• About

Maher Matters

~ Ancestry Maher/Meagher/Meachair

Maher Matters

Tag Archives: Patrick Maher

Pilgrimage to Ireland, Part 1

30 Friday May 2014

Posted by Janet Maher in Early Irish Catholics in Connecticut, Mahers, Meaghers

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Ancient Ireland, From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley, Irish pilgrimage, Patrick Maher

©2014 Janet Maher, Leaving Ireland #1, Shannon Airport

©2014 Janet Maher, Leaving Ireland #1, Shannon Airport

I don’t know how the film “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” would have affected me if I had not seen it upon my return flight from Ireland. It seemed, however, to be somehow perfectly symbolic in that context. I did not cry this time as the plane rose into the air toward home, but I did at the end of the film, and smiled broadly at many points along the way. Thank you for the movie, U.S. Airlines. With it you redeemed yourselves from my three-day ordeal that was the trip over, filled with delayed and cancelled flights, and an entire day and a half in the Charlotte, NC, airport, only completed by my arrival in Ireland with my bag still in New York. (But that’s another story.)

©2014 Janet Maher, Secret Life of Walter Mitty

©2014 Janet Maher, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

A pilgrimage is associated with a long journey that the dictionary clarifies as “especially one undertaken as a quest or for a votive purpose, as to pay homage” or one “made to some sacred place as an act of religious devotion.” For untold millions of people who have lineage in Ireland it is possible, even at the most basic tourist level, to make a pilgrimage there. Ireland, indeed, is a sacred place. Ireland is about majestic beauty and ancient history, but it is equally about the people themselves who welcome us back, understanding our craving to psychically anchor ourselves from within our ancestors’ homeland.

This pilgrimage, my third journey there, was the culmination of eight years of serious, passionate, intentional research as I sought to learn about Ireland’s history and my own family lines. Traveling alone, this time was an even stronger and more focussed act of devotion in honor of my ancestors. My O’Sullivan, O’Mahony, O’Donovan, and Halloran (Ó Súileabháin, Ó Mathghamhna, Ó Donndubháin, Ó hAllmhuráin) relatives had pointed me to the general areas of Counties Kerry, Cork and Limerick. My Murphys, Ryans and Walshes (Ó Murchadha, Ó Riain/Mulryan, Middle English walsche “foreigner,” also Welch) might have been from almost anywhere in the areas in which I have traveled, so many were the instances in which those surnames appeared. But history itself and enough other clues made it possible for me to get very close to the home bases of my Meagher/Maher, Butler and Phalen/Whalen (O’ Faoláin) ancestors. It was especially for them that I drove my (ridiculously expensive) rental car 1,756 kilometers “keeping between ditches all the way,” with two additional trips, including to Dublin, in my friend Jane Lyon’s car—those times with her behind the wheel.

Over these couple of weeks I visited again with friends I had met three years previously, and met “in real time” new friends with whom I look forward to remaining in contact. The power of the Internet to forge these connections and make these meetings possible has never ceased to amaze me. I have felt even more strongly, however, that my ancestors themselves have been gradually parting the Red Seas for me over all these many years. That Jane and I are now as if in parallel universes across the Atlantic Ocean, that we are joined at the hip in this quest to bridge my Connecticut research with her Irish research for particular families, and that we are in the present together (whether physically, virtually or on the telephone) is nothing short of a miracle!

Irish Hospitality ruled the days of my journey. I often felt as if I was moving through a fairy tale in the place where fairies originated. Locations I had researched and sought to find were revealed to me clue after clue, person by person, each in a different way, with one detail often literally pointing to the next. As happened upon many occasions in Connecticut, I would sometimes be emotionally overcome and moved to tears right on the spot due to some revelation. It may indeed be that with this trip my great great Maher grandfather has been found! More research will be necessary, but my new friend, Oliver, seems to have pulled aside a curtain that had been drawn for decades.

I will attempt in a series of posts to share the highlights of this trip. Come back again to read them. Also, please have a look at my book’s Facebook page, and consider purchasing my book, which is still available on Amazon.com or from me via Paypal or by check (P.O. Box 40211, Baltimore, MD, 21212).

Remember, not all who wander are lost. The roads do rise up to meet us, the wind will be at our backs, the rains will fall softly upon our gardens, and God does—and our Ancestors do—hold us in the hollows of their hands.

©2014 Janet Maher, Leaving Ireland #2

©2014 Janet Maher, Leaving Ireland #2

©2014 Janet Maher / Sinéad Ni Mheachair

All Rights Reserved

Coming to Ireland!

