Remembering Hubby's Emerald Isle Ancestors

Happy St. Patrick's Day! My wonderful husband has a number of ancestors born on the Emerald Isle. And of course I've been keeping their memory alive by reminding descendants every year on March 17th. Let me introduce you to:

• William Smith and his wife, Jean, both immigrants from Limerick, were hubby's 5th great-grandparents. Their son Brice Smith (1756-1828) was an “Ohio fever” pioneer, leaving his birthplace in Pennsylvania to settle the forested frontier of Ohio.
• Robert Larimer and his wife, Mary O’Gallagher, both from the North of Ireland, were hubby's 5th great-grandparents. Robert was shipwrecked sailing to America, worked off the cost of his rescue, ran away, married Mary, and farmed in Pennsylvania until they died about 1803. Their descendants were pioneers in Ohio and Indiana.
• John Shehen and his wife, Mary, from somewhere in Ireland, were hubby's 2d great-grandparents. They were born early in the 1800s in Ireland but had moved to London by the 1830s. Their daughter Mary Shehen married John Slatter in London in 1859. Her youngest daughter (Mary Slatter, 1869-1925) left London for Ohio, married James Edgar Wood and was a loving mother until her unexpected death from heart problems.
• Halbert McClure and his wife, Agnes, were born in County Donegal, Ireland, although the McClure family is originally from Isle of Skye. They were hubby's 5th great-grandparents. In the 1740s, this family sailed as a group to Philadelphia, walked to Virginia, and bought farmland. Their descendants became early pioneers in Indiana and other states.

Erin Go Bragh!

So Many Ancestors, So Many Languages

For #52Ancestors #20, I'm trying to identify the different languages spoken by key ancestors in my family tree and my husband's tree.

My paternal grandparents (above) probably spoke three languages apiece. Grandma Henrietta Mahler Burk (1881-1954) was born in Latvia, and surely spoke Latvian as well as English and, I'm guessing, Yiddish. Possibly she spoke Russian too, although I don't know for sure.

Her husband, Isaac Burk (1882-1943) was born in Lithuania, and spoke that language plus Russian and maybe even Yiddish in addition. Isaac certainly picked up some English when he stopped in Manchester, England, to stay with family in 1901, en route from Lithuania to North America.

My maternal grandparents also spoke multiple languages. Grandpa Theodore Schwartz (1887-1965), shown above escorting my mother down the aisle at her wedding, had a way with languages. His native Hungarian tripped off his tongue, but he could also speak several other languages, including English--which is why the steamship lines employed him in NYC as a runner around Ellis Island in the 1910s.

His wife, Hermina Farkas Schwartz (1886-1964), was fluent in Hungarian, having been born there, and learned Yiddish in the Lower East Side of NYC as an immigrant. Also she learned English in NYC night school.

In my husband's Wood family tree, there are three adult Mayflower ancestors (Degory Priest, Isaac Allerton, Mary Norris Allerton). Therefore, in addition to English, they may have learned some Dutch when the Pilgrims fled to the Netherlands prior to sailing to the New World. Once in Plymouth, perhaps they learned a few words to talk with Native American tribes? Photo above shows my late father-in-law (Edgar James Wood, 1903-1986) at left with two of his Wood brothers.

Also in my husband's McClure line, his ancestor Halbert McClure (1684-1754) was born in County Donegal, and sailed to Philadelphia with his family in the 1740s. Because the McClures were originally from Isle of Skye, hubby's ancestor may have spoken Scottish Gaelic or Gaelic (or both). On arrival in the American colonies, however, the McClures would most likely have learned English, because they walked from Philadelphia to Virginia. They would probably need to speak English to buy provisions along the way. Once in Virginia, they bought land--again, a transaction that probably required English.

Wishful Wednesday: Dunvegan Castle, Home of Clan MacLeod (and the McClures)

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Thanks the carefully-researched genealogical publication Following the McClures--Donegal to Botetourt, we know that hubby is descended from Halbert McClure (1864-1754).

Although Halbert and his father James Andrew McClure were born in County Donegal, Ireland, the family was originally from Isle of Skye in Scotland. The McClures were a sept of MacLeod of Harris, which connects the family to Dunvegan Castle, ancestral home of Clan MacLeod. 

Wishing for a visit to the majestic Dunvegan Castle on beautiful Isle of Skye, and a chance to see the countryside where McClure ancestors lived for most of the past millennium.