ROOTS & BRANCHES

Last week’s “Roots & Branches” column showed how Kevin Kelleher of Hollidaysburg made contact with John Kelleher from County Cork in Ireland.

The men on birth sides of the Atlantic knew the story of an uncle who died without children and made siblings, a nephew and nieces his heirs. John told Kevin the four heirs were John’s father Michael, the deceased’s sister Julia and two nieces Julia and Honora.

Kevin was able to add that his Aunt Norita remembered her father (a nephew of Cornelius) received money, too, and Kevin was able to order Cornelius’s will from Toledo, Ohio, which confirmed the heirs from both sides of the Atlantic.

“It was obvious when I received the will why everyone remembered it,” Kevin said. “Cornelius died in 1936, he never married and worked as a barber according to his death certificate. The amount of money distribution for 1936 was more than we expected. Hugh received $6,000. Cornelius’s sister Julia received $6,000 and nieces and nephews received $2,000.”

John mentioned that when Julia married, she used her money to purchase a farm in Ireland (The $6,000 equates to about $109,000 in today’s dollars).

The reconnection between the Irish and American Kellehers spurred Kevin and his wife to plan a visit to Ireland, in part because John told him the home immigrants Daniel and Cornelius left is still standing, now used for storage next to a home built by John’s grandfather in 1900.

 Kevin’s Aunt Norita, the original source of his information, couldn’t make the trip because of her health, but she mailed Kevin some photographs. The pictures had the date 1927 handwritten on the front. Norita said she didn’t know who they were but assumed they were from her mother’s Gibbons family.

The photographs had handwritten names on the back. “The one group photo in front of a house showed the names as ‘Michael, Julia, me, Mother and grandfather’ and the next morning I woke up thinking about the photos,” Kevin said. “I remembered John mentioning the names Michael and Julia.”

Kevin e-mailed John, sending him a copy of the group photograph and John replied with amazement since the Michael in the picture was John’s father. Julia is the niece that received money. “Me” on the photo was Honora who received money. “Mother” was John’s grandmother and mother of Michael, Julia and Honora. And “grandfather” was Daniel and Cornelius’s father who lived to be 101 years old!

 The photo was taken in front of what’s now John’s brother’s house, the one built in 1900. “When we visited in May, we all stood in the same location for a photo,” Kevin said.

Honora in the photo’s daughter is a nun now named Sister Margaret Mary. Kevin visited her and gave her copies of the photos touched up by his son Kirk.

“So, between word of mouth, a public family tree, email technology, paper documents, old photos and a little luck of the Irish I was able to make the connection and return to the farm my great grandfather left never to return,” Kevin said.