12 Monday May 2014

Posted by Janet Maher in Connecticut Irish, Early Irish Catholics in Connecticut, Mahers, Meaghers, New Haven Irish Catholic Immigrants, Pilgrimage, Waterbury

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Early Irish History, Irish Catholic History, Irish in Connecticut, New Haven County Connecticut, Patrick Maher

©2014 Janet Maher, St. Patrick's Church Window, Vox Hiber Hi Ocum

©2014 Janet Maher, St. Patrick’s Church Window, Vox Hiber Hi Ocum

When I speak with my friend, Jane Lyons, owner of the amazing web site, From Ireland, she reminds me what an unbelievable work of fate and luck our meeting is. That I have been studying a particular subset of Irish immigrants into New Haven County, Connecticut, and have found several of the specific places from which they arrived, and that Jane has been studying the same from her end is one phenomenon. That we have become friends, that she flew all the way from Ireland to attend my first book signing, and that I could bring her to the primary cemeteries in Waterbury and Naugatuck and point to the specific graves that link back to her neck of the woods is another. That I will be spending the last part of my huge Irish research trip with her and that we will be scouring together the area that I have honed in on is a true miracle! What were the odds back in 2006 when I was just learning how to do Irish research that I would be, essentially, collaborating across the ocean with the person who set me on my path and showed me the way? Although I am no longer on her massive listserv, Y-IRL, she has been at my home in America, we talk on the phone, and I will be at her home in another week! (Although I thanked them in my book, I thank again the members of Y-IRL who gave me so much welcome advice all those years ago.)

On this trip I am thrilled that I will also be meeting people I feel to be friends that I met “in real time” when my husband and I were in Ireland three years ago. I will also be lucky enough to meet some new friends that I have only conversed with through email. This is truly a dream! While it is a bit unnerving to anticipate driving on the left side and managing my way to and through so many places alone (until I get to Jane’s), I am grateful for my husband’s support in this “obsession” which is clearly not yet over. He’ll hold down the fort—and water my garden—while I proceed upon this once-in-a-lifetime experience. I am eternally lucky on so many fronts!

Last week several of us attended a visit to Waterbury Connecticut’s third Catholic Church — from 1880, St. Patrick’s. I’m including here a photo of a portion of one of its majestic windows, the bottoms of which include The Lorica of St. Patrick all the way around in Gaelic. This image illustrates Patrick’s dream in which an angel showed him a scroll upon which was written “The voice of the Irish call you.”

As the voice of the Irish is calling me loud and clear, I wish you all well in the big spirit of it all!

©2014 Janet Maher / Sinéad Ni Mheachair

All Rights Reserved

Book Review, Connecticut Society of Genealogists!

13 Thursday Jun 2013

Posted by Janet Maher in Book Review, Connecticut Irish, Early Irish Catholics in Connecticut, Kilkenny Mahers, Naugatuck, Ordering From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Connecticut Society of Genealogists Literary Awards, Irish Catholic History, Irish in Connecticut, Mary Sullivan Conran, Naugatuck Connecticut, Patrick Maher

 
Mary Sullivan Conran, from Janet Maher family photograph album, colorized ©2010 Janet Maher

Mary Sullivan Conran, from Maher family photograph album, colorized ©2010 Janet Maher

Although I was disappointed not to have won a literary award from the Connecticut Society of Genealogists, I very much appreciate the review they included in this issue of Connecticut Genealogy News! About my book, From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley: Early Irish Catholics in New Haven County, Connecticut, they wrote:

A massive volume of Irish lore, this book will attract not only the beginning researcher but also those charter members of TIARA. The author, a native of Connecticut, has equipped this scholarly book with multi-colored and black and white photographs. The author uses larger print size than usual as she maps and transcribes the oldest Catholic cemetery in Naugatuck, where generations of people and their descendants who helped shape the character of southern Connecticut lay interred. An excellent set of researcher’s tools enable the user of this material to accurately navigate throughout its contents. Starting with a clearly defined table of contents and ending with a plethora of selected bibliographical works, broken into sections determined to be primary and secondary sources, this book’s organization is a reader’s delight. The concluding section entitled Recommended Organizations is a source not usually included, but is an added bonus for the researcher.

In the course of my research, photography was a partner to historical and genealogical study. Our family images provided questions and sometimes hinted at answers, helping to create ties between individuals. After years of puzzling over one large group photo, included in full in my book, I finally determined that the striking older woman in this detail, above, was Mary Sullivan Conran. Mary, the daughter of Mary Maher and Patrick Sullivan, of Ireland, had several siblings who also emigrated to Naugatuck, Connecticut. She was the wife of Edward Conran, one of the close partners of my great great grandfather, Patrick Maher, and godfather to Patrick’s youngest child, Josephine (future principal of Salem School).

In my study of birth records in Freshford, Kilkenny, I believe that I discovered Mary and three of her siblings. She was born in 1826, relatively close in age to Patrick Maher, who was born in 1811, from nearby Queen’s County/Laois. (In Naugatuck, four years were shaved from Mary’s age. This, however, was a slight amount compared to those subtracted in census and birth records throughout the decades by so many other historically young-looking Irish women.)

