The Starting Point - The Lardner family of Jefferson County, Nebraska, USA

The starting point for my family's research on the Lardner surname in Ireland comes from my 2nd great-great-grandparents, James Lardner and Mary Ann Cashman of Jefferson County, Nebraska.

James was the first Lardner in my family to come to the United States from County Clare, having arrived in the country in April of 1862. By 1867, he had made his way from the East coast of the U.S. to the state of Iowa, where he married Mary Ann Cashman (Mary Ann had been born in Illinois and was the daughter of William and Mary Cashman of County Cork).

Eventually James and Mary made their way to Nebraska due to his work on the Burlington Railroad and in 1870 James applied for citizenship and had filed for a piece of farm land with the help of Homestead Act of 1862.  By March of 1871, the family had settled on what would be their permanent home in the precinct of Antelope in Jefferson County, Nebraska.  Together the couple raised a total of thirteen children and in 1909, James passed away at the age of 69 while attending mass at St. Michael's church in Fairbury, Nebraska.

So goes an extremely brief summary of some of the information gathered on James Lardner, the impetus for this particular blog.  As with all genealogy research, the quest for information that may help to expand the understanding of a distant relative's life is never ending. Some questions may have answers that are accessible...Where what the individual born?, Who are their parents?, Did they have siblings?  While others could be completely out of reach...What were they like? Were they funny? Serious? What kind of relationship did they have with their family?  But for some reason, for those who have caught the 'genealogy bug', the questions only push us to explore more and to expand the search.

I count myself among these individuals, which is the catalyst for my collection of blog entries and for this blog in particular because I have a number of facts that can be used to push my Lardner search forward:

1. James's birth date is recorded as 1 January, 1840.  This date is not necessarily set in stone, as people who engage in Irish genealogy can attest, but it is a good point from which to work.
2. James Lardner's parents are listed as James Lardner and Bridget Sullivan on his death certificate.
3. Family tradition and various other sources list James' country/county of origin as County Clare, Ireland.
4. James has one younger sister who is known to have also come to the United States, Ellen Lardner, wife of Michael (Mike) Hickey, who settled in Ottumwa, Iowa with her family.

With this information, a couple of cousins and I were able to move from conducting research on our family in the U.S. to those that can be discovered in Ireland.

Until later...

All the Best,

Jessica

N.B.

Please reference the following POST if you would like further detail on the location of my family in Nebraska and the Nebraska Land Act.