Irish Eyes are Smiling
Since today is St. Patrick's Day, my thoughts always turn to my Irish ancestors, all of whom, I'd like to think are smiling down at me. Let me start with the 'green' (Irish Catholic) side of the family tree.
My 3rd-great grandfather Frank Fagan (1826-1897) was part of the huge migration from Ireland during the potato famine. He was probably from county Westmeath in central Ireland. What his circumstances were in Ireland, I don't really know, but here's a pretty fair guess. "Devon in February 1845 reported that 'It would be impossible adequately to describe the privations which they [Irish labourer and his family] habitually and silently endure . . . in many districts their only food is the potato, their only beverage water . . . their cabins are seldom a protection against the weather... a bed or a blanket is a rare luxury . . . and nearly in all their pig and a manure heap constitute their only property.' The Commissioners concluded that they could not "forbear expressing our strong sense of the patient endurance which the labouring classes have exhibited under sufferings greater, we believe, than the people of any other country in Europe have to sustain." (source: Cecil Woodham-Smith, The Great Hunger, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1991, p. 24).
Frank married Elizabeth Martin born in Ireland in December 1829, she died 17 Oct 1901. I don't have a date or place for their marriage but my guess is that it was here in America, circa 1851. Their first child, was born in March of 1852 in West Troy, New York.
Frank and Elizabeth lived in the south section of West Troy - just north of the Watervliet Arsenal. Perhaps Frank who is listed on census records as simply "laborer" worked there. The Fagans had seven daughters. Four of them are in this photo. Mary Fagan Owens my gg-grandmother is the dark-haired beauty in the center. My guess is that her sisters Catherine, Elizabeth & Bridget are the other three, those being the four oldest.
The Fagans attended St. Brigid's Church and Frank & Elizabeth are buried at St. Patrick's Cemetery in Watervliet.
I realize this post doesn't have the same "story value" as most of my others, but the fact is I know very little of this family, and there's probably not much more to uncover. I attended a genealogy workshop on finding Irish ancestors (specifically Northern Ireland, but it applies to the rest of the island too) and the fact is that the English have destroyed most Irish records, so finding out anything more is not very likely. But I still hold out hope that the luck of the Irish may yet turn up something new about this family.
My 3rd-great grandfather Frank Fagan (1826-1897) was part of the huge migration from Ireland during the potato famine. He was probably from county Westmeath in central Ireland. What his circumstances were in Ireland, I don't really know, but here's a pretty fair guess. "Devon in February 1845 reported that 'It would be impossible adequately to describe the privations which they [Irish labourer and his family] habitually and silently endure . . . in many districts their only food is the potato, their only beverage water . . . their cabins are seldom a protection against the weather... a bed or a blanket is a rare luxury . . . and nearly in all their pig and a manure heap constitute their only property.' The Commissioners concluded that they could not "forbear expressing our strong sense of the patient endurance which the labouring classes have exhibited under sufferings greater, we believe, than the people of any other country in Europe have to sustain." (source: Cecil Woodham-Smith, The Great Hunger, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1991, p. 24).
Frank married Elizabeth Martin born in Ireland in December 1829, she died 17 Oct 1901. I don't have a date or place for their marriage but my guess is that it was here in America, circa 1851. Their first child, was born in March of 1852 in West Troy, New York.
Frank and Elizabeth lived in the south section of West Troy - just north of the Watervliet Arsenal. Perhaps Frank who is listed on census records as simply "laborer" worked there. The Fagans had seven daughters. Four of them are in this photo. Mary Fagan Owens my gg-grandmother is the dark-haired beauty in the center. My guess is that her sisters Catherine, Elizabeth & Bridget are the other three, those being the four oldest.
The Fagans attended St. Brigid's Church and Frank & Elizabeth are buried at St. Patrick's Cemetery in Watervliet.
I realize this post doesn't have the same "story value" as most of my others, but the fact is I know very little of this family, and there's probably not much more to uncover. I attended a genealogy workshop on finding Irish ancestors (specifically Northern Ireland, but it applies to the rest of the island too) and the fact is that the English have destroyed most Irish records, so finding out anything more is not very likely. But I still hold out hope that the luck of the Irish may yet turn up something new about this family.
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