Hibernian Roots

As St. Patrick's Day was just last week, I've been thinking about my Irish ancestry.  There are quite a few of my forebears who came across from the Emerald Isle, and it would be nice to learn more about their own lineage, though the Irish were notorious for not keeping records.  Those of us with Irish ancestors generally find a dead end in our research once we get to Ireland, and I could probably write an entire post about the various social and cultural reasons for the absence of information, though not today.

Moving forward, here are a few of the Irish ancestors I've found:



George Gamble
Circa 1860



George Gamble:  He was born on 16 October 1795 in Ballybay, Monaghan County, Ireland, the youngest of six children born to John Gamble and Elizabeth Kennedy.  He came to the United States in April 1811, aboard the Protection, with his parents and siblings William, Joseph, and James, as well as James' wife Isabella (Nesbit), and John Morrow, Jr., the son of George's sister, Nancy.  The rest of the family, including John Gamble, Jr., migrated over at different times on different ships, and they settled in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, to work as farmers.

On 16 October, 1818, George married Anne Keeney, a woman whose ancestry goes all the way back to William Bradford.  They settled on a farm in the town of Harford, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, where they spent the rest of their lives.  They had 4 sons and 6 daughters, including my 3x great grandfather, Theodore Beza Gamble.

James MacCain:  I don't know a whole lot about the MacCain side of my family, largely because it was disowned generations ago.  Since my great-grandfather Raymond Wilmer MacCain, Sr. divorced my great-grandmother Effie Kurtz Robinson, little has been said of them.  Attempts to contact different cousins on this side of the family have gone unanswered, though I'm still hopeful that somebody with information about the MacCains will contact me someday.

Here's what little I know.  James MacCain (grandfather of aforementioned Raymond) was born circa 1810 in Armagh County, Ireland.  He married Nancy Agnes Nixon and they came to America sometime before 1840.  Their daughter, Agnes, was born in Pennsylvania in 1839, and they later had 3 sons, Robert MacCain (1840), James Penn MacCain (1844), and William John MacCain (April 1850).  William was the father of Raymond, and 3 other sons.

Alexander Moore:  Here's the other side of my MacCain heritage.  Alexander Moore was born 15 March 1830 in the town of Ballygawley, Tyrone County, Ireland.  His father was also Alexander Moore, but it may be inaccurate to call them Sr. and Jr., as there seems to be a long line of Alexanders in the Moore family.  If the Irish had kept proper records (damn their defiant non-compliance with English record-keeping), I'd probably be able to tell who's who, but there were certainly a lot of "Alexander Moore, son of Alexander Moore" baptisms in the 18^th Century in Northern Ireland.  It is possible that my ancestor Alexander Moore born 15 March 1830 was the third, fourth, or tenth in his line.  There's no way to tell at the moment.

Alexander married Anna Jane Young the daughter of James and Elenor Young, also of Ballygawley, and they settled in Philadelphia, where they raised their 2 sons and 5 daughters, one of whom was my great-great grandmother, Mary Helen Moore, the wife of William John MacCain.

Thomas Nelson:  Moving over to my mother's side of the family, there are two families of Nelson.  One originates in England, and the other came from Ireland.  Thomas Nelson was born circa 1766 in Armagh County, Ireland.  He married Sarah Martin and they immigrated to the United States sometime during the 1790's.  It's uncertain how many children they had, but there are currently only two that I know of.  One was my 4x great-grandfather Joseph Nelson, who was born circa 1790 in Ireland.  The other child is a daughter, Lana Nelson, born September 1802 in New York.  Thomas died in Cambridge, New York, on 6 June 1808, though his wife lived until 1844.

Isaiah Rogers Nelson, son of Thomas, married Alice Jane Doughty, whose grandmother was also a Nelson, only from a branch that came over from England around 1640.  Of course, if you trace the English Nelson line back far enough, you eventually find yourself in Ireland again, when they spelled the name Nelleson.



