The Burke's
In Edward MacLysaght's book, "The Surnames of Ireland", he points out that "Burke, de Burgh (de Burca), is one of the most important and most numerous Hiberno-Norman names. First identified with Connacht, it is now numerous in all provinces (least in Ulster)". We can trace our Burke ancestors to James Burke and his wife, Johanna (Cahill) Burke; and, Bartholomew O'Neil and his wife, Julia (Quill) O'Neil.
James Burke and Johanna Cahill, resided in the townland of Curragh, parish of Cannaway (also known as Cannaboy), county of Cork, province of Munster, Ireland. They were probably in their adolescent or teen years when the Famine started in 1845. For the next seven years the Burke's and Cahill's witnessed not just the starving of their loved ones but also the theft by British soldiers of their grains, flour, meats and poultry.
Famine or Genocide
The late syndicated Boston Globe columnist, David Nyhan, in his last column, wrote, "The thing I'll miss most is the chance to shine a little flashlight on a dark corner, where a wrong was done to a powerless peon". Nyhan, chose "The Great Hunger" of 1845, as a favorite topic. Some of his commentary on "The Great Hunger" is set out below:
For every square mile of Irish sod, 30 peasants lay buried, weakened by starvation, finished off by what was collectively known as famine fever -- louse-borne relapsing fever and especially louse-borne typhus, whose victims give off a characteristic, awful smell in the last stages before they die.....The Great Hunger of 1845 lasted seven years, killed 1 million Irish people, prompted another million and a half to flee in the notorious 'coffin ships'. Ireland is the only country in Europe to have fewer people today than it had 150 years ago.....the fungus 'Phytophthora infestans' caused the blight of the potato in Ireland, but it was the injustice that caused the famine.....The British government allowed merchants to continue exporting food from Ireland to paying customers elsewhere even as thousands perished from want. The powerful grain merchants' lobby persuaded Parliament to ban the import of grain to help the Irish.....The Irish wouldn't have commandeered Boston the way they did, or captured the politics of New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia, had it not been for the tiny fungus spores that made their way from this country to the Auld Sod in the dank hold of a potato-bearing sailing ship. Jack Kennedy might have been naught but a Dublin publican's son, or an Irish dandy coaxing favors out of the Bloomsbury set, were it not for the migrate-or-die imperative spawned by a spore.
David Nyhan, of the Boston Globe was correct when he stated that, "it was the injustice that caused the Famine". The Public Record Office in London, has records that indicate the names and locations in Ireland of the British Army's "food removal regiments". British troops forcibly removed and seized from Ireland's producers, tens of millions of head of livestock; tens of millions of tons of flour, grains, meat, poultry and dairy products, enough it is estimated to sustain 18 million people - at the same time the blight was hitting the Irish potato crop.
Our ancestors, the Burke's and Cahill's of Cannaway Parish, which is located next to the parish of Macroom, watched the British Army's 12th Lancers, encamped nearby, seize their food for shipment to England. The stolen food and produce was then ferried to England by the British Excise Steamer, the Warrior. British "removal regiments" were deployed throughout Ireland.
The reasons for this seizure of food from the starving Irish was twofold. First, blight had also hit the English potato crop. The English too were overly dependent upon the potato. They had to import vast amounts of alternative food. The British Army didn't merely grab Ireland's surplus food; or enough Irish food to save England. It seized more, for profit and to exterminate the people of Ireland. Queen Victoria's economist, Nassau Senior, expressed his fear that existing policies, "will not kill more than one million Irish in 1848 and that will scarcely be enough to do much good".
Our Burke and Cahill ancestors fled Ireland to come to America. They never would have had the opportunity to flourish in America but for "the migrate-or-die imperative spawned by a spore" -- and the British Army.
The townland of Curragh, County Cork
It was in the parish of Cannaway that laborer James Burke, stood inside the small farmhouse rented by the Cahill's and married Johanna Cahill. A few years later, on October 4, 1867, inside their own small rented farm house in the townland of Curragh, parish of Cannaway, Johanna (Cahill) Burke, gave birth to a son, our ancestor, Dennis F. Burke.