Mary Sullivan Conran died in June, 1910, at age eighty. My research of the first community of Irish Catholics in nineteenth century Naugatuck suggests that she would have been the last remaining elder of the original immigrant group. I discussed this revelation with a descendent of the Conrans, who thought she recognized a resemblance to another photo of Mary Conran that she remembered.

I find these kinds of discoveries to be quite thrilling. Having spent my entire life as an artist, little could I have known that the path of an historian might have been another possibility–albeit aided by art! It’s also delightful to have discovered through this work that our family was not as tiny as it had always seemed. I wish that we could have known our ancestors during their lifetimes, but am grateful for the journey they nonetheless provided.

©2013 Janet Maher / Sinéad Ní Mheachair

All Rights Reserved

From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley: Early Irish Catholics in New Haven County, Connecticut was published by Apprentice House, Baltimore, MD. It is 400 pages and includes 336 images. It may be obtained at: Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury, CT; Naugatuck Historical Society, Naugatuck, CT; and Quinnipiac University Bookstore, Mount Carmel Branch, Hamden, CT. In Baltimore it may be purchased from Loyola University Bookstore and The Ivy Bookshop. Online it may be purchased from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Amazon UK, and from me via Paypal or by check (P.O. Box 40211, Baltimore, MD, 21212).

Purchasing My Book

26 Thursday Jul 2012

Posted by Janet Maher in Connecticut Irish, Early Irish Catholics in Connecticut, History, Kilkenny Mahers, New Haven Irish Catholic Immigrants, Ordering From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley, Origins

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Amazon.com, American Mahers, Ancient Ireland, Early Irish History, Gaelic Ireland, Irish Catholic, Irish Catholic History, Irish Catholic Immigrants, Irish Genealogy, Irish History, Irish Meaghers, Naugatuck Connecticut, New Haven County Connecticut, New Haven County Mahers, Patrick Maher, Tombstone Transcriptions

Lynch’s Farm ©2010 Janet Maher, image from our family collection, digitized, restored and hand-colored by the author (pigmented ink on archival paper, 12 1/6″ x 18 3/4″, framed 18″ x 25″) included in From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley: Early Irish Catholics in New Haven County, Connecticut. 

After a bit of editing for unexpected typos that I found, I have reordered my book, From the Old Sod, Early Irish Catholics of New Haven County, Connecticut, which is now in its First Edition, revised, version. It is 399 pages and includes 336 images. It is now back in stock and available for sale. How to purchase my book:

1. From the author! The price is $65.95. I will pay for packing and shipping in the U.S. and will sign it if you’d like. I am offering a price break at three/four ($62) and five/six ($58) copies. You can order my book securely through this blog using PayPal (click below on correct number of copies to activate this feature) or send me a U.S. drawn check at this address: Janet Maher, Department of Fine Arts, Loyola University Maryland, 4501 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD, 21210.

Purchase One Copy Here;  Purchase Two Copies Here;   Purchase Three Copies Here;   Purchase Four Copies Here;   Purchase Five Copies Here;   Purchase Six Copies Here.

2. From Amazon.com. If you have purchased it this way and would like for me to sign it, you can mail it to me at the above address and include a self addressed stamped padded envelope for its return.

3. If you live outside the United States, it is possible to purchase my book here: Amazon.com Canada; Amazon.com UK; Waterstones.com. If you would like for me to sign it, please mail it to me at the above address and include a self addressed stamped padded envelope for its return.

I welcome reviews of my book. You can include yours in comment sections on this blog, and/or on the spaces for reviews on Amazon or Barnes and Noble sites.

To see the Table of Contents, please refer to my May 24, 2012 post here.

I hope that everyone who reads my book will enjoy it and will have found it helpful in their own quest to learn more about the earliest Irish Catholics of New Haven County and the Catholic history of Ireland. Thank you for your interest in my labor of love and thank you in advance for purchasing it!

©2012 Janet Maher/Sinéad Ní Mheachair

All Rights Reserved

From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley: Early Irish Catholics In New Haven County, Connecticut

11 Monday Jun 2012

Posted by Janet Maher in Connecticut Irish, History, Kilkenny Mahers, New Haven Irish Catholic Immigrants, Origins, Pilgrimage, Thoughts

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

American Mahers, Ancient Ireland, Brennan, Early Irish History, Irish Catholic History, Irish in Connecticut, Irish in the Civil War, Irish Meaghers, Irish pilgrimage, Milesian Genealogy, Naugatuck Connecticut, New Haven County Mahers, Patrick Maher, Saint Bernard Cemetery, Tombstone Transcriptions

©2012 Janet Maher, From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley, books at home; image: Katherine Maher Martin and Eliza Maher, ca 1850s

©2012 Janet Maher, From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley, books at home; image: Katherine Maher Martin and Eliza Maher, ca 1850s

First thing I did when I got the proof was to take pictures of it, then bring it into my department and show it to my colleagues, who then immediately got to hold it. Not exactly like having a baby, but pretty exciting, nonetheless.

