Friday 26th March 2010

Edward Allison James (1856-1928), an unwilling ex-patriate.

Hi, I'm James Patrick Alford, a great grandson of Edward Allison James who was born in County Carlow on September 2, 1856. I am writing this letter today from my ranch near Mountain Home, Texas USA. In a minute, I will push a key and transmit it via satellite to Ireland. Oh, if it could have been that easy for my great grandfather to return home to Ireland!

Edward Allison James had always wanted to re-connect with his Irish family but the salary of a rural minister in America was never enough to permit it.

When he was just a youngster, some tragedy had befallen his family and he was taken away from Carlow to live with a foster family.

His memories were rather sketchy but, he recalled or, perhaps was told, by his foster parents that his father and mother were John and Mary James. And, he recalled being from a place in County Carlow called "Balin Brun or, Balin Brun Hill".

From his Death Certificate, we know that he thought his mother's maiden name was Mary O'Reilly.

Then the confusion began! About 40 years ago, my mother went to Carlow and returned to Texas with a new name, Mary Fitzgerald. Unfortunately, she never elaborated and no explanation was found in her papers.

Last Fall, with the Internet now in place worldwide and historical data so readily available, I resumed the quest for his lost family.

With the help of a good number of Carlow residents, among them Michael Martin, Dermot Mulligan, Tom O'Reilly and Eileen James, two conclusions were reached:

a. His "Balin Brun Hill "was most likely a corruption of Ballybrommell and.

b. Mary O'Reilly was unlikely to have been his mother..

Suporting these conclusions, Griffith's Valuation of Carlow, 1852-53 is now online and, indeed, showed John James in Ballybrommell and seven Fitzgerald families in surrounding Fennagh Parish. Not one O'Reilly family was in the parish at that time!

Nothing has been resolved yet and all these questions are still unanswered:

Was his mother Mary O'Reilly or Mary Fitzgerald?
What tragedy struck the family?
At what age was he taken from Carlow?
What became of his parents?
Were there other children of John and Mary James?
What became of them?
Why was he taken in by a foster family and not adopted?
Who were his foster parents?

And, do I have cousins in County Carlow?

Send me an email if you can help solve this mystery.

James Alford<jpalford@hctc.net>

 

Edward Allison James, ca 1895

Edward Allison James and Wife, Emily, ca 1883

Edward Allison James, Emily and their grandchildren, ca 1925