Ancestor #1 Terence Curran
Terence Curran is the reason I started doing genealogy in the first place (well of course after the fact that my teacher asked us to make a small family tree). Terence is one of my immigrant ancestors as well as one of my brick walls. I was fascinated by this man that passed down the Curran name that was my maiden last name. I felt a connection to Ireland because of the knowledge that he was born there. Below is what I know about my 3rd Great Grandfather.
Terence Curran was born about 1828 in Ireland. He married Margaret McManus daughter of John and Mary McManus. Margaret was born in either Maryland or Pennsylvania July 1827. Her parents, John and Mary were from Ireland.
Terence and Margaret's first known child Ellen (Nellie) was born 1852 in Ritchie County, Virginia. I have not located Terence's immigration information. The earliest I have reliably found him in the United States is 1851-1852 based on his daughter's birth. I have not been able to determine when or where he and Margaret were married or how they managed to meet one another. He is in the 1860 Census with Margaret and the children. I have found a Terence Curran living in Cairo, IL in 1850 that is approximately the right age and working on the railroad, but I cannot verify that he is indeed my Terence.
Terence and Margaret had the following eight children:
Ellen (Nellie) (1852-1932)
Mary A Curran (1854- )
John M. Curran (1856-1921) *my direct ancestor
Catherine Curran (1858-1942)
Thomas J Curran (1860- )
Hugh Francis Curran (1862-1864)
William S Curran (1864-1940)
Edward Curran (1866-1939)
Terence first worked on the railroad (1860 Census) and then settled into farming (1870 Census) in Walker Township, Wood County, West Virginia. They were Catholic and attended mass at a mission church in Walker called The Church of the Holy Angels. Both Terence and Margaret are buried in the cemetery where this mission church was located. It's hidden away, up a trail and not maintained. Terence died Aug 1890. I have not been able to locate his death record.
I have seen the following derivatives of his name:
Terrance
Terence
Terrence
Terry
Curran
Curren
Currans
Currance
Kerns
Kern
I would like to follow backward and forward on this information. Ellen Curran married Hugh McManus and had 13 children before he was killed in an accident. She remarried (unknown first name) McDowell and had one son, Henry, who never married. Since Ellen was from Northern Ireland and Hugh from Cork I can only assume they met and married here in the states, possibly Virginia, before settling in Kentucky. There were relatives, the Joys, other McManuses, probably also Currans. As child I heard them speak of the Joys and my grandmother Agnes's brother John McManus. Do not know if he was married or had children. Some of the family lived in Owensboro, Ky. There were Mulvaneys who were related as cousins. Do not know from which side they were cousins. Tom and Agnes Mulvaney lived in Earlington, Ky were siblings who never married.
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