The first mention in the press is out, on the Naugatuck Patch! The book is in the process of being offered on the Amazon website, and will also be available through Amazon.uk.

Hope to see some of you on June 21. Huge news is that Jane Lyons is flying all the way over from Ireland to be there! We’ll be going to the Irish Festival in New Haven that weekend too!

Wishing you all well,

Janet

©2012 Janet Maher/Sinéad Ní Mheachair

All Rights Reserved

New Haven County Irish in the Civil War

08 Saturday Oct 2011

Posted by Janet Maher in Connecticut Irish, History, Kilkenny Mahers, New Haven Irish Catholic Immigrants, Tombstone Transcriptions

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

9th Connecticut Infantry, AmericanCivilWar, John Maher, Patrick Maher, Reverend Thomas Duggan


John and Catherine Maher Tombstone

John and Catherine Maher Tombstone, Parents of Major Patrick Maher, Saint Bernard Cemetery, West Haven, Connecticut

Robert Larkin tells me that there will be a commemoration of the Soldier’s Monument at Saint Bernard Cemetery in West Haven on October 23 at 1 p.m. He explained that this will mark the 125th anniversary of the dedication by the State of Connecticut of the 32 foot high monument (note photo in my previous post, Miscellaneous Thoughts, 8/22/11). It will include a wreath laying, bagpiper, taps, a short ceremony, a handout with soldier information and assistance in locating individual Civil War grave sites. Over the summer Ellen Bohan, Pat Heslin and Paul Keroac were able to find the location of 190 Civil War markers or tombstones, including some veterans who had been buried with their families. Their list includes more than 300 soldiers in total. Congratulations to them for this invaluable work!

Soldiers in the cemetery represent about 20 Connecticut regiments or artillery units, nine regiments from other states, 20 from the United States Infantry and Navy, a Medal of Honor recipient and one soldier who died in 1942. Each of the identified markers or stones will have a flag placed at its site. Among the many veterans from the Ninth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers are: Colonel Thomas Cahill, Captain Lawrence O’Brien, Captain John G. Healy, 2nd Lieutenant William O’Keefe, Captain James Hennessey. Neil Hogan, author of Strong in Their Patriotic Devotion, has written a two-page flier and two pages of soldier information will also be available for those who attend the ceremony.

At the Naugatuck Historical Society will also be events in commemoration of the Civil War. Beginning at noon on October 23 will be concert, fellowship and cocktails, the annual meeting of the society, and at 2 pm a buffet dinner with a Civil War Music program.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend either of these events, but I will be there in spirit. I offer this “almost” chapter that I had considered including in my book, but am finding that it ranges too far outside my already complicated topic. This venue seems to be the right place for it.

I wish my friends in Connecticut and everyone who attends the commemoration events a glorious time honoring the heroes!

Colonel Cahill Tombstone

Colonel Thomas Cahill Family Stone, Saint Bernard Cemetery, West Haven, Connecticut

Company E, of the 2nd Regiment, the Washington-Erina Guards of New Haven was begun in July 1849 and officially recognized in March 1852. It was comprised of American citizens, either naturalized or American born. Among the 1850 petitioners to form the militia were: John Maher, Patrick Maher and Thomas W. Cahill (of Massachusetts). The group “purchased their own uniforms and received flint-lock muskets from the State.”[i] The Irish companies in New Haven, Hartford, Bridgeport, Derby, and Norwich included:

• Infantry Company E, 2nd Regiment, Washington-Erina Guards – Capt. Thomas W. Cahill, First Lieut. Patrick Maher

• Infantry Company D, 2nd Regiment, Jackson Guards – an offshoot of New Haven’s Company E (Murray noted that when the company was disbanded there was no captain and John Maher, Jr. commanded as First Lieutenant. John was likely the brother of Patrick Maher, whose parents’ tombstone is above. They require their own article.)

