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Author: emilee172
Surnames: Cawley, Clifford, Ekstrom, Cavanagh, Molloy, Kelly, Ferguson
Classification: biography
Message Board URL:
http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.cawley/158.2/mb.ashx
Message Board Post:
From the Tuesday, March 11, 2008 paper version of "the western
people" newspaper of Co Mayo:
About 1882 James Cawley, aged 17, immigrated to
New York where he joined the US army. Both his parents, John Cawley, and Bridget Clifford,
had died in 1880.
One brother, John, stayed on the farm in Treenagh. Another, Patrick, was a policeman in
Easkey. A sister, Mary Convy, married in Culleens, Ballina, and another, Bridget Brogan,
married in Knockmore.
(I'm not sure if that's a complete list of his siblings)
Around 1897, James was among the troops sent to oust the
Spanish and take control of the Philippines during the Spanish-American War.
By 1906, after a long struggle, America controlled the Philippines and some of the troops
settled there.
James acquired a coconut plantation where he settled.
He married Lena Ekstrom, whom he had met in Hawaii.
The first of their eleven children, Alice, was born in 1906.
Lena, who was part Swedish and Samoan, remained Protestant
until their eldest son, James, was ordained a Catholic
priest in 1940.
Alice remained Protestant all her long life. She only died in 2001. The children were
named: John, Patrick, Thomas,
William, Mary, George, Marcus (Mark), Francis and Richard, the youngest.
[The author mentions that when he was doing his research "there are only two
remaining of the original eleven children of James and Lena. They have many descendants,
both in the Philippines and the US."]
The author discovered that James was incarcerated in a
Japanese concentration camp when the US entered the WWII. At first, he was close to the
family and they were able to get food and medicines in to him. He was a civilian and an
old man. He died there in November 1942. Lena survived into the 1970s.
Their son, Fr James Cawley, S.J., a Jesuit priest
was born 100 years ago and reared on the family plantation in Basilan, Mindanao.
His granduncle and namesake, Fr. James Cawley, had been parish priest of Moygownagh,
1851-1876.
The Cawleys of Mindanao have many relatives living in North Mayo, including Cavanaghs, and
Molloys in the Ballina region, Cliffords & Kellys near Treenagh, Moygownagh, etc.
This is just me now:
The same year James went to the US (1882) was also when his aunt Ellen (my gr, gr
grandmother) died.
As I understand it John Cawley and Mary Molloy (my gr, gr, gr grand parents) had at least
three children. One was Father James, immortalised in the plaque at his old church. The
other two were Ellen and John. Ellen (my gr gr grandmother) married a John Ferguson...
John (brother of Ellen) married Bridget Clifford as described above.
I got an email some time ago from a woman in Australia who may be related to the older
James Cawley.
From the Co. Mayo Family Information Centre via the woman:
"Rev. James MacAuley matriculated in Maynooth on the 25 August 1863 but the
exact date of his ordination in 1842 is not known. He is listed for Kilmore-Erris in 1843
and for Kilcommon-Erris and Kilfian and Ballina after that. He became Adm. in Moygownagh
in 1851 and succeeded as parish priest on the death of Father Dan McNamara in 1856. He
died on the 9 July 1876 and was buried in the church on the right-hand side as one faces
the alter, where there is a wall-plaque to his memory. - Extract taken from 'The
Parishes in the Diocese of Killala (I(., by Rt. Rev. E. MacHale, Parish Priest., V.G.
Killala
In Moygownagh Old Graveyard in Grave number 31 the headstone reads.
Goria in Excelcis Deo.
May the Lord have mercy on the soul of John Cawley of Treenagh who depd. this life 19th
March 1815 aged 73 years and also on the soul of Mary Cawley, otherwise Molloy who depd.
this life on the 19th August 1851 aged 75 years.
Erected to their memory by their son, Rev. James M. Cawley P.P. Moygownagh."
So it appears James & Ellen's (and John's) parents were John & Mary
(Molloy), and they were born approximately 1742 and 1776, respectively.
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