facility designed to house about 2,000. As winter came, the men who were without shelter dug burrows to try and keep warm. Disease and starvation were everywhere. They were termed by the hospital staff as "outdoor patients."
Many died that winter and were buried in trenches without formal registration of their identities. Those poor souls just disappeared, unnamed. But James O'Farrell was not to be one of them. Fearing starvation he chose to enlist in the Confederate Army, particularly the 8th Confederate Infantry.
How did that work? I really don't understand. You fight for the Union, get captured, get treated brutally in prison, then are offered enlistment in the enemy's army as a way to save your life. Are you expected to then take up arms against the very men you fought along side of. I must be missing something or maybe my imagination is too limited by a life lived safe.
James was recaptured by the Union under the direction of General Stoneman. Maybe it was during Stoneman's raid on North Carolina in March of 1865. And here's where it gets confusing. The image below is of the MEMORANDUM FROM PRISONER OF WAR RECORDS. Maybe you can read some of it. In part it reads:
Enlisted in 8” CS. Inf. At Salisbury N.C. was recaptured by Genl Stoneman while
in arms against the U.S. Govt. at Salisbury N. C. he voluntarily made
known that he formerly belonged to the US. Army and claimed that
he deserted from Camp of Pris. of
war to escape starvation. Confined at Nashville Tenn. And was released
on taking the oath of allegiance July 5 / 65
The war was almost over for our James O'Farrell and on July 5, 1865 he took the Oat of Allegiance in a POW camp in Nashville. He returned to his original Union unit from Maryland on July 23, 1865 and mustered out on August 8. He was owed $290 for back pay and a bounty.
Where he went immediately from there is not known to us and it's not from lack of trying. He probably went back home because on 14 March 1867 he married a local girl in his home county of Morgan County, West Virginia. Her name was Miss Henrietta L. Michaels, called Hattie. Doesn't she sound sweet? I so wish we had a photo of the lovely couple.
For the 1880 census they are living in Flat Creek, Pettis County, Missouri and he's farming. They stay there, have four children, and farm until he dies on 12 March 1914 and is buried two days later in the Point Pleasant Cemetery, Green Ridge, Pettis County, Missouri. (Find A Grave Memorial # 19014002.) Hattie joined him on 29 May, 1927. (Find A Grave Memorial # 22158470.) He was 72 when he passed and she was 82 when she passed. I hope they had a good life together.
The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-thomas-and-judah-farrell-dna_20.html
Thomas and Judah Farrell's oldest son was James Farrell (or O'Farrell as he used his surname in daily adult life, 1842-1914) and the third born child falling in line after two sisters, Mary Elizabeth (Farrell) House (1835-1919) and Catherine (Farrell) Boxwell (1838-1910). The girls were born in Ireland and James was the first Farrell child born in Virginia, now West Virginia. His father Thomas died in 1851 and his mother in 1857 leaving the children to fend for themselves. They were of very modest means.
James' nineteenth birthday was on January 9th of 1861 and the American Civil War began three months later when Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter on April 12th. James heard the clarion call that young men through the ages hear, now sounded by his newly embraced county. He marched to war on behalf of the Union in a time and place where some of his neighbors joined the Confederacy. Even his two older sisters were at odds: Catherine's husband, James Edward Boxwell (1831-1910) served with the Union while Mary Elizabeth's husband, Samuel Albert House, enlisted in the Confederate army and that cause tremendous trouble in the family. It was in fact brother-in-law fighting brother-in-law. If Ireland had been a place of turmoil for the Farrells, this new county was quickly becoming another one. Was there to be no peace for the Farrell family?
It was pretty easy to find James O'Farrell in the 1890 Veteran's Schedule which was the starting point and gave information about his service record. With his unit designations in hand, it was off to Fold3.
1890 Veteran's Schedule.
I have to admit, I love looking at the service records on Fold3. Luckily, both the Maryland and West Virginia Union company records are 100% complete so I wasn't missing anything. Even though I had the company info from the 1890 Veteran's Schedule it was set aside and the search began fresh. I searched and then I browsed, first in Maryland and then in Virginia and West Virginia making certain to look for all the variations of Farrell and O'Farrell. As a safeguard, I did the same without a state preference, and finally without a preference for Union or Confederate just to cover all the bases. It took a while. By process of careful review and then elimination, all of the files but one were deemed not to be our James O'Farrell. He was found in the same unit listed in the 1890 schedule.
Let me tell you about the guy described by those service records, and both Cousin Rich and I are pretty sure he is our James O'Farrell. This is the kind of dramatic story you hope you'll find and when you do, you're really scared for him. He served in the Maryland Cavalry and was captured, imprisoned as a POW at Salisbury where conditions were a nightmare, and then... well let's get to the whole story and begin at the start of the war.
James enlisted in the 1st Virginia Volunteer Infantry on November 24, 1861 and joined Company B, Capt. Zeller's Co., in Williamsport, Virginia. The unit had formed during the period when pro-Union citizens got together in April of 1861 right after the state had voted for secession and West Virginia became a state. By January of 1862 after serving three months active duty, his unit seems to have been incorporated somehow into a Maryland unit, but as of yet I'm not entirely certain how that came about. He was now a private in Company H of the 1st Regiment of the Maryland Cavalry. In July and August of 1862 his unit took leave and presumably he went home for a rest. In September he was back with his unit which spent a lot of time guarding a very important asset of the North, the railroad.
The Company Description Book gives us a picture of him. He was, at age 20, five feet seven and a half inches tall. His hair was light as was his complexion, and his eyes were blue. Just like Mom! He was a farmer.
By the end of 1863, James O'Farrell's term of service was up. He re-enlisted and received a $100 bonus and was now a Veteran Volunteer. He fought with his unit until September 29th, 1864 when, while out on maneuvers with his company, he just disappeared at Chapin Farms, Virginia, near Dutch Gap while a battle was raging. By the next day, October 30, he was deemed missing for sure and the records indicate that he was "Missing from picket lines near Newmarket Road - Oct 2nd 1864." "Nothing heard of him since."
It's only natural they'd have to entertain the thought he might have gone AWOL - he had just received his reenlistment bonus of $100 - but it turns out he was captured. He did not fare well at the hands of "the Rebels," as the reports call the enemy. He was initially at a prison camp at Richmond, Virginia on October 1st, but soon moved to the horrors that were the POW Camp at Salisbury, North Carolina.
The Salisbury facility, opened in October 1861, was originally intended as a place of incarceration for Confederate men who committed infractions. By December of the same year it's purpose was changed to holding captured Union troops. In the early years there were enough rations, shelter, water and sanitation for the imprisoned. But the captured kept on coming in increasing numbers such that by the fall of 1864, specifically on October 5th when my relative was likely moved in and 5,000 soldiers arrived from other facilities such as Richmond, things took a nasty turn. All shelters were full and over capacity and by the end of October the numbers of incarcerated had shockingly skyrocketed to about 10,000 in a facility designed to house about 2,000. As winter came, the men who were without shelter dug burrows to try and keep warm. Disease and starvation were everywhere. They were termed by the hospital staff as "outdoor patients."
Many died that winter and were buried in trenches without formal registration of their identities. Those poor souls just disappeared, unnamed. But James O'Farrell was not to be one of them. Fearing starvation he chose to enlist in the Confederate Army, particularly the 8th Confederate Infantry.
How did that work? I really don't understand. You fight for the Union, get captured, get treated brutally in prison, then are offered enlistment in the enemy's army as a way to save your life. Are you expected to then take up arms against the very men you fought along side of. I must be missing something or maybe my imagination is too limited by a life lived safe.
James was recaptured by the Union under the direction of General Stoneman. Maybe it was during Stoneman's raid on North Carolina in March of 1865. And here's where it gets confusing. The image below is of the MEMORANDUM FROM PRISONER OF WAR RECORDS. Maybe you can read some of it. In part it reads:
Enlisted in 8” CS. Inf. At Salisbury N.C. was recaptured by Genl Stoneman while
in arms against the U.S. Govt. at Salisbury N. C. he voluntarily made
known that he formerly belonged to the US. Army and claimed that
he deserted from Camp of Pris. of
war to escape starvation. Confined at Nashville Tenn. And was released
on taking the oath of allegiance July 5 / 65
The war was almost over for our James O'Farrell and on July 5, 1865 he took the Oat of Allegiance in a POW camp in Nashville. He returned to his original Union unit from Maryland on July 23, 1865 and mustered out on August 8. He was owed $290 for back pay and a bounty.