• Infantry Company F, Emmet Guards – Hartford

• Infantry Company C, Jackson Guards – Norwich

• Rifle Company B, 2nd Regiment, Derby Rifles – Derby

• Infantry Company B, 8th Regiment, Montgomery Guards – New Haven

Despite prejudice against them throughout the decades, when the American Civil War began in April 1861 many Irish in Connecticut were willing to enlist. Mahers fought in both sides of the Civil War, most on the side of the Union. The National Park Service Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System includes information about 26 Mahers in the Union Army between 1861 and 1865. (Five Meaghers, five Mahars and twenty-six Maher listings occur for Connecticut regiments. Eighty-six men by the name of Butler were listed, as were 121 by the name of Martin.) Reverend Thomas Duggan noted 7,900 Irish soldiers, and that Irish priests, such as Reverend Thomas Francis Hendricken of Waterbury’s Immaculate Conception, raised flags above their churches. Captain Cahill was notified that his Emmet Guards would be quickly commissioned, to which he tersely replied:

“Six years ago I was captain of a company of volunteer militia and a native of New England. I was, with my comrades, thought to be unfit to shoulder a musket in time of peace, and the company was disbanded…under circumstances peculiarly aggravating to military pride. The law by which we were disbanded still stands on the Statute Book, and as long as it is there my fellow-soldiers and myself feel it to be an insult to us and to all our fellow-citizens of Irish birth and Catholic faith. If we were not fit to bear arms in time of peace, we might be dangerous in time of war.”[iii]

The 1855 law was repealed and the Irish Regiment, the Ninth Connecticut Volunteers, was begun at Camp English in New Haven. Neil Hogan and Right Reverend Thomas S. Duggan, D.D., wrote extensively about the Connecticut 9th, in particular about their mistreatment through lack of Hartford’s support during the war.[iv]

Their first tour of duty began in Massachusetts under General Benjamin Butler, who had requested Connecticut soldiers. When the Connecticut 9th, along with the 26th Massachusetts Regiment, arrived in the Gulf of Mexico on the desolate Ship Island, near Mississippi, Hogan noted “Nearly half of them were without shoes and as many more without shirts; several had no coats or blankets. Some drilled in primitive attire of blouse and cotton drawers…The tents were hardly capacious enough to cover them.” [v] By contrast, the Massachusetts company had been given “warm blankets, ample tents, and two uniform suits of clothing per man.” In 1862 a letter from one of the Connecticut 9th soldiers was printed in the New Haven Register, setting in perspective the loyalty of the Irish to their adopted American homeland despite the conditions in which they served. It stated “the Ninth will do their part, when they are led forth in defense of the country which gives more freedom to the stranger than any other on the face of the Earth. Irishmen have fought for France under Sarsfield, for Russia under Delacy and for Spain, in their shirt sleeves, under O’Donnell, at Bull Run under Corcoran; and the adopted sons of Connecticut will prove themselves as good as their ancestors either in France, Spain, Russia or America.”[vi]

According to Duggan the military pay that the Connecticut 9th sent back to their families amounted to almost $20,000 during their difficult time in the south. He noted the finding of a cache of canvas shoes that Cahill gave to his men against regulations to which he replied, “My men are bare-foot and necessity knows no law.”[vii] Cahill had been serving as Brigadier-General for the Connecticut 9th, and a New York Tribune article regarded the company as “one of the oldest and best disciplined regiments.” When Cahill retired after his notable service, however, he was only awarded his initial title, Colonel.[viii]

From rosters listed in Thomas Hamilton Murray’s study of this regiment I have compiled the following information:[ix]

• On September 27, 1861 the following men mustered into Connecticut Ninth, Company E from Derby: Thomas Healy (1st Sgt.), Michael Dolan (Cpl.), James McNally (Cpl.), John Crowley (Pvt.), Edward Heffernan (Pvt.), Cornelius Ryan (Pvt.), James Ryan (Pvt.); also on that day, John Maher, of East Windsor, mustered into Co. G.  From New Haven on that day the following mustered into Company E: Thomas Kennedy (1st Sgt.), Michael Mullins (2nd Lieut.), Daniel Heffernan (Sgt.), Thomas Ryan (Sgt.).

• Between October 4 and October 30, 1861 the following men from Derby mustered into Company E: James Dolan (Cpl.), James Shea (Pvt.), John Healey (Pvt.), John Lawler (Cpl.), Bernard Whelan (Pvt.), and from New Haven, James P. Hennessey (Capt.), Francis McKeon (1st Lieut.), and Terence Sheridan (Capt.).

• On November 25, 1861, from Derby, Michael Naylor (Cpl.), Timothy Crowley (Pvt.), John Maher (Pvt.) mustered into Company E.

• From New Orleans, on Nov. 30, musician John Burns also mustered into this Company. He was followed on May 27 and 29, 1862 by Hugh Lynch (Pvt.), Garrett O’Toole (Pvt.), John McTague (Pvt.), and William Grace (Pvt.), who mustered into Company E from New Orleans and Cape Parap’t.  (Might those who ended up in the south when they emigrated have intentionally decided to join friends in the Connecticut 9th when the opportunity arose?)

