Searching for Patrick or Thomas Ahearn

Hello bnlbauer, just checked the map and i see that your ancestors are less than 10 miles from my own Ahearn/Meade/Driscoll/et als ancestors.  I have extensive research on the immigrants to America and a bit of info on family that remained in Ireland.  I'm always happy to share what i have found over many years of searching.  My own ancestors John Ahern and Catherine Mead were likely born circa 1780-1800 and my ggreatgrandparents Patrick Ahern and Mary Driscoll were born  1819 (Patrick) 1826(Mary), Patrick & Mary emigrated from Killeagh probably to New Haven Connecticut before making their way to Albany/Troy/The Adirondack Region of New York State, USA.  Look forward to hearing more details of your ancestors, i have an ancestry dna profile that we could compare.  Good Luck JimmyH

Hi, JLOHOULS, Did any of your Driscolls end up in Wisconsin? Mine did and I have always wondered how they got to Wisconsin from Ireland. Many in that area did come from the New York area first. Some went from Canada to New York to Wisconsin. They were miners. Best, Ellen Foley

I never heard of any Driscolls to Wisconsin but my own 2nd greatgrandfather (From Killeagh County Cork) Patrick O'Hearn relocated his family from Glens Falls NY to Gardner Massachuetts circa 1870 in order to gain employment building The Hoosac Tunnel in Massachusetts.  The Hoosac Tunnel was not a mine, but was 25,000 feet in length almost like a mine, except the only thing they dug out was rocks.  The Tunnel is still in use today.  Patrick also worked on The Saratoga & Sacketts Harbor RR.  That RR went bust before it was finished.   Your Driscolls may have made their way to Wisconsin on a steam ship via the great lakes.  I see some of my ancestors immigrated to New York and very deliberatly went to other places like Augusta Maine as soon as they got to America.  I alwayy figured their fare was paid for them to get to the same place where their close relatives had already established themselves.  Let me know if i can help if you find any new info, Good Luck JimmyH

AustraliaI share dna with a John Walter Mead (FTDNA

Patricua Snith

Just an FYI.  John Michael Ahern (Ahearn, Ahearne, Aherne) married Maria Louisa Jordan in Cloyne in East Cork in 1840.  They immigrated shortly after to Australia.  There is another John Ahern  still living on Spital Lane, Townparks, which is essentially Cloyne, in 1854.  This is maybe 15 miles from Rathcormac.  May be useful information.  I do not know how common the name Ahern is.  Cyndi

My Driscolls ended up in SW Wisconsin. They came from Cape Clear to Ontario with the second Peter Robinson Scheme. Two decades later, they spent a few years in Erie, Pennsylvania, USA, then to Wisconsin. 

Hi JLOHOULS – thank you for the reply!  I am intrigued by your mention of a John Ahern, as the marriage record I found for my ggg-grandparents Patrick Ahern and Mary Mead has a John Ahern as “Witness 2”.  My ancestors Patrick and Mary were likely born circa 1800 or so – other names (neighbors?  Relations?) I have found in documents from the 1830s are Mathew Mead, Patrick Sheehan (priest), John Sullivan, Margaret Crowly, and Mary (possibly Curtin, but pretty indecipherable).  Possible place names are Mullenataura, Coolnakilla, and Rathcormack.  I would love to learn whatever info you are willing to share!  I don’t have an ancestry dna profile yet.  My ancestors ended up in eastern Wisconsin (Green Bay/Maple Grove area) – possibly coming through Canada.  Regards, Laura

Hi Ellen – jumping in on your reply to JLOHOULS.  There are no Driscolls in my family, but my Ahearns all ended up in Wisconsin  - possibly via Canada.  They were farmers.  If you have any info to compare, let me know.  Regards, Laura

Hi, bnlbauer, I will look at my ancestry.com for Ahearns. My Driscolls, which was a very big family, who married into the Murphys were miners and farmers in New Diggings, Wi. This was known as the beginning of the state of Wisconsin. There were many Irish there and I hope we are related. Best, Ellen

