The Goughs,
Houlihans, and related families
(last
updated 5 April 2008)
All branches of our Gough and
Houlihan families came to the US from Ireland in the 19th
century. Of our eight immigrant great-grandparents,
however, only three were "famine" Irish, strictly speaking;
the rest came either before the famine began in earnest or
arrived about thirty years after the peak famine years.
The Goughs were the first to arrive. Peter Gough and his wife Letitia Naulty (or Nulty) arrived in 1842,
having sailed from the British port of Liverpool, a
common departure point for Irish immigrants to North
America. (A Peter Gough arrived at the port of New York
on 9 May 1842, according to the New York City port
arrival index, and we plan to check the passenger
registry at our next Archives visit.) Peter was born in
County Monaghan and Letitia in neighboring County Meath.
The family came to Hazle Township in eastern
Pennsylvania, settling in Beaver Meadows (just over the
county line in Carbon County) before moving to
Hazleton after the town was founded
in 1851. All six of their children -- Arthur, Mary, John, Alice, Richard, and Catherine -- ultimately married and
continued to live in Hazleton and the surrounding area,
generally either in Luzerne County or Schuylkill County.
Peter and Letitia's son John
married
Susan McCloskey, who also was born in
Ireland (perhaps in County Roscommon). John and Susan's
son John (born in 1865) married Anna McGeehan, daughter of
immigrant Hugh McGeehan and his wife
Mary Kiernan; Hugh was from Co. Donegal
and was the son of John and Mary McGeehan; he met
and married Mary after his arrival in Pennsylvania (we
do not yet know Mary's county of origin). All but one of
Hugh's siblings also emigrated to the United States; his
brother, Patrick McGeehan, remained in Ireland with
their parents John and Mary McGeehan, but
Rose, Susan, James, and Daniel all came to Pennsylvania.
On the Massachusetts side, Bartholomew Houlihan first arrived in the city of
Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1876; after working as a
laborer for a year, he apparently went back to Ireland
for two years before returning in 1879 with his
wife Johanna McCarthy, and their eldest
son Patrick. The Houlihans were from
County Kerry. We know from Johanna's obituary that she
was from Ballyhar (Bally Trasna parish), where Patrick
may also have been born. Their other children -- Thomas,
Bartholomew, Catherine, John Francis, Johanna,
James, Eugene, and Mary Ellen -- all were born in
Worcester.
Bartholomew and Johanna's son John Francis married Mary
Agnes Lowrey, the third child of Dennis Lowrey and his wife,
Mary E. Dwyer, who were the last in our
family to emigrate, arriving around 1882 from County
Tipperary. The Lowreys' eldest daughter, Margaret, was
born in Ireland and remained there with her
grandparents, while their other children were born
either in Rhode Island (son John) or Worcester (Mary
Agnes, Katherine, Helen, William, Elizabeth, and
Josephine).