• In 1862 and 1863 the following of the aforementioned men died: William Grace, John McTague, John Maher (both), John Burns, John Crowley, Cornelius Ryan, James Ryan. Edward Heffernan was discharged. John Lawlor, Michael Dolan, Thomas Healy, and Michael Mullins transferred into Company K. On October 12, 1864 the following men transferred into Company B: Garrett O’Toole, Hugh Lynch, Timothy Crowley, John Healey, Terence Sheridan, Thomas Kennedy, Daniel Heffernan, Thomas Ryan. In addition, Hogan noted, “Timothy Maher was promoted to corporal in Company B, and served to the end of the war.”[x]

Joseph Casimir O’Meagher noted another Patrick Meagher, First Lieutenant 13th Infantry, Brevet Captain for gallant and meritorious services in 1863 during the siege of Vicksburg.[xi] Captain Daniel Maher, Lieutenant Patrick Maher, Sergeant Jeremiah Maher, and Private Patrick Maher served in the 63rd Regiment, New York Infantry, which was attached to Brigadier General Thomas Francis Meagher’s Irish Brigade. John Meagher, who enlisted at 19 in his home state of New York, according to O’Meagher, was promoted to corporal, sergeant, and second lieutenant. He fought in “Fredericksburg…Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Bristow Station, Rapidan, Mine run, The Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Laurel Hill, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Deep Bottom [twice], Ream’s Station, Skinner’s Farm, Hatcher’s Run and Sutherland’s Station. [xii]

In the early 1900s many tributes were paid to the valiant Ninth Connecticut Volunteers, thoroughly documented by Thomas Hamilton Murray. On August 5, 1903 he included a notice from the Naugatuck Daily News that recounted the trip taken to New Haven by “the Hibernian Rifle Company, the Saint Francis T.A.B. (Total Abstinence and Benevolent Society) Drum Corps, members of Isbell Post, G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic), the Young Men’s Catholic Institute and the Naugatuck Drum Corps” to participate in ceremonies for the unveiling of a New Haven monument in honor of the Ninth Regiment.[xiii] Included among the invited were members of the New Haven Society, Knights of Saint Patrick. Attending the formal dinner that evening were members and dignitaries from Connecticut cities as well as from New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Delaware and Rhode Island, including:

• Hon. William Kennedy, Naugatuck

• Col. John G. Healy, New Haven (9th)

• Thomas Hamilton Murray, Boston

• Michael P. Coen, Naugatuck (9th)

• Joseph R. Hall, Naugatuck

• John F. Hayes, M.D., Waterbury

• Thomas M. Cahill, M.D., New Haven

• Stephen J. Maher, M.D., New Haven

• Major Patrick Maher, New Haven (24th)[xiv]

The graves of war veterans in Naugatuck are still decorated by the Veterans’ Association every year with flags, although there does not seem to be specific records about them. Among all the veterans buried in Saint Francis Cemetery, Naugatuck are:

• Adamson, James, Co. B., 20th Regt. Conn. Vols., G. A.R., Post 13

• Brennan, John, Co. I., 5th Inf. Conn. Vols., G.A.R.

• Burke, John P.,  G.A.R., Post 16

• Carolen, Thomas, G.A.R.

• Campion, Wm., Sgt. Co. C., 1st Conn. Cav., G.A.R.

• Coen, John P., Corp. Co. F., 9th Reg. C.V., G.A.R.

• Coen, Michael, Co. K., 20th Reg. C.V., G.A.R.

• Conran, James, G.A.R., Post 7 (Co. F., 1st Conn. H.A.)

• Davy, John, G.A.R., Post 170

• Duffin, James, Co.D., 158 Inf., N.Y. Vols., G.A.R.

• Ford, Thomas, Co. H., 15 Regt. Conn. Vols., G.A.R., Post 10

• Fruin, Michael, Co. H., 15 Inf. Conn. Vols., G.A. R., Post 15

• Harper, Thomas P., 152D. Dep. Brig.

• Jones, Horace E., Co. H., 2 C.V.R.A., G.A.R.

• Keefe, Arthur, Co.E., 2 Reg. Mass. Vol. , G.A.R.

• Keogh, Michael, G.A.R., Post 165

• Maher, Thomas, Co. E, 3 U.S. Arty. G.A.R.

• Martin, John A., U.S.N., World War I

• Murphy, Patrick, Spanish American War

• O’Donnell, James

• O’Donnell, John, Co. E., 5th Conn. Vols. G.A.R., Post 6

• Ruth, Patrick K., Capt., Co. B., 8 C.V.I., G.A.R.

• Shields, David, Co. K., 23rd U.S. Inf., G.A.R., Post 4

• Young, Peter, G.A.R., Post 1

May they all rest in peace.

James Maher, Civil War, Saint Bernard Cemetery, West Haven, Connecticut

Note: In the course of posting this article I stumbled upon a chapter of the book Lives of the Deceased Bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States, which includes a chapter about Bishop Hendricken. Although I did research him and include some information in my book, I had not seen this until now and did not know that his mother’s name was Ann Maher! His connection to Kilkenny has already been interesting to me, as so much of my own research leads directly back there, but that his mother was a Maher may be significant.

