I have missed every goal for this week in posting something. I had planned to write something daily that would encourage the hunt for ancestors and while I was formulating topics in my head, they never did get transferred to paper.
But the week has not been a total waste. I have connected with a 3rd Cousin that I hope will bring a lasting relationship with family members I have never known.
My father was an only child. His father had a sister and his sister only had one boy that she birthed. Gary was younger than my father and only had two daughters. You see the size of the tree as a young sapling. Going back another paternal generation, my great-grandfather was the sixth of seven children. Bingo! Relatives found, but only one problem. My grandfather did not know much about his father’s family. This could be because his father was the sole survivor when Catherine passed away in October 1925.
But this is where the real discovery has been. Mary, the oldest had six or seven children, with only two or three leading to growing families, and those bringing a total of four offspring. Her youngest daughter married and had only one son (as best I know today). Ida’s son married and had two children and that brings me to my recent discovery of a 3rd cousin.
As details become clear, I will share more information about my findings. However, the pickings are very slim on my paternal family tree as you can see from the chart below:
- Cornelius and Mary Hannigan (Ireland) • four children
- Next generation (New York City) • eight children
- Next generation (New York City/Trenton) • twelve children
- Next generation (New York City/Trention) • seven children
And that represents my father’s generation; there were children born to Laura Haring (1); Ida Haring (1); Dorothea Hannigan (1); John J Hannigan Jr (1); and Raymond {Moeckel} Hannigan (3).
The tree spreads back out after that, but that is for discussion for another day because my generation of siblings and cousins are still being discovered.