BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION on JAMES D.
FARRELL and CATHERINE (O’FARRELL) FARRELL
Information provided by Kathy Osgood
Farrell of Carrollton, Texas: kfosgood@gmail.com.
James D. Farrell was born in County Kildare,
Ireland on April 7, 1816 and died August 9, 1912
in Dushore, PA. He is buried at the Cemetery of
St. Basil the Great Roman Catholic Church in
Dushore. His mother’s name was believed to
be Liza, but no more is known about his parents.
He married Catherine O’Farrell, also from
Ireland but a different county (possibly
Wexford), on July 31, 1842, most likely in
Philadelphia upon their arrival in the United
States. Catherine was the daughter of James
Farrell and Mary Daly, who never left Ireland. It
took three weeks to come over in the boat.
Their original homestead was a log cabin, which
is no longer standing. The second and still
existing farmhouse was built in 1893 and the old
log cabin where James and Catherine lived was
next to this house. Catherine preferred staying
in the old house, because the new one looked
“too modern”. She was a strong-willed
and temperamental individual; two of her brothers
also emigrated, but went to New Orleans. They
were teachers and died of the yellow fever there.
As with their rough contemporaries Michael and
Catherine (Sweeney) Sweeney, the Farrells were
considered “cured” because they had the
same last names before they married. It is said
that Grandma Catherine used to can extra fruit
and vegetables and sell them to people who were
sick.
There are at least three, and possibly four,
different Farrell families in the history of
Sullivan County. This Farrell family produced 17
children, 9 girls and 8 boys. It is one of the
“great families” of Sullivan County,
and is related by marriage to the McDonald and
Rohe families, among others. Very recently, a
picture was recovered that shows the original
immigrants, James and Catherine, in 1907 in
Dushore with a large number of their children and
other relatives. That picture is reproduced here
publicly for the first time. Please use the
number code to identify each person in the
picture. The point of reference for each
relationship is James and Catherine.
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Click on
the numbered picture if you have trouble
figuring out who is who!
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(1) James Farrell (grandson of James
and Catherine, son of Edward and Emma Rohe
Farrell ): leftmost in top row
(2) Edward J. Farrell (son of James and Catherine): next to James
(3) Peter Farrell (son of James and Catherine):
next to Edward
(4) Tom Coyle (nephew of James and Catherine):
next to Peter
(5) Anna Farrell (grand-daughter of James and
Catherine, daughter of John and Mary Whalen
Farrell): in front of Tom Coyle
(6) John Sullivan (possible grandson, may be son
of John and Ellen Farrell Sullivan): directly behind Anna Farrell
(7) Mary (Farrell) Coyle (possible niece of James
and Catherine): directly behind John Sullivan
(8) Alice (Farrell) McDonald (daughter of James
and Catherine and wife of George McDonald): next
to Anna Farrell
(9) Mary Whalen Farrell (daughter-in-law, wife of
John Farrell): directly behind Alice
(10) A sister of Mrs. Catherine Dunn (see below)
and not a relation: right next to Mary
Farrell
(11) John Farell (son of James and Catherine):
directly behind the sister of Catherine Dunn
(12) Katherine (Farrell) Smith (grand-daughter of
James and Catherine and daughter of Edward and
Emma Rohe Farrell): in front of the sister
(13) Catherine Drake Thompson (grand-daughter of
James and Catherine daughter of Bernard and
Margaret Farrell Drake, husband was Fred
Thompson): next to Katherine Smith
(14) George McDonald (son-in-law, husband of
Alice Farrell, daughter of James and Catherine):
behind Catherine Thompson
(15) Believed to be Ellen Maria Dempsey Dunn
(wife of Edward Dunn, a grandson of James and
Catherine and son of Peter and Catherine Farrell
Dunn): behind Catherine Thompson and in front of
George McDonald
(16) Elizabeth “Betty” McDonald
(grand-daughter of James and Catherine and
daughter of George and Alice Farrell McDonald):
in front of Ellen Dempsey Dunn
(17) Katherine “Katie” (McDonald) Fauls
(grand-daughter of James and Catherine, daughter
of George and Alice Farrell McDonald, married to
James Fauls): next to Betty McDonald
(18) Edward Dunn (grandson of James and
Catherine, son of Peter and Catherine Farrell
Dunn): behind Katie Fauls
(19) Mary Farrell (grand-daughter of James and
Catherine and daughter of Edward and Emma Rohe
Farrell): next to Edward Dunn
(20) Mrs. John Graham: next to Mary Farrell
(21) William McDonald (grandson of James and
Catherine and son of George and Alice Farrell
McDonald): in front of Mrs. Graham
(22) Emma (Rohe) Farrell (daughter-in-law, wife
of Edward): farthest left in middle row
(23) a child of John Graham: in front of Emma
(24) Albert Farrell (grandson of James and
Catherine, son of Edward and Emma Rohe Farrell):
next to the Graham child
(25) James D. Farell (patriarch): center middle
of picture
(26) Catherine (O’Farrell) Farrell
(matriarch): next to James
(27) another Graham child: next to Catherine
(28) another Graham child: farthest bottom right
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