Where he went immediately from there is not known to us and it's not from lack of trying. He probably went back home because on 14 March 1867 he married a local girl in his home county of Morgan County, West Virginia. Her name was Miss Henrietta L. Michaels, called Hattie. Doesn't she sound sweet? I so wish we had a photo of the lovely couple.
For the 1880 census they are living in Flat Creek, Pettis County, Missouri and he's farming. They stay there, have four children, and farm until he dies on 12 March 1914 and is buried two days later in the Point Pleasant Cemetery, Green Ridge, Pettis County, Missouri. (Find A Grave Memorial # 19014002.) Hattie joined him on 29 May, 1927. (Find A Grave Memorial # 22158470.) He was 72 when he passed and she was 82 when she passed. I hope they had a good life together.
The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-thomas-and-judah-farrell-dna_20.html
Monday, April 14, 2014
The Thomas and Judah Farrell DNA Project: Now for the DNA part
If you're now jumping on board this fast moving train, you might want to go read the previous post and get caught up. It's about one of those family lines that you start thinking about and then they move right in and inhabit your entire brain to such an extent you feel genealogically possessed. Know what I mean? Yeah, you do, I can tell;)
So last year both Mom and I did the 23andMe DNA test in hopes of finding relatives. There was a learning curve but it really wasn't too painful at all. I had an easy time moving around the 23andMe web site and locating my connections and contacting them. Oh sure, some people didn't get back to me and one even declined my invitation to share. That was to be expected because at that time 23andMe was busy advertising their health results, which they no longer offer. But some good connections were made and one of them - that's Ed and his father Harold - lead right back to our ancestors Thomas and Judah Farrell. That was very exciting!
Funny thing about working with autosomal DNA results is that you don't pick the line you are going to be exploring. Instead, it sort of picks you. You hear from matches or reach out to them and it's simply the luck of the draw as to weather you'll make a good connection and which ancestral line you'll be digging around in. There's much that's not in your control, or at least that's how I feel.
Having a fully built out tree, to the best of your ability, and having it accessible online is very important in this work. A goodly number of those contacts we've made over the last year didn't know where to start, but that's changing rapidly as more people get tested and become knowledge about terms and tools and how to use them.
Now, let me introduce you to cousin Rich. His wife is a descendant of Thomas and Judah Farrell so he's technically not a blood relative but we like him anyway and are glad to call him cousin because he's passionate about genealogy and finding out about the ancestors, just as Mom and I are. Mom has been in touch with this couple for years, first emailing his wife and then when Rich took over the search emailing Rich. He even visited Mom last summer to get copies of her files in his seriously dogged search for one court document. He's a good solid researcher and very organized too. And he likes spread sheets. How cool is that?
Don't quite remember how it came about but Rich's wife, our blood cousin, had her elderly aunt and uncle tested. They are both in their 90s, and so is Mom. Now we had four individuals in our informal grouping who were tested and two well researched trees we knew to be accurate. When the results came back we could see a lot and it has to do with shared chromosomes. This looking for shared chromosomes is often referred to as chromosome matching.
What we're looking for in chromosome matching is segments of DNA that are greatly similar - so-called sticky chromosomes - because they are passed down through the generations relatively intact. And if you can identify folks with a specific known lineage descending down from one couple and no other connection, that share those sticky chromosomes, then you've really got something. And if you find even more people with those same chromosome segments as well as the same ancestors on their tree, and no other shared ancestor, then you're really cooking.
When Rich and I looked at the DNA test results, Mom and I having tested at 23andMe and both Uncle and Aunt having tested at AncestryDNA, we needed to meet in the middle so to speak so we uploaded our raw files to GEDmatch. At GEDmatch we could do some chromosome matching and then look for others who match both Mom and Uncle. Let me show you the results and you'll see what I mean. Here are Mom and Uncle's results. I used the One-to-one matching utility which is great as a way to see where a match exists.
As you can see, Mom and Uncle share a bunch of DNA on seven different chromosomes. I find this practically mind blowing when you consider the nearest common ancestor. Look at this, below, to find Thomas and Judah Farrell, back four generations.
There on the bottom row you'll find Mom and then just follow her female line back to Thomas and Judah Farrell. Uncle's Farrell ancestor was through the second born daughter of Thomas and Judah while Mom's was through the first daughter.
Another anomaly is that Uncle shares quite a lot of DNA with Mom but Aunt doesn't share quite so much. Just shows me how strange and mysterious are the ways of autosomal DNA.
The next thing we did is go see who matched both Mom and Uncle, and here's what that looked like.
Once we had that, and I've cropped out the email addresses there on the image above, off we went to contact them. As of right today we've heard back from all. That's right, ALL.
And so that's pretty much where we are at the moment. From the nine on the list three are our group, and one person has a parental mismatch and is playing a round of who-da-baby daddy so we'll find no answers there. Four don't yet show Thomas and Judah on their trees even though we all suspect that the connection traces back to Ireland. And that leaves one person we're still working with. He knows that his mother's people come from Paw Paw, West Virginia and that's the next town over from where Thomas and Judah lived in Magnolia. He can't email back fast enough for us!
Rich did a work sheet with each of the players, their GEDmatch kit number and which chromosomes they matched each other on. For some reason that I don't yet totally understand, Mom, Uncle, and Harold and Ed all matched heavily on chromosome 13, and the rest only matched on chromosome 9. Fascinating.
My exercise now is to go through each of these matches and do a one-to-one comparison with Mom and Uncle looking for shared chromosomes and then see if that tells us anything at all. Maybe I'll write about that soon. But first, and next time, let's look at Rich's Great Idea: the Thomas & Judah Farrell Connections tree on Ancestry.
And this is funny: not one of my matches so far from either 23andMe or GEDmatch is from Dad's side. What is that about?! It's all Mom's people.
The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-thomas-and-judah-farrell-dna_14.html
So last year both Mom and I did the 23andMe DNA test in hopes of finding relatives. There was a learning curve but it really wasn't too painful at all. I had an easy time moving around the 23andMe web site and locating my connections and contacting them. Oh sure, some people didn't get back to me and one even declined my invitation to share. That was to be expected because at that time 23andMe was busy advertising their health results, which they no longer offer. But some good connections were made and one of them - that's Ed and his father Harold - lead right back to our ancestors Thomas and Judah Farrell. That was very exciting!
Funny thing about working with autosomal DNA results is that you don't pick the line you are going to be exploring. Instead, it sort of picks you. You hear from matches or reach out to them and it's simply the luck of the draw as to weather you'll make a good connection and which ancestral line you'll be digging around in. There's much that's not in your control, or at least that's how I feel.
Having a fully built out tree, to the best of your ability, and having it accessible online is very important in this work. A goodly number of those contacts we've made over the last year didn't know where to start, but that's changing rapidly as more people get tested and become knowledge about terms and tools and how to use them.
Now, let me introduce you to cousin Rich. His wife is a descendant of Thomas and Judah Farrell so he's technically not a blood relative but we like him anyway and are glad to call him cousin because he's passionate about genealogy and finding out about the ancestors, just as Mom and I are. Mom has been in touch with this couple for years, first emailing his wife and then when Rich took over the search emailing Rich. He even visited Mom last summer to get copies of her files in his seriously dogged search for one court document. He's a good solid researcher and very organized too. And he likes spread sheets. How cool is that?
Don't quite remember how it came about but Rich's wife, our blood cousin, had her elderly aunt and uncle tested. They are both in their 90s, and so is Mom. Now we had four individuals in our informal grouping who were tested and two well researched trees we knew to be accurate. When the results came back we could see a lot and it has to do with shared chromosomes. This looking for shared chromosomes is often referred to as chromosome matching.
What we're looking for in chromosome matching is segments of DNA that are greatly similar - so-called sticky chromosomes - because they are passed down through the generations relatively intact. And if you can identify folks with a specific known lineage descending down from one couple and no other connection, that share those sticky chromosomes, then you've really got something. And if you find even more people with those same chromosome segments as well as the same ancestors on their tree, and no other shared ancestor, then you're really cooking.
