Family Stories and Surprising Ways New Documentation Can Confirm Them: The Story of Robert Allen Sumrall and Margaret and Catherine Ryan

Or, Subtitled: “May her soul rest in peis.” This posting tells a story. It tells a story about a story, one told to me in my formative years. It also tells a story about how sudden genealogical surprises can either confirm or disprove our long-cherished family traditions. So that we do well to keep ourselves … More Family Stories and Surprising Ways New Documentation Can Confirm Them: The Story of Robert Allen Sumrall and Margaret and Catherine Ryan

Bridget Tobin Ryan (1818-1873) of Co. Kilkenny, Ireland: Records Possibly Pointing to Her Family Members

Or, Subtitled: In the Absence of Records Necessary to Prove Genealogical Connections, One Goes A-Fishing In a previous posting, I explained my reasons for concluding that my ancestor Bridget Tobin, who was born in 1818 in County Kilkenny, Ireland, and who married Valentine Ryan, son of John Ryan and Margaret Oates, in Kilmacow parish on … More Bridget Tobin Ryan (1818-1873) of Co. Kilkenny, Ireland: Records Possibly Pointing to Her Family Members

Family of Valentine Ryan and Bridget Tobin of County Kilkenny, Ireland, and Grant County, Arkansas: New Information (3)

Or, Subtitled: Interesting Connections Between 19th-Centutry Ryans, Costellos (and Tobins and Walshes) in Buckstown (Killahy Civil Parish, Inchacarran Townland), County Kilkenny, Ireland In my previous posting, I shared how I have used early 19th-century Catholic parish records (which are often sparse) of baptisms, marriages, and deaths to tease out some new clues regarding possible relatives … More Family of Valentine Ryan and Bridget Tobin of County Kilkenny, Ireland, and Grant County, Arkansas: New Information (3)

Family of Valentine Ryan and Bridget Tobin of County Kilkenny, Ireland, and Grant County, Arkansas: New Information (2)

Or, Subtitled: The Challenge of Teasing Genealogical Clues from Sparse Early 19th-Century Irish Catholic Records I’ve told you that I have not been able to find information about the family of my 2nd-great-grandmother Bridget Ryan, who married Valentine Ryan in Kilmacow Catholic parish, County Kilkenny, Ireland, on 21 September 1836 with Edmond Hayden and Margaret Fitzgerald … More Family of Valentine Ryan and Bridget Tobin of County Kilkenny, Ireland, and Grant County, Arkansas: New Information (2)

Family of Valentine Ryan and Bridget Tobin of County Kilkenny, Ireland, and Grant County, Arkansas: New Information

Or, Subtitled: Things Are Seldom Quite as Simple as One Would Like in Genealogical Research, Are They? Throwback Thursday they call it, right? This posting is a throwback to a series of posts I did in April 2018, which began with this posting entitled “In Memory of Valentine Ryan, Born in Co. Kilkenny, Ireland, Feb. 23, 1810, … More Family of Valentine Ryan and Bridget Tobin of County Kilkenny, Ireland, and Grant County, Arkansas: New Information

“In Memory of Valentine Ryan, Born in Co. Kilkenny, Ireland, Feb. 23, 1810, Died Feb. 22, 1881. Erected by his son Patrick Ryan”: Irish Roots of Ryan Family, Grant County, Arkansas (3)

In my previous two postings in this series, I’ve explained how I eventually found my Ryan ancestors’ roots in County Kilkenny, Ireland, after many years of searching. I now want to tell you what I found, once documents began to open to me after I had determined a specific place of residence for the family and a … More “In Memory of Valentine Ryan, Born in Co. Kilkenny, Ireland, Feb. 23, 1810, Died Feb. 22, 1881. Erected by his son Patrick Ryan”: Irish Roots of Ryan Family, Grant County, Arkansas (3)

“In Memory of Valentine Ryan, Born in Co. Kilkenny, Ireland, Feb. 23, 1810, Died Feb. 22, 1881. Erected by his son Patrick Ryan”: Irish Roots of Ryan Family, Grant County, Arkansas (2)

In my first posting in this series, I began telling you how, after years of searching, I eventually located the specific place in County Kilkenny, Ireland, from which my Ryan ancestors emigrated to America in 1852-3. My family had long known that Valentine  Ryan and his wife Bridget, my great-great-grandparents, brought their family from County Kilkenny … More “In Memory of Valentine Ryan, Born in Co. Kilkenny, Ireland, Feb. 23, 1810, Died Feb. 22, 1881. Erected by his son Patrick Ryan”: Irish Roots of Ryan Family, Grant County, Arkansas (2)

“In Memory of Valentine Ryan, Born in Co. Kilkenny, Ireland, Feb. 23, 1810, Died Feb. 22, 1881. Erected by his son Patrick Ryan”: Irish Roots of Ryan Family, Grant County, Arkansas (1)

In two previous postings in my series about Patrick Ryan (here and here), I’ve shared a few pieces of information about Pat’s Irish roots. As I told you in those postings (the first link has a copy of his baptismal record), his parents were Valentine Ryan (1810-1881) and Bridget Tobin (1818-1873), who married 21 September 1836 in … More “In Memory of Valentine Ryan, Born in Co. Kilkenny, Ireland, Feb. 23, 1810, Died Feb. 22, 1881. Erected by his son Patrick Ryan”: Irish Roots of Ryan Family, Grant County, Arkansas (1)