Cullens of Carrick, Ballinlough, Co. Roscommon, Ireland

Gerry Cullen of Australia sent me this story:

"My great great grandfather was James (or at least we are led to believe from one old land notice) who was said to be married to Sarah Cullen, of Carrick, Ballinlough, Co. Roscommon, Ireland. Sarah died circa 1861 and the land and house was inherited by my great grandfather Michael Cullen who was married to Mary Scarry, Michael was born circa 1829 and died 1881 aged 52. Therefore his mother Sarah would have been born in the early part (or possibly even before) the 1800's.

"There is no mention of James Cullen in any other documents but an Andrew Cullen appears between the years 1832 and 1840's and I am anxious to find out if this Andrew was in fact an elder brother of Michael or perhaps Sarah's husband (and not James). It is also possible that this Andrew may have died or emigrated during the Great Famine period in Ireland as his name is not mentioned in any documents after. The name Andrew was inherited by my grandfather Dominick Andrew Cullen so there may be a very close family connection.

"Please note that the name Cullen was also spelt Cullinane in this days (with or without the 'e') Records in Ireland are very scarce as most were destroyed by the Civil War in Ireland in the 1920's including the most precious years of the famine era. While I have had no success in finding the answers to the above in various genealogy websites, I though it worth while to include it here as someone living outside Ireland may be a descendant of the abovementioned Andrew Cullen or Cullinane if he did actually sail to America to escape starvation and death."