The Maher story

All my ancestral roots lead back to Ireland. My fathers side originates with John Maher, his parents Bartholomew Maher and Mary McCoy of County, Kerry, Listowel area, Kylebwee. John born in 1836 left Ireland in 1851 as a 15 year old and landed in Ottawa, Illinois following his sisters, Hanora and Eliza. Hanora was married to Timothy Curtin and Eliza never married. All of these Irish are buried in St Columba cemetery, Ottawa, Illinois. He met and married Mary Leahy, also from Ireland, while in Ottawa at St Columba Catholic Church in 1872. They moved and built a family farm in Gardner, Illinois. I’m part of a large clan from his youngest son, Thomas Francis Maher, my paternal grandfather and grew up on the Maher family farm.

My mother’s family roots originated in Knockaderry, County Limerick. Daniel Goolde/Gould was born in 1815. Daniel Gould married Hanoria Danaher at St Munchin Catholic Church in 1838. Left for America in 1850 with his wife and children. They had another son upon arrival in Ohio, Michael Gould, my great grandfather in 1853. By 1860 census the family had moved to the Bloomington, Illinois near an area called Merna and began farming. They are buried in Bllomington, Illinois St Mary’s Cemetery.