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The
Leghowney and Aughlem Cassidys
By Don Cassidy
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The Cassidys of Aughlem pose for their passport photo to
America. |
Through
the Internet, we have discovered Ballycassidy in County Fermanagh,
which, according to Cassidy Clan Chieftain Sean Cassidy, is where
the Cassidy name started. Apparently, our Cassidys left County
Fermanagh and settled in the neighboring County of Donegal.
My father, Frank, was born in Leghowney and my mother, Eileen, was
born in Aughlem. Both places are tiny sections of Donegal just
outside of Donegal Town. We know that the farm my father was born on
was inherited by his mother, Bridget Murphy. And it appears that the
farm was in her family for a long time before that.
My mother's
grandmother, Sally Freel, also inherited her family farm that was
purchased with money from the San Francisco Gold Rush of 1849. After
making their fortune in California, the Freels went to live in New
York. But they thought New York was too tough a place to be raising
Sally, their youngest, so they went back to Donegal. They left their
sons, who were grown up by then, in New York but no one knows what
happened to them. Sally married Francis Cassidy, who was much older
than she was, and they lived on the farm in Aughlem.
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