Why I can claim to be part of the Irish Diaspora: The Irish Surnames on my O'Rourke - Salmon Family Tree

Since my last name is O’Rourke, it has been almost impossible to “hide” my Irish roots from the complete strangers I meet each day.  Cashiers at grocery stores, tellers at the bank, customer service reps calling on the phone, people from every walk of life and culture, all ask me as soon as they see the name:

“Are you Irish?”
  In a flash without thought, I answer a simple “yes!”

With curiosity peaked they then want to know, “How do you pronounce it!”  

“It’s “O’Rourke” (Oh Rork) and rhymes with New York,” I reply and then continue on my way beaming with an enormous smile on my face.  Amazing!

So long ago I decided that I might as well embrace the culture with full force and enjoy “being Irish!”   Over the last twenty years of my life, I have fully immersed myself in Ireland’s people, dance, music, food, drink and even her language “Irish Gaelic.”  Living in North Texas, USA, provides me ample opportunity to fill my appetite with yearly pilgrimages to the North Texas Irish Festival, eating Irish food while sipping on a frothy glass of Guinness poured expertly by the bartender at the local pub, listening to the hand clapping music of master Irish musicians on a lazy hot afternoon before finally rising to do a little dancing with my friends.
 

And so I extend heartfelt thanks to my own grandmother Margaret O’Rourke for keeping the Irish traditions alive and real for my family and me.  Memories flood my mind of the mandatory yearly St. Patrick’s Day celebrations at her home complete with heaping mounds of corned beef and cabbage!  Her infamous Irish coffee made exclusively with Paddy’s Irish whiskey followed the dinner and usually made her quite tipsy by night’s end.  Her own youth included spending many a weekend night filled with music and “ballroom dancing” in the company of husband Joe O’Rourke and their Irish friends but alas, she never had a chance to dance a reel herself.  She died years before I began my Irish dancing career yet I still imagine her in my mind’s eye smiling broadly with her elfish grin toes tapping to each jig that I dance!  

In fact Grandmother Margaret Jane Salmon O’Rourke (1900 – 1986) claimed a very mixed heritage indeed being:  5/8ths Irish, 2/8ths English, and 1/8th Spanish/Mexican.  When ever anyone asked about “her roots,” she always replied that she “was a duke’s mixture” of cultures.   Now I can substantiate those words through my research and by my recent DNA testing!   Her family lines include the Irish surnames of:  Baker, Byrne, Farrell, Gregory, King, MacNamara, McKnight, and O’Donnell.

On 15 June 1921 Margaret married her sweetheart Joseph Leo O’Rourke (1898 – 1951) in Dallas, Dallas, Texas. Although I was not lucky enough to personally meet him, Grandfather O’Rourke had been very well loved and remembered by his family, friends, and co-workers long after his death.  Joe definitely claimed full Irish blood status!  All of his grandparents had immigrated from the Emerald Isle in the 1800's, traveled across the United States before finally settling in the great state of Kansas by 1880.  His family lines include the Irish surnames of:  Curran, Doyle, Hayden, and O'Rourke.  

As of July 2013, the four lines on Grandfather O'Rourke's tree are still shrouded in mystery!  On his father’s side, I have only been able to go back to about 1811 to the birth of his grandfather, my second great-grandfather, Bernard O'Rourke (1811 – 1898) in Dublin, Dublin, Ireland and his wife Sarah Doyle (1842 – 1921) born in Ballyrogan, Limerick, Ireland in 1842.  Bernard’s parents had had eleven sons, no daughters, and all but one immigrated to the USA before 1858!  I know that some of his siblings must have had children of their own but I have yet to find any of these “first cousins once removed.”    
 
His grandfather on his mother’s side, William Curran (1830 – 1907) had been born in 1830 and his wife Mary Hayden (1838 – 1880) born circa 1838 in Ireland but county and town remain unknown. William served with the Union Army during the Civil War in Kansas and his veteran’s file provided lots of good data but alas, no birth place just the date.  He lived at the U. S. National Veterans Home located in Leavenworth, Leavenworth, Kansas from 1886 – 1907 where he breathed his last.  My 2012 New Year’s Resolution was to finally break down one of these genealogical walls this year but as of July, I have made little progress!  
 