The townland of Curragh, is one of the smallest townlands in County Cork, only 0.42 square miles in size or 271.48 acres. Curragh is also referred to in Irish as An Currach. It is bordered by the townland of Ballytrasna to the west, Crossmahon to the south, Lehenagh to the north and the townland of Shandangan West to the east.
Samuel Lewis, in his 'A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland', published in 1837, described the homeland of the Burke's and the Cahill's - Cannaway Parish. That description is set out below:
This parish is situated on the south side of the river Lee, and is connected with the parish of Macroom by a noble bridge at Coolcour, and with that of Magourne by the ancient bridge of Carrigadrohid. It contains 5414 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, and valued at 4274 pounds per annum. There are about 300 acres of woodland, 100 of bog, and a good deal of rocky waste; the remainder is almost equally divided between pasture and arable land, the latter producing good crops; there are also some dairy farms, the butter from which is sent to Cork market. At Barnateampul is a tract of bog, which supplies the inhabitants with fuel. The river Lee here flows with great rapidity, particularly after heavy rains, when it inundates the adjacent country to a considerable distance. The scenery presents an alternation of rock and meadow, the latter receding into small deep glens covered with wood, which produce a very pleasing effect.
Dennis Francis Burke, the son of James and Johanna (Cahill) Burke, married Catherine 'Kate' O'Neil. Catherine 'Kate' O'Neil, the daughter of Bartholomew O'Neil and Julia Quill, was born in January of 1869, in Ireland.
Dennis and Catherine (O'Neil) Burke, had five children: James, Dennis, Richard, Hannah J. Burke and Julia. *Hannah Burke, our ancestor, was born in Chicago, Illinois, on October 26, 1893. (There are several photos of Hannah Burke in the accompanying 'Family Photo History' album.)
Shortly after our ancestor, Hannah Burke, was born in Chicago, in 1893, the Burke Family moved to Massachusetts. James Burke, the second oldest child, was born in Massachusetts in March of 1896. Julia, was born in Massachusetts in May of 1898.
The Burke Family moved to 74 Elliot Street, on the East Side of Brockton, Massachusetts. They were completely surrounded by other Irish immigrant families. John and Mary Frawley, lived next door at 68 Elliot Street with their four young children. John Frawley, was a shoe worker. Mike and Kate Caffrey, lived on the other side of the Burkes, at 76 Elliot Street with their five children. Mike Caffrey was a day laborer like Dennis Burke. Shoe worker James Redmond and his family lived at 64 Elliot Street. It was a comfortable environment for the Burke's of Ireland. The Burke's then moved to a larger apartment at 445 North Montello Street in Brockton.
Hannah Burke marries Bill Clifford in 1911
Hannah Burke, then only 18 years of age, married 20 year old William Clifford, on November 29, 1911, at St. Edward's Church in Brockton. Fr. Edwin J. Dolan, married the young couple. At the time of their wedding, William Clifford was residing at 280 East Ashland Street in Brockton. Hannah was living at 445 North Montello Street in Brockton.
On February 18, 1935, 67 year old laborer from the townland of Curragh, County Cork, Dennis F. Burke, died in Brockton of throat cancer. He and his wife, Catherine (O'Neil) Burke, were then residing at 16 Division Street, in the Montello section of Brockton. Catherine 'Kate' Burke, died in Brockton 15 months later, on May 29, 1936.
William Clifford, known as Bill Clifford, worked in the bustling shoe industry in Brockton, Massachusetts, while he and Hannah began a family. Bill would later secure a job as a Lineman with Braintree Light and Power Company.
Eight children would be born to the couple. The oldest child, who is also our ancestor, Anna Marie Clifford, was born in Brockton, on May 6, 1912. Catherine 'Honey' Clifford, was born in Brockton, March 18, 1914.Pearl Madelyn Clifford, was born in Brockton, on June 22, 1916. James Michael Clifford, was born in Brockton, on August 20, 1918. Helen Mildred 'Milly' Clifford, was born in Brockton, on August 17, 1921. William Leo Clifford, was born in Brockton, on February 13, 1923.Ruth Lorraine Clifford, was born in Brockton, on December 3, 1927; and, Patricia Jane 'Pat' Clifford, was born in Brockton, on October 16, 1929. (A wonderful 1950 photo of seven of the Clifford children appears in the accompanying 'Family Photo History' album.)
