Erin go Bragh

 Duplicate post today from "When I was 69" because it looks at my ancestors from Ireland...maybe

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 For St. Patrick's Day...from an area with a few Irish descendants, in western North Carolina.

Have a happy St. Paddy's Day all! Raise a glass of green beer to cheer everyone for a good new year ahead. May all experience peace, abundance, good health, love and joy!

Slàinte ! To your health!

And for the non-alcoholic among us, the same wishes apply!

A shamrock blooms in my window on my desk, but it's a ruddy version, so doesn't remind one of the Isle of Green! 

My roots include the Scotch-Irish, which means some ancestors were born in Ireland, though they had been immigrants from Scotland. 

One ancestor is:

John Francis Beattie II, (1718-1790) b. 1718 Killishandra, Cavan County, Ireland, d. 18 Aug 1790 Emory, Washington County, Virginia

Another descendant attached this coat of arms to his page in Ancestry. (yes a tiny file and there're no details about it.)

And the more I look into his life story on Ancestry, the more confused I got. A will written by one John Beattie says his wife is Margared, and he had 8 children which are named. He died in Virginia.

Another John Beattie lived in New York.

And there were 3 different wives names given, Ellen or Eleanor, Martha, and Margaret/Margared.

My ancestress, Margaret Beattie (1762-1861) married a man named Rev. Thomas "Junior" Hansford (1758-1841). They were both born in Virginia and married there in 1788. There are 13 children listed, but some duplicate names with different birth dates...so they may actually be the same persons.

Right after their marriage they moved to the frontier of Kentucky, where they raised all their children and are the Hansford parents buried in Crab Orchard KY. 

So whatever the connection to Ireland may be, these are some American documented ancestors. I can sometime go through all the siblings of my direct line and sort out who was duplicated, but that's for another day.

Today (Wednesday March 12 while I'm writing this) is warm again and I'm going to enjoy some of the green shoots that are finally showing after the greys of winter.

Happy St. Patrick's Day if you celebrate, with or without any Irish roots.

Many large cities have a parade!

For the Irish in us...

Francis Beattie (born 1715 in Ireland, died 1791 in Washington County, VA)
I wrote about this ancestor, my 5 times great grandfather, who was born in Ireland a few years ago...HERE.

Though both his parents had been also born in Ireland, maybe their families came from Scotland.

I've got many other Scottish names who were in Ireland for a couple of generations, then came to America. The McCords, the MacDougals, the MacIntyres.  So though we did have our roots in Ireland for a bit, they were sent there by the Brittish in trying to have rule over Ireland, rather than being true Irish peoples.  We are at least somewhat Scotts-Irish.

Happy St. Patricks Day to our neighbors in ancestry!

And here's my Irish post from 2014...

Irish roots

George Beatty (or maybe Arthur Beatty) was born in Caven, County Caven, Ireland.  

When checking Wikipedia about Caven, this is what I found.

Copyright Oliver Dixon and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Clogh Oughter Castle

Clogh Oughter Castle is situated on an island on Lough Oughter. The Anglo Normans built this round tower in the 12th or 13th century when they tried to conquer the East Breifne area. It was once the stronghold of the O'Reilly Clan, rulers of East Breifne and used as a prison for the rest of the middle ages.

Lough Oughter played a pivotal role in the 1641 Rebellion. The castle was one of the last confederate strongholds to surrender in Ireland to the Cromwellian forces in 1653.

As you can see by the modern map, County Caven is a border county, south of Ulster. It is still predominantly Catholic.

The River Shannon begins in County Caven

 George Beattie was born in Caven (the town) and married there, as well as died there.  (I don't yet know which cemetery he was buried in, but someone on Ancestry has the dates and places...so I'll eventually find out.)  He died May 9, 1741.

Derver Graveyard, County Caven, Ireland

He married in...
Martha Cairnes, who was born in 1669 in Claremore, Tyrone, Ireland.

County Tyrone, Ulster, Ireland

There are 2 Claremores in this largest county of Northern Ireland, so I don't know which one she came from.  But the marriage took place in George's home town of Caven, probably in 1683. I only know of the one son who came to America, Francis who was born in 1715.  But Ancestry has lots of interesting possibilities.  It suggests she married Arthur Beatty, and had parents (with 2 different mothers named) and a lot of other children.

Caven is where the Beatty family lived, and Martha Cairnes Beatty died in April of 1743. 

I'm sticking with one simple story at this time.  I'm always willing to admit mistakes, and change my story later.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

A repost of an old celebratory wish to all...

Originally posted: Monday, March 17, 2014

I love St. Patrick's Day

...from green beer to the great step-dancing to drumming.  Ahhh.
Shamrocks are beautiful, if somewhat weedy once they are established.  "Erin go bragh!"

 Irish history includes some of my ancestors, as well as the Scottish ones who were forced to move to Ireland by the British.  And lots of wonderful music has been written.

I love the myths.  Bridgid.
The ancient sites.  Newgrange.

So I will salute St. Patrick's day, which was brought by the immigrants from Ireland to the US...and still goes strong each March 17.  Erin go bragh!

St. Patrick's Day Parade, Dublin, Ireland

Some of my Irish (and Scotts) ancestors were:

George BEATTY (BEATTIE, Birth 1665 • Cavan, Cavan, Ireland,  Death 9 MAY 1741 • Cavan, Cavan, Ireland

his wife:

Martha CAIRNES BEATTIE, Birth 1669 • Claremore, Tyrone, Ireland, Death APR 1743 • Cavan, Cavan, Ireland

their son:

Francis BEATIE, Birth 1715 • Ireland.  Immigrated to America, Death 1791 • Emory, Washington, Virginia,

his wife:

Martha TATE BEATTIE Her parents from Scotland, she immigrated to America, Birth 1720 • Ireland  Death BEF 1790 • Virginia, 

that line ending up in Kentucky and marrying into the Williams family who were my grandfather, Albert Webb's ancestors (Booth Family tree)

And another family in the Booth Family tree:

Robert McNeal, Birth 12 FEB 1741 • Dublin, Dublin, Ireland, Death 23 SEPT 1818 • Geneseo, Livingston, New York an immigrant whose father was...

Malcolm John McNeal, Birth 1714 • Ballymascanlan, Louth, Ireland, Death ABT 1785 • Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

and his father was:

Archibald McNeal (McNeel), Birth 30 DEC 1686 • Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, Death, Ireland

I haven't gone into all the wives who were also born in Ireland.

Let's just say when I say I have Scotch-Irish roots, there are really some strong ones back there.

 

And especially a toast to my son, Marty and girlfriend Barbara, who were active celebrating St. Patty's day in 2014- this photo is noteworthy because Barbara isn't wearing sunglasses!