This is for Suzanne Ainsworth

Hello, Suzanne, I bet we are indeed from the same family of Driscolls. I have a lot of info. I hope you do too. I am on ancestry.com at Hill Foley Family tree, which is public. My email is ellen.madaline@gmail.com. I live in Wisconsin now after a long career in journalism in many different states. I need to check but the family story is that the Driscolls walked from Erie to Wisconsin. That's one long walk. I suspect they stopped at farms along the way to work over several months. Our family stories are very rich in detail and these folks were very industrious and we have a lot of characters as you can imagine. I have found several of my generation still in Wisconsin. AS with many Irish families of that generation, particularly the miners, several scattered to the West to those mining areas and there's several Driscols progeny there. Best, Ellen 

My ancestry tree shows that I am related to you, Suzanne, through Dinty and Annie Driscoll. I hope you have the "white binder" as we call it from cousin Pat Sloan that details my tree at Hill Foley Family Tree on ancestry!

Annie O'Brien Driscoll has an amazing story that some of us believe is a bit exaggerated but she was what we might call one of our first feminists in her own way. 

I also have Aherns, with Elizabeth Ahern from Tipperary as my 5th great grandmother. I have DNA matches with her line. https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/111150921/person/35221…

Her line married into Callahans, O'Briens, McNamaras and then Murphys. It looks like the family came to the states about 1840 or so and then moved around landing in Iowa and then Wisconsin. 

My grandmother Madaline McNamara, who is my connection to our Aherns, married Francis Murphy. 

Oddly, the connection here is also to New Diggings, Wisconsin. My grandfather's mother was born Mary Ellen Driscoll. 

What this means is that I am related to the Aherns and to the Driscolls but those two families did not share DNA until my grandparents era. 

I don't know if the Aherns that I am related to are the ones that bnbauer and others are looking for. As Suzanne points out, many of my Irish ancestors landed in Canada about 1825 and than interestingly many went to NY, some to work on the Erie Canal. Then they traveled the long distance to Wisconsin about 1840-48. I suspect they were moving to find farmland because they preferred that to digging mines and canals and the arable land in Ontario had run out due to the large families with the oldest children inheriting the land. In the 1840s, many land speculators were advertising by flyers to the Irish about the bountiful farmland in Wisconsin. It's pretty rocky here. Although there are very fertile areas. My relatives got the rocky parts. Obviously, they flourished or I wouldn't be writing to you. It was a hard life in Wisconsin, Iowa and Canada from the stories I know. But most of my relatives were "evacuated" as they called the forced migration in 1825 or so for 2,000 Irish. They were called displaced farmers, which meant the English had taken all their land and they had no place to grow anything by that time and nothing to eat. There's a lot of history on the web about these people who came on the Robinson Expedition. They were lucky in a way they came in 1823-25 because the ships were relatively disease-free compared to another set of my relatives who came later on the coffin ships and many died. Again, I likely wouldn't be here if it were not for the Robinson Expedition, as evil as its intentions were to take my relatives from their beloved homeland. 

Thank you, Ellen! I did not know they walked from Erie to New Diggings! My line is James "Jimmy the Fiddler" Driscoll. I'm in Rockford, Illinois, where two of Jim's granddaughters, moved. I'm familiar with your tree. I will send you an email. It will be from mrsmicrobrew@yahoo.com. Thank you again!

And for Laura at bnbauer, I have very large families with the last names Sullivan and Galvin who were near Green Bay. You can see them in my tree at Hill Foley Family Tree on ancestry.com. It's a public tree. The Sullivans married into the Jennings, who were farmers, realtors and lumberjacks in the Shawano area although they were moving around north of there during the lumber boomtime. 

The Jennings had many, many gabby progeny like me who do a lot of geneaology. We are all over ancestry. 

Best, Ellen