Ellen, I think is where the family superiority complex comes from. Or should I say her mother. They recently put the 1901 census online and the 1911 one has been there for a while. The Caseys of Ballymahon are on both but the information changes, there ages don't corrolate between the two, Casey is spelt with an E in one and without in the other and the other thing that changed was that Ellens mother put on one that she was born in South Africa and on the other that she was born in India.
Bridget Duggan was her name and apparently Her father was in the army and was stationed in India where she was born, he must have been quite high ranking to have been allowed to bring his wife with him, the ordinary soldiers didn't bring theirs. She also had an upper class way of dressing and behaviour that she passed on to her children, of which there were many. The ones I know of where Peter (known as the Barber Casey) Frank and Owen who ran the forge, MaryAnn, Beatrice, Maggie Etta, Ellen and Elizabeth.
How she found herself in Roscommon marrying a man who ran a forge I don't know but the story goes that they bought a load of pig iron and what ever is added to pig iron it won't melt in the furnace, but they didn't know that, they just knew that they had this metal and it wouldn't melt so they decided that they had upset the faries and moved lock stock and barrell from Roscommon to Ballymahon in Co. Longford and started again.
I have some photos I will put up when I get my scanner working but they lived in two little houses which were tiny and had a forge in the back garden. Peter (the barber) Casey married had a son and daughter and then moved to Loncoln in England where his wife had twins, the wife and twins died over the space of 6 months of the Great Flu epidemic of 1917(I think, it killed more than the war) , Grandma Ellen was there with them probably as a helper to his wife. They returned to Ireland after the deaths.
Frank and Owen never married and stayed there all their lives running the forge. MaryAnn married a lovely man named Jim Devine and went to live in the states for many years but returned to Ballymahon. MaggieEtta never married and lived in Longford, Bee was lovely, she married and had 3 or 4 children who live in Athlone and Lizzie as she was known married but was widowed after two years, she had a son called Tom who died of meningitis at 10.
Grandma met Peter Connolly because he joined to Irish Army and was stationed with her uncle the Ranger Casey who was in the Connaght rangers. He learned the forge business from Frank and Owen and moved to Longford Town to start his own forge.
Another character who I think was Ellens fathers brother that gets mentioned is the Tinker Casey. He was a real proper tinker who mended pots and sharpened knives and generally worked with his hands. My dad could fix anything, my older brother, another Peter, is also brilliant with his hands and I think it has come down the genes, along with the travelling.
