What Was Happening in History During This Time?

     1790-1860 The American Industrial Revolution           1836 Siege of the Alamo            1838-1839 Trail of Tears: Forced Migration of Cherokee Indians        1837 - Samuel F.B. Morse invents the telegraph    

Before America

    So far, the best information I can find is that our Grannans came from Granard Parish in County Longford, Ireland.  Searching church records of the area, I have found a marriage record of Peter Grenin to Mary Flood in January, 1786.  Also in these records are the baptisms:

Date        Name                    Father                Mother

1787/1    James Grenon       Peter Grenon    M. Flood

1789/4    Bridget Grenon    Peter Grenon    M. Flood

1791/11  Peter Grenon        Peter Grenon    M. Flood

1790/3    Anna Grenin        Eugene Grenin ?.Glennon

1792/7    Michael Grenin   Eugene Grenin B. Linigan

1795/7    Peter Grenin        Eugene Grenin  B. Linigan

1788/11  Ellen Kiernan      John Kiernan      ?.Grenan

    These first three are the children of Peter Grenon and Mary Flood, while the last three are the children of Eugene Grenin.  I have no previous mentions of Eugene Grenin, but he may have been a brother of Peter Grenon.

   This would show that our James Grannan (Grenon) was baptized January of 1787 in Granard Parish, County Longford, to Peter Grenon and Mary Flood.   James would later marry Bridget Farrell and have two children: Patrick (born 1810) and Mary (1832).  Although this may seem quite a gap in times between children, it tracks with the later 1850 census in Daviess County Indiana which shows a 40-year old Patrick and his 17-year old sister, Mary.

    Thanks to Pat Grannan, who found the following info on a trip to Ireland.  He found a baptism record of Mary Grennan in 1832 in Newtowncashel, which is a town in the southwest part of Longford County (appears to be about 20 miles south of Clongesh parish).  Her parents are listed as James Grennan and Bridget Farrell. 

    He also found a church tithe register from 1825 for Longford County which shows a James Grennan, in the townland of Clonellan (spelled Cloonellen in another source) which is in Clongesh parish (in the northwest part of Longford County).

    So, it appears James and Bridget lived in Clonellan until sometime before 1832 when they moved to Newtowncashel.   Shortly thereafter, in approximately 1836, they moved to America, settling in Daviess County, Indiana where James and his son Patrick bought 80 acres of land in 1841. 

Coming to America

    I don't have immigration information on James or his wife Bridget.  But I do have information on their son Patrick Grannan.  In 1836, at the age of 26, he immigrated to the United States, most probably with his parents James and Bridget Grannan.  Or he may have come to America himself and sent for his parents later.  But he left Dublin in May of 1836 and arrived in Baltimore in July of 1836.  Patrick applied for U.S. Citizenship between 1836 and 1839, and his record is contained in the Daviess County Circuit Court Records Volume D, Page 287. 

    Patrick is also listed in An Index of Immigrants to Indiana.  This book contains a listing of applicants for U.S. Citizenship in Indiana Courts.  When I attempted to obtain a copy of his original Naturalization Court Order, the Clerk of Courts told me they could not locate Volume D and believe it was destroyed in a courthouse fire in 1879.

    In addition to our Grannans, there appears to be 4 main GRANNAN/GRANNON lines in America:

    I have also obtained bits and pieces of Grannan/Grannons in New York, Canada, and Seattle but do not have much information to go on there.   But of these four lines above, we know that James and Patrick were father and son, as were Michl and Bernard.   It's also believed that William was also a son of Michl and brother of Bernard. 

The Indiana Census for 1830 shows no Grannans at all, but the 1840 Census shows the following Grannans:

       Note: The Bernard Grannan and Patrick Grannan lines lived fairly close to each other and the story is that they did not get along and claimed no relation.  However, I believe these lines are related, as is the Samuel Grannan line from Ohio, but so far have not been able to substantiate it.

    The reason most immigrants settled in Indiana was for cheap land and steady work.  In the 1830's, the State of Indiana began building a huge canal system to link Lake Erie with the Ohio River.  To lure laborers to the state, settlers were promised $20.00 per month and all the land they could buy at $1.25 per acre.  This is well documented and there are a number of books on the Indiana Land Claims in the mid 1830s.  However, this canal system was never finished.  When the railroad took over as the principle means of transportation, the canal system was abandoned.  Most likely for this reason, James and Bridgett settled in Barr Township, Daviess County Indiana with their three children; Patrick, Mary, and James.

    On 10 Aug 1841, James acquired land in Daviess County.  Below is the original land patent showing "James Grinon of Hamilton County Ohio" purchased from the Indiana District of Lands "the West half of the North West quarter of section twenty one, in Township two North of Range five West, in the District of Lands subject to sale at Vincennes, Indiana, containing eighty acres."   Note that his son Patrick also acquired the land adjacent to this land.  See the next page (1840s) to see Patrick's land patent.