When Rich and I looked at the DNA test results, Mom and I having tested at 23andMe and both Uncle and Aunt having tested at AncestryDNA, we needed to meet in the middle so to speak so we uploaded our raw files to GEDmatch. At GEDmatch we could do some chromosome matching and then look for others who match both Mom and Uncle. Let me show you the results and you'll see what I mean. Here are Mom and Uncle's results. I used the One-to-one matching utility which is great as a way to see where a match exists.
As you can see, Mom and Uncle share a bunch of DNA on seven different chromosomes. I find this practically mind blowing when you consider the nearest common ancestor. Look at this, below, to find Thomas and Judah Farrell, back four generations.
There on the bottom row you'll find Mom and then just follow her female line back to Thomas and Judah Farrell. Uncle's Farrell ancestor was through the second born daughter of Thomas and Judah while Mom's was through the first daughter.
Another anomaly is that Uncle shares quite a lot of DNA with Mom but Aunt doesn't share quite so much. Just shows me how strange and mysterious are the ways of autosomal DNA.
The next thing we did is go see who matched both Mom and Uncle, and here's what that looked like.
Once we had that, and I've cropped out the email addresses there on the image above, off we went to contact them. As of right today we've heard back from all. That's right, ALL.
And so that's pretty much where we are at the moment. From the nine on the list three are our group, and one person has a parental mismatch and is playing a round of who-da-baby daddy so we'll find no answers there. Four don't yet show Thomas and Judah on their trees even though we all suspect that the connection traces back to Ireland. And that leaves one person we're still working with. He knows that his mother's people come from Paw Paw, West Virginia and that's the next town over from where Thomas and Judah lived in Magnolia. He can't email back fast enough for us!
Rich did a work sheet with each of the players, their GEDmatch kit number and which chromosomes they matched each other on. For some reason that I don't yet totally understand, Mom, Uncle, and Harold and Ed all matched heavily on chromosome 13, and the rest only matched on chromosome 9. Fascinating.
My exercise now is to go through each of these matches and do a one-to-one comparison with Mom and Uncle looking for shared chromosomes and then see if that tells us anything at all. Maybe I'll write about that soon. But first, and next time, let's look at Rich's Great Idea: the Thomas & Judah Farrell Connections tree on Ancestry.
And this is funny: not one of my matches so far from either 23andMe or GEDmatch is from Dad's side. What is that about?! It's all Mom's people.
Along the old road to Magnolia, Morgan County, West Virginia, now gone but not forgotten by her descendants. This is in the general vicinity where Thomas and Judah Farrell had their farm and raised their family. The town is gone, most of the homes are also gone, but their memory lives on in us.
The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-thomas-and-judah-farrell-dna_14.html
Thursday, April 10, 2014
The Thomas and Judah Farrell DNA Project: ask me, I'm excited!
Do you ever get so wrapped up in a family group on your tree that it's almost as though they're haunting you? No peace day or night because there they are in your mind taking up all available space. Well it's been like that for Mom at times and now it's like that for me. (Mom, as you might remember is 95 and still working on genealogy. It keeps her young but it's about to wear on my brother's last nerve because Mom wants her computer moved so she can work more. You go Mom!)
Let me tell you a bit about the Farrells and then I'll fill you in on this DNA project. It might take a couple of posts to cover all the ground but it should be worth it in the end. I have a partner in this work and that's a first for me... well, besides Mom. And neither of us are experts in DNA stuff so we're learning as we go. And we're not doing a big surname DNA study either because of the problem of not having all the Y-DNA. We are using chromosome matching and find it fascinating as a way to proceed. OK, so that's where we're going, and now let's go!
First about the Farrels.
Thomas was born in 1797 in Ireland and he married Judah (or in the common version of that name at the time, Judy) who was born in 1815 also in Ireland. Honestly we haven't even scratched the surface of finding this happy couple in Ireland yet, but you can read about what Mom remembers that her mother told her about them here.
The sons, it seems, reverted to the traditional version of the surname and used O'Farrell. I've been told that dropping or keeping the O' was a choice that came and went on the tides of fashion and political sentiment, and that keeping the O' was a nod to Irish tradition.
Thomas and Judah married in Ireland and had two girls there, my second great grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Farrell in 1835, and then her sister Catherine in 1837. I often wonder if they followed the naming traditions of naming the oldest girls after the father's and the mother's mothers. That might be a clue in locating them in Ireland... or not.
All four, Thomas, Judah, Mary Elizabeth, and Catherine came to the USA from Ireland about 1840 or 1841. Thomas applied for naturalization in Cumberland, Allegany, Maryland in 1841. Now, exactly why he came her is a mystery to us because they came before the Great Famine years. We imagine that times were getting hard. Were they forced off the land and into a poorhouse as so many others of their generation? Perhaps. But they were part of a great exodus west then, out of Ireland and on to America.
Once on US soil they lived over in West Virginia in Morgan County in a little town that's not there anymore called Magnolia. He farmed. (You can read about Magnolia here.)
Once settled in Magnolia, Thomas leased a piece of land called the Widmeyer Tract, and you can see part of that indenture between Thomas and Mr. Aaron Harlan, dated 22 February, 1845, below. I'm transcribing it now because we are searching for any and all details about this family, no matter how small.
Once in Magnolia, they had these children: James born 1842, Thomas born 1843, and then the four youngest girls, Ann born 1845, Ellen born 1846, Bridget born 1849, and little Sarah born 1851. Am wondering if the boys were named after Thomas and Judah's fathers?
So there the family is, happily working the land and making a go of it, filling out the family with strong sons and beautiful girls, one hopes;) Then somehow, it all turns sad. Thomas the father died in 1851. Judah died in 1857.
We know what happened to the four oldest children but not the 4 youngest girls. Last we see these little ones is in the 1860 census and they all are working as servants, as follows:
* Sarah is but 9 years old and serving in her sister Catherine Farrell Boxwell's house in the Magnolia area. We guess she married someone close by and find a Sally (common for Sarah) Farrell marrying in 1880 in Berkeley County, West Virginia to a man named John W. Wageley, working as a railroader, whose parents were William and Susan Wageley. In the 1880 census there is a son in the family but that's got to be her husband's boy from a first marriage.
* Ellen is 12 and serving in the household of John Coulhan (?), a merchant, and living in Cumberland, Allegany, Maryland. He too was born in Ireland. Then we lose her.
* Bridget is 13 and serving in the household of Patrick Connor in Clarysville, Allegany, Maryland. He was born in Ireland and is working in the coal mines near there. And then we lose her.
* Ann is 16 and serving in the household of a Mr. Cosgrove in Morgan County, West Virginia, who is a railroad watchman and was born in Ireland. Then we lose her.
It strikes me that this is a good Catholic family and they placed the girls in Irish households to be with other Irish Catholic families. Maybe the girls all married in the locations where they worked. So where can we look for the girls marriage records? Ellen in Cumberland which is St Patrick's Parish. But Bridget in Clarysville? What parish is that? Can it be our own St. Michael's in Frostburg where Mom was born and still lives?
Well that should set it up for you. Mom and I are all excited about this project, as is Cousin Rich, and I didn't even start telling you how he comes into this. Let's save that for tomorrow because it's all about DNA and then collaboration.
The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-thomas-and-judah-farrell-dna.html
Let me tell you a bit about the Farrells and then I'll fill you in on this DNA project. It might take a couple of posts to cover all the ground but it should be worth it in the end. I have a partner in this work and that's a first for me... well, besides Mom. And neither of us are experts in DNA stuff so we're learning as we go. And we're not doing a big surname DNA study either because of the problem of not having all the Y-DNA. We are using chromosome matching and find it fascinating as a way to proceed. OK, so that's where we're going, and now let's go!
First about the Farrels.
Thomas was born in 1797 in Ireland and he married Judah (or in the common version of that name at the time, Judy) who was born in 1815 also in Ireland. Honestly we haven't even scratched the surface of finding this happy couple in Ireland yet, but you can read about what Mom remembers that her mother told her about them here.
The sons, it seems, reverted to the traditional version of the surname and used O'Farrell. I've been told that dropping or keeping the O' was a choice that came and went on the tides of fashion and political sentiment, and that keeping the O' was a nod to Irish tradition.
Thomas and Judah married in Ireland and had two girls there, my second great grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Farrell in 1835, and then her sister Catherine in 1837. I often wonder if they followed the naming traditions of naming the oldest girls after the father's and the mother's mothers. That might be a clue in locating them in Ireland... or not.
