Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - #42

 Linda Stufflebean over at Empty Branches on the Family Tree followed Genea Musings Saturday Night Genealogy Fun Prompt. I'll join in. The prompt is "Who is #42 on your ahnentafel list?". If you're not sure, your genealogy program should tell you. In RootsMagic, highlight yourself, then go to Reports, Lists and select Ahnentafel. That list will list your ancestors in an ahnentafel format, which numbers your ancestors in a very specific way. Your #42 in your ahnentafel list is your father's mother's father's mother's father. Kind of like the zig-zag challenge.

My #42 is the eldest Thomas Doran. The head of the infamous Carthage Doran clan was likely born somewhere in Donegal as that is what he put as his origin in his naturalization papers. He was born somewhere between 1776 and 1803. I lean towards about 1800. He married Catherine, whose last name is uncertain but some reports say her maiden name was O'Hara. They had seven children:

• Nancy (my great-great-grandmother), born in about 1826. Nancy married Michael Plunkett, who died around 1853. Nancy was an unwed mother to my great-grandfather in about 1857. His father is unknown. Nancy eventually married Martin Melvin in 1860 and later divorced. She finally married Patrick Dunnigan and had daughter Beatrice Anne (m. Frank Paquette).
• James, born in about 1828. No further information known.
• Fanny, born in about 1830. Fanny Married Terrence Neeson in 1851 and had nine children.
• Henry, born in about 1832. Henry married Pricella, last name unknown. Henry was killed in a fight with his brother-in-law, Terrence Neeson in 1868.
• Margaret, born in about 1834. Margaret married Gavin Riley and had two children.
• Ellen, born in about 1836. No further information known.
• Thomas, born May 9, 1844. Thomas fought for the Union in the Civil War and later moved to Texas, marrying Ethelena Hall in Cleburne, Texas and had three children. Thomas was acquitted in the murder of Jim Deaton and later killed in a bar fight in which he killed a sheriff's deputy. See the full story as it is known here.

My #42 Thomas brought his family from Ireland to Philadelphia in 1849 and not long after, to Carthage, Hancock County, Illinois. He was called "Old Tommy Doran" and "Old Uncle Tommy" in various newspaper articles. He and his wife were known to illegally sell alcohol out of their home in the dry county. He died December 27, 1875, in Carthage, Hancock County, Illinois. He is buried in Warsaw, Hancock County, Illinois. He has no headstone. The exact location in the cemetery is unknown.

--Matt