1.  It All Started in a Bookstore in Ennis, Co. Clare, Ireland

June 1997

·         A large white magazine with a black ink drawing on the cover, called The Other Clare, caught my attention. It was the annual journal of the Shannon Archaeological & Historical Society. In it was an article called “Islandmagrath and the Macraith Family” by Paddy Connors. The article referenced a microfilm containing the Pedigree of the Macraith Family located at the nearby Local Studies Center. (Literally a few blocks away from the bookstore).

·    Another book, found at the same store, was about immigrants coming to America. In it I found my gg-grandmother, Mary Ryan McGrath and her sons Michael and John who had arrived on The British Queen at NYC on Nov. 7, 1850.

·    We visited the Local Studies Center associated with the Ennis Public Library and got Xerox copies of the Macraith pedigree and also the pedigree of Miler Magrath.

·    On our last day in Ireland we visited nearby Islandmagrath.

·    I switched from JFK Assassination research and from that point on I did genealogy research.

·    Contrary to the advice commonly given to new genealogists I didn’t investigate my immediate family since other family members had already done some of that. Instead, I headed way back in time following the ancient McGrath families of Ireland

·    The main library at the University of Texas at Austin, the Perry-Castañeda library, contains a large collection of books on Irish History, Annals and Chronicles such as The Annals of the Four Masters, The Civil Survey, The Distribution Books, etc. A retired professor of Irish History at UT had assembled the collection.

·    Published Origins of the McGrath Family in July 1999 for the 50^th McGraw Reunion.

2.  Finding Mary Ryan’s Cottage

2000

·         My gg-grandmother was Mary Ryan and she was from the townland of Gleninchnaveigh (Glown), Upperchurch parish, Co. Tipperary, Ireland.

·    The search for family connections back in Ireland began in about 1983 with an article in the National Geographical magazine. The article was about a Con Ryan whose family had lived in the townland of Glown for over 200 years. We were certain that he must be related to our Mary Ryan. My sister and I had both sent letters to Con Ryan but by the year 2000 no responses had been received.

·    We finally connected with Con in late May 2000 when he responded to my last letter.

·    We visited with Con Ryan at his modern home during our June 2000 visit to Upperchurch. Next door was the old Irish cottage where Con had been born; it was also the cottage where Mary Ryan had been living with her brother Jeremiah’s family before she immigrated to the US in 1850.

·    Con’s cousin, Michael Quinlan, had gone through Upperchurch parish records and determined that Con and I were 5^th cousins once removed.

·    This original paper was updated for the Upperchurch-Drombane historical Journal. Pictures were added and new information was included.

3.  Upperchurch Arrivals

2000

·         I published the paper “Ryans of CNY” on the IRL- TIPPERARY mail list. I was looking for descendants of the many Ryan families found in the census and land records for the latter half of the 19^th century records for the tri-county area of Southeast Onondaga, Northeast Cortland and Western Madison County.

·    I wondered if all the Ryans could be accounted for?

·    I was contacted by many individuals with Ryan and other Upperchurch ancestors who settled in Onondaga, Cortland and Madison tri-county area. Barb Ryan, of Cortland, NY, was extremely helpfully and shared much of her research and that of her friends and relatives.

4.  The McGrath Family of Truxton, NY

March 13, 2002

·         This paper focused on the family of my gg-grandparents Edmund McGraw and Mary Ryan from their arrivals in 1848 and 1850, respectively, up to the present day.

·    Also included were short (1 – 3 pp) stories about relatives, friends and neighbors. Many of these stories have since been expanded into 60 – 100+ page papers over the subsequent years.

·    Initial sources: Previous family genealogy papers from Mame Waters & Lucy Waters Sprague and Richard & Doug Currie.

·    Baptism and marriage records from St. James, Cazenovia — transcribed by Dick Barr.

·    Madison Co. cemetery records — Dennis Weiskotten.

·    Federal census records were on CDs or on reels of microfilm ordered through the LDS Family History Centers.. The state census records were not available online at that time and a trip to the County Clerk's Office was required.

5.  Communicating With the World

2005-2006

·         I created the IRP-TIPP-Kilnamanagh mail list – 2005 that was focused primarily on the Upperchurch, Moyaliff and Holycross areas. These lists were hosted by ROOTSWEB which was subsequently purchased by Ancestry with the promise they would continue to support the mail lists. But eventually they decided to drop their support and the mail lists went inactive but the archives were retained. Each list had an experienced owner who endeavored to keep the conversations and the sharing of information going on their list.

·    The mcgrathsearch.com Web site was developed during 2005 - 2006. After a research and picture taking trip to Ireland in 2006 the site went live on October 31, 2006

·    The mcgrathsearch.com web site allowed the sharing of papers that were too large for the email list format, which was restricted to text only with no links.

6.  Edmund McGrath’s Siblings Identified

2007

·         Nancy Long connected Margaret McGrath Long to her father, Michael McGrath, using Margaret’s death certificate.

·    The 1855 census was key to making the connection. Thomas McGrath, son of Michael McGrath, in Pompey in 1855 was the same Thomas McGrath in Maple Ridge in 1860. It also linked Thomas to his father Michael and his wife Katy (Gleeson).