Ann Carney Littlefield
w/ daughter Anna L. Forthman
New Orleans, 1912



Ann Carney:  Last Mother's Day, I wrote a little about my great-great grandmother, and over the last year I've uncovered a few more details about her.  Ann (or Annie) Carney was born 22 April 1853 in Roscommon County, Ireland.  Her parents were John Carney and Anna Nesbitt.  The particulars of her arrival in America are not certain, though she may have come aboard the Edith in 1868.  She ended up in Chicago, Illinois, where she met and married Henry Littlefield, Jr., an Iron Smelter whose father was an Irish sailor.  They were married on 19 February 1873 by a Catholic Priest, presumably in a traditional wedding ceremony, and they had 5 sons and 2 daughters, including my great-grandmother, Anna Louise Littlefield, the wife of William Edward Forthman, Sr.

Although her husband Henry died before 1900, Ann lived until 29 September 1930.

So, there you have it, a whole bunch of Irish ancestors that made a better life for themselves in the land of opportunity.

A Rare Clan

There are many different groups within my family heritage.  Some are enormous, with hundreds of descendants, and others have faded into obscurity.  There are a lot of people with blood ties to me, though as time goes by, surnames end up being supplanted.  For example, the Kirton Clan (originating from Richard Kirton born circa 1830), has all but died out, while the Counts family (from Jacob Counts, Sr., 1738) has hundreds (perhaps even thousands) of descendants, many of whom still share the Counts name.

While I can claim the heritage of Counts, Kirton, Ballinger, Forthman, etc..., my own surname is one of unique interest.  As I've previously discussed, the "Ingham" name in my family actually comes from adoption, as my grandfather was a MacCain by blood.  This sets us up as something of a clan of our own; the MacCain-Inghams.  At last count, there were 13 people that I know of who can claim to be part of this special sub-clan (not counting spouses), and it seems my sons will be the only ones to carry on the surname (unless my father's young half-brother has a sudden lifestyle change, that is).  I say "sons" plural because I hope to have more than one someday.  My heirs should be many, and I hope some of them will manage to carry on the patriarchal line.

I always felt a certain responsibility to carry on the family line.  Growing up, I was always aware of how uncommon my surname was, and it seemed a great shame to let it die out.  It was certainly a determining factor when it came to certain choices, as there were some risks I never took because this thought was in the back of my mind:  I could not get myself killed without heirs, especially a male one.  I don't know if that makes me old-fashioned or vain, but it's an important part of my overall existence; the desire to perpetuate "The Clan."

This kind of family pride is something a lot of people have cast aside these days, as dysfunctional households and a decadent society often raise children to disregard their heritage.  My upbringing may have been dysfunctional, but I was still taught the importance of family, and therefore have a great reverence for my roots.

Who will continue your family clan when you are gone?

MacCain!

I have a startling confession to make. I am not technically an Ingham. Now, that isn't to say my real surname isn't Ingham, but genetically my lineage does not appear to extend back to anyone of that name.

My grandfather took his stepfather's last name, which was obviously Ingham. However, my great-grandfather by blood was Raymond W. MacCain. Now, I haven't been able to find out much about the MacCain line. Other than a few names and places, all that I really know is that my great-grandmother Effie divorced Raymond sometime in the early 1920's, for what reasons I can only imagine.

Both my father and grandfather were alcoholics, and my grandfather was very much a womanizer in his youth. I must wonder if Raymond W. MacCain, Sr. was much different than Ray Junior. If so, I must consider that MacCain men may have a predisposition toward being drunken whore-chasers. If there is a genetic link to such behavior, my own blood has been sufficiently thinned to avoid such predilections (or maybe I'm just a rebel at heart). I currently don't have enough background on the MacCains to tell.

I've written to a few MacCain cousins that I've been able to identify through my research, though none have gotten back to me. Obviously, 2nd and 3rd cousins aren't much to speak of, and I can understand their desire to remove themselves from the extended family line. There's no telling what kind of weirdoes your relatives might be. Why, they might even turn out to be me!

Despite being a MacCain by blood, I still consider myself to be an Ingham. My great grandfather was very much a true relative, if not by blood, then by spirit. I only had the chance to meet Great-Grandpa Ned once, when I was 5 years old, but what I remember of the man is someone who was every bit family as any genetic progenitor.

Who knows, maybe I'll find an Ingham somewhere in my bloodline. There are still many branches that remain unmapped.