William and Hannah (Burke) Clifford, resided for many years at 1 Mulberry Place, in the Tipperary section of Brockton, affectionately referred to as the 'Tip'. Although they had lived with Bill's father, Mike Clifford, for many years on Mulberry Place, they actually didn't buy the property from him until 1933.
On August 2, 1942, a great tragedy befell the Burke/Clifford Family. Hannah (Burke) Clifford's 51 year old husband, William 'Bill' Clifford, died from a fractured skull he suffered from a fall from a telephone pole in Braintree, Massachusetts, on July 31, 1942. Bill was working as a Lineman for Braintree Light and Power Company. After the fall he was rushed to the Quincy City Hospital where he died two days later. Hannah remained a widow for the next 35 years.
Anna Marie Clifford, married Joseph Francis 'Snub' O'Leary, on Easter Sunday, April 17, 1938. Fr. Leo O'Leary, performed the ceremony at St. Edward's Church in Brockton.
Anna Marie Clifford, known as 'Marie' and her husband who was always known as 'Snub', would have three children. Timothy Francis O'Leary, was born on April 5, 1940. William Michael O'Leary, was born on October 9, 1941 and Patricia Ann O'Leary, was born on January 29, 1951. Tim and Bill were born while the O'Leary Family was residing at 329 West Elm Street, Brockton, before moving to 398 Moraine Street. Patty, was born after the family moved to their new home at 17 Tilton Avenue in Brockton.
Patty Lawton, attended Brockton Public Schools and Cardinal Spellman High School in Brockton. After earning her A.B. degree from Emmanual College, she began her teaching career at the Hancock Elementary School in Brockton.
On Patriot's Day, April 19, 1975, Patty married Mark Lawton, at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Brockton. Three children would be born to the couple: Patrick O'Leary Lawton, who was born at the Brockton Hospital on October 6, 1979; Timothy Clifford Lawton, who was born at the Brockton Hospital on July 30, 1981; and, Molly Burke Lawton, who was born at the Brockton Hospital on May 17, 1984.
'Six degrees of separation' is the theory that anyone on the planet can be connected to any other person on the planet through a chain of acquaintances that has no more than five intermediaries. In the case of the Burke, Clifford, Twohig and Lawton Families, that theory was tested and proven accurate.
Only two months before her death on October 10, 1977, Mark and his wife, Patty (O'Leary) Lawton, were at Snub and Marie O'Leary's Tilton Avenue home having Sunday dinner when 'Nana Clifford', gave Mark a family photograph that had been in her attic in Brockton for many years. Mark, immediately identified his grandmother whom he had never known, Christine (Twohig) Lawton. Mark, wondered aloud why a photograph of his paternal grandmother had been stored away in the Clifford Family home on Mulberry Place in Brockton for a half a century.
Christine Twohig, who had yet to marry Fred Lawton, was the maid of honor at the wedding of Hannah's brother, Jim Burke. It was a photograph of that wedding that had been hidden away in the Mulberry Place attic for so many years. The bride was Molly Monahan, Christine's best friend. They are believed to have married around 1917. Molly Monahan became Molly Burke.
After the Burke/Monahan wedding, the couple resided at 282 East Ashland Street in Brockton. James Burke, a WWI veteran and Brockton shoe worker took ill shortly after the wedding. On August 10, 1920, after a 10 month struggle, James died in a United States Public Health (U.S.P.H.) facility in Boston. He was only 24 years of age. The cause of death was a "tumor of the brain." James, was treated at a U.S.P.H. facility because he was a World War I veteran. The Burke family always believed that James Burke's cancer was caused by gases he inhaled during his military service in WWI - 'The Great War'.
When Patty and Mark Lawton's youngest child was born on May 17, 1984, they named her, Molly Burke Lawton, the link between the Clifford/Burke Families and the Lawton/Twohig Families.