All four, Thomas, Judah, Mary Elizabeth, and Catherine came to the USA from Ireland about 1840 or 1841. Thomas applied for naturalization in Cumberland, Allegany, Maryland in 1841. Now, exactly why he came her is a mystery to us because they came before the Great Famine years. We imagine that times were getting hard. Were they forced off the land and into a poorhouse as so many others of their generation? Perhaps. But they were part of a great exodus west then, out of Ireland and on to America.
Once on US soil they lived over in West Virginia in Morgan County in a little town that's not there anymore called Magnolia. He farmed. (You can read about Magnolia here.)
Once settled in Magnolia, Thomas leased a piece of land called the Widmeyer Tract, and you can see part of that indenture between Thomas and Mr. Aaron Harlan, dated 22 February, 1845, below. I'm transcribing it now because we are searching for any and all details about this family, no matter how small.
Once in Magnolia, they had these children: James born 1842, Thomas born 1843, and then the four youngest girls, Ann born 1845, Ellen born 1846, Bridget born 1849, and little Sarah born 1851. Am wondering if the boys were named after Thomas and Judah's fathers?
So there the family is, happily working the land and making a go of it, filling out the family with strong sons and beautiful girls, one hopes;) Then somehow, it all turns sad. Thomas the father died in 1851. Judah died in 1857.
We know what happened to the four oldest children but not the 4 youngest girls. Last we see these little ones is in the 1860 census and they all are working as servants, as follows:
* Sarah is but 9 years old and serving in her sister Catherine Farrell Boxwell's house in the Magnolia area. We guess she married someone close by and find a Sally (common for Sarah) Farrell marrying in 1880 in Berkeley County, West Virginia to a man named John W. Wageley, working as a railroader, whose parents were William and Susan Wageley. In the 1880 census there is a son in the family but that's got to be her husband's boy from a first marriage.
* Ellen is 12 and serving in the household of John Coulhan (?), a merchant, and living in Cumberland, Allegany, Maryland. He too was born in Ireland. Then we lose her.
* Bridget is 13 and serving in the household of Patrick Connor in Clarysville, Allegany, Maryland. He was born in Ireland and is working in the coal mines near there. And then we lose her.
* Ann is 16 and serving in the household of a Mr. Cosgrove in Morgan County, West Virginia, who is a railroad watchman and was born in Ireland. Then we lose her.
It strikes me that this is a good Catholic family and they placed the girls in Irish households to be with other Irish Catholic families. Maybe the girls all married in the locations where they worked. So where can we look for the girls marriage records? Ellen in Cumberland which is St Patrick's Parish. But Bridget in Clarysville? What parish is that? Can it be our own St. Michael's in Frostburg where Mom was born and still lives?
Well that should set it up for you. Mom and I are all excited about this project, as is Cousin Rich, and I didn't even start telling you how he comes into this. Let's save that for tomorrow because it's all about DNA and then collaboration.
My second great grandmother, Mary Elizabeth (Farrell) House (1835-1917)
Born in Ireland, died in Western Maryland.
Had 16 children.
The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-thomas-and-judah-farrell-dna.html
Monday, January 6, 2014
Stories Mom Told me: St Patrick and where the Farrells came from in Ireland
St Patrick banishing the snakes from Ireland.
From Wikimedia Commons.
We hear time and time again the warning that we should not listen too hard to family stories and that our pursuit of authentic family history is best served by solid research based on documentable facts. What to do when all leads and avenues run dry while that family story lives on? The answer: follow the only lead you have and fully investigate that family story.
Mom's own mother, Emma Susan (Whetstone) Williams (1896-1956) told Mom that her own grandmother, Mary Elizabeth (Farrell) House (1835-1919), said that they came from the place in Ireland where St. Patrick drove out the snakes. She was very clear about that. The place where St. Patrick drove out the snakes. Hmm. What to make of that?
Much has been written about St. Patrick and his life and times. Some could be fact and some could be fiction. The legend of the snakes might possibly fall under the fiction category... maybe. (Don't want to anger the saints!)
Of course the place to start is with the facts about the family. Thomas and Judah/Judith/Judy, his wife, were both born in Ireland, he about 1795 and she about 1815. They married about 1831 and their first child was born in Ireland in 1835, that being Mary Elizabeth, Mom's mother Emma's grandmother who told her where they came from.
They had a second child, Catherine (Farrell) Boxwell (1838-1910) in Ireland as well. By 1842 when they had their first sons, James and Thomas, they were in America and residing in Cumberland, Allegany, Maryland. Records seem to indicate that they immigrated in 1841 and that Thomas stated this on a naturalization record. I have not been lucky enough to see the original of this as it eludes me no matter where I turn. All I have is an index. Darn.
By the time of the 1850 US Census, the family is living in Morgan County, West Virginia (then Virginia), and Thomas is working as a farmer. Thomas died in 1851 leaving his wife with seven children.
But wait, let's get back to St. Patrick and the location of those snakes driven out. Where exactly did they all come from in Ireland? Mom thought that maybe one time she heard from a fellow Farrell researcher that they came from County Clare. I tracked this lady down and she doesn't remember that, but it's been many years ago she said, and she doesn't keep up with it all anymore. Maybe it was County Clare, but maybe not.
Now I have to say right here that I don't know where they came from in Ireland, not with proof certain, so I don't want you to be reading along thinking that this is one of those stories in which a lot of hard work paid off and the family story is proven or disproven. It's not like that at all. I'll probably be working on this for years and years, and I don't mind. I like the work.
I'm taking what I can from Grandma Emma's repeating of the story she heard from her own grandmother, that she came from the place in Ireland where St. Patrick drove out the snakes. I had searched a little around that topic a long time ago and come up empty. It was quite a while back and the internet wasn't what it is now. But the best recent clue came from TV and a Smithsonian Channel show, Sky View: The Emerald Isle. In it Croagh Patrick is identified as the very place that St. Patrick is said to have driven the snakes from Ireland. It's a beautiful spot overlooking Clew Bay in County Mayo. When watching the Sky View program I was reminded of the family story and ran to the computer to start searching all over again.
Were there any Farrells at all in County Mayo? Because family stories aside, if no Farrells lived there, it's no good at all. I figured that there should be some in Griffith's Valuation of 1856-57, that is if (big if) the family had ever resided there. Yes, there are Farrells all over the place. And the names Thomas and James appear often. That's encouraging.
What does this all mean now? Not a lot to go on. Just an interesting family story and a possible connection. I've just started looking. They were Catholics and that will help. If I'm lucky, I might find their marriage record and a baptism record for Mary and Catherine. It's going to be a long hard search with no guarantee of any results. And I don't mind a bit.
Mary Elizabeth (Farrell) House (1835-1919) who said they came from the place in Ireland where St. Patrick drove out the snakes, and her husband Samuel Albert House (1832-1917).
Her daughter, Catherine Elizabeth (House) Whetstone (1865-1946).
Mom and her mother, Emma, and grand daughter of Mary Elizabeth Farrell.
Photo from Aunt Betty's archive.
The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2014/01/stories-mom-told-me-st-patrick-and.html
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Wishful Wednesday: Where, oh where, did my Irish ancestors come from?
One of my greatest frustrations in pursuing my Irish ancestors is not knowing the town or parish they came from. At this point I'd even settle for a county! It seems that you need to have a town or parish name or at least a county before you can go search records with some purpose, especially when dealing with common names like Kelly and O'Kelly... one on every corner! The only place to look for those locations is, obviously, American records. We have a poverty of such records for our Irish ancestors and really I don't know where to look next. Is there some magical document that usually has the birthplace or county of origin for immigrants, and not the ubiquitous "Ireland"? If so I've just plum missed it!
But I can't complain because Mom's been fortunate in finding what she did. Let me tell you about that, but first look at these photos and then a little story.
Way back when Mom got going on genealogy she became a devoted graveyard rabbit. Off she'd go in the car, with or without Dad, to some cemetery or other looking for familiar surnames. She has a dandy collection of tombstone photos too. Remember, this was back starting in the 1970s and before the very helpful web sites that all of us use, such as Find A Grave or Billion Graves.
While my paternal grandfather Kelly was still living she found his grandfather's burial place in St. Michael's Cemetery in Frostburg, Allegany, Maryland. Grandpop refused to believe that was his grandfather because he swore that he and his own father would have known where his grave was, they would have cut the grass and tended the grave.
