Trying to discover parents of CAESAR FANNING born about 1748 in Cork, Ireland.

Question

He is my 4 gt grandfather and on my family tree is shown as brother to EDMUND FANNING b.24th April 1739 at Southold , Suffolk country, Province of New York whose parents are Capt. James Fanning and Hannah (nee Smith). I find no record of Edmund Fanning having a brother named Caesar among the eleven children of Capt. James and Hannah but Capt. James did marry a second time to a widow Thankful Hinckley Cheesebrough following the death of his first wife Hannah , so possibly may be half-brothers. ONE WEEK LATER : Further research has revealed CAESAR FANNING born in Cork, Ireland 1748 before Capt. James Fanning's second marriage in 1752 - so the puzzle remains how did Capt. James Fanning manage to father children born both sides of the Atlantic in the mid eighteenth century. The only possible clue is that his first wife , Hannah , died on a voyage from England back to home in America in 1750 - could she have given birth to a twelfth child in Ireland unrecorded in the American Fanning History book ?

Answer 1

Since he came to America so early, in the 1700s, chances are that he was Protestant, and that is good if you need records that early. Protestants could legally keep church records in the 1700s, but Catholics could not. Catholics did not come to America often before 1776 because there was no religious freedom in the colonies for the most part. Also, Catholics did not have the money to make the trip. So chances are your ancestor was Protestant, middle class or higher and his records would be with the Church of Ireland.

That being said, I hope the church your ancestor attended was not one that sent all it's old church records to Dublin without retaining a copy. Church of Ireland records were burned in fire fight in the Troubles that won independence for the Irish Repubic between 1916 and 1922. But many parishes kept their records or at least a copy, so it is worth a try.

Come join us in the County Cork Project as we try to find as many Cork ancestors and match them with places as we possibly can!

Sharon Troy Centanne, aka Troy-204

manager for the County Cork Sub-project

Comments

Thanks a lot for this valuable insight. In fact Caesar lived his entire life in Ireland , not going to America despite allegedly being brother to Edmund (Colonial administrator) who was born in America , a Royalist during the war of independence after which governor of Canada's Prince Edward island for 19 years , retiring to London (UK) where he died.

I've since discovered more detail on Caesar - he was a "paper stainer" by profession with some classic Cork wall paper designs now being attributed to him , and with recorded address in Castle Street , Cork according to the Lucas Cork Directory for 1787. This was a family business that continued into at least the mid 19th century.

Your Protestant and Catholic comments are very interesting. According to the massive "History of the Fanning Family" which covers the American branch from the arrival in Connecticut of Edmund Fanning senior in 1653 up to 1900, the author feels it was highly likely the original Edmund immigrant changed from Catholic to Protestant in order to fit in with the local settler community. This would mean his great grandson Edmund (Colonial administrator mentioned above) would probably have been Protestant along with Caesar , his alleged brother. Next step seems to be investigation of Church records therefore !