Tombstone Tuesday - Notice the Shamrocks on this headstone.



 Shamrock from Wikipedia

   A transcribed entry from the Balinakill Roman Catholic Church Registry shows that James Welch was baptized in May of 1832.  The youngest of seven known children of William and Elizabeth "Bessie" (Cahill) Welch, James came to the United States in 1852, according to information recorded when he was enumerated in the 1900 U. S. Census in West Brookfield, Worcester County, Massachusetts.  Possibly James traveled from Queens County (now Laois County), Ireland with his older brother William who also arrived in 1852.  Brothers Thomas and Michael had arrived in previous years, and had settled in Worcester County, Massachusetts.  Eventually James' parents and all of his known siblings came to Massachusetts.
   James married Catherine Moran probably in 1859, although I have been unable to locate their marriage record.  Catherine, also born in Ireland, was the daughter of John Moran and Katherine Carey.  A daughter, Mary Ann followed in 1861, although, again, I have found no birth record.   Mary Ann married John Ducey on 1 July 1882 in North Brookfield, Massachusetts. 
  James Welch died in Worcester State Hospital on 7 August 1909.  Catherine died 13 February 1926 in West Brookfield.  They are buried in Sacred Heart Cemetery in West Brookfield.

Patrick Moran born 1843 - 1847

A young woman from California, with help from a few others, now has a very large family tree, which includes James and Ellen (Connor) Moran, their children, including Patrick, the main subject of the project, and his known siblings, and all of their descendants.  The research now dates back to the early nineteenth century in Ireland.  The information seems to fit together nicely, but proof is lacking in a number of areas and there are some conflicts to resolve.

When was Patrick born?

A U. S. Naturalization Index Card found on Ancestry.com, shows in Vol. 7 - 614, a Patrick Moran, of Spencer, MA, born Ireland, 15 Nov. 1943, was Naturalized Oct. 26, 1870 in Worcester Superior Court, Worcester, MA.  Our Patrick Moran married, Catherine Waters in Spencer in 1869, and they were living in Spencer at the time of the 1870 census.  From the information on that index card, we should be able to order a copy of Patrick's Naturalization records from NARA https://eservices.archives.gov/orderonline/start.swe?SWECmd=Start&SWEHo=eservices.archives.gov, or from the Massachusetts Archives http://www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/arccon.htm .   The Naturalization records, may or may not, have the townland where he was born.  Often, such records, will just say Ireland.  Sponsors should be noted, and it will be interesting to discover who Patrick's sponsors were.  My bet is that at least one of his brothers sponsored him.

 The 1900 census entry says that he was born in Nov. 1847.  The 1865 Massachusetts census in Ware, has a Patrick Moran, soldier, age 22 [b. abt 1843] enumerated in household of James and Ellen Moran.  (We know that Patrick, was in military service until Nov. 1865, and that his parents were James and Ellen, and that he had sisters Mary, Eliza, and Johanna, and that the family had lived in Ware.)  The above Naturalization Index card indicates a birth date of Nov. 1843,  and we also have a transcribed church record for a birth or baptismal of a Patrick Moran, of Kilcooly, son of James and Ellen Connor, with March 1843 as the date.

Do all of these records pertain to the same Patrick Moran?

Patrick Moran: Where in Ireland was he from?

Immediately, after finding the death record and obituary of Daniel Moran, I searched for the obituaries of his sisters, Catherine Moriarty and Mary Haley, both of whom had lived in Ware.  (Catherine had been misidentified in Patrick's obituary, but was correctly named in the obituary for Daniel, and Mary had died in the years between Daniel's death and Patrick's death.)  Catherine's obituary said that she had been born in Killcooler, Ire.

