[click on the first and second generation photos above to learn more about each tributary in my "river"]
The "Sides"
CASTLEWOOD, St Louis County, MO. Memories of the legendary weekend playgrounds at Castlewood, Missouri (1930s - 1950s).
Family Rivers: the Women. Laying out the photos of my ancestors reminds me how strong the women were.
Mother: Barrett/Gibbons, Curran, Flanagan, Keville
Father: Dunne/Martin, Newham, Price
Family Roots
Gardiner-Barrett. Potato famine refugees. Disciplined and entrepreneurial. County Mayo, Ireland; to St Louis; to Catawissa, Missouri.
Curran. Family of my third grandfather Ewald Curran. Ireland; to London, England; to St Louis, Missouri.
Martin-Dunne. Farmers clever enough to acquire land. Adventurous girls who got themselves to America (and other parts of the world) during the 20th century. Ballaghduff, Kilkerrin Parish, County Galway; Ireland; to St Louis, Missouri and Chicago, Illinois.
Gibbons. Post-famine single woman with an independent streak. Ireland; to Chicago, Illinois; to Catawissa, Missouri; then to St Louis, Missouri.
Flanagan. Out on the edge, proud and willful - with many tragic results. Limerick, Ireland; to Dublin; to Chicago; to Edwardsville, Illinois; to St. Louis, Missouri
Keville. Post-famine emigrants; take-charge women. Shrule, County Mayo, Ireland; to Chicago; to St. Louis, Missouri
Nash. Large family and poor. Agricultural laborers and servants. Derbyshire, England
Newham. Craftsmen - tailors, good business heads. Northamptonshire; to Lincolnshire; to Derbyshire, England; to St Louis, Missouri
Price. Craftsmen - carpenters; men who needed women for their success. Mathon, Worcestershire, England; to Derbyshire, England; to St Louis, Missouri. See also the earlier Prices of Mathon (Worcestershire, England)
Zimmer/Spicer. My husband's family
Ireland and Immigrant History
Famine Refugees. What was life like for people like my Irish ancestors -- refugees from the Great Hunger?
Post-Famine Irish Emigrants. Many of my ancestors came after the famine was over. I've always wondered why...
Leaving Your Country. Where is home, after all? Where you've been? Or where you want to go?
Women: Irish Emigration's Bold Leading Edge. From a matriarchal society, they are no princesses.
Women Who Left Ireland. Single women on the go. (Posted 12.10.06)
Irish Dark Side. Irish culture was not always kind to women who didn't toe the line. Reflections on the Irish Magdalene asylums.
Mayo Apparition. We discover Our Lady of Knock and wonder about the rest of the story.
Doing Family History
Genealogy Hobby. It's a craze. It's addictive. But is there a dark side?
Other History Related to Our Family
The Abortionist. Were "back alley abortions" done by defrocked physicians or by well-meaning neighbor ladies?
ZIMMER Family History
Carman-Fordham. Original Anglo-American settlers on Long Island.
Spicer. Early settlers in Connecticut and upstate New York.
Love Letters between Jim's parents, Orpha and James, written during the summer before they were married -- 1926
Jim Zimmer's Youthful Autobiography. Written and illustrated when Jim was about 12 years old (PDF format.)
Jim Zimmer's "Story of Gink." A short story about adventurous cats, written when Jim was about 14 (PDF format).
General Resources
Ancestry.com. If you're serious about family history, you gotta pay up. An invaluable resource.
Missouri Resources
Genealogy in St. Louis. Lots and lots of good links.
Records for St. Louis. Good public information sources.
Time Portal to St Louis History. Survey of the history and heritage that exist for St. Louis City and County. From personal collection, contributions from private collections and from sources in public domain. By Scott K Williams
Illinois Resources
Homicide in Chicago, 1870 - 1930. Where we found my gangster uncle "Muhoney" Flanagan.
