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Geelan/gillen

Geelan/gillen

kathleen (View posts)
Posted: 6 Jul 2003 4:01AM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Geelan/Gillen
New to research, this is all i know so far. John Geelan to USA- Port of New Orleans in 1854, married Elizabeth Correll in 1860. John's brother Charles remained in Ireland in county Caven or Leitram. John's sister to USA from Liverpool on 12-21-1847, married Edward Dunn. I think there may have been one or two more brothers who came to USA with John. Family later changed name to Gillen, first known entry is for John Charles. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Re: Geelan/gillen

Posted: 19 Dec 2004 10:46AM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Geelan
I've traced my GGF Owen Geelan back to Co Cavan, he was born in 1841 but strggling to go further back.
Could we be directly related?

Re: Geelan/gillen

Posted: 18 Apr 2011 3:04PM GMT
Classification: Query
Dear Kathleen.
This is in reply to a message you posted quite a few years ago. I believe the John Gillan you are posting about was a grandson of my gr.gr.gr.gr.grandfather Robert Geelan, of Cloonageeher, Co. longford Ireland, the family was also in Co. Leitrim, they bordered each other, and family moved between both borders over the centuries.

Re: Geelan/gillen

Posted: 7 Apr 2014 1:20AM GMT
Classification: Query
Back to researching after a long break. Are you still researching? Would you like to share family trees?

Re: Geelan/gillen

Posted: 7 Apr 2014 2:30AM GMT
Classification: Query
Would love to hear any info. from you that you have and any I may have to offer on the family *Research).
The Geelan's of my family tree have been situated in the bordered area of Co.Leitrim and Co.Longford where the two join. For the most part Cloonageeher and Cloone are very much Parish's that the family were found and still are. Where are you from. I reside in Canada. For the most part we spell the surname Gillan over here. The Geelan part has not been used for nearly 160-180 years depending on the branch.However it has also been spelled Gillen at times by census takers over that period of time. I know that many branches of the family in Australia and even the USA have kept the traditional spelling of (Geelan). Our Geelan roots seem to go back to at least the latter part of the 17th.century in Leitram/Longford,possible even the late 16th. century. But I believe we probably moved from another area of Ireland during the Plantation Period. My line seems to have married into the Anglo Protestant Planter families for a few centuries at least. I do not know exactly when we became Protestant from Catholic,but believe were talking probably at close to 400 years. Look forward to hearing from you.

Re: Geelan/gillen

Posted: 9 Apr 2014 1:04AM GMT
Classification: Query
Latest research is Geelan changed to Gillen somewhere around 1910 in Red Hook section of New York. Have traced marriage of John Geelan andElizabeth (Eliza) Correll approx 1860. Their children: Elizabeth Jane, Mary Frances, Benjamin Franklin, John Charles, George Henry, Frank Whiting, Edward Albert, Matilda Carlise, and Florence Isabel. John's sister Elizabeth immigrated at age 19, their sister Mary at age 16 in 1847 on the ship Peter Hattrick during the Irish Famine. I believe the area in Ireland may be County Caven or more likely Leitrim. Elizabeth Correll parents are Benjamin and Mary (surname unknown). I am stuck at this point and need advice on how to continue with records in Ireland. Does any of this match? I am in Florida, previously from New York. Looking forward to continuing reseach,

Re: Geelan/gillen

Posted: 10 Apr 2014 6:28PM GMT
Classification: Query
If your family came from Leitrim area then they would somehow connect with mine in Canada. Some of the family migrated between 1830's to 1860's to the USA. One was known to have settled in New Orleans and some in New York and New Jersey. There was an Elizabeth who wrote to my gr.gr. grandfather James Geelan's uncle in Pakenham On. Canada. His name was Francis Geelan and he corresponded with a relative who was named Elizabeth,born a Geelan,could be your's. This would be in the 1850's. One member of the family was a coach maker in New Jersey. It might have been her brother or son. Any of this familiar to you. Also another Geelan who was a nephew of Francis Geelan like my gr.gr. grandfather James had come to Canada in 1860's and settled in Canada,then went to California and the Gold rush. Also then I believe eventually to the Yukon and lived and died then in Canada. He had two families,one in Canada and one in USA. So many went to Australia between 1840's and 1860's also.

Re: Geelan/gillen

Posted: 11 Apr 2014 12:48AM GMT
Classification: Query
What do you know of the settlers in New Orleans? I have a family story that says John Geelan, age 9, in 1854, was brought over from Ireland by two brothers, names unknown, who landed and settled in Port of New Orleans. John Geelan was then sent to live with his sister Elizabeth and her husband Edward Dunn. Do you know any of the names of the children of your gr.gr. grandfather James Geelan? It may be possible that James could be in my line also, I have also heard stories of a brother of John's named Charles who visited New York, and returned to live in Ireland.
I am also following another family line into Canada on my father's family side. Are you familiar with a town called St. Anicet in Huntingdon Quebec? Not sure if I have the spelling correct. Thanks for sharing!

Re: Geelan/gillen

Posted: 11 Apr 2014 4:00PM GMT
Classification: Query
Most of the Irish who arrived in Canada in the 1800,s would have arrived in the ports near Montreal or Quebec City first, then gone on to other area's. Areas around Huntingdon Que. would have both Catholic Irish and Protestant Irish who remained in this area. It is part of what is known as the Eastern townships with alot of English sounding surnames. Also Montreal was mainly controlled by the Anglo,Scot well to do at this period. Since you seem to connect to the John who first went to Louisianna and then New York,also you mention Charles. It would seem combined with Elizabeth you are definitely connected somehow to my family tree. Your ancestors would have been Geelans who resdided in the border of Leitrim and Longford Co.s of Ireland for a period of at least 4 to 5 centuries now. My gr,gr. Grandfather James Geelan was the son of Johnston Geelan and his wife Margaret Shaw of Cloonageeher,Longford,Ireland. But the framily went back and forth in both Co.s,you will find them living in both for the past few centuries. Johnston was the son of Robert Geelan and Mary Johnston. Gr. gr. gr. Grandpa Johnston Geelan, had Frances,Charles,John, as younger brothes and some more. They were all born in the late 1700;s and had families. The names John,Charles,Robert and James in especially seem to be repeated in the Geelan family because we have been protestant for quite some time and seem to marry into Scot or English families in Ireland. there were also Catholic Geelans living in the area,so how they would have been connected to us would have been lost in family history and church records. Like many Irish families in the 15th. and 16th. centuries, some retained the Catholic Faith and others took to the Protestant to enable them to survive in better conditions probably. It was common in the 16th. and 17th. centuries to see in the same family the split between brothers ,one assuming one faith,and one the other. Eventually with time the family would eventually lose touch and go their separate ways over the generatrions. So I will have to check some. You are somehow definitely connected to a common ancestral line ,probably going back to possibly Robert Geelan and Mary Johnston.

Re: Geelan/gillen

Posted: 23 Apr 2014 2:03AM GMT
Classification: Query
Is your family tree public? I've been researching to find a common link from the Robert Geelan/Mary Johnston line. Do you have any other resources you use other than Ancestry? Thanks for the help!
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