Henihans of Carrowrooaun
Maternal grandfather, Denis Henihan, right, (1888-1969) with two of his brothers, Hugh (centre) and Patrick (left). The picture was taken in New York, shortly after Denis’s arrival in that city 1911. Here is the household in Carrowrooaun, Annaghdown, shortly before Denis left for the USA
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai002455328/
And this is how things stood in 1901:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000848575/
Denis (b. 1888) was the tenth of eleven children of Thomas and Mary (Lardner of Knockdoe) who married on 2 February 1868 at Lackagh church. The other ten children were Thomas, 1868; Bartly, 1870; John 1872; Patrick, 1875; Honor (Nora), 1877; Ellen, 1879, Martin (Mattie), 1881, Hubert (Hugh), 1884; Michael, 1886; Mary, 1891. (Thanks to Diane Dunigan for this detail). Denis was the sixth of the brothers to emigrate to the US
The three are wearing similar badges, so they may have been attending a meeting of a religious or political character on the day they dropped by the studio. Notwithstanding the very swish threads, all three were manual workers: Denis was a car-driver (probably of a horse-drawn car) according to his 1920 census return; the other two were boilermen.
The Ellis Island document record that Denis was missing the top of his right small finger. He told me that this injury occurred when his hand became trapped between a pillar and a horse-cart.
Denis returned to Ireland in 1921 or 1922, whereupon he became the designated heir of the Lardner farm in Knockdoe, the farm of his mother's family. It is probable that Denis's return to Knockdoe was related to the death of his older brother Michael in the first world war. Michael served with the Connaught Rangers in Gallipoli and Salonika. Injured in Serbia, he was transported by ship to the British military hospital in Alexandria, Egypt, where he died on 4 December 1915.
On 29 November 1924, Denis married Mary Feeney at Corofin church. The couple lived out their long lives on the Knockdoe farm.
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai002455328/
And this is how things stood in 1901:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000848575/
Denis (b. 1888) was the tenth of eleven children of Thomas and Mary (Lardner of Knockdoe) who married on 2 February 1868 at Lackagh church. The other ten children were Thomas, 1868; Bartly, 1870; John 1872; Patrick, 1875; Honor (Nora), 1877; Ellen, 1879, Martin (Mattie), 1881, Hubert (Hugh), 1884; Michael, 1886; Mary, 1891. (Thanks to Diane Dunigan for this detail). Denis was the sixth of the brothers to emigrate to the US
The three are wearing similar badges, so they may have been attending a meeting of a religious or political character on the day they dropped by the studio. Notwithstanding the very swish threads, all three were manual workers: Denis was a car-driver (probably of a horse-drawn car) according to his 1920 census return; the other two were boilermen.
The Ellis Island document record that Denis was missing the top of his right small finger. He told me that this injury occurred when his hand became trapped between a pillar and a horse-cart.
Denis returned to Ireland in 1921 or 1922, whereupon he became the designated heir of the Lardner farm in Knockdoe, the farm of his mother's family. It is probable that Denis's return to Knockdoe was related to the death of his older brother Michael in the first world war. Michael served with the Connaught Rangers in Gallipoli and Salonika. Injured in Serbia, he was transported by ship to the British military hospital in Alexandria, Egypt, where he died on 4 December 1915.
On 29 November 1924, Denis married Mary Feeney at Corofin church. The couple lived out their long lives on the Knockdoe farm.
Denis Henihan aboard the USS Kroonland, a troop carrier, in 1918 or 1919. Denis, who worked in the galley, is seated in the second row, just over 'in 1918' in the caption. According to the Kroonland 'War Book,' the vessel made five transAtlantic voyages in the course of the war, and continued in service for a period afterwards. There were a number a number of narrow escapes: 'She had three torpedoes fired at her while on one of her trips between Liverpool and New York. On one occasion, it is believed she sank a submarine with her propellor.' Elsewhere the War Book records: "On the the twenty-eighth of June (1918), we again entered the locks of St. Nazaire, where those who had not been to France before were given the opportunity of hearing the strange language, and of receiving strange-looking change in return for francs paid out for souvenirs ... At this writing, most of us have seen only New York, Newport News, Brest and St Nazaire, but here's hoping that we shall have a peep at 'Gay Paree' before we finish our work in the transport service." According to family tradition, Denis did get to Paris, where her was shocked to see women openly smoking cigarettes.
Denis Henihan's application for US passport (left), October 1921, where he declares that he intends to return to Ireland for six months to 'visit brother'. On right, information from 1920 census for household in West 56th St, NY. Older brother Patrick, aged 50 and naturalised since 1897, returned himself as 'Engineer, Harvard Club; Denis, 30, was returned as 'Chauffeur, Commercial.'
By the time that Denis Henihan returned to Ireland in 1922, both his parents were dead. The document shows that the War Office paid the funeral expenses of his father, Thomas, who died in August 1916 (presumably because his son, Michael, the family's breadwinner died in the war). Mary Henihan died 1 March 1920, aged 73. According to one story, Denis had an opportunity to visit home when the Kroonland docked briefly at Queenstown/Cobh on her way to France in 1918 or 1919. He decided there was no point in visiting home for only an hour or two, but later regretted not availing of what turned out to be his last opportunity of seeing his mother.