©2011 Janet Maher/Sinéad Ní Mheachair

All Rights Reserved

 


[i] Murray, Thomas Hamilton, History of the Ninth Regiment, Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, The Irish Regiment, In the War of the Rebellion, 1861-65; New Haven, CT: The Price, Lee and Adkins Co., 1903; pp. 12-14.

[iii] Duggan, Right Reverend Thomas S., D.D., The Catholic Church in Connecticut, New York City: The States History Company, 1930, pg.90.

[iv] Hogan, Neil, Strong In Their Patriotic Devotion: Connecticut’s Irish in the Civil War, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society, 2003.

[v] Ibid., pp. 14-15.

[vi] Opcit., pg. 15.

[vii] Duggan, Right Reverend Thomas S., D.D., Vicar-General of the Diocese of Hartford, The Catholic Church in Connecticut, New York: The States History Company, 1930; pp. 91-92.

[viii] Ibid., pg. 92-93.

[ix] Opcit.

[x] Civil War Soldiers and Sailors web site notes this Timothy as 16th Regiment, Co. D. A second Timothy Maher (2nd Reg., Co. C) had an alternate spelling, Mayher.  He also appears as Corp. Timothy Meagher. (M535, Roll 11)

[xi] O’Meagher, Joseph Casimir, Some Historical Notices of the O’Meaghers of Ikerrin, American Edition, New York, 1890, pg. 182.

[xii] Ibid.

[xiii] Murray, Thomas Hamilton, History of the Ninth Regiment, Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, The Irish Regiment, In the War of the Rebellion, 1861-65; New Haven, CT: Price Lee and Adkins Co., 1903, pp.391, 392.

[xiv] Ibid., pp 394-396.

The Mahers of Kilkenny

09 Tuesday Aug 2011

Posted by Janet Maher in Kilkenny Mahers

≈ 26 Comments

Tags

County Kilkenny, Ireland, New Haven County Mahers, Patrick Maher

Freshford Cemetery

Freshford Cemetery, July 2011

Mary, Freshford Church

Inside Freshford Church, July 2011

The Mahers of Kilkenny are of particular interest to me, as this is one of the places around which my personal research revolves. Joseph Casimir O’Meagher contributed a pedigree of this group (pp. 201, 202), which I have organized in a way that I hope is easier to follow. I believe that Adelaide Maher, daughter of John Maher and Alicia Murray, who married John Quigley in 1839 in Freshford, Kilkenny, (FHL#926192) is very likely the same Adelaide J. Maher Quigley who emigrated to the small town of my great great grandparents (Patrick Maher and Anne Butler) in Naugatuck, Connecticut, 1864, and is buried in their cemetery, Saint Francis. I have done a great deal of research about her as well as about the other four Maher family grave sites there (and about other Mahers in New Haven County).

Adelaide J. Maher

Adelaide J. Maher, Saint Francis Cemetery, 2009

William Meagher, County Kilkenny (1697, Nicholastown – 1836, Freshford); was a member of the 87th Royal Irish Fusileers and fought in Portugal.  He married Mary Dunne, aunt of a Bishop of Ossory. Their children: John, William, Thomas, and three daughters (Mrs. Byrne, Mrs. Lalor and another). 1. John (born 1728, married Catherine Kearney of Tipperary; their children: William, Elizabeth and Richard: William, born 1756, died 1803, married Catherine Brennan of Shralee and had Major Maher, 87th Regiment, who died 1836 unmarried; Elizabeth married Dr. J. Cullinane; Dr. Richard, of Waterford, married Anna Bowers, no children); 2. William (of Tennylenton, see below.) [NOTE: here, confusingly, O’Meagher included an additional John, placed Thomas as the fourth child, then added four more children other than the daughters he first listed.] 3. John (of Ballyragget, married Phelan; their children: Ellen, Catherine, Anne, others, none married); 4. Thomas (involved in the uprisings of 1798, fled to America and died there, was married to “Beauty Kavanagh;” their son John, 1793 -1850/1855, was an attorney; also a daughter Joanna who emigrated to and died in America); 5. James, apothecary in Dublin, died unmarried; 6. Pierce; 7. Dennis (died in America); 8. Catherine (married Garrett Brennan of Eden Hall). [Nicholastown is on R432, a road leading directly north to Ballinakill, Co. Laois and directly south to Ballyragget.]

