This is a tribute to the memory of
my kin. It is the result of many years of research and many
collaborators not the least of which has been Margaret Rose Gallagher (1908-2001) who helped in the early stages of these family
histories. Donald Coonrod laid the groundwork for these events of
the past with his early investigations into the McCormick,
O'Hara and Fern families based on conversations with
his mother Mary Elizabeth Fern (1902-1998) The O'Hara family history
recorded here is the result of the ongoing investigations of
Ronda Lewis and Donald Coonrod and the Harrigan histories
and photos are from the research of Ella Harrigan Buzzard.
The Grady and Curtin
dynamics in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania are based on stories and family memories compiled by
Joseph Lieberman, the nexus being Ellen MacNamara (1841-1920), a most notable person.
These pages are no more than a slight contribution to the history
of our kin and it is hoped that others better qualified, having
access to a wider range of historical material, will ensure that
our kinsmen and kinswomen will never fade from memory. The
O'Hara and McCormick families migrated form County
Antrim, Ireland to Ayrshire and Lanarkshire, Scotland where they worked for years
in the coal mining villages before immigrating to the United
States. Many of these allied families migrated together and made
the same stop in Mercer County, Pennsylvania before migrating
again to Cherokee County , Kansas. The families worked in the
coal mines up until the 1920s when deep-shaft mining eventually
gave way to strip mining.
The O'Grady family originated in County Clare and migrated
to Dudley, Worcestershire, England in the 1850s. They were
shoemakers in Ireland and England but after their immigration to
Schuykill County, Pennsylvania, they became coal miners with one
branch of the family in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania and the
other in Cherokee County, Kansas.
The Lewis and Agee families have a long presence in Floyd and Patrick Counties, Virginia. Hazel Lufkin Davenport (1906-1998) and her son Robert E. Lewis have been the pioneers investigating these early histories. A great deal of information has been accumulated regarding various members of these families and research is ongoing.
Persons whose names are marked with this icon were
coal miners
Persons whose names are marked with this icon are my
direct ancestors.
PRIVACY: All living persons and events relating to them are excluded from this site.