More Geneology

Here is the Haggerty Crest. As you can see, there are 2 gs in the name. I think the extra one was dropped with my Grandfather Gilbert, or perhaps his father Silas Sharp( the first). I have been in contact with someone who is also researching the Haggerty line. His family name is Watt, so a cousin. It's been kind of fun comparing notes and stories.

One of the questions he had was about the change in the spelling of the name. He had heard stories that there had been a falling out over a family business that didn't go well,and part of the family dropped the extra "g" in protest. I suspect in had to do with the county in Ireland that the family came from. The Northern counties in Ulster, were more often protestants and spelled thier names with one "g". Those from farther south like county Cork were more likely Catholic and used the 2 "g" spelling. It could have been something else, as well.

I had already seen the family crest, but I was able to get a download from an Irish website. There's a website for Aran sweaters. Each family has their own design for an Aran sweater. The Haggerty design is really pretty, but $250 is a little steep for me right now.

There's also an Irish connection through the Peck line. My Grandmother Jefferies maiden name was Peck. It seems that she has, so far, the most interesting lineage. It can be traced way back bcause she was desended from royalty, making her easier to trace. The Peck line went back into the 1100's as Peck, then became Provost and finally, the names were with titles so every one was different. The names were often Fitz followed by the father's name. One ancestor was William Fitzgilbert. He accompanied William the Conqueror,(who is a cousin) to the Battle of Hastins in 1066. For his valor, he was awarded many titles and given much land. He took the name William de Clare. One of his estates was in Ireland,and he lived and governed there. He must have done a good enough job, because they named a county after him, County Clare.

It's fun to look at the royal lines because there's so much information on them and you can feel the history. Some of the lines are more difficult to research. The Hagerty line is proving to be that way. There are so many of them and many immigrated to the US so it's hard to separate the facts. Maybe someday, I'll go to Ireland and see things for myself.

More Geneology

I can't believe how much fun I'm having doing geneology! The problem is that I spend hours looking up information. Every time I get birth dates in an earlier century, it's exciting. In some lines, I'm at 1494 for a birth date. How cool is that? I've been quite surprised at how early some of my ancestors appear in the United States. Some from my Maternal Grandmother's side must have been almost original immigrants.

I originally got into this because I was trying to find out if the stories about one of my Paternal Grandfathers marrying an American Indian woman, was true. Supposedly, several Hagerty brothers left Ireland during the Great Potato Famine. I did research on that. It occured in 1846 through 1848. I checked some ship passenger lists, and there were quite a lot of Hagertys, but I couldn't trace them without starting from myself and working my way back.

I was quite surprised to find my Great Great Grandfather Elias Haggerty was born in Pennsylvania in 1810. My ancestors had been here before the potato famine. Elias' father was born in Ireland though. I'm not absolutely sure I have the right person on him, as there are some conflicting evidence, but his name may have been, Believe John Haggerty. That name is no stranger than some I've come up with.

I find myself trying to imagine the life some of my ancestors lived. It really boggles the mind. I also ran into some really old information. It seems most modern Irishmen all come from 3 sons of a man called Milesius, who was a Celt from either Italy or Spain. They decided to conquer Ireland. Their names were, Heber, Heremon, and Amergin. It seems that Heber took over northern Ireland.The date listed was 1699 b.c. The great King, Brian Boru came from Heber's line. The Hagerty family also came from Heber's line. Anyway, it's quite facinating!

New Obsession

I've been a little lax in posting lately, but it's just that I have a new obsession. My daughter-in-law emailed me a question about my grandfather's ancestry. I could only give her some general, hear-say information. I decided to try doing some research online. I kept running into no information for my family name.Then I found a website that gave names in English for names listed in Gaelic where I found a couple of different spellings of our name. Unfortunately, it was from a list of clans and families in around 400 a.d. Today I found a mention of the name in a history from 1699 b.c. ! Imagine that!

Most of my family came from the British Ilses. On my Mother's side were Scots, Welch,and English. On my Father's side were Irish, at least on the male side. I'm not positive on my Grandmother's side. She could have been scottish or Irish. My understanding, from family stories, there were several brothers in the family that immigrated from Ireland to Canada during the Great Famine. I've read a lot on that, Now I'm trying to get passenger lists or even names of ships and dates of travel. It is so interesting to read about the happenings and all that these people went through and to think that one of you ancestors was there. I'd like to get from me to them, working backwards as you mostly need to do. I'll tell you though, that info from 1699 b.c.has really whetted my appetite to go as far back as I can. It is just facinateing.

It seems that most of the Irish come from 3 brothers whose father was a Celt from Spain. They were Milesius, whatever that is. The three brothers went to Ireland with thier armies to conquer the island. Thier anglesied names were Heber, Hereman, and Amerigan. Heber's line was where my family name came from. It's also the line that King Brian Boru came from. He's played a huge part in Ireland's history and Myths. I didn't find any kings in my family line. Oh well, who wants a king in the family anyway.

It's quite difficult to find a lot of info in Ireland due to the famines and rebellons etc. There are archives in Ireland, but they aren't online, so far. I could just go over to county Donegal and see for myself, right. I think my Aunt and I will go to the LDS Church Family History Library. We should be able to get quite a bit from there. I also joined a geneology message and discussion board for the U.K. so, I may pick up some things there. Fortunately, I'm enjoying the research aspect of it all.