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My great-grandfather was Patrick Joseph Regan, born 1851-53 in Co. Mayo.

His marriage certificate, in 1885, gives his fathers name and profession, as Michael Regan (deceased) Boot maker.

My late father always claimed that the Regan family came from Ballyhaunis, but I have searched online records for many years, and can neither prove or disprove this.

Patrick married a local woman in Goldenhill, Staffordshire, England. How did he come to be there?

I have a book about the Irish in Victorian Britain that studied the Irish population in the county town of Stafford, pre and post famine. It states that a high proportion of Irish, working in the shoe trade - for which Stafford was renowned, came from a small area in Ireland " straddling the borders of Cos. Galway, Mayo and Roscommon, in an arc up to 15 miles south and west of Castlerea Co. Roscommon". This would cover Ballyhaunis.

If Patrick followed other migrants from his local area, and/or his fathers profession, that could explain haw he came to be where he was, but I can't find out where he came from. His children didn't follow any traditional naming patterns.

I don't know where to look next for either Patrick or Michael.

Sunday 24th Jun 2018, 11:21PM

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