To the stories
One story is that Francis and his brother Michael came to the USA as young boys aboard a ship named Narcissus in their escape from the potatoe famine. I have found no evidence of a ship so named arriving in the USA during the time period of 1820 - 1830. In 1835 the ship Narcissus was burned and sunk off Louisiana. The potatoe famine is considered to be from 1845 so these dates do not work. There was another Narcissus operating in the time period but she sailed constantly to Jamaica and the West Indies. The indication of their age (young boys) has always been considered to mean around 10 years of age.
The second story is that Francis came as a stowaway age about 8. His ship was lost at sea for several months and when land was finally espied it was New York. It is said that he had to evade the authorities until he was old enough to send for his brother Michael. The newspapers of the time were filled with horror stories of this type and yet no mention is made anywhere that I can find of such a happening. During this time an adult was considered to be anyone age 14 or over. How would an 8 year old Irish lad survive in these hard times? The Irish were not well liked and they were finding life hard. Would they have helped a young boy just because he was of their ancestry or would they have been so short of food themselves that they would turn him in to the authorities. My take on this is that if we place him a couple of years older - 10 or 12 perhaps, he would have been of the age that most boys would dream of a new life in America and maybe try stowing away and old enough to perhaps pass for 14 or close to it.
One story suggests that he had a wife and children in Ireland prior to coming to the US. Not only do I find this incredibly hard to believe but the time frame does not work in any way.
Francis is said to have had a wife in Pennsylvania who bore at least 4 children to him. These children were Mary, Lucy, Peter and Pierce. I believe that this would have taken about 10 years from him meeting his wife to supposedly leaving her yet there is no mention of him or his family on the 1850 census of Pennsylvania. Pierce and Peter were said to have died in the Civil War and there is evidence to support this.
Francis later married Mary Jane Keef, this is evidenced, and produced another 10 children. He is on the 1860 census of Whiteside, Marion County, TN. It is said that he originally owned land in the Hamilton County of Tennessee and exchanged this for the land at Whiteside. For him to do this would place him even earlier in Pennsylvania. No records have been found for the land exchange but the original court house burned to the ground 4 times during this period and most records were lost to us. What we do know is that the story says he owned the land on which the present court house stands and that was built in about 1857 so this bears a ring of truth.
It was common back them to name your children after family members. This has also given me a problem as none of his children were named Michael which one might have expected if that was his brothers name. Surely, if the first few stories can be relied on, he and his brother would have had a remarkable relationship and yet neither stayed in touch once they left the New York area.
It is also said that his family were miners. The richest coalfield in Ireland was Arigna which is where they are said to have mined and this is located in Roscommon. The minefield spills over into the two neighbouring counties also.
I hope as my search continues I will find more evidence of Francis' early life and it would be especially good to find evidence of his family in Ireland.
It has been recorded that his mother was Judah Donohue Dagnan but again, as his birth date is anything from 1812 - 1833 it is hard to see how we can be sure of this.
