Library Forum

I hope to learn of the family origen of John Foran (1763-1863) and his wife, Ellen Creighton Foran (1785-). John married Ellen in Ireland. Their children were: Michael, James, Patrick, Thomas, Francis and Mary. Mary married Patrick Malone. James married Catherine O'Donnell. Thomas married Johanna O'Donnell. Thomas died at age 29. His grave marker is inscribed that he was a native of Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare, Ireland. Other families sir names who immigrated to America and settled in Friendsville were: Hickey, Mooney, Malone, Delaney, Griffin, Kelly, Ryan, Burke, Fitzgerald, Byrne, Carrigan, O'Reilly and many others.
If you can help us locate the town and Parish of their origen we would be greatly apreciative.
Thank you

James,

It's difficult to help you without knowing roughly when those people emigrated or where you have searched hitherto.

However, if you have not already done so you would do well to comb through the website of the Clare County Library at http://www.clarelibrary.ie for the names you are looking for. There you will find lots of Forans, some of them in Miltown Malbay itself and others in surrounding townlands.

It was common for families from a given place in Ireland to emigrate to a common area in Australia, the US, South Africa, etc. because often one person would emigrate and then write back home telling of the opportunities in, for example, Friendsville and offer to fix them up with jobs there and so forth.

I assume you have a map showing the townlands in Clare but if not do obtain one (there are maps of all the townlands and parishes on the Clare Library site) and plot the names of your ancestors on the map. That way you might get an idea of who married whom (in the rural population people tended to marry within 5 miles of their homes).

Paddy

There are times when having a famous relative can be a drawback, such as reading through all the biographies when most
have the same information, none of it helpful for tracing a family back in time. However, my Google search took me directly to a useful biography on Martin Ambrose Foran, the son of James and Catherine (O'Donnell) Foran, with his well-known birth date 11 Nov 1844 in Susquehanna Co. PA. However this bio also states that his parents were part of the wave of Irish who were recruited in the 1820s and 1830s by land speculators to settle in south-central New York; these immigrants often worked as canal laborers initially. See Google Book: pp. 166-67 Builders of Ohio by Warren R. Van Tine, Michael Dale Pierce. The same Google search also brought up a surname posting for another early Clare family in Susquehanna County: the Keanes from Killadysert, who arrived via Quebec in 1826.

I had also hoped that the excellent website of Joyce Tice for Tioga and Bradford Counties PA and Chemung Co. NY might have a cemetery listing, which on her site often states the Irish place of origin. The site's search engine did not show
such a listing, although other Forans are listed. Also, I would assume that Foran relatives might be found in Binghamton
(Broome Co.) and Steuben Co.

However, now you know your research can go northward in search of Forans who might have left a mention of their Clare
townland. That mention could be in a newspaper article, a Civil War pension file, or a church record.

Good luck with that,
Sharon Carberry USA

The Foran name is actually not that common in Clare however there are some pockets of where the name exists Miltown Malbay,Kilkee and Ennistymon being these places in Clare where the name is to be found. Up until recently in Ireland people didn't travel too far away from their homeplace so certain names are associated with certain counties and even in some counties you can pinpoint what part of the County the name was most prevalent in. The fact that it says Miltown Malbay on your ancestors gravemarker is a definite link to the area. I have done some research and will pm you now

http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... ToFury.htm

See Clouneybreen, Rinneen, Kilmanahine (Rinneen, DED Moy in the 1901 Census)
and Carhukeal, Kilfarboy (Carrowkeel, DED Miltown Malbay in the 1901 Census).

Note that the name is spelled Forhan at the Tithes. There are still Foran's living in Rineen, Miltown Malaby.

Re. the Forans still living in Clare, there are 8 of them in the Eircom phone book (see http://www.eircomphonebook.ie/search/clare/foran.html ). You might try calling one or other of them to see whether they know anything about their family history (see also http://www.ourlibrary.ca/phpbb2/viewtop ... ilit=phone ). You may be very surprised by the result. Even if the call/calls doesn't/don't produce a big "hit" don't be disappointed. As it says in The Way of Zen, the journey is more important than the destination, i.e. the phone call(s) may be fun.

Paddy

James Foran wrote:I hope to learn of the family origen of John Foran (1763-1863) and his wife, Ellen Creighton Foran (1785-). John married Ellen in Ireland. Their children were: Michael, James, Patrick, Thomas, Francis and Mary. Mary married Patrick Malone. James married Catherine O'Donnell. Thomas married Johanna O'Donnell. Thomas died at age 29. His grave marker is inscribed that he was a native of Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare, Ireland. Other families sir names who immigrated to America and settled in Friendsville were: Hickey, Mooney, Malone, Delaney, Griffin, Kelly, Ryan, Burke, Fitzgerald, Byrne, Carrigan, O'Reilly and many others.
If you can help us locate the town and Parish of their origen we would be greatly apreciative.
Thank you

I am a descendent of John Foran. Would be interested in exchanging info.

While at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. for other Civil War pension files, I included the one on Patrick Foran of
the 1st Pennsylvania Rifles, Co. B., whom I understand to be a member of this Foran family. Each file has its own type of
contents, depending on the soldier's circumstances and any issues raised by legal requirements. Patrick died early in the
war, so there is nothing regarding his background. His widow Elizabeth only had to provide proof of the marriage, which was
done with a Justice of the Peace certificate, attesting to Patrick and Elizabeth (maiden name Morrison) being residents of Duncannon PA at the time of their wedding there on 11 Mar 1858. A joint affidavit dated 28 Nov 1863 of Charles Morrison and William W. Dickinson named the couple's children as Mary and Margaret Anna, residing in Duncannon.

The major part of the file involved papers filed on behalf of the Foran children, because Elizabeth died 19 Sep 1872 (Duncannon PA). James Morrison was the first guardian for Mary E. Foran and Margaret A. Foran, but he resigned in Jan 1873 in favor of Abner Vonfossen of Duncannon. Vonfossen's statement of 13 Sep 1873 set forth a birthdate of 6 Sep 1858 for Mary and 3 Oct 1861 for Margaret. James Morrison and George Morris signed an affidavit on 14 Apr 1874, attesting to Patrick Foran as the father of these children.

The sole references to Patrick were his enrollment date in Harrisburg (21 Jun 1861) and the fact that the cause of his
death in Manassas Junction VA on 13 Apr 1862 had been ingestion of poisoned liquor which was the work of an unnamed enemy of his, another soldier. There was no controversy over the death being a crime rather than Patrick's own lapse in judgment, as two other soldiers also died from the same liquor (Phillip Furlong and James Kennedy, seemingly also in Co. B). Apparently there was pension eligibility when a soldier died due to a criminal act perpetuated by another soldier. I believe the girls' eligibility ended at age 16, as there were several references to that age in terms of the girls being younger than that.

Sharon Carberry
Georgia USA