William Meagher (of Tennylenton, second son of William Meagher of Nicholastown), born 1729, married Ellen Fitzpatrick of Gurteen. Their children: William Maher (Kileany, Queen’s County); John Maher (Freshford, 1769-1836); and daughters: Mrs. Cassin, Mrs. Ward, Mrs. Lalor, and Kate, a nun. [Thankfully, O’Meagher noted that Kileany was in Queen’s County (Laois), not in Kilkenny, where I could not find it. Kileany is east of Abbeyleix. My great great grandfather, Patrick was said to have been from Queen’s County, and his possible brother or cousin, Matthew, was from Ballinakill. Tennylenton may no longer exist, or may have been a typo on O’Meagher’s part. I have not found the town on a map nor a town that has a spelling close to it.]

William Maher of Kileany (son of William of Tennylenton) 1767-1830, married Catherine Hannell (heiress of Captain Hannell and Ann Scully, Lissaroon, County Tipperary). Their children: William, 1791-1867 (married twice, see below); James Hannell, 1798-1884, died unmarried; John, died unmarried 1829; Edward James (Littleton); Anne, married William J. Maher, no children; Mary, a nun; Frances, unmarried; Ellen, unmarried.

William Maher (1791-1867), son of William of Kileany, married Mary Byrne of Ballyspellan. Their children: Charles (emigrated to America); Mary Ann (married Jeremiah Scully of Freshford). William married a second time to Eliza Savage of Dublin. Their children: Catherine Hannell and James William (as of 1890 both were living in England.) [Ballyspellan Lower is north of Johnstown, on the west side of County Kilkenny, near the border of Tipperary.]

Edward James Maher (1813-1881), of Littlefield, Jenkinstown (son of William Meagher of Kileany) married Mary Ann Moffitt, daughter of Francis, of Raheen House, Queen’s County. Moffitt had been a Captain of the 14th Regiment. Their children: Mary (married Henry Loughnan, J.P., Crohill, Kilkenny); William (born 1855); Francis Edward (born 1856); Anne (married Michael Corcoran); Edward, C. E. (born 1860). [Littlefield is north of Kilkenny City, directly west of Freshford.]

John Maher (1769-1836), of Freshford, brother of William Maher of Kileany, married Alicia Murray, of Kilkenny, in 1792. Their children: William J. (1800-1875, married Anne Maher, no children); Emanuel Murray (born 1802, died unmarried); Mary, Ellen (a nun), Adelaide, and Michael (who died in America). John Maher married a second time to Jane Harold (Limerick). Their children were Kate, Margaret (a nun), Elizabeth (a nun), Jane (a nun), and Fanny (a nun).

NOTE: The stone of Adelaide Maher Quigley, who died in Naugatuck, Connecticut, placed her birth year as about 1808, slightly older than our Patrick, who was born in 1811. We know that women often shaved a few years off their ages, and that children did not always know the correct information when asked to fill out death records or provide information for tombstones. Adelaide Maher, daughter of John Maher and Alicia Murray, was baptized in Freshford on July 16, 1805. (Rothe House Trust Ltd./Irish Family History Foundation)

Interestingly, Griffiths Valuations for the parish of Freshford, Kilkenny, (printed in 1850) show many instances of the names William Maher, John Maher, Wm. John Maher, Esq., William J. Maher, Esq. (and other Mahers) and John Quigley, not only as tenants, but as individuals leasing land to others. In several occurrences they leased property from William de Montmorency Esq., the main landlord. (More about him later.) Surnames in the area, including others who subleased land, replicate closely the many early Anglo-Irish immigrant surnames that can be found in Saint Francis Cemetery, Naugatuck, Connecticut.* Many vacant properties in Freshford’s Griffiths Valuations appear to have been owned by William J. Maher, Esq., perhaps after individuals had already chosen to emigrate (such my great great grandparents who could have been living there after their marriage).

Microfilms of birth and marriage records for Kilkenny can be rented from the Family History Center, Utah, and Joseph Casimir O’Meagher’s notes should be further researched and clarified (as I am presently doing). Also, see Jane Lyon’s web site and her section on Kilkenny. A Google search on Kilkenny Genealogy will turn up many more resources online.

*My book about this cemetery will come out at the end of this year.

References:

Ask About Ireland – Griffith’s Valuation, http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml

O’Meagher, Joseph Casimir, Some Historical Notices of the O’Meaghers of Ikerrin, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., American Edition: NY, 1890

©2011 Sinéad Ní Mheachair (Janet Maher)

All Rights Reserved


Pages

  • About

Blog Stats

  • 90,270 hits

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 225 other subscribers

Archives

Recent Posts

  • A Talk in April! – Journey Home
  • Jane, Beyond the Veil
  • Addendum and Transition
  • Earth Day in a Pandemic
  • Shine A Light

Top Posts & Pages

  • The Mahers of Kilkenny
  • O'Meagher Castles
  • About
  • Ancient Ireland

From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley

From the Old Sod to the Naugatuck Valley

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Maher Matters
    • Join 225 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Maher Matters
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar