The Oath-1874

Today was a great discovery day.  Some incredibly important documents arrived today:

This is John Horan’s petition for U.S. citizenship requested from the National Archives.  He applied for naturalization in October 1872 and was approved and took his oath in Boston on November 28, 1874.   See his signature at the bottom of the certificate.  The certificate also confirms another point to be investigated. John Horan first arrived in New York before Fall River.  Some clues indicate John and Catherine may have lived in New York before relocating to Fall River. 

 

Also discovered today were the death certificates for John and Catherine Horan and their eldest son,
William.  Some important facts were uncovered by review of these documents.

 

·         John Horan’s parents are listed as John Horan and Ann Madden.  This is a major breakthrough to uncover the generation prior to the initial US immigration. 

·         John Horan died in 1905 at age 71 from hepatic congestion (liver).

·         Catherine O’Neil Horan died in 1894 at age 56 from pneumonia.

·         William J. (son) died in 1920 at age 50 from nephritis (inflamed kidneys)

William never married. In later years, William and his father John lived with Ellen Horan Shay, the only daughter of John and Catherine.  Mark Shay, Ellen’s husband was a police officer.  The family continued to reside together on Beach Street.

Irish Proverb

Tús maith, leath na hoibre.
Meaning: A good start is half the work.

A Man of Courage is Also Full of Faith. (Cicero)

The church is clearly part of our lives and especially during John Horan’s transition to a new land, the church was the one true anchor in a man’s life.  We recently took a day trip to Fall River to see if we could find out a bit more of where the family may have circulated. Here’s a little bit about their church and some final resting places we documented:

The photos below are St. Mary’s Cathedral (left) and St. Patrick’s Church (right).  St Mary’s Cathedral predecessor was St. John the Baptist, a small wooden chapel erected in 1836.   After 1850, construction began on St. Mary’s on St. John’s original site.  The cemetery from St John's on Brightman Street has been located and identified as the final resting place of John and Catherine Horan and two sons.  It is a small, predominantly Irish cemetery with limited record availability kept by St. Patrick’s Cemetery. I have spoken to the office and submitted a formal request for files.  I will post the file information when I receive it. We are also scheduling a trip to visit the St. John's gravesite as well.  Access to St John’s Cemetery is restricted so we will plan accordingly in the next week and hope for the best. 

This is St Patrick’s Church which we attempted to visit last weekend.  We found the cemetery but had trouble locating the church.  We discovered why after we returned home.  St. Patrick’s was merged with two other churches churches in 2002 and the trio are united under the name Good Shepherd Parish.  

  

We have many family members in St. Patrick’s cemetery. The cemetery is located at 2233 Robeson St.   The Dorans and Horans and more extended family surnames from the tree rest here.  We took some time to document the locations of some.  We arrived too close to closing to search for more family but will likely return soon.  As a side note, it was a touching moment for us and our children to see the final resting places of our ancestors for the very first time. Gone but not forgotten....

 This is George and Mary Ann Horan—Generation 2.  Son of John and Catherine Horan-Gen 1.  George H. Horan-Gen 2 is my husband’s great grandfather.  

This is the family location for the Dorans, Mary Ann’s family and prominent family in Fall River:

An Irish Proverb

Maireann croí éadrom i bhfad.
A light heart lives long.

A Disclaimer

Now that we’ve set the table for this family research project, I will add the following disclaimer to all entries going forward:

• There is no neat and tidy way to communicate a genealogy project. The research results come in no particular order, can often be spectacularly boring to decipher, and waiting to publish information until a formal order of events can be compiled can cost you dearly in the end. Time waits for no one. 

•  “My stories are 97% accurate. Who cares about the other 4 %”  (Uncle Bill Horan, New Bedford)

We think it is more important to share significant information we are uncovering now rather than wait.  This type of random investigative work takes on a life of its own and sharing it as best as we can, often speed overtakes accuracy.  Translation:  Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.   If you are a certified genealogist, prefer academic order in research projects, or are an admitted Type A personality, stop here.  You should click out of this blog now.  I’ll get back to you in a few years after I’ve input the database for the entire multi-generational, cross-continent genealogical family tree project J
   

An Irish Proverb

An áit a bhuil do chroí is ann a thabharfas do chosa thú.

Your feet will bring you to where your heart is.

John Horan—The First Generation

John Horan was born in Galway, Ireland in 1827.  He immigrated to the United States in 1845 during the peak years of the Great Famine emigration out of Ireland.  Fall River, Massachusetts held significant appeal to the large numbers of immigrants seeking work and a new life in America.  During the growth of the industrial textile mills, Fall River boasted over 100 textile mills and employed an estimated 35,000 people.  The town population peaked in the 1920’s well over 120,000 people.  2010 census population figures show Fall River has about 88,000 residents.

About 1850 John Horan married Catherine O’Neil.  Together they had six children.   John Horan’s occupation is listed as a laborer (per Uncle Bill Horan, he recalls the family said John Horan was a fisherman) while Catherine stayed home to care for her family.  As was typical during this era, many of the children worked in the mills and were employed at Globe Textile Mills and American Print Works, two of the largest of the factories (photos posted below).  Meager wages meant long hours and mill families often worked together at the same factories to support the household.

Photos from Ambrose F. Keeley Library/the Information Center of B.M.C. Durfee High School

The family was listed in the US Census of 1880 and 1900 as residing on Beach Street.  This south end section of town was built to house the thousands of immigrant workers who flooded the factories.   Tenements would be built in three-story multiple levels to house the growing labor force and their families.  The years John Horan arrived and established his family and livelihood is important from a historical aspect. The fact that he overcame the adversities of two, maybe three countries (Ireland, United States and possibly England before embarking for America) should give us all a moment of reflection. Where you are at this moment in your own life and that of your children is built upon the courage, hard work and sheer will to survive from John Horan and his descendants.  

The Horan-Doran family tree by Jim McCarthy is available. Send a message if you would like a copy. The image below is from the research I am building on specifically the John Horans.  He is at the top of this Horan tree and is the first immigrant to arrive in the United States in 1845, hence he is our marker for Generation 1.   I have found more vital information on John and Catherine Horan and will do another post regarding them at a later date.  If you are a family member, your ancestors descend from John and Catherine and one of his six children.  Lastly, a minor correction to the Horan-Doran family tree file. The eldest son, John William, is not listed.  He shows up on earlier US census data but not not later,  which might mean he left the home for work while the rest of the family remained on Beach St.  William J., as he was called, died after his father in 1910 and is buried alongside his parents and one of his brothers who died young.   (--I reposted the tree image. Days after this was completed, more documents were found and John Horan's parents in Ireland were identified. I have added them to the image below.) 

Click the article link below to learn more on the Irish immigration to Fall River with photos from the old neighborhood. Use your browsers back button to return to this blog when you're done:

Fall River's Irish Fled Famine for Land of Opportunity - article from the Herald News, February 26, 2003, p. 12, with an additional article "Robert Irving Was City's First Irish Immigrant."


Here is the US Federal Census –Year 1880 .  John Horan and the family are listed in lines 3-10.   They lived on Beach Street in a couple residences until John Horan’s death in 1905.



An Irish Proverb

Is gaire cabhair Dé ná an doras.
God's help is nearer than the door.

 

The Family Tree

I must stop a minute to give an Academy Award thank you to a few key family members who inspired and support this quest to document the Horan Family project.   The idea to begin this journey actually started with my father in law,  James Horan of Dartmouth, MA but at that time, Irving, Texas. Back around 1997, I was asking Dad Horan about his family roots.  I had already begun this same exercise on my own family in California.  When I asked Dad Horan where his family originated, he and my husband, Peter, quickly responded “Plymouth Rock!”.   Hmm, not quite what I meant.  How about further back?  Ireland, perhaps?  We all laughed together because he and Peter said they didn’t know much beyond The Rock.  It also occurred to me years later that Plymouth connection had become confused with all sides of my husband's family. Fast forward a decade later.  With the Internet holding much more information than we could imagine in just those ten years, I stumbled upon a family tree posted on an obscure web site that held the very detailed specifics of almost everyone in our Horan family.  This genealogically-correct tree was from the Doran Family which many of you might know we joined with a few decades back.   Five years later and a major relocation for our own little family back to Massachusetts, I found the web master hosting this valuable document and the opportunity to visit first hand the places of our children’s ancestors . Thank you, Billy McCarthy for putting us in touch with your father, Jim McCarthy,  author of this family tree and who generously gave his time and knowledge clarifying his research to me.  With his extensive work and documentation of the Doran-Horan tree, I am able to launch this Horan investigation with more focus on the Horan branch.   Thank you to Uncle Bill Horan because he really is our family historian and most important, storyteller-extraordinaire, keeper of pictures and gifted with good ole Irish wit.  Aunt Jackie and Aunt Mary, thanks for giving us memories from the strength of the Horan-Donaghy women perspective.  And Cousin John Horan from Virginia, meeting you recently is a blessing to us.  Using your recollections of Fall River and Rhode Island have resulted in many day trips seeking out family places. There is still much more to uncover, places to photograph and people to interview, but we are so grateful to you all not only for your support in helping us document our family history, but embracing us into the Horan Clan as we bring our own children back to New England.  This project is dedicated to my husband, Peter, for encouraging me to find his family story, and for driving the car around in circles while I relentlessly searched for buildings with wrong addresses or jumped out in moving traffic to get just the right photo.  To all the Horan children, descendants of your first Irish American grandparents, John and Catherine Horan.  This project is to help you understand, respect and embrace the courage of your ancestors. Their journey to America began over one hundred sixty five years ago and starting today, their story is about to unfold.   

Irish Proverb

Tús maith, leath na hoibre.
Meaning: A good start is half the work.

Welcome

Welcome to We are Horan.  Whether you are a Horan family member or guest, this blog was created to bring our ancestors to life with the stories, visuals and personal networking only interactive media can provide.  The Horan family research project is a work in progress and like many long term genealogy attempts, who knows when and where it will end.  Welcome to our journey.

An Irish Proverb

Is maith an scéalaí an aimsir.

Translation: Time is a good story teller.