Back on Track for the Moment

Dear Uncle,

I needed a bit of a break and thought it the perfect time to drop you a note.  I am not working today and was not feeling up to snuff so I took it rather slow today. 

For the past several hours I've been working on the Irish side again. I am trying to figure out the names of William Greene seniors' parents.  I have taken several ideas from the internet in regard to naming traditions.  I've played with the names, rearranged the names, rearranged the tables of names. Rearranged the arrangement of namesakes.

I made my own charts to assist in the clues of naming within a family [ I am a visual person, charts and graphs work for me]. I even went so far as to try to find the Gaelic spelling of William ( Liam), John ( Sean, Eoin, Seaghan, Seon) and James ( Seamus, Seamas) so that when I look in the Griffiths valuation I don't miss someone by accident.

So far the naming traditions have not panned out.  At least in so far as William Senior is concerned. He and Catherine named the first son John H., which theoretically should be the name of William Seniors father.  It may well be. The oldest daughter should have been named after Catherines mother, Bridget, but was instead named after Catherine. 

It is my understanding that in those times Irish girls were referred to as "Brideys". The name "Bridey" being a nickname for the name Bridget.  However, at the time this nickname, among those unhappy with the Irish immigrants,  became somewhat akin to an epithet.  It could be that William and Catherine chose to wait on using the name Bridget for that reason since the name wasn't used until their 3rd daughter was born.

The second son was named James. Traditionally the second son would have been named after the mothers' father and in that case his name would have been Laurence/ Lawrence.  The name of Lawrence/Laurance was given to the 3rd son.

The fourth son was named William after his father, but according to tradition he would have been named after his fathers' oldest brother.

So my only clues are John and James, hoping that there is someone in the family of those names.  I am crossing my fingers that the second daughter's name- Mary Anne -is the name of William Senior's  mother.

That being said here is who I plan on looking for: John/ Sean/Seaghan/Eoin/ Seon and James/Seamus and Mary/ Maire/Muire Greene.   John and James and Mary Ann would have been born before or about - I'm guessing - 1800 +/- 10. William was born 1825. Emigrated to the US 1851.

The other hint that I have is that both William and Catherine were born in the Irish Free State so that eliminates 6 entire counties. They were Catholic so that helps limit the selections even more.

So the search continues.  Please keep good thoughts for progress.

Fondly,
Your Devoted Niece