Long story short, yes that's his grandfather and my great grandfather whose tombstone you see above. (My guess would be that some other sibling was tasked with taking care of that particular grave.) The stone told Mom exactly where in Ireland he was born, that being Shannonbridge in the parish of Clonmacnoise.
That was a very lucky find indeed! We have not been so lucky as regards our other Irish immigrant families. So as an exercise, let me relate here what we know and then you'll see what we don't know. Maybe some kind soul will have a good idea and pity us and give a clue. And then again maybe the Wee Folk are around and will point us in the right direction towards our home places in Ireland when they hear our pleases. Hey, it could happen!
Here's the line up. On Mom's side we have the O'Farrell / Farrell bunch and also the Caton group. On Dad's side we also have the Corcoran family who married into those Kelly folks. Bridget Corcoran and John Kelly met and wed here on this side of The Pond. Here's what's known.
O'Farrell / Farrell
The journey for this line starts with Thomas Farrell. Presumably the surname was streamlined from O'Farrell to Farrell because some of his sons kept the unfashionable and then fashionable again "'O". Here's what my Surname Saturday post looked like, below.
62. Thomas Farrell, formerly O'Farrell (1795 - 1851)
63. Judah LNU (last name unknown) (1815 - 1859)
Mom has searched for them for years because it was the Farrell line that originally got her started and interested in family history back in the 1970s. All she really knew was what she had been told as a child: that her great grandmother came from Ireland, from "where St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland." Hmmm. Not a lot to go on.
Her foundational work and networking with other genealogists lead Mom to the County Clare clue, but it's still not proven absolutely. Quite a while back Mom corresponded with a researcher in Ireland and they ruled out County Longford.
Thomas and Judah, sometimes listed as Judy, immigrated between 1839 and 1840 as a married couple with two daughters. Their son James was born in Maryland in 1841, so it seems that the couple came to Maryland before moving on to Magnolia, Morgan, West Virginia (then Virginia).
Why they immigrated is a curious thing because it was before the Irish Famine years. Perhaps it was a brother or uncle who might have lured them there to work on the canal or railroad. But it appears that Thomas was a farmer because of an indenture for the rental of land (a copy is in Mom's possession) and his occupation listed as farmer in the 1850 US census.
Interestingly, some of his sons fought in the Civil War on the Union side and remained O'Farrells throughout their lives. Remember, this is the part of Virginia that became West Virginia where neighbor's sons fought on opposite sides! Brothers, too. But the O'Farrell boys stuck together in war and by name.
Thomas and Judah had the following children, some of whom went to live with friends or relatives after the couple died, Thomas in 1851 and Judah in 1859.
31. Mary Elizabeth Farrell (1835 - 1919). Born in Ireland and married Samuel Albert House.
* Catherine Farrell (about 1835 - before 1910), born in Ireland and immigrated with her parents and sister, Mary Elizabeth and my 2nd GGM, she died in Magnolia, Morgan County, Virginia, (now West Virginia). She married James Edward Boxwell.
* James O'Farrell (1842 - 1914). James was born in Maryland, and is age 9 in the 1850 census. He married Henrietta Michael in Morgan County, VA/WV, but they both died at Mora, Pettis, MO. His son's kept the O'. James served in the Civil War on the Union side.
* Thomas O'Fallell ( 1842 - ????) Thomas also kept the O'Farrell, and as did his brother James, enlisted in the Union Army to fight in the Civil War.
* Ann Farrell (1845 - ????)
* Ellen Farrell (1846 - ????)
* Bridget Farrell (1849 - ????)
* Sarah Farrell (1851 - ????)
What's next:
* All of the boys were born in America, and some moved out west. I could do as Mom did and try to make contact with another Farrell researcher to see if we can do better as a combined force.
* I might try tracing their immigration path over again to see if a detail has been missed or become available.
That's all I've got. Can you think of anything at all??
Caton
60. Patrick Caton 1814 - 1881
61. Rebecca House 1808 - after 1851
Patrick Caton was born in Ireland in 1814. Because of where he ended up in America, which is now West Virginia on the Potomac River near the long gone town of Magnolia, he most probably was lured by work on the railroads or the canal, as were countless other Irishmen, including possibly the Farrells mentioned above.
In the 1850 US Census he's listed as a farmer, but Samuel (calling himself Samuel Biggerstaff) and Patrick's brother, Francis Caton a man of 30 years living in the household, are listed as laborers. Presumably based on history of the area they were most likely employed by the railroad or the canal digs.
Patrick and Rebecca had the following children:
* Mary Caton 1846 - ????
* Margaret Caton 1847 - ????. She married George W. Meade.
They cared for:
30. Samuel Albert House 1832 - 1917
What's next:
There's a whole lot to do here. Everything, really. Immigration trail and naturalization, and whatever records are still existing for the back woods of West Virginia in the mid 1800s. I really need to talk to Mom about what she found when researching this line. Perhaps we haven't given it too much attention because Patrick Caton was not Samuel Albert's father.
Corcoran
16. John Kelly 1829 - 1891
17. Bridget Corcoran 1830 - after 1910
John and Bridget were both born in Ireland. We know that John was born in Shannonbridge, in Clonmacnoise Parrish, County Offaly (was Kings), but haven't a clue as to where Bridget was born... and without a town and a county we're outta luck with our Irish research.
John came to the United States, met Bridget and married here. They married 21 June 1848 in Cumberland, Allegany County, Maryland. They are there in Cumberland in the 1850 US census with Mary, age one year.
John died first in 1892. The Bridget died in 1912. That lovely Irish cross tombstone serves for them both even though there's only an inscription for John. Perhaps, as with other families, they ran out of money to have it inscribed.
For years we thought that her surname was spelled Corkrane, but further records searches showed that it was absolutely Corcoran! Imagine our surprise, but not too much when you pronounce both versions:)
They had eight children:
Mary Ann Kelly 1849 - ????
8. Francis Patrick Kelly 1854 - 1923
Catherine Elizabeth Kelly 1857 - ????
Michael Kelly 1859 - 1909
Margaret Kelly 1862 - ????
Theresa Kelly 1860 - ????
Thomas Kelly 1868 - ????
John Kelly 1872 - ????
Bridget's parents were James Corcoran born in Ireland about 1806, who married Anna Dolan also born there but about 1810. This information has come to us quite recently from a geanea-pal who combs old records of Western Maryland, and long story short, she found what we could not! Were we thrilled!! So here is what we know of this family unit. Here are the parents:
James Corcoran (about 1806 - ?)
Anna Dolan (about 1810 - ?)
They had these children.
17. Bridget Corcoran 1830 - 1912. born in Ireland.
* Thomas Corcoran 1835 - 1893. Born in Ireland, he married Mary Ryan and they both died in Shawnee, Perry, Ohio. (Find A Grave Memorial# 41251606)
* Isabella Corcoran 1840 - 1916. She was born in Allegany, Maryland, and married John F. Kenny and died in Crooksville, Perry, Ohio. (Her Find A Grave number is 43044520). John is buried in St. Michael's Cemetery in Frostburg, Allegany, Maryland.
* Catherine Corcoran
* Francis Corcoran
Look at that: Thomas and Isabella both died in Perry County, Ohio. Googling it's history I find that it was known as a coal rich area and is found on an almost direct line west from Cumberland, Maryland. It looks like Thomas and wife Mary went out to Ohio so that he could work the coal mines, and then after Isabella's husband John died, she went to live with her brother, died there and was buried in the same cemetery.
I took another look at the 1860 census for Allegany County, Maryland on the page where James and Anna (recorded as Ann) are listed. Of course he's a miner. Then as we all like to do, I nose around on the next page and find James and Anna's daughter, Bridget married to John Kelly, and living that close by.
And from a birth index for Perry County, it looks like some others in the area might have used that Corkrane spelling too. I'm just saying.
Thomas interests me so I searched about Perry County, Ohio and found this interesting passage.
SHAWNEE is eight miles south of New Lexington, on the Straitsville branch of the B. & O. R. R. It is one of the greatest coal-mining points in Ohio.
And also this from the same source as above, and continues to paint a picture:
A recent visitor writes; "New Straitsville is in the heart of the richest coal-producing district west of Pennsylvania; it is only three miles over the high, steep hills to bustling Shawnee, with its mines and blast furnaces; southward are Gore, Carbon Hill, and finally Nelsonville, all strong mining towns of the Hocking Valley.
