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Donegal Notes-
April 29
th
to May 6
th
, 2009 A visit to the people and places of County Donegal
By Bill Carr
Much of life is really just a collection of memories,this recent visit to Donegal has added years to my lifeand hopefully some memories for those I met and listened to.I’d like to dedicate these pictures and notes of my recent Ireland trip to my aunt Elly, who has researched and preserved much of our family’s past.Elly is the daughter of Edward Q. Carr and Mary Mulqueen and grew up in New York with her sisters Mary and Nancy and her brothers Edward and Julian.Elly is more properly known as Sister Eleanor Carr, RSCJand lives with a community of Sacred Heart nuns in New York City who have dedicated their lives to educating and helping others.
Céad Míle Fáilte go Dún na nGall
These notes were put together for my family and friends, but for those of you who don’tknow me, I’m William J. Carr (also known as Bill), a submarine
sailor in the US Navy duringthe last four years of the 1960s and a businessman and traveler ever since. I am the son of Julian Carr, himself a submarine sailor in the US Navy during WW II and a lawyer.Julian was the son of Edward Q. Carr, a US Navy veteran of WW I and a law professor.Edward was the son of William J. Carr who grew up poor in Brooklyn, NY, studied law andlater became a judge with the New York State Supreme Court.William was the son of Cornelius Carr and his second wife Mary Gallagher, both of County Donegal.Cornelius was born in the townland of Tullyvoos, located in the Parish of Inver, Co.Donegal. He was known as Condy in his youth and left Ireland in 1845 with MaryMcGroarty of Donegal and sailed to St. John, New Brunswick where they had two sonsbefore continuing on to Brooklyn, NY in 1849. Mary McGroarty passed away in 1852 aftergiving birth to two more sons and Cornelius later married our Mary Gallagher in 1853.Cornelius was the son of James Kerr, born towards the end of the eighteenth century in thesmall townland of Curraghafeaghan, located in the Parish of Killaghtee, Co. Donegal.James left his Curraghafeaghan home about 1820 to marry Elizabeth Meehan of Tullyvooswhere they built a stone cabin, lived on a small plot of land and raised a family.Now, the spelling of our name Carr during the 1800s is shown on various parish and civilrecords as Kerr, Karr, Carre and Carr. It pretty much depended on who was writing downthe tenant, birth, baptism, marriage, and census information.Reviewing the old baptism and marriage records, I can see that each time a new priest wassent to the parish, the spelling of our name changed to conform to his educational andcultural background. It wasn’t until the ancestors of our branch of the clan learned to readand write in the late nineteenth century that they took matters into their own hands andsettled on Carr.As far as the spelling of place names in Ireland, it’s a witch’s brew best left alone. You canhold any two “official” maps together and find subtle spelling differences in many locationswithin the same parish……………….and that includes both Irish and English spelling.Dorothy & I will be returning to Ireland in September and look forward to seeing our manynew friends.
Bill Carr, June 2009
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