Flanagan Family Stories

Most of the stories recorded here first appeared in the Clan Flanagan Yahoo Group. To preserve these stories and to aggregate them into one place, we've set aside this space on the World Wide Web, making them available to everyone. Our hope is to sketch the personality traits that are common among those who share the Flanagan name. The lives of most of us don't play large upon the grand stage of history. Instead, our lives are filled with the mundane, the poignant, the trivial, the humorous, and altogether-too-often, the absurd. We expect that some recipes may be shared in this space. And there will also be stories about the immigrations to America and to Australia, and . . . ? In general, stories that illuminate the personalities, the lives and the times of persons and families that share a "Flanagan" family connection, are welcomed to this space.

William "Bud" Flanagan

Bud started it! It all began with his question, "Has anyone ever heard of mustard bread?" His question came "out of the blue" one day on the Clan Flanagan Yahoo Group. And we're still remembering the warm, fuzzy, nostalgic, smile he brought to each of us. Here, we are collecting his stories - one at a time - knowing full well that you will find them every bit as engaging as we have. Enjoy!

Bud Flanagan is the author
Clan Flanagan is the collector

My Family's Flanagan Stew

Penny shares her family's mouth watering, warm and fuzzy recipe for a hot summer's Sunday Family get-together.

Enjoy.
--Penny (Flanagan) Fortune

Benjamin Jacob Flanagan (1934-2001)

Phillip Flanagan is collecting his family's heritage into a very privately published book that he has titled, How Do You Spell Flanagan? Shane Flanagan, son of Benjamin Jacob, provided this story about his dad.

--Phil Flanagan

Marion Avis Flanagan - (1921-1998)

She was my second cousin. She was the daughter of my Grandfather's (Harry Graham Flanagan) brother John Samuel Flanagan. I know that she never married or had children. I took a lot of inspiration from this article and I hope a lot of other Flanagan women will know what strong and intelligent women we have always been.

--Michele Flanagan'Corneail

Dana Junior Flanagan - (1914-2001)

When my father was about 80 years old, I gave him a tape recorder and asked him to tell stories about the family and about his early memories. This method produced a rambling and disjointed account that I've transcribed (and edited) into this rambling and disjointed article.

--Mike Flanagan

Walter Roscoe Flanagan (1900-1967)

One of the many stories that Phil Flanagan has to tell us about the characters populating his family's past. And included in his book How Do You Spell Flanagan?

--Phil Flanagan

Archibald & Alf Flanagan

Reprinted from the book, Mountain Memories by Feaster Wolford, this is a story about a song, and the song is about two of the Flanagans who lived in the neighborhood of Flanagan Hill (Red Creek), West Virginia.

--Feaster Wolford

Robert Guilford Flanagin (1862-1951)

From the Garvin County, Oklahoma Indian Pioneer Papers, comes an interview that combines a lot of fancy with a little bit of fact. Phil Flanagan brings us yet another of his colorful relatives.

--Phil Flanagan

Richard Clay Flanagan, Sr. (1894-1978)

Mischeviousness seems to be a trait in many Flanagan personalities. Phil Flanagan's grandfather would have been a blast to have around kids while they were growing up!

--Phil Flanagan

Edward Vivien (Jack) Flanagan (1892-1979)

This submission came through the Flanagan Surname section of the RootsWeb Message Board. It is such a charming recollection. We just had to include it here.

--Patricia (Flanagan) Rippe

Christopher J.K. Flanagan

Obituary of Christopher J.K. Flanagan in the April 24, 1894 edition of the Goulburn (Australia) Penny Post.

1894 Newspaper Obituary
Submitted by: Nola Maureen (Flanagan) Shirley

Chester Flanagin (b. 1869)

Some Flanagan families have very deep mysteries within them. Whatever might have happened to Chester Flanagin? Another of the stories from Phil Flanagan's book, How Do You Spell Flanagan?

--Phil Flanagan

Thomas Guilford Flanagin (1844-1927)

Phil Flanagan found this story in another privately published book, Remnant Of A Family. It is only one of the stories he has discovered about this master-furniture-maker, ancestor of his.

--Phil Flanagan

Charles Flanagan (1779-1840)

Bob Flanagan tells stories of two of his ancestor Flanagans. First, Charles Flanagan and the move from Albemarle County Virginia, to Cloverport, Kentucky. And then the story of Charles' son, James Winwright Flanagan, who moved the family from Cloverport, Kentucky to Rusk County, Texas.

Samuel C. Flanagin (1830-1923)

Yet another Tennessee Flanagan who found a way to avoid becoming cannon fodder, during the Civil War. Phillip Flanagan's book, How Do You Spell Flanagan? is filled with these little treasures. This is only one of them

--Phil Flanagan

Emmet Camp Flanagan (b. 1859)

My father, James Nelson Flanagan, was born in 1918 and wrote the story of his youth in East Texas in a book he titled "Growing Up in DeBerry" (Texas). He had the book printed and bound and gave a copy to each of his children and grandchildren for HIS 75th birthday. It's filled with stories of his childhood during the pre-depression and depression years, as well as tales of his ancestors. The first story is about his father, Emmet Camp Flanagan. It is written as if his father is reflecting on his life as he brought their new son home from the hospital in the unheated Grant touring car, driven over the dirt roads of East Texas by his driver, Willie. I have tried to copy this word for word from my dad's writing. Please excuse any mistakes I may have missed.

--Written by: James Nelson Flanagan
Submitted by: Micki (Flanagan) Perry

William "Bill" Perkin Flanagan

Penny (Flanagan) Fortune retells the stories that have been handed down through the generations about her Great-Grandfather, William "Bill" Perkin Flanagan.

--Penny (Flanagan) Fortune

Beverly Flanagan (b. 1822)

And then Penny takes her story a generation further into the past with this sketch of her Great-Great-Grandfather, Beverly Flanagan and his family.

--Penny (Flanagan) Fortune

Three Brothers Emigrate to America in 1732

I am going to try to 'lay down' the story, recordings and my beliefs from the earliest Flanagan in my line up to approximately 1800. This is a condensed compilation of papers I have. There is some of my own conjecture, opinion and intuitions. But this is the best of what I believe right now. Much of the earliest information from 1700 to 1747 I am grateful to ClanFlanagan for providing, especially my cousin Micki Flanagan Perry.

--Bob Flanagan