Another person in our group located Dingle, as being part of Kerry County.  I had had success before with a Kerry County family using Irish Genealogy, a free web site with transcribed church records from Kerry County; as well as Carlow, Cork and Dublin.  I went back to the site and located the possible birth/baptismal  record for Patrick Moran of Killcooly.  It seemed to match the information we had gathered, although the birth month was different from the one on the Naturalization Index Card we had found.  I also found possible Baptismal records for Daniel, Catherine and Mary Moran of Kilcooley and a marriage record for their parents on this site in the Parish of Ballyferriter, in County Kerry.   It appeared we had located the place of Patrick's birth in just a matter of minutes after finding the death record of his brother Daniel.

Much of the remaining part of that afternoon was spent on the County Kerry Genealogy website where we read about the civil and Roman Catholic parish divisions in County Kerry, and gained some knowledge of the history and geography of the area.

We almost certainly had found the homeland location, but our research was not finished ...

Patrick Moran: The Continuing Research Story

Patrick's obituary, written in May of 1919,  was really a rich source of information.  Names of his surviving children, and sisters were provided.  Patrick's Civil War service and his membership in GAR Post 10 were mentioned.  Two sons who served during the Spanish American War, (one of whom died upon his return),  and three grandsons who served during World War I were also mentioned.

The obituary also provided some wonderful insight into Patrick's political view by stating that he belonged to the "Friends Of Irish Freedom" and had hoped to see the day when Ireland had self-determination.

Our little research group continued to quickly find information about Patrick's children, and grandchildren; as well as, the living siblings mentioned in the obituary.  The volume of information and the speed at which it was being found was sometimes difficult to manage, but we continued on, collecting obituaries of descendants, and trying to trace the family members found in that 1865 census in Ware.  We found death records of Patrick's parents in Ware vital records at familysearch.org.  Sister Angela, at All Saints Parish in Ware, helped with Old St. William Cemetery Records.  We looked at census information from Winchendon, where two of Patrick's sisters had raised families. 

The Moran family tree was filling out nicely, but we knew we were not at all finished.  Then one day, while searching Moran vital records from Ware, a member of our group came upon an interesting death record.  It was a death record for a Daniel Moran, born in Dingle, Ireland, who had died four years prior to Patrick's death, and who had parents with the same names as Patrick's parents. Was this a brother?  Quickly, an obituary was found on genealogybank.com, and our suspicion was confirmed.  Now we had a location in Ireland, more siblings, and much more work to do.

To be continued ...

Patrick Moran: From Ireland to Worcester

One month ago, I received an email from a descendant of Patrick Moran asking for information.  Beginning with what this California resident knew, and collaborating with others, we were able to find a large volume of information in just a few weeks.  We even discovered what Irish American researchers value most - the location of the homeland in Ireland. 

Patrick lived in West Brookfield from about 1876 until about 1882.  Information from this time period,  proved to be very helpful in our research.  Four children were born to Patrick and wife Kate (Waters),  Kate died, and Patrick remarried during these years.  West Brookfield vital records from these events yielded the names of Patrick's and Kate's parents, and their county of origin, as well as information about Patrick's second wife, Mary (Canty). 

What did we find next?

We were able to find the family quite quickly in the 1900 census in Worcester, because Mary Canty's brother William was living in the household.  By this time there were more children.  Now we concentrated on Worcester Vital Records, census information, and burial plot information.  We continued using online resources, such as familysearch.org, americanancestors.org, ancestry.com and others, but also contacted via telephone and email, the Worcester City Clerk (for vital record information not yet online), the St. John's Cemetery Office, for burial plot information, and some local researchers with access to newspaper obituaries from the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

Meanwhile, we found promising online information that we thought was probably connected to Patrick and his family.  The 1865 Massachusetts census, in Ware, some birth records in Spencer, a possible Naturalization Index Card, and Civil War Service information.

Patrick Moran's obituary turned out to be a wonderful find.  It was lengthy and detailed.  Siblings were named, his Civil War service was detailed.  Now we had confirmation that he had indeed lived in Ware, and Spencer, and that he had living siblings. 

To be continued...