The Gallaghers of Ballinrobe
IN MARCH 2020, Pat Gallagher had an idea. He asked his brother, Owen, what he thought of writing a book about the family of their father, James Gallagher, who grew up in the early decades of the 20th century in the West of Ireland in the small town of Ballinrobe, County Mayo. The shutdown from COVID-19 was just beginning, and the thinking was they would have more time on their hands than usual. What better way to spend quarantine than exploring the stories of our aunts, uncles and other relatives. The task turned out to be much more complicated (and rewarding) than anticipated. It involved sifting through ship manifests, census, birth and marriage records, newspaper archives, and, most enjoyable, sessions delving into the memories of extended-family members. Sorely missed was the chance to hear first-hand the tales from our deceased cousins John O'Brien and Pete Gallagher. This book's stories and more than 500 images are the result of the past year's journey. The goal was both simple and ambitious: making the memories of the Gallaghers of Ballinrobe ours forever.
IN MARCH 2020, Pat Gallagher had an idea. He asked his brother, Owen, what he thought of writing a book about the family of their father, James Gallagher, who grew up in the early decades of the 20th century in the West of Ireland in the small town of Ballinrobe, County Mayo. The shutdown from COVID-19 was just beginning, and the thinking was they would have more time on their hands than usual. What better way to spend quarantine than exploring the stories of our aunts, uncles and other relatives.
The task turned out to be much more complicated (and rewarding) than anticipated. It involved sifting through ship manifests, census, birth and marriage records, newspaper archives, and, most enjoyable, sessions delving into the memories of extended-family members. Sorely missed was the chance to hear first-hand the tales from our deceased cousins John O'Brien and Pete Gallagher. This book's stories and more than 500 images are the result of the past year's journey. The goal was both simple and ambitious: making the memories of the Gallaghers of Ballinrobe ours forever.
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See THE SHERIDANS, Page 25
THE SHERIDANS
The bonds between the Gallaghers and Sheridans
span two continents and more than 125 years.
Their beginnings can be traced to the latter part of
the nineteenth century. The connections grew through a
marriage and as the families spread from Ireland to
America. The ties matured into powerful friendships in
Philadelphia and beyond.
Around 1840, Ned Sheridan married Mary
Hamrogue and raised a family on their farm just south of
Ballinrobe, in the area identified in some records as
Ballinaya and others as Lissanisky. They had at least six
children: Edward, Mary, Patrick, twins James and John, and
Honor. All but Honor were born in the 1840s.
Meanwhile, in Cornaroya, Michael Rooney and
his wife gave birth to a daughter Honor (Nora) around
1845. The location of their home is unclear; it may have
been one of the numerous laborers' cottages in town. Nora
was 25 years old when in 1870 she married one of Ned and
Mary (Hamrogue) Sheridan’s sons, John. They are our
maternal great-grandparents.
THE GALLAGHERS NEXT DOOR
Living alongside the “Gallaghers of Ballinrobe”
for whom this book is named was another family with
claim to the same title. Maybe even a stronger one. There
are numerous descendants of that family who still call
Cornaroya, Ballinrobe and County Mayo home.
They are part of the family tree of Owen
Gallagher, the brother of our Great-Grandfather Peter
Gallagher. The brothers each inherited part of the 50 or so
acres their father Michael had leased along the boreen in
Cornaroya. Sometime in the late 19th century a new home
was built next to the existing cottage. The brothers ended
up married to sisters Bridget and Peggy McCormick. Owen
Gallagher, born around 1825, originally married Catherine
Hyland, but she died of consumption in 1874, having given
birth to seven children.
The two brothers' families grew side by side. By
the time our aunts and uncles were growing up, their first
and second cousins next door were like part of one huge
family. The eight additional children Owen Gallagher had
with Peggy McCormick included Aunt Delia’s closest
See THE GALLAGHERS NEXT DOOR, Page 29
Uncle Pete, from left, his cousin Francis Sheridan and one of the three Duffy
brothers are well-dressed for an unknown occasion, probably sometime in
the late 1920s. The location is Philadelphia's Fairmount Park.
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