What's next:
So much to do! The entire family of James and Anna is ripe for research. Can't wait to get started, with a list and everything! This has been long overdue.
* They were here by 1840 because their last child, Isabella was born here and the rest were born in Ireland. Where did they come from in Ireland?
* Where-oh-where are the parents James and Anna buried? My best guess would be a cemetery in Allegany County, Maryland, but nothing turns up. Bummer. Want to look for this because I need death dates and some closure.
Looking for your Irish ancestor's home place?
I was googling around for an overview of typical documents generated here in the States that might have your Irish ancestor's place of origin. Irish Genealogy Toolkit has a seemingly comprehensive listing here. So now the first thing I'll do is take that list and check off what's been reviewed and what's yet to be checked. The only one glaring omission from our scrutiny of that list is military records. I don't hold out too much hope for that as all of these men immigrants would have been in their 60s during the Civil War.
This is not going to be easy. It might just be impossible. If you have any tips to point us in the right direction, Mom and I would be forever grateful.
Wishful Wednesday is a blogging prompt from Geneabloggers. If you're thinking about starting a blog this is the source for all things
The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/07/wishful-wednesday-where-oh-where-did-my.html
But I can't complain because Mom's been fortunate in finding what she did. Let me tell you about that, but first look at these photos and then a little story.
Way back when Mom got going on genealogy she became a devoted graveyard rabbit. Off she'd go in the car, with or without Dad, to some cemetery or other looking for familiar surnames. She has a dandy collection of tombstone photos too. Remember, this was back starting in the 1970s and before the very helpful web sites that all of us use, such as Find A Grave or Billion Graves.
While my paternal grandfather Kelly was still living she found his grandfather's burial place in St. Michael's Cemetery in Frostburg, Allegany, Maryland. Grandpop refused to believe that was his grandfather because he swore that he and his own father would have known where his grave was, they would have cut the grass and tended the grave.
Long story short, yes that's his grandfather and my great grandfather whose tombstone you see above. (My guess would be that some other sibling was tasked with taking care of that particular grave.) The stone told Mom exactly where in Ireland he was born, that being Shannonbridge in the parish of Clonmacnoise.
That was a very lucky find indeed! We have not been so lucky as regards our other Irish immigrant families. So as an exercise, let me relate here what we know and then you'll see what we don't know. Maybe some kind soul will have a good idea and pity us and give a clue. And then again maybe the Wee Folk are around and will point us in the right direction towards our home places in Ireland when they hear our pleases. Hey, it could happen!
Here's the line up. On Mom's side we have the O'Farrell / Farrell bunch and also the Caton group. On Dad's side we also have the Corcoran family who married into those Kelly folks. Bridget Corcoran and John Kelly met and wed here on this side of The Pond. Here's what's known.
O'Farrell / Farrell
The journey for this line starts with Thomas Farrell. Presumably the surname was streamlined from O'Farrell to Farrell because some of his sons kept the unfashionable and then fashionable again "'O". Here's what my Surname Saturday post looked like, below.
62. Thomas Farrell, formerly O'Farrell (1795 - 1851)
63. Judah LNU (last name unknown) (1815 - 1859)
Mom has searched for them for years because it was the Farrell line that originally got her started and interested in family history back in the 1970s. All she really knew was what she had been told as a child: that her great grandmother came from Ireland, from "where St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland." Hmmm. Not a lot to go on.
Her foundational work and networking with other genealogists lead Mom to the County Clare clue, but it's still not proven absolutely. Quite a while back Mom corresponded with a researcher in Ireland and they ruled out County Longford.
Thomas and Judah, sometimes listed as Judy, immigrated between 1839 and 1840 as a married couple with two daughters. Their son James was born in Maryland in 1841, so it seems that the couple came to Maryland before moving on to Magnolia, Morgan, West Virginia (then Virginia).
Why they immigrated is a curious thing because it was before the Irish Famine years. Perhaps it was a brother or uncle who might have lured them there to work on the canal or railroad. But it appears that Thomas was a farmer because of an indenture for the rental of land (a copy is in Mom's possession) and his occupation listed as farmer in the 1850 US census.
Interestingly, some of his sons fought in the Civil War on the Union side and remained O'Farrells throughout their lives. Remember, this is the part of Virginia that became West Virginia where neighbor's sons fought on opposite sides! Brothers, too. But the O'Farrell boys stuck together in war and by name.
Thomas and Judah had the following children, some of whom went to live with friends or relatives after the couple died, Thomas in 1851 and Judah in 1859.
31. Mary Elizabeth Farrell (1835 - 1919). Born in Ireland and married Samuel Albert House.
* Catherine Farrell (about 1835 - before 1910), born in Ireland and immigrated with her parents and sister, Mary Elizabeth and my 2nd GGM, she died in Magnolia, Morgan County, Virginia, (now West Virginia). She married James Edward Boxwell.
* James O'Farrell (1842 - 1914). James was born in Maryland, and is age 9 in the 1850 census. He married Henrietta Michael in Morgan County, VA/WV, but they both died at Mora, Pettis, MO. His son's kept the O'. James served in the Civil War on the Union side.
* Thomas O'Fallell ( 1842 - ????) Thomas also kept the O'Farrell, and as did his brother James, enlisted in the Union Army to fight in the Civil War.
* Ann Farrell (1845 - ????)
* Ellen Farrell (1846 - ????)
* Bridget Farrell (1849 - ????)
* Sarah Farrell (1851 - ????)
What's next:
* All of the boys were born in America, and some moved out west. I could do as Mom did and try to make contact with another Farrell researcher to see if we can do better as a combined force.
* I might try tracing their immigration path over again to see if a detail has been missed or become available.
That's all I've got. Can you think of anything at all??
Caton
60. Patrick Caton 1814 - 1881
61. Rebecca House 1808 - after 1851
Patrick Caton was born in Ireland in 1814. Because of where he ended up in America, which is now West Virginia on the Potomac River near the long gone town of Magnolia, he most probably was lured by work on the railroads or the canal, as were countless other Irishmen, including possibly the Farrells mentioned above.
In the 1850 US Census he's listed as a farmer, but Samuel (calling himself Samuel Biggerstaff) and Patrick's brother, Francis Caton a man of 30 years living in the household, are listed as laborers. Presumably based on history of the area they were most likely employed by the railroad or the canal digs.
Patrick and Rebecca had the following children:
* Mary Caton 1846 - ????
* Margaret Caton 1847 - ????. She married George W. Meade.
They cared for:
30. Samuel Albert House 1832 - 1917
What's next:
There's a whole lot to do here. Everything, really. Immigration trail and naturalization, and whatever records are still existing for the back woods of West Virginia in the mid 1800s. I really need to talk to Mom about what she found when researching this line. Perhaps we haven't given it too much attention because Patrick Caton was not Samuel Albert's father.
Corcoran
16. John Kelly 1829 - 1891
17. Bridget Corcoran 1830 - after 1910
John and Bridget were both born in Ireland. We know that John was born in Shannonbridge, in Clonmacnoise Parrish, County Offaly (was Kings), but haven't a clue as to where Bridget was born... and without a town and a county we're outta luck with our Irish research.
John came to the United States, met Bridget and married here. They married 21 June 1848 in Cumberland, Allegany County, Maryland. They are there in Cumberland in the 1850 US census with Mary, age one year.
John died first in 1892. The Bridget died in 1912. That lovely Irish cross tombstone serves for them both even though there's only an inscription for John. Perhaps, as with other families, they ran out of money to have it inscribed.
For years we thought that her surname was spelled Corkrane, but further records searches showed that it was absolutely Corcoran! Imagine our surprise, but not too much when you pronounce both versions:)
They had eight children:
Mary Ann Kelly 1849 - ????
8. Francis Patrick Kelly 1854 - 1923
Catherine Elizabeth Kelly 1857 - ????
Michael Kelly 1859 - 1909
Margaret Kelly 1862 - ????
Theresa Kelly 1860 - ????
Thomas Kelly 1868 - ????
John Kelly 1872 - ????
Bridget's parents were James Corcoran born in Ireland about 1806, who married Anna Dolan also born there but about 1810. This information has come to us quite recently from a geanea-pal who combs old records of Western Maryland, and long story short, she found what we could not! Were we thrilled!! So here is what we know of this family unit. Here are the parents:
James Corcoran (about 1806 - ?)
Anna Dolan (about 1810 - ?)
They had these children.
