Patrick McCadden first appears in Griffith Valuation. The census of 1901 lists Patrick’s age as 90. This would make his date of birth in 1811. Although he is listed as head of the household in the 1901 census, in practice the family home has already passed down to Patrick’s son, John McCadden. We know that large families were the norm in Ireland at this time so it is unlikely that John is Patrick’s only son. Family sources lead us to believe that Patrick had at least one other son, Anthony McCadden, who moved to Leghoney when he married Catherine Slevin, and possibly a third son 'long' Paddy McCadden who moved to Aghlem and married Bridget Gillespie. From the census of 1901, we see that Patrick was already about 50 by the time John was born. Although it was not unheard of for men to marry quite late in life, it seems likely that John was not the eldest child.
One thing missing from the census records is any mention of Patrick’s wife. The death records list a Catherine McCadden who died in 1898, aged 85 with son John listed as present. This is most likely Patrick’s wife. The death records also list Patrick himself dying on the 1st November 1904. His age here is listed as 96, putting his birth in 1908. This disagrees with the census returns but small differences such as these are common at this time, when people didn’t pay close attention to their birth dates.
Patrick’s son John was born in 1861 and he married Katie (Catherine) Devlin sometime before 1893. John and Katie had 12 children, 7 boys (Patrick, Andrew, Anthony, Andrew, Joseph, Conny, John) and 5 girls (Sara, Margaret, Eileen, Bridget Agnes, Mary Anne).
By 1901 census Mary Anne (1893), Sarah (1897), Maggie (1898) and John (1900) were born. Although not listed Bridget (1895) was also born by this time. By 1911 Patrick (1901), Ellen (1905), Andrew (1907) and Anthony (1910) were also listed in census returns. Tragically there was also another Andrew, born in 1904 who died as an infant. One confusing entry in the 1901 census is Richard McCadden. He is listed as Patrick’s son, which must be a mistake given Patrick’s age and the fact that his wife Catherine would have been 82 when he was born. Richard is not a “McCadden” name (such as Patrick or John). There are no other records for Richard anywhere and there is no family recollection of him. One strange possibility is that somehow there is a mix up in the 1901 census return and the “Richard” is in fact “Bridget”. This would explain Bridget’s absence from the 1901 return and it would fit the birth date given on both 1901 and 1911 returns. John himself died on the 21st May 1932, followed by his Katie on the 26th March 1941. After, John’s death the family home passed down to his son Anthony.
And what became of John and Katie’s children? Inevitably, with such a large family, many of them emigrated. As can be seen from the Ellis Island records, Mary, Bridget, Sarah went to America. John also went, though he went first to Canada and then travelled down to Boston. Andy migrated to Scotland and Connie was a merchant seaman during World War II before migrating to Australia. Anthony also spent a lot of time in Scotland.
The family headstone in Clar cemetary takes the story further, showing the deaths of John’s children, Anthony in 1968, Andy in 1986, Ellen in 1977 and Maggie in 1985. There is another McCadden headstone in Clar cemetary, which lists Bridget McCadden. Bridget is the wife of Anthony McCadden.
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