The Brennans

My father was a Brennan and the Irish tradition was strong in his family, even though he was only one fourth  Irish.  Since my mother's ancestors are from Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg, I am only one eighth Irish, and yet the Irish story is what I have always identified with as well.  Perhaps that is because the Irish are extremely proud of their heritage and try very hard to keep their legends and traditions intact.  One needs only look at St. Patrick's Day parades to realize that.


While my father made sure I knew I was Irish, and often sang Irish songs as I was growing up, I knew very little about my extended Irish family.  We had moved away from the Brennan stronghold (Lima, Ohio) when I was quite young, coming to California when I was only ten.   I knew my grandfather Keech was Irish, and my Dad spoke often of "Grandma Brennan," my great grandmother, but I knew little beyond that.  I guess my parents never thought to educate me about my relatives. 

After my father died, I searched through his genealogy records and found much valuable information. Included in his papers was a story written by a distant cousin, Father Robert Brennan, about his grandparents Ned and Mary (my great great grandparents) and their life in Lima.  He also named his brothers and sisters, and mentioned some of his aunts and uncles, including my great grandfather, John.

This much I know: my paternal great great grandparents, Ned Brennan and Mary Fahey, emigrated from Ireland in 1861 and raised six children in Lima, Ohio.  Five of those children, including my great grandfather, John Brennan, married and had large families.  My great grandparents, John Brennan and Theresa Graff, had seven children, and though I met some of their sons and daughters, I never really knew them.  After my father died, I asked my aunt Sheila to give me a family history so that I could at least know some of their names.

From there, I started my own search through ancestry.com.  I found a few family trees that had information I could borrow, and I examined census reports.  The census data available online, however, stops at the census of 1930, in order to protect the identities of the living.  (The 1940 census will be released next year, and genealogists everywhere - including me - can't wait!)  After that, I began searching the issues of the Lima News to find stories about my relatives.  This was an incredibly rich source of information.  From marriage announcements, obituaries, and simple stories about relatives visiting other relatives, I pieced together a much more comprehensive picture.

Now I know the names of all of Ned and Mary Brennan's children and grandchildren, and the names of some of their great grandchildren.  I also contacted a third cousin, whom my parents met several years ago, and learned more about her branch of the family.

And to this day I continue to gather stories from those newspaper articles.  Stories about ancestors who died young and those who lived to old age.  Stories about female ancestors who died in childbirth.  Stories about ancestors who became priests and nuns.  I learned the occupations of many ancestors.  Several women were nurses.  A good number of Brennan men worked for the railroad.  One was a cigar maker.

However, there are still gaping holes that I hope to fill. Some may be resolved with the 1940 census.  Others may remain mysteries.  It has been impossible, for instance, to find out anything about Ned's parents, though Mary's mother came to America with her, so at least I know something about her.  My own parents traveled to Ireland to see what they could find, but census records there are mostly destroyed.  They did meet a distant cousin while they were there, however, and recently I contacted him by mail and asked for more information.  He is a great grandson of Mary Brennan, Ned Brennan's younger sister, and he gave me some names without dates.

I have decided that the only way I can learn more is to visit Ireland myself and use the detective skills I have developed over the past year to see if there is anything I can find.  Recently, I learned the name of the cemetery where the Brennan family was buried. Fr. Robert Brennan (who wrote the story about my great great grandparents) also wrote An Irish Diary, where he mentions it.  Perhaps that's a place to start. Even if I find nothing, it will still be a valuable - and no doubt emotional - trip to one of my ancestral homes.