11. Anne (Annie) MCDONNELL "Annie" (Michael Alexander , Alexander ) was born about 1882 in prob Kilmovee, Co. Mayo. She died 10 May 1964 in prob Ballaghaderreen, Co. Roscommon.

It's said that Annie and Jack were first cousins. However this doesn't tie in with other information about the family: Jack's parents' surnames were Gordon and Coughlin and Annie's parents' surnames were McDonnell and Fitzgerald; therefore they couldn't have been first cousins. Perhaps they were second cousins.

Following the deaths of her children, Annie started helping financially in the education of young men who wished to become priests.

Annie married John P. (Jack) GORDON, son of James GORDON and Maria COUGHLIN. John was born about 3 Jun 1883 in Ballaghaderreen, Co. Roscommon and was christened 3 Jun 1883 in Ballaghaderreen, Co. Roscommon. He died 24 Aug 1934 in prob Ballaghaderreen, Co. Roscommon and was buried in Kilcolman Old Cemetery, Ballaghaderreen, Co. Roscommon.

The only sponsor listed at Jack's baptism was Thomas Gordon. Jack took over the running of the shop from his father. The shop was big and the family was well-off. The business was eventually sold in 1955.

Note: It's believed that Jack's Gordon ancestors may have moved to Ballaghaderreen from Strokestown, also in Co. Roscommon, and that they were NOT related to another family being researched, the Gordons of Kilgarriff, Fairymount, Co. Roscommon.

29. Thomas (Tom) MCDONNELL (John , Alexander ) was born 17 or 18 June 1897 in prob. Corgarriff, Kilmovee, Co. Mayo. He died 14 Feb 1963 in Swinford, Co. Mayo and was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin.

Tom emigrated to the United States as a young man. According to Ellis Island records, he arrived in New York from Liverpool on October 30, 1922. On the ship manifest it's difficult to make out his occupation but it looks like hardware assistant.

Tom's emigration was unplanned. The exact circumstances of his departure aren't known but his possible association with Free State governnment sympathisers (i.e., those who were pro-Treaty) may have led him to flee, even though he himself wasn't known by family to have been a supporter of either the pro- or anti-Treaty camp. In the course of her research, Kathleen Hegarty Thorne, author of They Put The Flag a-Flyin’, an account of the Irish War of Independence and the Civil War as they impacted on Co. Roscommon, came across a report of an incident involving a Treaty supporter whose brother appears to have accompanied Tom to the States a few weeks later. According to Kathleen, a Peter Sharkey who was a pro-Treaty activist from Edmondstown (Kilcolman parish), Ballaghadereen, was shot and badly wounded by anti-Treaty forces in September 1922 for apparently not having complied with an order to leave the area. Ellis Island records list Tom and a Bernard Sharkey together, Bernard giving as his nearest relative at home a brother, Peter Sharkey from Tobracken (in Kilcolman parish), Ballaghadereen. This may well have been the Peter Sharkey who was shot, and it may well be that Tom's possible association with him and/or his brother led to his sudden departure. It would be 20 years before Tom would see Ireland again.

Thomas married Mary (Mamie) LYNCH, daughter of Patrick LYNCH and Catherine MORRISON, in New York. Mary was born 14 Feb 1901 in Binion, Clonmany, Co. Donegal. She died 28 Jan 1970 in Dublin and was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin.

Mamie emigrated to the United States in 1919. Around the late 1950s she and Tom moved back to Ireland.

30. Michael George MCDONNELL (John , Alexander ) was born 1904 in prob. Corgarriff, Kilmovee, Co. Mayo. He died mid 1990s.

Michael, who lived with his wife and family at Woodlawn House, Kilmovee, ran the family farm in Kilmovee.