A to Z Challenge: John

Hello and Welcome to J Day!

Name:

John Patrick Brogan

Vital Information:

John was born to Pat Brogan and Margaret McCormick in April of 1844 in Cavan, Ireland. He died on 10 December 1910 in Indiana.

Relation to Me:

Maternal 2x great grandpa

Tidbits/Characteristics/Commonalities:

I remember hearing about John a lot as a child from my Grandma Eve. He immigrated to the US as a very young teen and, having come from Ireland, was our closest relative to the green in our veins. I also believe John was a little larger than life to Eve… an imposing man who scared her a bit as a small child. I don’t know why, though. Maybe it was simply that he was a man of order (everything had a time and place) and little Eve’s existence in his space was a little chaotic for his liking.

The story that strikes me deepest is the one that involves a fight he got into with his family’s Landlord that turned physical. It is not known if he merely harmed the man or killed him, but at 13 he was secreted away and sent alone on a ship to the USA to live with “a Sheridan cousin”. Once in the USA, he traveled, worked, enlisted on the Union side, traveled some more, got educated, got married, and made a good life for his family as a stone mason while actively working for Veterans rights.

I’m not sure I will ever uncover enough about John to satiate my own curiosity, but I will continue to try and am ever hopeful a photo of him exists somewhere!

I do know, however, that the man loved his black tea and his whiskey 😉

Last year, I requested and received John’s Pension records (hundreds of pages), which were’ wildly enlightening, not only about his struggle to be compensated for his war injuries, but also in the details I was able to uncover about his Irish origins including written testimony that he was born in Ballyhilland (sp?), and lived in the Townland of Dromore in the Parish of Kilmore, Cavan in 1950. Until this discovery, all I had to go on was Cavan County.

Very little is known about John’s family back in Ireland but the above (very specific) location gives me hope.

You can read all about John’s Civil War Pension files here.

John’s belief’s according to Grandma Eve’s writings:

• Death before dishonor.
• Pride is the most important, most private measure of character.
• Noblese oblige.

In Your Research…

Is there one ancestor who stands out, larger than life? One who you’d just love to ask a million questions of? Like maybe this one person could open the floodgates to so many who came before them?

Housekeeping

My theme for the 2025 A to Z Challenge is Kin! The first names of direct lineage kin, to be more specific.

I’m spending the majority of the month focusing on the first names of many of my direct lineage kin. I’ll include their full names, any vital information I’ve found in my research, their relation to me, any fun tidbits/characteristics/experiences, and any commonalities I may have gleaned between myself and them.

In a couple of cases, where I have not identified an ancestor whose first name starts with a particular letter, I will choose a unique middle name, a direct line surname, and/or ancestral lands/places of significance.

Pop over here to read my full theme reveal: A to Z 2025 Challenge Theme Reveal: Kin

Pop over here to visit our host and see what they’re up to throughout this year’s challenge: A to Z Challenge

If you’re visiting from the A to Z Challenge please leave a comment so I can visit you, too! If your comment bio doesn’t link back to your site, please feel free to add the link to your most recent post to the comment field so I can be sure to find you.

Thanks for being here! See you again soon!

Onward,

Melissa