The Irish standard., 1912-02-10
A Corner in Ancestors s.
By Lawrence P. Murray

It is still the common opinion among
q large portion Of the English people
that their country is the mother coun-
try of the United States and that at
least four-f ifths of the American
people are of British origin. When
ever an American does anything Of
note, the genius of the Anglo-Saxon
race is extolled in English newspapers
but they never take any responsible
ity for our failures. Even here In
America, there are a large number of
Anglo maniacs who are Of the same
opinion, and whose. sole desire Is to
unite this country in the closest bonds
of union with the mother country"
When the talk of an Anglo-American
alliance was first started, one of the
sentimental arguments in it's favor was
that the two great branches of the
Anglo-Saxon race, If united, could,
without fear, face the rest of the world.
In the Sunday edition of the st. Paul
"Pioneer Press" there Is special fea-
ture, entitled. "a Corner in Ancestors"
belongs to that class whom have just
described. The title of her article is
no misnomer, as she does try to Cor
ner'' all the ancestors for that great
race, to which, let us hope, she belongs.
A few months ago. she claimed the
Casey family, as of English origin, and.
since that time, 1 have, each week,
read her articles with interest. During
the past three months. the following
families have been claimed, as of en-
tirely British origin: Pierce, Griffin,
Carey, Rice, Gurley Cor Curley), Muir
ray, Carleton, Kerk, Barnhill, Howe
and Cowan. Previous to that time, ]
had not read these articles, so that,
probably, numerous others escaped my
notice. Many of these names are of
entirely Irish origin, and even in the
case of names like Kerk, Howe and
Gurley, the majority of those who pos
sess them can lay claim to a purely
Celtic ancestry. Attempts of this kind
to obscure the origin of Irish families
are despicable, and it is the duty of
Irishmen, to remove, as often as posi-
BILE, any obscurity which may exist.
will try to point out, to Frances
Cowles, some Of the mistakes which
she has made.
Concerning the Casey family, she
says:
There is tradition, so we'll estab.
lished that it may be accepted as gen.
uine, that Thomas Casey, the first O.
the name in America, was a survivor
of the massacres which took place ii
Ulster in October, 1641. Thomas Casey
was, at that time, only four years old
and probably belonged to family OF
Caseys from Gloucester, England, who
had settled in Ireland some time pre-.
family. Thomas only was spared. an6
was carried away by his uncle OF
nurse to his relatives in Gloucester
England. In 1858 he sailed from Ply.
mouth. England. and settled in New
England, at Newport" (Here follows 6
long account of his descendants.)
THE origin Of the name is somewhat
in doubt. 1t is widely used in ireland
but it may have originated in England
and have been taken to Ireland, as ir
the case of the forbears of the famil,
to which Thomas Casey belonged.
Is obviously Of the same derivation a.
the Caste or Case family"
There are many misstatements IL
this quotation. The alleged Ulster
massacre is stupendous falsehood, in.
vented by Walter Harris, and adopted
by writer's such as Cox. Reid, Hill ant
Fronde, for the purpose of blackenint
to the utmost, the character of tn,
Irish Catholics. Nowadays, even Prot
estant historians admit that, while tn,
1nsurrection of 1851 was not atogethe
blameless. there is absolutely no foun
The statement, that "the origin of tn,
name Casey is somewhat in doubt" Il
also incorrect. On the writer's ow,
admission, "the name is widely use,
IN Ireland" and seeing that this is tn
case, prudent impartial historian
would have consulted authoritativ
Irish genealogies, before venturing a,
opinion. In no country were the gen
ealogies of the different clans so close
ly guarded as they were in Ireland
The whole intricate system of genoa
logy played such an important part Il
Irish social life that there can be n
doubt of their accuracy. We have still
left to us, in the libraries of Dublin, a
least one hundred books of these gen
ealogies-chief among them being tn
Books of Leinster Lecan ord po1,,,