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Elizabeth Irene Wiggans
My grandmother, Elizabeth Irene Wiggans was born on the 16th of April, 1916, in the back bedroom of 290 Peshine Ave, Newark, NJ. She was named ‘Elizabeth’ after her mother but to her father, she would always be ‘Lovey’. Everyone else called her Irene.
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Wiggans of Lancashire
This story tracks the Wiggans family in Lancashire, England back to 1730, although the name is much older. It is derived from the personal name “Wuicon” or Wigand – meaning high or noble – and it was first recorded in the Domesday Book as “Wighen” in 1086, in Cambridge.
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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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Smiths of Euxton
This tracks the English Catholic line of the Smiths in Lancashire back to 1823. It’s hard to go back any further in a country where being a Catholic could get you executed – record keeping was dangerous.
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Rooneys of Chorley
Elizabeth Rooney, my great-grandmother, was born in Chorley, Lancashire on the 7th of October, 1883 to John Rooney – an Irish immigrant to England who worked all his life as a farm labourer.