The Gallaghers of Ballinrobe

that Uncle Mike’s grandparents raised their families.
They did their best. Uncle Mike’s parents were Owen
and Anne (Flannigan) Brien. (The spelling of
Flannigan, as well as many other names, varies from
source to source.) They were married May 19, 1887, in
the chapel at Johnstown. Anne was 17 at the time,
having been born in 1871. She worked at the local
Athlumney Flour Mill, which was originally built in
1808. It employed more than 250 locals well into the
last quarter of the 1800s. Like his own father, Owen
was a laborer.
Owen and Anne had 11 children: Anne
(1888), Mary “Molly” (1890), John (1891), Hugh
(1893), Rose Ann (1895), Michael (1897), Catherine
(1900), Bridget (1901), Julia (1904), Theresa “Tess”
(1906), and Elizabeth “Lilly” (1909). By the time the
younger children were born, the state of the local
economy had improved, with the vast majority of
citizens experiencing life as a more or less endurable
and pleasant thing, according to the Navan Historical
Society.
The O’Brien family moved a number of
times. Their first six children were born in the
townland of Simonstown. Catherine was born during a
short stay at rented accommodations in Navan itself,
with the last four children born in the townland of
Milestown. It was there that Uncle Mike’s father is
listed as living when his son left for America in 1930.
While he was still in Ireland, Uncle Mike moved at
some point to Swords outside Dublin. It’s unknown
how many family members joined him, but at least two
of his sisters were married there.
Troubled times for the family included
Catherine’s death at only five months old in 1900 and
the passing of her sister Lilly in her mid-20s in 1936.
Perhaps the hardest blow came when Uncle Mike’s
mother fell victim to the Spanish Influenza on March
23, 1919, at the age of only 48. She was one of an
estimated 23,000 victims in Ireland. Uncle Mike’s
father lived until Nov. 30, 1945. Anne and Owen are
both buried at the family plot in the Blackcastle
cemetery.
What we know of Uncle Mike’s other
brothers and sisters includes:
* Ann married James Kerrigan and had seven children:
James, Jane, Phyllis, Willy, Ann, Kathleen (died
young) and Noeline;
* Mary married Bernard McCabe; information about
any children is unclear;
* Hugh married twice, with his first wife dying young.
The O'Brien family burial plot in Blackcastle
includes the graves of Uncle Mike's parents, Owen
and Anne (Flannigan).
He and his second wife, Ann, had four children: Nan,
Brigid, Sean and Eugene;
* Rose married Thomas Stapleton and they had four
children: Patrick, Eugene, Frances and Thomas;
* Bridget married Joseph Norris and had six children:
Beno, Pauli, Nancy, Marion, Patrick and Melda. Her
son Paddy became a horse trainer, like his Uncle Mike;
* Julia married Peter O’Brien (no relation) and they
had four children: Lauri, Finbar, Albert and Theodora
or “Theo”;
* John and Tess never married; both are buried with
their parents in Blackcastle.
Likely the first time Uncle Mike saw
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