Happy St Patricks day 2016 (from Canada)

**MikeWhalen** · 03-17-2016, 12:48 PM

Hi to all my Celtic cousins...Happy St Patricks day!
one of the best things about this holiday is it is very inclusive, anyone that feels Irish, regardless of actual background, is welcome to party with us!

a few interesting articles for your amusement and edification...

http://www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...iday/81868808/

Funny-meme-Dad-are-we-Irish.jpg

never beat the irish.JPG

st_patrick_everyones_irish.jpg

yes father.jpg

not pussies.jpg

Mike

**Stephen1986** · 03-17-2016, 01:45 PM

Happy St Patrick's Day!

I have quite a few branches in my tree that come from Ireland but most don't go back very far before the generations that came to England. I also don't know the origins of many of my Irish ancestors within Ireland. My Irish branches, represented by the immigrant generations, are as follows (I might have more Irish hidden in the branches of my two unknown maternal great great grandfathers, but I'll probably never know who they were) -

Arthur Connolly (a 5x great grandfather on my dad's side) - He was born about 1776 in Ireland and moved to Manchester at some point before 1805, and worked as a bricklayer. He had five children with an Englishwoman, including my ancestor Elizabeth in 1833. He died in 1849 but I have little information on him other than what can be found in the census and on BMD records.

James and Bridget Ellen Murray (maiden name unknown, possibly Degnan) (5x great grandparents on my dad's side) - They were from either Cavan or Meath and were born in c1804 and c1813 respectively. They seem to have immigrated to England in the late 1840s and had eight children including my ancestor Bridget (whose grandson also had the aforementioned Elizabeth as his paternal grandmother). One of the ways James and Bridget's lives intertwined were the last events of those lives - James died on 12th December 1877 and was buried on the 17th of December. Bridget died on 13th December 1878 and was buried exactly a year after her husband.

Robert and Catherine McKenna (maiden name Gilligan) (4x great grandparents on my mum's side) - Robert was born in Armagh in 1809, whilst Catherine may have been from Louth and was probably about the same age or younger than Robert. Robert may have been half or part-Scottish as his mother's surname was Cummings. They immigrated to England about 1840, and Robert worked as an ostler. They had four children including my ancestor James. Robert died young at 48 due to liver hypertrophy, he was probably an alcoholic, whilst Catherine's death date is unknown. They lived in Liverpool a few decades before John McKenna, one of the founders of Liverpool Fc which is the football/soccer team I support. However, they aren't related and they probably wouldn't have got on very well - my McKenna ancestors at the time were Catholic whilst John McKenna was an Orangeman.

John Scowcroft (a 4x great grandfather on my mum's side) - John was born c1807 in Ballyshannon, Donegal to an English soldier father who joined the army in Ireland and an unknown mother who may have been Irish. He returned to his father's, and my, home city of Preston, where he married and had five children including my ancestor James. He seemed to have a few jobs - earlier records say that he was an umbrella maker or a tin plate worker, whilst later records say that he was a chapel keeper or tinker. He died in 1886.

Patrick (or James) and Mary Ann (or Anne Mary) Callaghan (nee Keough) (3x great grandparents on my mother's side) - Patrick/James was born c1827 in Frenchpark, Roscommon whilst Mary Ann/Anne Mary was born c1832 in Dublin. Patrick was a soldier who at times was stationed in China and South Africa, the latter being where his oldest child was born. The couple had four children including my ancestor Mary Ann. Mary Ann was born in Walmer near Dover, Kent where her father was stationed (as was fighting Bill Treacy from Dover in the song Irish Rover, or at least I believe that's the Dover it refers to). For some reason, on Mary Ann's marriage record in 1883 she says that her father is James Callaghan and deceased when her father was still alive eight years later. I believe that this is simply an error as both her husband and father-in-law were both called James (Scowcroft, being the son and grandson of John Scowcroft). It isn't known when Patrick died, but he died between 1891 and 1901. His wife died in 1920.