Beautiful Shores

Rod Cavanagh and Mick Ronan      2021 An unexpected connection.  This is my brother Rod, and his  workmate, Mick Ronan. Rod and Mick first met over 10 years ago, while working in the mining industry in Western Australia. Not long ago, they had a discussion about family backgrounds, after I had shared some of my f amily history discoveries with Rod. There were some overlaps, as Mick had a surname that was in our family tree, and was from South Australia where our grandfather was born.  The result - Rod and Mick discovered that they are ...               4th cousins once removed. The relationship chart explains the connection. Patrick Ronan is Mick's great-great grandfather. Patrick Ronan's sister, Catherine Ronan, is our 3rd great grandmother                                                                                                                      St John's Cemetery, Kapunda, South Australia Photo Credit: C. Dangerfield  2010   Patrick Ronan was born in about 1809

  Way back in May 1994- I spent 4 days driving around Ireland.  A day in the town of Ballymote was included, based upon a clue as to the origins of my 3 rd  great grandfather, Thomas Cavanagh. Thomas was tried at Sligo in March 1821 under the name of "Thomas Kaveny", and sentenced to 7 years for the crime of “house robbery.” He was a native of Sligo, his calling was a reaper, and he was described as aged 25, 5’ 6” tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and a fair and freckled complexion.  Thomas arrived in Sydney on the 15 March 1822, on the ship “Southworth”. Just prior to a planned visit to the UK, a distant cousin had told me in a brief phone conversation that she had found a request for Thomas to have his wife Mary, who was from a place called Emlaghfad, to be sent to join him in Australia.   Emlaghfad and Kilmorgan was a Roman Catholic parish in Sligo, and the parish has been re-named as Ballymote since my visit there.  Ballymote is an ancient market town within Emlaghfad pari