Hi All, I have been researching my Cannon, McMenamin, McMonigle, Gallagher and related families for almost 20 years. At the beginning, the only hint that I had that this family was from Donegal, was general family folklore. I have a cousin who works for our state history commision, who had done alot of legwork finding family members. However, she was skeptical of the Donegal connection. I persisted and eventually, we were able to locate some death certificates which listed parents names. One of them was Maurice Cannon. With her access to records (mine is very limited) she found only one Maurice Cannon in all of Ireland in the Griffith's valuation. And he happened to be in Donegal. So, she became a little more convinced. I personally was 99% sure we were on the right track and I continued my exploration of the family in Donegal. I just knew that it was my gggrandparents. With the event of the online records for the US, I was able to track down "old aunt Mary from Donega" that all my relatives spoke of. Someone in PA is posting death notices from the Luzerne Co. newspapers and one of the obits was for an "old aunt Mary" who, the obit said, lived with my own aunt Susie Breslin. No mention of Donegal, but at least I found Mary. Mary's age was listed as 60 at the time of her death. Now with the new online census records at Ancestry.com, I was able to find Aunt Susie in the 1930 & 1920 PA census records. And there was "old aunt Mary" living with them. Her birthplace was listed as Irish Free State. In addition, the 1930 census listed her date of immigration as 1907. Aha!!! I made a beeline to the Ellis Island records and did a search for Mary Cannon. I started looking at every Mary who might have been around 20-30 at the date of immigration (given the fact that these folks just don't really seem to know how old they are in the census reports). I hit paydirt on Mary Cannon, 30 years old, immigrated in 1905 and when I viewed the ships manifest records, it stated that she was coming from Donegal, Ireland to stay with her brother Charles in Hazleton, PA. Charles is my ggrandfather. Now I have proof positive that all those family rumours were correct and I know I have the right family in Donegal. And I've had 5+ years of productive research in Donegal while I! was waiting for the "critical" documented proof of the Donegal connection Thanks to everyone who posts on this list. You never know what new info or resources may be posted that helps you to find that elusive link in your tree. Happy New Year & Blessings to all on the list Carol- listowner --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. This email has been scanned and certified with AVG Virus Protection http:\\www.grisoft.com Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.558 / Virus Database: 350 - Release Date: 1/2/2004

Dear Carol Well done and congratulations. I know how you feel. Muriel ----- Original Message ----- From: "Carol Queen" <postalq@grnco.net> To: <DONEGALEIRE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 5:36 PM Subject: [DONEGALEIRE] Success! > Hi All, > > I have been researching my Cannon, McMenamin, McMonigle, Gallagher and related families for almost 20 years. > > At the beginning, the only hint that I had that this family was from Donegal, was general family folklore. I have a cousin who works for our state history commision, who had done alot of legwork finding family members. However, she was skeptical of the Donegal connection. > > I persisted and eventually, we were able to locate some death certificates which listed parents names. One of them was Maurice Cannon. With her access to records (mine is very limited) she found only one Maurice Cannon in all of Ireland in the Griffith's valuation. And he happened to be in Donegal. So, she became a little more convinced. I personally was 99% sure we were on the right track and I continued my exploration of the family in Donegal. I just knew that it was my gggrandparents. > > With the event of the online records for the US, I was able to track down "old aunt Mary from Donega" that all my relatives spoke of. Someone in PA is posting death notices from the Luzerne Co. newspapers and one of the obits was for an "old aunt Mary" who, the obit said, lived with my own aunt Susie Breslin. No mention of Donegal, but at least I found Mary. Mary's age was listed as 60 at the time of her death. > > Now with the new online census records at Ancestry.com, I was able to find Aunt Susie in the 1930 & 1920 PA census records. And there was "old aunt Mary" living with them. Her birthplace was listed as Irish Free State. In addition, the 1930 census listed her date of immigration as 1907. Aha!!! I made a beeline to the Ellis Island records and did a search for Mary Cannon. I started looking at every Mary who might have been around 20-30 at the date of immigration (given the fact that these folks just don't really seem to know how old they are in the census reports). I hit paydirt on Mary Cannon, 30 years old, immigrated in 1905 and when I viewed the ships manifest records, it stated that she was coming from Donegal, Ireland to stay with her brother Charles in Hazleton, PA. Charles is my ggrandfather. Now I have proof positive that all those family rumours were correct and I know I have the right family in Donegal. And I've had 5+ years of productive research in Donegal while I! > was waiting for the "critical" documented proof of the Donegal connection > > Thanks to everyone who posts on this list. You never know what new info or resources may be posted that helps you to find that elusive link in your tree. > > Happy New Year & Blessings to all on the list > > Carol- listowner > > > --- > Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. > This email has been scanned and certified with AVG Virus Protection > http:\\www.grisoft.com > Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). > Version: 6.0.558 / Virus Database: 350 - Release Date: 1/2/2004 > > > ==== DONEGALEIRE Mailing List ==== > <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> > Check out these Donegal Information Sites > Dick O'Donnell's- http://www.mindspring.com/~dickod/donegal/index.htm > O Donnell Abu/ http://homepage.tinet.ie/~vod/ > Donegal Families/ http://homepage.tinet.ie/~donfam/ > Donegal Database- http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~donegaleire/Doncontent.html > Donegal Information/ http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~donegal/ > > ============================== > Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration > Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more. > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237 > >