Family of Martin J. and Mary Kirk Kavanagh, Ohio
Seeking additional information from descendants and relatives of this family:
Martin J. b.1849 and his two brothers, Michael b.1846 and James b.1848, were born in Ireland.Their father was Thomas Kavanagh b.1816.Thomas emigrated to Ohio ca. 1865-1870, along the river across from the West Virginia panhandle, to work with his young sons in the glass making industry.They were reputable glass cutters and artisans.
The 1880 Census for Cuyahoga, Cleveland shows Thomas and older sons Michael and James, with Michael's Irish wife Mary, and daughter Jane b.1870 and son Michael b.1872 in residence together.
Martin stayed near the Ohio River, and in Bellaire on Christmas Day,1872 wed Mary Ellen Kirk b.1853 from Richmond, VA.The 1880 Census shows that Mary Ellen's Irish mother, Mary b.1815 and Irish older brother James b.1846 lived with them in Pultney Township, Belmont Co.
Martin and Mary Ellen Kavanagh bore ten children:Daniel in 1873, my great-grandmother Margaret (Straub) 1874, James 1876, Mary "Maime" (Snodgrass) 1879, John, Nel (Backus), Joseph Aloysious 1884, Anna (Moore), Agnes Regina (Gough)(later Cook) 7/2/1893 Marshall Co. WV, and Monica.
It seems the family moved downriver to Moundsville, OH in 1892.Some of the family finally settled at New Martinsville, WV.Mary Kirk Kavanagh died ca. 1899 aged 46 and was laid to rest in Wheeling.Martin J. Kavanagh died in 1910. Daniel Kavanagh died in New Martinsville in 1936, aged 63.He was well known since 1901 as the Superintendent of New Martinsville Glass Company, the trade he learned from his father and uncles, the craft their father had brought from the old country, possibly Waterford or Wicklow,Ireland.