·    The Maple Ridge Migration – 1858-1860. 12 individuals went from the town of Pompey (Onondaga Co.) to Maple Ridge in the town of Martinsburg (Lewis Co.).

·    Lanty McGrath linked to Edmund McGrath. Their wives and children came to America together on the same ship, The British Queen, and docked at NYC on November 7, 1850.

·    Edmund McGrath wasn’t an only child after all.

7.  Old Mattydale Web Site

2013 - Present

·         Old Settlers of the Town of Salina – From the original land owners of the Military Tract (1790s) to the subdivisions of the farms for residential development starting in the early 1920s.

·    The Roadhouses on the Old Plank Roads. Most were on the Cicero Plank Road and one was on the Liverpool Plank Road.

·    Mattydale Landmarks: The Old Salt Road, Military Tract Lot Lines, Buchanan Field, Trolley Car Tracks, Mattydale School Maple Trees.

·    Roselawn – Home of L. Frank Baum – Author of The Wizard of Oz

·    Residential Development - Between 1918 and the beginning of the Great Depression there were 11 residential developments operating where previously there had only been family farms. This are was to become known as Mattydale and Hinsdale. They were the only two residential developments whose names had persisted on anything but street signs. 

·    The Frank Matty Story; Frank Matty Memoirs; Frank Matty’s Birthday Parties

·    What Was That? — Stories of past events, people and structures that are now long gone.

8.  Connecting With the Long Families of Holycross Parish

2011, 2020

·         Clare Tuohy found the Long family baptism records in Holycross parish. Dick Long thought his Long family ancestors had come from the nearby market town of Thurles — 2007.

·   The three Long families were located very close to the Moyaliff-Holycross border.

·   The McGrath-Long Trilogy

·   The Long and McGrath Families - Neighbors on Both Sides of the Ocean — 2011

·   The Neighbors in Ireland — 2011

·   Reaching Across the Penal Times — 2020

·   Reaching Across the Penal Times was an attempt to connect up with The Origins of the McGrath Family (1999)

9.  Constructing Families from the Irish Records

2014-2016

·         Developed an Excel Add-In for sorting and assembling families from the newly released baptism records.

·   Catholic Parish Registers Released Online – 2015

·   Families From the Parish Registers – McGrath, Long, Fanning and Tuohy. Parishes: Ballycahill -Holycross, Drom & Inch, Clonoulty, Thurles, Upperchurch & Drombane

·   Families From the Civil Records – McGrath and Long

·   Family Connections in Co. Tipperary – Driven by email contacts

·   McGrath Families from Clogher and Clonoulty

10.  The Cousin Connections to Con Ryan of Glown

Dec 18, 2017

The numbers associated with the individuals listed below indicate the order in which their connections with Con Ryan were established.

1.      Michael McGraw

2.      Roger Hoffmann

3.      Clare McCarthy

4.      Eugene Ryan

11.  The Connections of Thomas Maher’s Descendants

April 5, 2018

·         Connors — Ryan of Cuyler — Conan of Foilnagoule — Maher

·    All of the persons involved had come from the Upperchurch area.

·    Several families that had already been researched were discovered to have a Maher connection

12.  The Conan Archival Project

2010, 2018

·         Tracking down the person referenced in a 1977 St. Patrick’s Day newspaper article who was aware in 1977 of the large Upperchurch concentration in Pompey and Fabius. – Oct 2010

·         Discovering Bob Conan’s archive of unpublished research. A large number of loose-leaf notebooks — Nov 2010.

·         Bob Conan, Jr. had made many summer trips to Ireland to do genealogy research.

·         How a hacked email started the ball rolling again – Jan 2018

·         Following up on Bob’s research and updating it resulted in three papers that were published as part of the Conan Archival Project

·         The Conan Family of Foilagoule – Mar 2018

·         The Upperchurch Coonan Families – Aug 2018

·         The Coonans of Roscrea – Oct 2018

·         Scanned and published Bob Conan Jr.’s notes and papers as part of the Conan Archival Project.

13.  The McGrath — Long — Gleason Connections

2020-2025

·         Michael Gleason, of Thurles, could have been the person who influenced the Thurles area folks to immigrate to Central NY. He came to the US in 1835; returned to Ireland for a visit in 1846.

·    Michael McGrath’s four children were clustered in Pompey and Fabius in 1855.

·    After Michael’s death in about 1858 three of those children and their families left the area.

·    Lanty went to the town of Manchester in Ontario County in western NY

·    Thomas and Margaret joined the Maple Ridge Migration to Martinsburg in Lewis Co., NY

·    Edmund McGraw and family had moved to Cuyler by 1855 and in November 1855 Edmund bought property on nearby Morgan Hill.

·    Coming to America — The Early Years — 1840-1870. Examines members of the McGrath, Long and Gleason families in extreme detail during their early years; shortly after their arrivals in America. Published in November 2025.

·    Their presence or absence in every available source is recorded. This will ensure readers that every available source has been consulted. It will also point to possible areas where more progress might be made.