I come up on Ancestry DNA tests as a match to a number of people who are descendants of Catherine Growden nee Fannon. Given the amount of DNA we share this has lead me to believe that Catherine is most likely the niece of my grgrgrandfather William Patrick Fanning.
Catherine’s parents were Patrick Fanning and Mary McGill. McGill was written on her daughter’s death record in 1938. But an earlier census record shows McGill was the beginning of a longer name. Unfortunately it is very hard to decipher the surname. It looks like McGilhlath???This census also says Patrick and Mary were married in Wisconsin. Their daughter Catherine Viola was married to Albert Orlando Growden in Ackerly Hardin Iowa in 1876 age 22. an we assume she was living their with her parents?
Patrick may have been my grgrgrandfather’s brother Patrick born in Thurles Co Tipperary in 1826.
The same people I match to are also matches with two of my close Fanning cousins.
Unfortunately I have not been able to find much information on Catherine and her parents. She was born 24 Oct 1854 in Jamestown Wisconsin and died in Riverdale Illinois on 12 May 1938. She married Albert Orlando Growden in Ackerley Hardin Iowa on 29 April 1876. She was 22 and perhaps living with her parents there.
I have looked for her parents’ marriage record and any births of siblings but have found nothing. I’ll keep looking but I am not very familiar with searching American records.
A descendant of Michael Fanning, Big Bill’s brother, is also a DNA match with a descendant of Patrick Fannon, the father of Catherine Viola.
I am hoping someone seeing this post may have some more information on Catherine, her parents and possibly siblings.