On the 23 June 1866 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church at Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, England Matthew Flanaghan married Sarah McFadden. Matthew was born about 1840 and Sarah was in 1848 both in Ireland. Matthew’s father was Edward Flanaghan and Sarah’s father was John McFadden.

The original family name was Flanaghan, but this was later anglicised to Flanagan, which it is today.

Family folk law says that the Flanaghan family originated from a small coastal town on the West Side of Southern Ireland. Matthew may have come from County Meath and Sarah from County Tyrone.

Also before his marriage, Matthew travelled to California at the time of the Gold Rush, but returned to Ireland and later to England to marry Sarah McFadden. I was always sceptical of the California link until I found an entry in the ships log of the SS Ilinois sailing from New York to California on the 22 August 1854 onboard was a M Flanagan. Still need further proof.

Matthew’s father Edward Flanaghan was a Taylor by profession and Sarah’s father was a Labourer. Both had died by the year 1866 when Matthew and Sarah got married.

For most of Matthew’s life he lived in Thornaby-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England. On 2 April 1898 Sarah died and is buried in Thornaby Cemetery. Strangely Matthew is not buried with her and there are no records of him dying in England. I was told that after Sarah’s death he may have gone back to Ireland and died there around 1905. The other possibility is that Matthew died in Philadelphia, USA, were his children Mary, Sarah Jane, Julia, James and Thomas lived.