Dear Jim,

My apologies for the delay in getting back to you. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the material that you have forwarded to us about the McCrohan ancestory. Please continue to keep us on your "mailing list." As I mentioned to you, the McCrohons who live in Central Massachusetts and who spell their names MCCROHON are descendants of John and Julia McCrohon of Cahirciveen, County Kerry, Ireland whom I estimate were born sometime in the 1820's or 1830's...

From the research of James McCrohan, Dallas, Texas. Respondees from the East Cast U.S.A. Table of Contents ( II b) Mr. Jim Mc Crohan 4626 Alta Vista Lane - Dallas, Texas 75229 December 15, 1984 Dear Jim, My apologies for the delay in getting back to you.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading the material that you have forwarded to us about the McCrohan ancestory.  Please continue to keep us on your "mailing list."         As I mentioned to you, the McCrohons who live in Central Massachusetts and who spell their names MCCROHON are descendants of John and Julia McCrohon of Cahirciveen, County Kerry, Ireland whom I estimate were born sometime in the 1820's or 1830's.         Unfortunately, I do not really know anything about John and Julia however. I do have the names of their children and information about their son John (my great grandfather) as we are fortunate to be in possession of a journal which John carried around with him when he served with the Connaught Rangers.  I have photocopied some pages of this journal which I am enclosing.         John McCrohon, son of John and Julia of Cahirciveen was born in Cahirciveen in May of 1852 in the Parish of PRIOR (which I understand is now known as Ballinskelligs). He was five feet, eight inches tall, of "fresh complexion" with "fair" hair and blue eyes.  He was a Roman Catholic and a "Clerk" by trade who possessed a second class certificate of education.         In 1872, at the age of 19, he enlisted in the British Army in Dublin, Ireland and was assigned to the "88th Regiment of Feet" (see page #25) which was known as the Connaught Rangers- a proud fighting Irish Regiment which ultimately was disbanded in the 1920's.  (Incidently, I have read what I found to be an extremely interesting account of the history of the Regiment entitled, "The Connaught Rangers" by T.P. Kilfeather which gives some realistic insight into the incredibly hard (and truly sad) life that these young Irishmen (and their families) lead and endured.  The book is published by ANVIL BOOKS LTD., 90LR. BAGGOT ST., DUBLIN, IRELAND.         At the time of his enlistment (1872) John's journal lists his brothers and sisters as living in Cahirciveen. They were Michael, Bridget, Hanorah, Anne, Ellen, and Julia.  (See page 30).  John married Florence Isabella Mary (Holliday) in Athlone, Ireland on May 9, 1877.  Florence apparently accompanied John during his military career as his journal lists two children born to the couple-both of whom died in infancy-John Charles who died in East India and Florence Mary who died in So. Africa. (See page 28. )         John was "permanently invalided" and died in 1883 just prior to birth of the couples third child- John Arthur McCrohon (my grandfather) who was born in London on September 5, 1883.         John Arthur McCrohon grew up in London and married Helena (Saville) also of London.  They emigrated to the United States when they were in their early 20's (shortly after the turn of the century) first living in New York, Philadelphia, Boston and finally in Worcester MA. (40 miles west of Boston) where they operated the MCCROHON PIANO COMPANY for many years.         John Arthur died in 1955 and Helena died this past year at the age of 101 years.  They had five children: John Frederick (now deceased), who has five boys who live in MA, Joseph Herbert (now deceased) who has two boys and one girl, living in MA. (Joseph is my father),  Arthur who has two daughters and lives in Ohio.  Beatrice (McCrohon) Hodgkins, who lives in Florida.  Florence (McCrohon) Forbush who has one son and one daughter and lives in MA.         All of the sons of John Arthur and Helena are musical and at one time worked in the piano business and did piano tuning, etc.         As I mentioned to you on the telephone, Marie (my wife) and I visited Ireland a little over a year ago and although we did not meet any McCrohons who spell their name with the "O", we enjoyed a beautiful visit to the Cahirciveen, Ballinskelligs region.  We were fortunate to spend some time with Bridie McCrohan, Noreen Sugrue, Anna Fullom, and Joe Mae McCrohan, (who operate a nice "Bed and Breakfast" in Renard).  We found them all to be gracious, lovely people.         Anna Fullam did send me a map noting the location of the MAC CREHIN Castle (just south of Cahirciveen). If you like a copy, you can order them at EASONS on O'Connell Street in Dublin.  The map is called BARTHOLOMEW's Cork and KERRY Travel MAP OF CORK-KILLARNEY which are printed on Duncan Street in Edinburgh, Scotland.         I'll close at this time Jim and my best to you and your family for a fine holiday season. Sincerely James Joseph McCrohon 33 Hunting Ave. Shrewsbury MA. 01545 TEL. (617) 842 8641   (II b) P.S. I realize that I didn't give you any information about myself and my family. I am married to the former Marie Curran of Worcester,  Mass., whose ancestry goes back to Sligo and Roscommon in Ireland. We have three children - James Michael, 25, Kathy Ann, 24, and Mary Lee (our youngest who is 18).  Marie works as a diet technician at a local hospital and I am a clinical social worker at a family service agency.  I also play banjo (five string) and bodhran with a local Irish folk group called "Jug O' Punch," I'm enclosing a few pictures. Peace Jim Documents submitted by James Joseph McCrohon 1. Cover page from James' grandathers' - John McCrohon - journal from the 88th regiment - Connaught Rangers 2. Page 2 of John McCrohon's journal 3. Page 3 4. Page 4 5. James' Irish music band, the "Jug O' Punch" (photo) 6. A writeup of the "Jug O' Punch" in the Evening Gazette and Worcester Telegram, April 31-May 1 1981 7. Baptismal Certificate of James' grandfather, John Arthur, born in London, September 1883. Posted on Sunday, 04 August 2002 @ 23:27:46 EDT by admin