A NEW CARRUCAN CONNECTION .. AND AN 1852 JOURNAL

We assign Generation 1 of the Fanore Carrucan line to one particular family of poor farmers in the village of Fisherstreet in County Clare in Ireland who had two children, Patrick and Denis, whom we designate as Generation 2. Alas, we do not even know the names of that Generation 1 couple or when they were born, married or died. Yet this long forgotten generation of Carrucans is of great significance for us because it was from their sons Patrick and Denis that the Carrucan family has spread across the world.

Now let's go back one further generation to what we might call Generation -1, as we have been alerted to another probable Carrucan family connection starting way back then. As families were generally large in those time, it is reasonable to assume that Patrick and Denis would have had cousins and we think some have been unearthed.

I was recently contacted by Ammon Christensen in America who suspects that his 5th great grandmother Anne Carrucan and her brother James were in fact cousins to Patrick and Denis.

He writes:

I found the Carrucan Chronicles site through my own family research this week, and I'm writing because I believe I may hold a document from the generation your tree marks "(1) Unknown CARRUCAN & NAME UNKNOWN" — and I'd like to share it with the Fellowship.

My 5th great-grandmother was Anne Carrucan, who married James Kilkelly of Coolbane, Kilkeedy parish, County Clare, around 1830, and died there on 5 September 1846, in the famine. Her son Patrick Kilkelly — my 4th great-grandfather — emigrated to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1851, and his journal from the 1850s survives in our family. In it, in his own hand, he twice records writing to his mother's brother in Ireland: "Patrick Killkelly wrote to his uncle James Kerrucan," 1st of May 1852, and "Wrote Home a letter to James Kerrucan the 8th September 1852." A James Carrucane appears in the 1826 Tithe Applotment Books at Tiergunneen, Killilagh — Doolin.

Patrick Killkelly wrote to his uncle James Kerrucan," 1st of May 1852

Here's a link to the full digitized copy:  Journal of Patrick Kilkelly (Pat Kelly) -1850s.pdf

Every entry that touches the Carrucans is in Patrick's own hand, including him recording the dates that he sent the two 1852 letters to his uncle James.

So the picture our research suggests: Anne and her brother James were of the same generation as your Patrick (m. Bridget Gorman 1829) and Denis (m. Mary Sexton 1835). Anne married inland to Kilkeedy along the same corridor Denis's Corofin marriage proves the family used; she died in the famine while the Fanore branch lived on and sailed for Melbourne. Her son's journal — births, deaths, wages, the crossing, and his uncle's name in the old spelling — may be the only surviving document written by a member of that lost generation's family.

Ammon Christensen
August 2026

Let me explain how I think this fits together

Ammon's fifth great grandmother Anne and her brother James would have been cousins to Patrick and Denis (whom we regard as our Second Generation). That would imply that the father of Anne and James might have been a sibling to the father of Patrick and Denis whom we regard as our First Generation. We know absolutely nothing of that First Generation but, as families were often quite big in those days, it makes sense that there would have been siblings.

Hence their family tree would be a parallel tree to ours, branching at Generation -1.

Yes, we uncovered various shipping records for other Carrucans but the difficulty has always been to see where, if at all, they connected to our branch.

Ammon explained a bit more during our ongoing discussion:

Your reading of the generations matches ours almost exactly. Anne's birth falls somewhere around 1800 to 1812, which puts her squarely in the same cohort as your Patrick and Denis. To answer your question, yes, we've done substantial work on our line, and I'll gladly share all of it. The highlights: the Tithe Applotment Books show a James Carrucane at Tiergunneen, Killilagh (Doolin) in 1826, the right name to be either our James's father or our James himself as a young householder. The Tubber (Kilkeedy) parish transcripts carry Anne's six children's baptisms 1833 to 1845, with a Honora Kirucan standing godmother in 1833, an elder kinswoman we've tentatively matched to a Honor who died in the Ballyvaughan district in 1864. The civil records gave us a Bridget Kerucane, born about 1810, who died at Ennis in 1870, her name registered just one letter off the spelling Patrick used in his journal, and just this week we found the only exact "Kerrucan" spelling in all of Ireland's indexed records: a Mary Kerrucan, married to John Conlan, baptizing a daughter at Killone on the edge of Ennis in 1875, which suggests a small Ennis satellite of Anne's nearest kin.

Ammon, who is based in Utah, is writing a book based on Patrick's journal. The book will tell the story of Patrick's life from the famine at Coolbane through his death in 1898 in Cincinnati, where he had worked as a carpenter for nearly fifty years.

This is an exciting new connection for both our family lines. One small family in County Clare has spawned two separate branches which are now finally connected.

Tim Erickson
Melbourne, Australia
Monday 31st August 2026


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