William Cunane, my great-grandfather, was born in the Knock parish of Co, Mayo, ca. 1856 and emigrated to Lancashire, England at some point. I don't yet have any confirmed information about his life in Ireland.
The only source of information I have to date is from UK census records. The first I've found of him is the 1881 census where he is recorded as living in a lodging house with other Irishmen in Heywood, Lancashire, with his occupation given as Agricultural Labourer. The following census years show him living in the same location, working as General Labourer in a paper mill. (This area in Lancashre had many cotton mills and paper mills that drew many Irish immigrants.)
He married in 1880 (registered in Bury, Lancs). He wed an Englishwoman living on the same street, who worked in a nearby cotton mill as a weaver. They had their first child, John Thomas, my grandather, the same year. From the 1881 census, it can be seen that his new wife and child were living down the road in her parents' house while William was still at the boarding house. They went on to have 6 other children, and the life of the entire family seemed to have centred on the Heywood area and its mills for many years. Their housing was poor quality and eventually taken down in slum clearances.
The first child of William, John Thomas, went on to marry Mary Murray, who was born in Stradbally, Laois (Queens) Co. in 1889, and emigrated with her family by the time she was 2 years old, as she then appears in the 1891 UK census.
| Additional Information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 1st Jan 1856 (circa) | |
| Date of Death | 1st Jan 1921 (circa) | |
