|
Facts and Events
| Name |
Mr. _____ Culligan |
| Gender |
Male |
| Marriage |
|
to Unknown |
The following information was found in the book "Irish Names and Surnames" by Father Patrick Woulfe, a priest from the diocese of Limerick, Ireland, published in 1923 by the M. H. Hill Co., Dublin, Ireland. It was located at the Hill Reference Library, St. Paul, Minnesota.
In the Index the name of Culligan has a reference to name of Colgan. Under this name were O'Colgan, O'Collogan, Collogan, O'Culligan, Colgan, Culligan, Quilligan. The family was a descendant of Colga, more anciently known as Mac Colgan. It was an old family in Offaly, and of the same stock as O'Connor, O'Dempsey and O'Dunne. The family also lived in Thomond. The O'Connors of Offaly descended from Ros Farlghe, son of Catharis Mor, King of Ireland in the Second Century. Their sir name came from Concohan, son of Fromm, Lord of Offaly. He died in 979. They were said to be a powerful and warlike race and for more than 300 years successfully defended their territory against the English of Pale. They were dispossessed in the reign of Phillip and Mary. Their stronghold was Dongan, now Philipston.
Offaly was found on an old map of Ireland. It was a section of Leinster and adjoins Galway and Clare.
The name of O'Culligan and O'Quinleran* were found on this map in County Clare. It was noted that the name of O'Colgan was shown in Armagh and Down. The section called Thomond was found in County Clare, not far from Ennis where grandfather, Thomas Culligan, lived before coming to America.
We do not know much about the early life of our paternal grandfather, Thomas Culligan, and his wife Anna Syses. We do know that grandfather was born near Ennis, County Clare, Ireland, but we do not know where Anna Syses was born. County Clare is on the west coast of Ireland, north of County Kerry. It was known in times past as the O'Brien country because of the number by this name in the country. It covered 744 square miles, or 1,878 acres. A monastery was built by the O'Briens at Ennis, and another was built on the isle of Inniscarrach which was called the monastery of St. Senan. He died in 541, but the monastery flourished until 816 when it was destroyed by the Danes.
The people of Clare were known especially for their hospitality. However, they were said to be too liberal with their wine and did not know when "to put the cork in the bottle." The women showed great deference to the men. When a man and his wife went for a walk the latter would walk some distance behind her husband for "Paddy let him be ever so fond of his rib would think it a mark of disrespect if she walked by his side." Their flare for hospitality may have been due to the quantity of supplies, for they had an abundance of sea food, good beef, mutton, pork and quantity of vegetables. In the town of Ennis there was said to be cordiality between the Protestants and Catholics. They intermarried if they so desired and lived in "habits of sincere friendship and good will, free from bigotry and rancor." This could not be said of other parts of Ireland.
The town of Ennis is not far from Kilrush on the river Shannon. In the "Anals of the Old Masters" there is the name O'Culligan on an Irish map for County Clare. There are other similar names such as Colligan and Colgan in that county, and they all may be of the same clan. It was stated that this clan had lands on both sides of the Fergus river in the old barony of Tullogh. This clan also was known as the Cuilein clan. Although we have no way of knowing to which branch of the family we belonged, we do know from our paternal relatives that grandfather's family was called Culligan and lived in Ennis, near where the "river Shannon flows."
We have no knowledge as to where our paternal grandmother, Anna Syses, was born. We remember her saying, "County Mayo, God help us." It may be that she spent time there when . the famine was at its worst. We had no interest in her early life as children and asked her no questions about her life in Ireland. She did speak at times about the beauty of England, and it may be that she was there before coming to America.
It is regrettable that we do not know more about our grandparents before they set sail for America. We have no way of knowing how much they suffered from the famine before deciding to embark on a sailboat for the "land of the free and the home of the brave." We will follow their trek to the western plains in the next few chapters.
|
