Winifred Harrigan

Winifred Stone nee Harrigan.

In August of 2014 I visited Ireland and while I was there, I attended a Genealogy Conference in Limerick City.  When I left Limerick city after the Conference, I headed for Carrigoreilly, a small townland just outside of Caherconlish (a pretty small town itself) in County Limerick. That's where Thomas Harrigan (my 2nd Great Grandfather) and his daughter Winifred Harrigan (my Great Grandmother) were from. I didn't know exactly where they lived, but I knew the townland was very small, so I just went there to take a picture of any house I saw.  From what I could see on Google Earth there are only about 6 or 7 properties in Carrigoreilly in 2014.

I had posted a “Blog” online while I was in Ireland and one of the people who read my entry on Carrigoreilly was a man named Patrick. (I won't give his full name because I don't have his permission) He left a comment on my Blog page about the Harrigan family from Carrigoreilly.

He told me that Carrigoreilly is not the original name. The original name is "Carrigareely" which means "Farrelly's Rock".  According to Patrick, who has a copy of an old estate map of the area, my Harrigan ancestors were evicted by the landlord. The landlord's name was Thomas Spooner White. He evicted the Harrigans and a number of other small farmers and knocked down their cottages. Patrick says that "the story around here was that their ship fares were paid by the landlord so that he could possess the lands for the growing of flax".  * Thanks, Patrick, for the information.

I have not yet found any information on the name of the ship that Thomas and Winifred traveled on to get to America.