Bridget and her seven children left Castlecomer and Ireland in 1844. They probably sailed from Dublin or Cork.

Bridget and her seven children left Castlecomer and Ireland in 1844. They probably sailed from Dublin or Cork.


Lady Anne Wandesforde Butler, Countess of Ormonde, had been the owner of Wandesforde estate and Castlecomer House since the death of her father in 1784.
Continue readingI think Thomas Large worked in the coal mines. Let’s make the case.
The Wandesforde Estate was smack in the middle of the Castlecomer coal fields. Coal provided Castlecomer’s wealth from the mid-1600s until the mid-1900s.


The Wandesforde family were gentry in Yorkshire, England, where they held an estate called Kirklington Manor.
In 1637, Lord Christopher Wandesforde was granted land in County Kilkenny, Ireland. Successive generations of the Wandesforde family controlled this estate until the 1950s.
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Patrick Gallagher left Ireland for Pennsylvania around 1850. There he met and married Ellen Large.
Ellen had immigrated too. She and her siblings and mother left Ireland in 1844.
Whereas our Gallaghers hailed from County Donegal, our Large grandparents were from County Kilkenny.
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Patrick Gallagher emigrated around 1850, at about age 23.
We don’t know the specific year Patrick left Ireland, or which ship he was on.
Continue readingWe found the Gallaghers, Roartys, Dugans, and Duffys in Meenderrynasloe and surrounding townlands. These townlands are in The Rosses and Gweedore Districts.


When you Google “The Great Famine,” accounts of starvation and death are numerous and overwhelming.
But as you read further and “go down the rabbit hole,” the story gets much more complex.
Continue readingJohn and Hannah Gallagher and their children lived a meager lifestyle in the northwest part of County Donegal. They and their families and neighbors weren’t much affected by the “outside” world.


Tom Gallagher met Catherine Riley in Sedalia in 1920. By 1922 they were engaged to be married.
Before they marry, we’re going to take some time to meet Tom’s family.
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