I have found more success establishing Margaret’s Irish roots on her mother’s line of Byrne, tracing them back to her 2^nd (my 4^th) Great-grandparents:  James, who died before 1818, and his wife Mary Farrell, born circa 1739 and died in 1819 at Ballyrogan, Wicklow, Ireland; and Thomas King and his wife Honory Baker (dates unknown) who lived and died near Redcross, Wicklow, Ireland.  The mothers of Mary Farrell and Honory Baker were sisters with the surname O’Donnell, the last generation I have identified so far.
 
In regards to Margaret’s father’s line, her great-grandparents, Thomas William McKnight, circa 1828 – 1886, and wife Elizabeth (Eliza) MacNamara, circa 1827 – 1879, were both born in Ireland.   The story goes that their families disapproved of their union.  They “eloped” and were married in County Cork on 5 May 1849.  The couple set sail for Boston, Massachusetts, USA on 19 Jul 1849, lived in Virginia and Tennessee before eventually settling in Texas by 1860.
 

Joseph Leo and Margaret Jane Salmon O'Rourke. c. 1949 at a party in Dallas, Texas.

The following chart lists the Irish surnames on Margaret Salmon and Joseph O’Rourke’s family tree (and mine!) It is not an etymology of the names (that will come later). Instead the chart shows each surname as the family uses it now, the spelling in Irish, a few variants of the name, the countries and county of origin, and finally, the last known residence of my own particular family member before immigrating to the USA. 

	Name written in Original Language	Variant Spellings	Counties Where Name is/was Most Common	Our Family's Last Residence in the Mother Country
BAKER		Bakere Baecere	England Ireland	-Wicklow County,  Ireland
BYRNE	ó Byrne (Irish)	Beirne Berne Bourne Bourns Burn Burne Byrn Byrnes	Ireland: Dublin Wicklow Wexford Louth Carlow Kildare Kilkenny	-Ballyrogan Upper, Wicklow, Ireland -Redcross, Wicklow, Ireland
CURRAN	ó Curráin (Irish)	Corhen Currane Curreen Curren Currin Kirrane O'Currin O'Curran	Ireland: Donegal Dublin Waterford Galway Kildare Kerry Leitrim	Ireland
DOYLE	ó Dubhghaill (Irish)	MacDowell	Ireland: Limerick Clare Wicklow	- Limerick County or Clare County, Ireland, (due to county boundary line changes)
FARRELL	Ui Fearghail (Irish)	O'Farrell O Ferrall O'Farrelly O'Ferrally	Ireland: Wicklow	-Ballyrogan, Wicklow, Ireland
GREGORY			Ireland: Kerry Galway England	-Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
HAYDEN	ó Eideain (Irish)	Haydon Heyden Heydon Heiden Haeden	Ireland: Tipperary England	-Possibly Tipperary County, Ireland
KING	ó Maolchonaire (Irish)	O'Conry Conroy O'MacConry MulConaire MacEnry	Ireland: Galway	-Wicklow County, Ireland
MACNAMARA	Mac Conmara  (Irish)	McNamara MacConmara	Ireland: Clare	-Clare   County, Ireland
MCKNIGHT	Mac an ridire  (Irish)	MacNight MacNeachtain MacNitt MacNutt	Ireland: Antrim Dublin	-Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
O’DONNELL	ó Domhnaill (Irish)	MacDomhnaill MacDonald MacDonnell O’Donel O’Donell	Ireland: Donegal Clare Galway	-Wicklow County, Ireland
O’ROURKE	ó Ruairc (Irish)	O'Roarke O'Rorke Roarke Rorke Rourke	Ireland: Leitrim	-Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Pretty interesting, right?  All of the surnames have a long history attached to them in the annals of Ireland’s history however; the O’Rourke surname is perhaps the oldest of this group!  So when complete strangers ask me if I am Irish, I can truthfully answer…….

“I am!”

Stay tuned to take a look at the English side of the family…..