17. Bridget Corcoran 1830 - 1912. born in Ireland.
* Thomas Corcoran 1835 - 1893. Born in Ireland, he married Mary Ryan and they both died in Shawnee, Perry, Ohio. (Find A Grave Memorial# 41251606)
* Isabella Corcoran 1840 - 1916. She was born in Allegany, Maryland, and married John F. Kenny and died in Crooksville, Perry, Ohio. (Her Find A Grave number is 43044520). John is buried in St. Michael's Cemetery in Frostburg, Allegany, Maryland.
* Catherine Corcoran
* Francis Corcoran
Look at that: Thomas and Isabella both died in Perry County, Ohio. Googling it's history I find that it was known as a coal rich area and is found on an almost direct line west from Cumberland, Maryland. It looks like Thomas and wife Mary went out to Ohio so that he could work the coal mines, and then after Isabella's husband John died, she went to live with her brother, died there and was buried in the same cemetery.
I took another look at the 1860 census for Allegany County, Maryland on the page where James and Anna (recorded as Ann) are listed. Of course he's a miner. Then as we all like to do, I nose around on the next page and find James and Anna's daughter, Bridget married to John Kelly, and living that close by.
And from a birth index for Perry County, it looks like some others in the area might have used that Corkrane spelling too. I'm just saying.
Thomas interests me so I searched about Perry County, Ohio and found this interesting passage.
SHAWNEE is eight miles south of New Lexington, on the Straitsville branch of the B. & O. R. R. It is one of the greatest coal-mining points in Ohio.
And also this from the same source as above, and continues to paint a picture:
A recent visitor writes; "New Straitsville is in the heart of the richest coal-producing district west of Pennsylvania; it is only three miles over the high, steep hills to bustling Shawnee, with its mines and blast furnaces; southward are Gore, Carbon Hill, and finally Nelsonville, all strong mining towns of the Hocking Valley.
What's next:
So much to do! The entire family of James and Anna is ripe for research. Can't wait to get started, with a list and everything! This has been long overdue.
* They were here by 1840 because their last child, Isabella was born here and the rest were born in Ireland. Where did they come from in Ireland?
* Where-oh-where are the parents James and Anna buried? My best guess would be a cemetery in Allegany County, Maryland, but nothing turns up. Bummer. Want to look for this because I need death dates and some closure.
Looking for your Irish ancestor's home place?
I was googling around for an overview of typical documents generated here in the States that might have your Irish ancestor's place of origin. Irish Genealogy Toolkit has a seemingly comprehensive listing here. So now the first thing I'll do is take that list and check off what's been reviewed and what's yet to be checked. The only one glaring omission from our scrutiny of that list is military records. I don't hold out too much hope for that as all of these men immigrants would have been in their 60s during the Civil War.
This is not going to be easy. It might just be impossible. If you have any tips to point us in the right direction, Mom and I would be forever grateful.
Wishful Wednesday is a blogging prompt from Geneabloggers. If you're thinking about starting a blog this is the source for all things
The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/07/wishful-wednesday-where-oh-where-did-my.html
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Surname Saturday: O'Farrell, then Farrell
Here's the next installment of Surname Saturday, the blogging prompt from GeneaBloggers! We're into the 2nd great grandmothers now and looking at the O'Farrell clan from Ireland who tossed off the "O" and became the Farrells in America, mostly.
The Farrells came to America between 1839 and 1840 but we've not found solid evidence of the ship or exact date of their arrival. Mom observed that Thomas Farrell and his wife Judah (last name unknown) were married when they arrived here and traveling with two small children to a very wild area of what would later become West Virginia, near the small town of Magnolia, and that most likely Thomas had a brother or uncle already here because there was one other Farrell/O'Farrell male nearby. It's disconnected info such as this, requiring more substantiation, that wants and begs to be woven together. Some days Mom and I feel as though the work has just begun!
1. Diane Kelly Weintraub
2. Francis Patrick " Pat" Kelly (1916 - 2007)
3. Virginia Williams, (living and loving it)
6. Cambria Williams (1897 - 1960)
7. Emma Susan Whetstone (1897 - 1956)
14. Joseph Hampton Whetstone (1858 - 1938)
15. Catherine Elizabeth House ( 1865 - 1947)
30. Samuel Albert House (1832 - 1917)
31. Mary Elizabeth Farrell (1835 - 1919)
I wrote a longish blog post about Samuel Albert House this week and his strange life which you can find here. It tells the story of various jobs and moving and finally settling in Frostburg, Allegany, Maryland. But this Surname Saturday we're interested in the grandmothers four generations back, so it's Mary Elizabeth we're wanting. She was born in Ireland in 1835, most likely in County Claire, and came over with her parents, Thomas and Judah Farrell about 1839 to 1840, more or less. More about this below.
She married Samuel Albert House 20 Aug, 1855 and they had a big bunch of kids. There's also an amusing post about two of them, the Counterfeiting Twins here, who were Rev. Edward Francis and Joseph Martin.
They had these 16 children:
James I. House 1844 - ????. He married Sara C. Wilson
John T. House 1855 - 1954. He married Sarah Dennison.
William H. House 1858 - 1907. He married Ada Elizabeth Garlitz.
Mary Amelia "Molly" House 1861 - 1949. She married John R. Davis.
Samuel T. House about 1862 - ????. He married Emma Siebert.
Garnet Soloman House 1864 - ????. He married Rhoda ?.
15. Catherine Elizabeth House 1865 - 1947
Rev. Edward Francis House 1868 - 1926. He married Martha Edith Dennison.
Joseph Martin House 1868 - 1950. He married Rose Praut and upon her death married Madge Cook.
George House 1870 - 1871.
Sarah Ellen "Sadie" House 1870 - ????. She married William Harvey Reckley.
Margaret Anna "Nan" House 1872 - 1968. She married Philip Long.
Sadie F. House 1873 - ????.
Charles Harley House 1875 - 1945. He married Blanch Perdue.
Michael A. House 1878 - ????. He married Lillian Meade.
Nora House 1879 - 1964. She married Denton R. Kaseycamp.
62. Thomas Farrell, formerly O'Farrell (1795 - 1851)
63. Judah LNU (last name unknown) (1815 - 1859)
Most likely born and married in County Clare, Ireland but the actually parish or town remains unknown to us at present. Pity, that.
Mom has searched for them for years because it was the Farrell line that originally got her started and interested in family history. All she really knew was she had been told as a child: that her great grandmother came from Ireland, from "where St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland." Hmmm. Not a lot to go on. Her foundational work and networking with other genealogists lead Mom to the County Clare clue, but it's still not proven absolutely. Quite a while back Mom corresponded with a researcher in Ireland and they ruled out County Longford... close but no cigar. So here we are at one of our fascinating brick walls! Do you know how many Farrells and O'Farrels there were in Ireland in the 1830s?! Too many!
Thomas and Judah, sometimes called Judy, immigrated between 1839 and 1840. Their son James was born in Maryland in 1841, so it seems that the couple landed there before coming on to Magnolia.
Why they immigrated is a curious thing because it was before the Irish Famine years. Perhaps it was that brother or uncle, the other Farrell/O'Farrell male in the area of Magnolia, who might have lured them here. In those years, work could be had on the railroad which ran right through where they settled. But it appears that Thomas was a farmer because of an indenture for the rental of land (a copy is in Mom's possession) and his occupation listed as farmer in the 1850 US census.
Interestingly, a couple of his sons fought in the Civil War on the Union side and remained O'Farrells throughout their lives. Remember, this is the part of Virginia that became West Virginia where neighbor's sons fought on opposite sides! Brothers, too. But the O'Farrell boys stuck together in war and by name.
Thomas and Judah had the following children, some of whom went to live with friends or relatives after the couple died, Thomas in 1851 and Judah in 1859.
31. Mary Elizabeth Farrell (1835 - 1919)
Catherine Farrell (about 1835 - before 1910), born in County Clare, Ireland and immigrated with her parents and sister, Mary Elizabeth and my 2nd GGM, she died in Magnolia, Morgan County, Virginia, (now West Virginia). She married James Edward Boxwell.
James O'Farrell (1842 - 1914). James was born in Maryland, and is age 9 in the 1850 census. He married Henrietta Michael in Morgan County, but they both died Mora, Pettis, MO. His son's kept the O'. James served in the Civil War on the Union side.
