County Leitrim, Ireland

Not Ireland, the Irish Free State.

Before arriving in Cambridge, my 3rd great-grandfather grew up in Co. Leitrim with his parents, James Rogan and Bridge O'Beirne born 1845 and 1844 respectively. James' parents were Michael Rogan and Mary Rosky. Bridget's parents were John Beirne and Ellen Sweeney.

Lovely Leitrim

Co. Leitrim is in Northwest Ireland so it borders what is now Northern Ireland. During the 1800s when the ancestors that I have mentioned lived there, the struggle for an Irish Free State had already begun long before the official Troubles. Ireland was under British rule, but there was a push for Home Rule, which is essentially Irish autonomy. Most of the northern, Protestant counties wanted to remain under British rule. The rest of the counties, mostly Catholic, wanted independence. The Irish Free State was finally created in 1922. It was a huge victory, creating what is modern day Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

By the time of Irish independence, John Rogan had settled into life in Cambridge. However, there was a small piece of information on a census that tells an important detail of his story back in Ireland. On a 1930 United States Federal Census, my 3rd great-grandfather John Rogan wrote that his place of birth was the "Irish Free State." He could have written Ireland, as he had many times before on Federal Census'. Instead, he wrote "Irish Free State." While I cannot confirm this, because few people would go on record as nationalists when Ireland was under British rule, I strongly believe that John Rogan was a nationalist. He was Catholic. He lived close to the border of Northern Ireland where tensions must have been incredibly high. I can just imagine the smile on his face when the news of independence reached Cambridge. I can just imagine the smile on his face as he filled out that census, able to say that he was born in the Irish Free State instead of an old Ireland under British rule.