Waking the Tree
If my people are your people too, welcome!
This is a collection of translations, transcriptions and histories that I’ve generated over many years of research. The people I write about are little people, working people, often women – the ones you wouldn’t read about in school.
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Patrick Hassett: A Sapper from Clare
Patrick Hassett, my 2nd great-grandfather, was born around 1840. The population of Clare, Ireland peaked the year after he was born – 286,394 souls. By the time he was 10, 50,000 of them would be dead from famine and 25% would have emigrated with between 30-50% dying in the crossing.
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Did we have a farm in Ireland?
As a kid, I remember thinking that my grandfather’s family owned a farm called ‘Moyaver’ in a place called ‘Armoy’ – – but none of that turns out to be true. Here’s what’s true…
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John Patrick O’Mullan
On January 4, 1907, my grandfather, John Patrick O’Mullan was born to Daniel William Mullan and Elizabeth Gallagher in Moyaver, County Antrim, Ireland. They christened him at St. Olcan’s church – where his father was christened and his family is buried.
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Scottish Highlanders & Islanders
James Wiggans, my great-grandfather, was born August 1st, 1881 to Sarah McIntyre. As far back as I can trace, her father’s people were West Highlanders from in and around the Firth of Lorn.
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Patrick Scally’s Farm
My 3rd great-grandfather, Patrick Scally, was born in Moyaver around 1791. Though his life largely predates Catholic parish registers, we can piece a lot of it together from census and […]
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Pat O’Mullan’s Cottage
In the 1980s, my parents were directed by locals to the O’Mullan homestead. They didn’t realize it at the time but they photographed a cottage that was occupied by my great-grandfather’s siblings – Pat, Elizabeth and Mary Anne. My direct ancestors never lived there.