Thomas O'Fallell ( 1842 - ????) Thomas also kept the O'Farrell, and as did his brother James, enlisted in the Union Army to fight in the Civil War.
Ann Farrell (1845 - ????)
Ellen Farrell (1846 - ????)
Bridget Farrell (1849 - ????)
Sarah Farrell (1851 - ????)
Next Steps
I long to know more of this family. Their saga has enough elements that make for good story telling and that keeps me fascinated. Here's what I want to know:
1. Where did they come from in Ireland and what is the name of the town or parish?
2. Why did they come?
3. Did they land in Cumberland? Was Judy pregnant with James when they arrived in America? I'll look for them in St Patrick's Catholic Church records, Cumberland, Allegany, Maryland, and for James baptismal record. They have to be Catholic, right?
4. Why did they die? Guess I'll not find that out.
5. Where are they buried? There are only a couple of cemeteries in the area, that being Horn and Cherry Orchard. You'd think a person could find them, but the land is rough and the cemeteries overgrown. Some graves are no longer marked.
Three Women with the Same Face, Almost
Wanna see something cool? This photo right below was sent to me by Cousin Rich who visited Mom this week! We were marveling at the family resemblance of these related women!
Hey, Cousin Rich, do you have a photo of Katie Boxwell Kessler's mother, Catherine Farrell Boxwell? Now, wouldn't that be fun?
%2520Kesler%2520(1952)from+Rich.jpg)
The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/04/surname-saturday-ofarrell-then-farrell.html
The Farrells came to America between 1839 and 1840 but we've not found solid evidence of the ship or exact date of their arrival. Mom observed that Thomas Farrell and his wife Judah (last name unknown) were married when they arrived here and traveling with two small children to a very wild area of what would later become West Virginia, near the small town of Magnolia, and that most likely Thomas had a brother or uncle already here because there was one other Farrell/O'Farrell male nearby. It's disconnected info such as this, requiring more substantiation, that wants and begs to be woven together. Some days Mom and I feel as though the work has just begun!
1. Diane Kelly Weintraub
2. Francis Patrick " Pat" Kelly (1916 - 2007)
3. Virginia Williams, (living and loving it)
6. Cambria Williams (1897 - 1960)
7. Emma Susan Whetstone (1897 - 1956)
14. Joseph Hampton Whetstone (1858 - 1938)
15. Catherine Elizabeth House ( 1865 - 1947)
30. Samuel Albert House (1832 - 1917)
31. Mary Elizabeth Farrell (1835 - 1919)
I wrote a longish blog post about Samuel Albert House this week and his strange life which you can find here. It tells the story of various jobs and moving and finally settling in Frostburg, Allegany, Maryland. But this Surname Saturday we're interested in the grandmothers four generations back, so it's Mary Elizabeth we're wanting. She was born in Ireland in 1835, most likely in County Claire, and came over with her parents, Thomas and Judah Farrell about 1839 to 1840, more or less. More about this below.
She married Samuel Albert House 20 Aug, 1855 and they had a big bunch of kids. There's also an amusing post about two of them, the Counterfeiting Twins here, who were Rev. Edward Francis and Joseph Martin.
They had these 16 children:
James I. House 1844 - ????. He married Sara C. Wilson
John T. House 1855 - 1954. He married Sarah Dennison.
William H. House 1858 - 1907. He married Ada Elizabeth Garlitz.
Mary Amelia "Molly" House 1861 - 1949. She married John R. Davis.
Samuel T. House about 1862 - ????. He married Emma Siebert.
Garnet Soloman House 1864 - ????. He married Rhoda ?.
15. Catherine Elizabeth House 1865 - 1947
Rev. Edward Francis House 1868 - 1926. He married Martha Edith Dennison.
Joseph Martin House 1868 - 1950. He married Rose Praut and upon her death married Madge Cook.
George House 1870 - 1871.
Sarah Ellen "Sadie" House 1870 - ????. She married William Harvey Reckley.
Margaret Anna "Nan" House 1872 - 1968. She married Philip Long.
Sadie F. House 1873 - ????.
Charles Harley House 1875 - 1945. He married Blanch Perdue.
Michael A. House 1878 - ????. He married Lillian Meade.
Nora House 1879 - 1964. She married Denton R. Kaseycamp.
62. Thomas Farrell, formerly O'Farrell (1795 - 1851)
63. Judah LNU (last name unknown) (1815 - 1859)
Most likely born and married in County Clare, Ireland but the actually parish or town remains unknown to us at present. Pity, that.
Mom has searched for them for years because it was the Farrell line that originally got her started and interested in family history. All she really knew was she had been told as a child: that her great grandmother came from Ireland, from "where St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland." Hmmm. Not a lot to go on. Her foundational work and networking with other genealogists lead Mom to the County Clare clue, but it's still not proven absolutely. Quite a while back Mom corresponded with a researcher in Ireland and they ruled out County Longford... close but no cigar. So here we are at one of our fascinating brick walls! Do you know how many Farrells and O'Farrels there were in Ireland in the 1830s?! Too many!
Thomas and Judah, sometimes called Judy, immigrated between 1839 and 1840. Their son James was born in Maryland in 1841, so it seems that the couple landed there before coming on to Magnolia.
Why they immigrated is a curious thing because it was before the Irish Famine years. Perhaps it was that brother or uncle, the other Farrell/O'Farrell male in the area of Magnolia, who might have lured them here. In those years, work could be had on the railroad which ran right through where they settled. But it appears that Thomas was a farmer because of an indenture for the rental of land (a copy is in Mom's possession) and his occupation listed as farmer in the 1850 US census.
Interestingly, a couple of his sons fought in the Civil War on the Union side and remained O'Farrells throughout their lives. Remember, this is the part of Virginia that became West Virginia where neighbor's sons fought on opposite sides! Brothers, too. But the O'Farrell boys stuck together in war and by name.
Thomas and Judah had the following children, some of whom went to live with friends or relatives after the couple died, Thomas in 1851 and Judah in 1859.
31. Mary Elizabeth Farrell (1835 - 1919)
Catherine Farrell (about 1835 - before 1910), born in County Clare, Ireland and immigrated with her parents and sister, Mary Elizabeth and my 2nd GGM, she died in Magnolia, Morgan County, Virginia, (now West Virginia). She married James Edward Boxwell.
James O'Farrell (1842 - 1914). James was born in Maryland, and is age 9 in the 1850 census. He married Henrietta Michael in Morgan County, but they both died Mora, Pettis, MO. His son's kept the O'. James served in the Civil War on the Union side.
Thomas O'Fallell ( 1842 - ????) Thomas also kept the O'Farrell, and as did his brother James, enlisted in the Union Army to fight in the Civil War.
Ann Farrell (1845 - ????)
Ellen Farrell (1846 - ????)
Bridget Farrell (1849 - ????)
Sarah Farrell (1851 - ????)
Next Steps
I long to know more of this family. Their saga has enough elements that make for good story telling and that keeps me fascinated. Here's what I want to know:
1. Where did they come from in Ireland and what is the name of the town or parish?
2. Why did they come?
3. Did they land in Cumberland? Was Judy pregnant with James when they arrived in America? I'll look for them in St Patrick's Catholic Church records, Cumberland, Allegany, Maryland, and for James baptismal record. They have to be Catholic, right?
4. Why did they die? Guess I'll not find that out.
5. Where are they buried? There are only a couple of cemeteries in the area, that being Horn and Cherry Orchard. You'd think a person could find them, but the land is rough and the cemeteries overgrown. Some graves are no longer marked.
Three Women with the Same Face, Almost
Wanna see something cool? This photo right below was sent to me by Cousin Rich who visited Mom this week! We were marveling at the family resemblance of these related women!
Hey, Cousin Rich, do you have a photo of Katie Boxwell Kessler's mother, Catherine Farrell Boxwell? Now, wouldn't that be fun?
%2520Kesler%2520(1952)from+Rich.jpg)
Catherine "Katie" Boxwell Kessler (1871 - 1953).
She was daughter of Catherine Farrell Boxwell (1838 - 1910),
who was sister to my 2nd GGM, Mary Elizabeth Farrell House.
Here's a photo of Catherine Elizabeth House Whetstone (1865 - 1947),
cousin to Katie Boxwell Kessler, above. Could be the same person!!
Here is a photo of Mary Elizabeth Farrell House (1835 - 1919), Catherine Elizabeth's mother.
See a family resemblance? Mom and I do!
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