For my Irish immigrant ancestors, on their holiday. While I've been able to document their lives following their arrival in the States, the place of origin is not yet known for several of them, so the research continues on.

One Irish branch settled in the city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. They were: 
My 2nd Great-Grandparents,
JOHN CONDON (b. abt March 1833 Cappoqiun, Waterford - d. 30 June 1884, Portsmouth, NH)
ELLEN GRIFFIN (abt 1834 IRE - 17 July 1894, Portsmouth, NH)

​My 3rd Great-Grandmother,
ELLEN (BOWLES) GRIFFIN (abt 1800 - 17 Dec 1889, Portsmouth, NH)

There is a stoneless plot at Calvary Cemetery in Portsmouth that bears the name of Condon and Mulligan on its concrete border, the latter being the married name of my 2nd Great-Aunt Margaret. Cemetery records do not show who lies in the other graves, but it is probably John and Ellen, and possibly her mother Ellen.

Gloucester, Massachusetts was where another line of my Irish families settled.
My 3rd Great-Grandparents,
DENNIS HESSIAN (11 Aug 1827  Bruff, Limerick - 17 Mar 1882, lost at sea, George's Bank)
MARY WALDRON (abt 1825 Killham, IRE (unk location) - 14 Sep 1857 Gloucester, MA)

The results from my autosomal DNA tests varied greatly when it came to calculating my Irish ethnicity. Some of the companies even combined Ireland and United Kingdom into a single percentage value. The highest return came from AncestryDNA, at 31%.
Note: these test numbers have changed over the years [see blog entry from Nov 2016: It's in my DNA]

"Another Language" is the #52Ancestors challenge for Week 20. For me, searching through the Irish Catholic Parish records, LATIN is that other language. 

One of my Irish ancestors, JOHN CONDON, was born in County Waterford in March 1834, according to his own statement on his naturalization application [Rockingham County Sup Jud Crt, Oct 1866]. With that information, along with the names of his parents (Pat. and Hanora on 1st marr rec; Patrick Condon and Hannah Helant, on his 2nd marr rec; death rec says Patrick and Hannora Helar), it was off to search the Parish Registers!

With the records written in Latin, normal name searches didn't work well, but luckily, surnames aren't latinized, so a broad search could still be done. The above image was found in the Parish records of Cappoquin, in the Diocese of "Waterford and Lismore". It is a baptism for "Joannem" (John) on 23 Martii (March) 1833. Though a year off from his own stated birth date, the parents names of Patritii (Patrick) and Honorae (Honora) are a match, and the mother's surname of Hyland can certainly be misconstrued as Helar or Helant.

​I know that John had at least two sisters, Ellen (b. ca 1832) and Hannah (b. ca 1838-1842), based on Lowell, MA VR. I have yet to find either in the same parish registers for Cappoquin. I did find an Ellen baptised in 1830, but her parents were listed as Patrick and Honora Flynn. Nothing for Hannah has been found yet. There may also be a sister "Mariam", who was baptised in 1828, her mother shown as Honora Heelan (indexed as Keelan, though there are other Heelan names mentioned in same community).

No marriage records for a Patrick Condon and a Honora Hyland (Helar, Helant) has been located. 

Below are two records showing the spelling variations of Hannora's maiden name.

​Links:
National Library of Ireland: Catholic Parish Registers
NLI: Diocese of Waterford and Lismore: Cappoquin
​Other blog entries on the Condon family:
Family of Patrick Condon
Condons of Creek Street, Portsmouth, NH 

Wishing all a Happy Mother's Day! 

The following are photos I have of my direct ancestor females, with links to blog pages I have written about them in the past.

Her daughter, Emily Jane Brown (center photo), my 2nd G-Grandmother, married John Kramer of Colchester, CT, but she lived most of her life in Kittery. At right is my Great-Grandmother, Martha (Kramer) Leavitt, Emily's daughter, with myself and siblings.

More about their families here:
Brown - Locke's Cove, Kittery, Maine
Emily Augusta (Waitt) Brown
My Waitt (Waite) Family from Malden, MA
Emily Jane (Brown) Kramer
​

My maternal line continues..

My Great-Grandmother, Annie (Knight) Smith (pictured here on porch with her sister Abbie). Her daughter, Alice (photo on right), is my gram (with me helping her at church bake sale...nice batch of brownies there!)

My paternal line:

My Pridham relatives here, including my grandmother Alice (Pridham) Dow, and her mother, my Great-Grandmother Louise (Condon) Pridham.

