I am writing to you because of the similarity in the names we are researching. I am
trying to track down the parents of my great-great grandfather, John W. Cairns, who said
he was born in Dublin in 1847-49. He said his father was Thomas Cairns, who was a sea
captain. His mother was Margurite Leewood Cairns, originally from France. John Cairn's
decendents said he had a diploma from Edinburgh University. A family story says that he
was on a walking tour of the British Isles after his graduation, when he met Jane Gibney
(or Gibbony, or McGibney) in County Durham. John refused his mother's orders to return
to Dublin, and instead married Jane in 1870. His parents disowned him. He and Jane and
their four children (Thomas, Margaret, Ann, and Elizabeth) lived in the Quarrington Hill
and Cornforth area in County Durham from 1870 to 1882. John was a coal miner. They
immigrated to America in 1882. Both John and Jane died in 1921 in Ohio.
I just cannot get past John Cairns to his parents because of the rift in the family.
However, this week I found an on-line reference to a Captain Cairns on Aughrim Street in
Shaw's Dublin Directory of 1850. Does any of this sound familiar?Thank you for your
time,
Melinda Knight from Texas, USA