Hi James,
The information that I have has come via Jan who is my cousin.
We live in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia and she has kindly shared her information with me.
My great grandmother was Ellen Lawless who married John McLaren and my grandmother was Mary Ellen Louisa (Dottie) McLaren. I do not really know anything other than what Jan has told me, and my grandmother died when my mother was only 11.
There was a letter which was not found until after my mother's death (1990) from her mother asking her not to forget to write to "Auntie Maggie in Ireland" but who this is I don't know. Maybe a Lawless or even a McLaren?
Lovely to hear from a family member.
Wendy
Hi Wendy,
For a long time our family has suspected we were related to you. It's almost certain. I have been in touch with Jan (as has my mother more recently) and I think if we are both researching the family we should share any relevant information.
I am trying to find living Palmer/Lawless descendants in Kilkenny. We believe quite strongly that both John and Peter came to the United States. John moved around quite a bit and we think that Peter may have died young. They were both tailors.
I don't know how we are going to ever confirm that they are of this family but there are so many details that seem to suggest that they were.
As you may know, Edmund was a tailor and both of the John and Peter who came to the United States from Ireland were tailors and they were the appropriate ages. The most compelling thing to suggest that John was of this family is that his full name was John Palmer Lawless.
At least Patrick remained in Kilkenny and was present when Edmund died in 1871. I think the best bet is to try to find somebody still over there who can confirm where all these people ended up.
At any rate, I have done a good deal of research on Kilkenny related to these families and perhaps we can share information.
Are you in Australia as well?