More about this family is written here:
​The Pridhams of Puddle Dock (Portsmouth, NH)

For many years, all I knew about the ancestry of my second great-grandfather John Condon of Portsmouth, New Hampshire were the names of his parents from his 2nd marriage record (Patrick and Hannah Helant) and death record (Patrick and Hannora Helar). Digging into the naturalization records for Rockingham County later gave me his date of birth (Mar 1834) and place (County Waterford), as well as his arrival in the US (11 July 1851). Beyond this, I was at a brick wall.

In recent years, as more records came online, and technology has allowed us the ability to search using only parents names, I have been moving forward on this family. So far, I have found two sisters of John Condon who also came to the United States and settled in Lowell, MA. Information is not yet complete.  

This is another page I have written about John Condon:
http://www.mynewenglandancestors.com/blog/condons-of-creek-st-portsmouth-nh

              KNOWN CHILDREN OF PATRICK AND HANNORA/HONORA (HELAR/HELANT) CONDON

i. ELLEN CONDON, born about 1832 in Ireland; d. 12 Apr 1889 in Lowell, MA [MA vr]; bur Catholic Cem; Married 19 June 1855 in Lowell, MA to JAMES O'BRIEN (b.ca 1832 in IRE). Known children, all born in Lowell, MA:
   1. Marianna (aka Mary A) O'Brien, b. ca 1857; d. 10 Apr 1901 in Lowell, MA.
   2. John C O'Brien, b.ca 1859; d. 9 Dec 1892 in Lowell
   3. Bridget O'Brien, b. 5 June 1861 in Lowell, MA [vr]
   4. Alice O'Brien, b. ca 1871; d. 30 June 1901 in Lowell, MA. Marr William J Dunn in Lowell,15 Feb 1897. 

ii. JOHN CONDON, b. abt Mar 1834 in County Waterford, IRE [according to his naturalization papers]; died 30 June 1884 in Portsmouth, NH [NH death rec]. Married first, on 22 June 1856 in Lowell, MA, to Mary Sullivan (b.ca 1836 in IRE; d.unk), the dau of Patrick and Mary Sullivan. Unknown when she died. He marr 2nd, in Nashua, NH on 1 Feb 1868, to ELLEN (GRIFFIN) HALLISEY, ex-wife of Patrick. She was b. abt 1834 in IRE; died 17 July 1894 in Portsmouth, NH.
   1. John Condon, b. 3 June 1857 in Lowell [MA birth rec], though some records say Portsmouth. Died 15 Aug 1893 in Keene, NH, age 33, from railroad accident. Bur in Catholic Cem, Keene.
With wife Ellen:
   2. Mary Ellen Condon, b. Jan 1869 [1900 census] in Portsmouth, NH. Marr Jeremiah Lyons, 1 May 1895.
   3. Margaret Ann Condon, b. 21 Aug 1870 in Lawrence, MA [MA vr]. Marr Henry J Mulligan, 28 Nob 1893.
   4. Alice Frances Condon, b. b. 18 May 1873 [NH vr] in Portsmouth, NH. Marr William P Cassidy, 11 Aug 1896.
   5. Thomas G Condon, b. 16 July 1876 [NH vr] in Portsmouth. Marr Katherine Brennan, 12 Oct 1910.
   6. Louise E Condon, b. 2 Jan 1879 [obit, NH vr] in Portsmouth. Marr William H Pridham 29 Nov 1899.

iii. HANNAH CONDON, b. abt 1842 (age 23 in 1865 state census); died 24 Apr 1909 in Lowell, MA, aged "59 yrs". Parents listed on death record as "Patrick Condon and Hannora Heland". She was married to PETER McDERMOTT (b.ca 1835; d. 11 Apr 1881 in Lowell,age 55). She was buried in St Patrick Cemetery, Lowell.

On the death record (17 July 1894 in Portsmouth, NH) of my second great-grandmother ELLEN (GRIFFIN) CONDON, it lists her parents as DENNIS GRIFFIN and ELLEN BOWLES. Both were born in Ireland, and her father was listed as a farmer. Her widowed mother lived with her and the family, as seen in the 1870 and 1880 Portsmouth census pages posted below. She died on 17 Dec 1889 in Portsmouth, and the death record gives her parents names as Patrick Bowler(sp) and Mary Shea, both born in Ireland.

When Ellen Griffin married John Condon in 1868, she listed her father as a laborer of Ireland. He is unnamed, and she did not list her mother on this record. Whether he was actually alive at this time is unclear. 

 Research has yet to find any other children of Patrick and Mary (Shea) Bowles who may have immigrated to the US. I have come across the same problem when trying to find any siblings of Ellen (Griffin) Condon.

The search continues.