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| Area of Margaret Pinder's plot, Coolmeen, County Clare, 2014 |
My father had 2 grandparents of Irish origin, married to
each other. I often blog about his
grandfather’s family- Walsh and Mortimer, but not as often about his
grandmother’s family, Penders and Hehir.
There is one simple reason for this- the “Gray Area”.
While doubt is a normal, everyday part of genealogy in
general, it seems to hold a special place of honor in Irish genealogy. Those of us that do a lot of Irish genealogy
accept that skepticism is part of the package, but somehow I’ve never gotten totally
used to it. The absence of basic records
that other ethnicities take for granted in their families’ histories nearly
always make it impossible to trace our Irish ancestors back much before the
beginning of the 19th century.
Sometimes we cannot even find a place of origin for them. Almost always there is doubt about the
existing records- does this baptism entry refer to my great great
grandfather? Does this Tithe record mean
he lived in County Clare?
My Penders great great grandfather, Patrick, has never been
found in Irish Catholic church records.
Through my own research and the research of several professionals in
Ireland over the years, it’s been determined that he LIKELY came from County
Clare and was a brother to several other settlers in the Rutland, Vermont area in
the 1850’s & 1860’s whose baptism records could be found. Guilt by association, so to speak.
His wife, Margaret Hehir, was born in Vermont to Irish parents
named Michael Hehir and Anne McNamara, both surnames with strong Clare connections. A naturalization record that probably refers
to Michael indicates a County Clare origin, but the fate of neither Michael nor
Anne has ever been determined with any certainty, and no further clues to their
origins have been discovered.
My attraction to the high level of certainty in the origins
of the Walsh and Mortimer clans has prompted me to investigate the area where
they lived in minute detail. Not so the
ancestors with the alleged Clare origins.
While I have examined the maps, visited the area, and even been led
directly to the Penders assumed homestead, the amount of doubt surrounding the
circumstances causes me to take a healthy step back.
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| Margaret Pinder's plot, 1a, Coolmeen, County Clare, 1856 |
This doubt has allowed me to be very critical and not easily
convinced when it comes to uncovering the origins of ancestors for
clients. I try to examine all the
sources I can get my hands on and pass on to them when I have doubts. I often inform clients that in my own
personal experience, approximately 20% achieve an absolute, no-doubt-about-it
place of origin for their ancestor, 20% never have any good idea, and the
remaining 60% fall into the “gray area”, such as Patrick Penders and Margaret
Hehir.
Skepticism, especially in examining the origins of our Irish
ancestors, is a healthy thing, but it still makes me (and some of my clients!)
squirm!
