Our Irish progenitors, Martha and Owen

The story of my branch of the Flynn family in America begins with Owen Flynn and Martha Crawford. For many years the only consistent detail passed down about the family was that they emigrated from County Cavan, Ireland, and even that was unsubstantiated for many years. More about that in a later post… 

Biographical sketches of two of Owen and Martha’s sons, James and William, add some details to this family’s immigration story. Although similar in broad terms, there are some key differences. In a sketch of James Crawford Flynn published in Walter B. Steven’s  St. Louis, the Fourth City, 1764-1909 (Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1909, pp. 260-261), it states he came to the U.S. in 1857 and "joined his sisters, who were living in Connecticut." 

The 1860 census corroborates this as James is living with his sister, Sarah Flynn Curtiss, her husband and brother Arthur, who likely immigrated together with James. The sketch goes on to say his parents “came about ten years later” and after his mother’s death, his father returned to Ireland, where he later died. A briefer sketch of James appeared  in The Book of St. Louisans by Albert Nelson Marquis (St. Louis: St. Louis Republic, 1912. 2nd Edition, pg. 201) also states James immigrated in 1857.

James’ younger brother, William C. Flynn, was profiled in W. L. Kershaw’s History of Page County, Iowa (Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1909, pp. 409-410), but his account of Owen and Martha's journey to America is slightly different:

The parents came to the United States in 1863, the family home being established in Connecticut. The climate, however, did not agree with the father and he returned to his native land in 1864, there passing away three years later. The mother, after her return to Ireland, found it lonesome without her children, who all sought the advantages offered by the new world, and the same year in which she had accompanied her husband on his trip back to the Emerald Isle witnessed her second arrival in the United States. While en route for America, however, she contracted a severe cold, from the effects of which she died a short time later.

So, a few questions about the sequence of events emerge from these two accounts: 

• Did Martha die first and then Owen returned to Ireland?
• Did Owen and Martha both return to Ireland?
• Did Martha leave Ireland for a second time to be reunited with her children before her husband died or after?

The one detail that can be confirmed is that Martha Crawford Flynn died in Naugatuck, New Haven County, Connecticut, on September 24, 1866, at the age of 63, and is buried at Hillside Cemetery, in that city. 

The date of death for Owen -- about 1867, based on William’s sketch -- is right on the cusp of the inauguration of civil death registration in Ireland: 1864. A search of Ireland, Civil Registration Deaths Index, 1864-1958, on Ancestry for deaths of any Owen Flynns between 1864 and 1869 yields several possibilities:

Name:	Estimated  Birth Year:	Date of  Registration:	Death Age:	Registration  District:
Owen Flynn	1800	1869	69	Carrick-On- Shannon
Owen Flynn	1796	1869	73	Boyle
Owen Flynn	1799	1869	70	Longford
Owen Flynn	1798	1869	71	Dublin South
Owen Flynn	1795	1865	70	Mohill

Further research is necessary to determine if any of these are the Owen Flynn we’re seeking! What other questions do these sketches prompt? If you have any details that could help fill out this story, please share below!