Great Day for the (American) Irish--Giants Super Bowl Victory

We American-Irish will lay some claim to the exciting victory of the New York Giants over the New England Patriots in yesterday's Super Bowl XLVI. The Head Coach of the Giants is Tom Coughlin. His Offensive Coordinator is Kevin Gilbride. And the team owner is John Mara--Irish-Americans all. Coach Coughlin comes from Waterloo, New York, about twelve miles as the bird flies from where my Coughlin's settled when they arrived from Ireland. Before Waterloo, Coach Coughlin's ancestors came from County Cork, Ireland.   I don't know if we are distant cousins or not--but my ancestors came from West Cork and landed in Cayuga County, New York (Scipio Town, more precisely). The only false note in our cousin-ship is that Tom apparently pronounces his name "COFF-lin," whereas we say "COG-lin" (my Dad and Grampa pronounced it more like COCK-lin, as it's pronounced in West Cork). So, yes, I would say we are cousins and I'm happy with his success and Super Bowl victory; not so happy about the way he pronounces his name.

By the way, I heard that Cork, Ireland is celebrating the Coughlin victory with an early spring--a festooning of early spring flowers!

p.s. My nephew Tommy Coughlin, the real Tom Coughlin of Mentor, Ohio, should try to make a few bucks off Coach Coughlin's victory!

The above photo is from Tom Coughlin's Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Coughlin. Coach Coughlin is on the right and Coach Gilbride is to his left.

Postscript to the Blog Entry on the Name "Coughlin"

**See also my February 4th blog entry on the name "Coughlin"**

You might have thought that I had outdone myself and said all that could possibly be said about the name "Coughlin" in one of last week's blog entries. Wrong-o!

What I neglected to mention were the many different ways our name "Coughlin" has been recorded in official documents. The very first mention that I know of can be found in United States naturalization documents, long ago sent to me by my cousin Jack Pendergast. In these documents Daniel and Mary, my great great grandparents, born in County Cork, Ireland, are recorded with the last name spelled "Coghlin." They make an x-mark, and their son (Jeremiah, I believe) writes out their names. This same spelling is seen on Mary's tombstone in the old St. Bernard's Cemetery in Scipio, Cayuga County, New York (we assume Daniel is also buried there, but I couldn't find his name on that stone).

I have found census records that record the spellings "Coglin" and even, astonishingly, "Couthlin" for our family members. I can see how this could happen. If these Irish immigrants pronounced their name in the traditional manner you wouldn't know how to spell it! I have even seen the name spelled "Conkling"! Knowing how Munster Gaelic is spoken, this confusion does not surprise me. It's possible we could have ended up using any of the various spellings. But fairly early on, we start to see the spelling "Coughlin," which is what we use today.

An Gorta Mór (The Great Famine in Ireland)

“An Gorta Mór: An Fath Mo Clan a D’fhág as Éirinn”

(Le Robaird Mícheál Ó Cochláin)

Bhí mo shin-seanathair, Conn Ó Cochláin, a rugadh i meán an Gorta Mór áit éigin in iarthair Contae Chorcaí, Éire, in aice le baile “An Scoil” ó “An Sciobarín”. Bhí sé an mac Dónal Ó Cochláin is Máire Ní Crualaigh. Bhí 2 dheartháir, Jeremiah is Bartholemew, aige agus aon deirfiúr amháin, Cáitlín. Bhí Dónal feirmeoir bocht. Níor sé úinéir talún.

Sa bhlíain 1857 ó 1858, bhí Dónal, Máire, Jeremiah, Bartholemew, Cáitlín is Conn ag dul ar imirce go dtí Méiriceá, sa baile i “Scipio Town,” i Contae Cayuga, Nua-Eabhrac. Thosaigh siad ag deanamh feirmoireacht an talamh in aice le “Cork Road” (An Bóthar Corcaigh”). B’fheidir go labhair siad Gaeilge i Scipio Town.

Translation:

"The Great Famine: The Reason My Family Left Ireland"

(by Robert Michael Coughlin)

My great grandfather, Cornelius Coughlin [also spelled Coghlin] was born in the midst of the Great Famine, somewhere in West County Cork, Ireland, [possibly] near the towns of Skull or Skibbereen. He [Cornelius] was the son of Daniel O'Coghlin and Mary O'Crowley. He had 2 brothers, Jeremiah and Bartholemew, and only one sister, Catherine. Daniel [Cornelius's father] was a poor farmer. [As far as we know] he never was a land owner.

In the year 1857 or '58, Daniel, Mary, Jeremiah, Catherine, and Cornelius emigrated to America, to the town of Scipio in Cauyuga County, New York. They [then] began to farm the land near Cork Road. It's possible that Gaelic was spoken in Scipio Town [because so many Cork emigrees lived there].