A Hibernian Voyage to America. Our Irish Ancestors

  The surname Ryan is the fourth most common name in Ireland, the 177th most common in the United States and 2,000,714th most common in Bangladesh and Uzbekistan. The name comes in many forms O'Ryan, O'Malorian, O'Riaghn, Royan (French) and Rein (German). The name Ryan derives from many  sources-Celtic, Gaelic, Norman and others.  It's meaning has been interpreted as "little king" or "illustrious one", to the Welsh meaning "hero"to an ancient Irish word for water " Rian ".  The most agreed upon derivation is from the anglicized adaptation of O'Riain, or descendent of Rian . I tend to agree with another interpretation of ancient Irish as Righin, meaning "sluggish" or "dilatory".  An accurate account if you observe my teenage children in their natural habitat, or... if you ask my wife- me Friday through Sunday. The Latin phrase used as the Ryan motto is Malo Mori Quam Foedari.  "I would rather die ...

 In the bleak Irish spring of 1880, Matthew Ryan and his wife Margaret (Caples) left their home in the area of Kilcommon, Tipperary Ireland along with their eleven (11) children ages 26 to 4.  They endured a 60 mile trek by foot or by carriage or maybe a combination of both to the port of Queenstown, Cork (now called Cobh) and on March 23rd boarded the SS Helvetia, a 419 foot, tripled-masted, single-stacked clipper ship. The thirteen members of the Ryan family joined 557 other English, Irish, and Scandanavian passengers for the nearly two-week voyage across the temperamental Atlantic.     The morning of April 6, 1880 was unseasonably warm in New York City.  I envision my third great-grandfather, Matthew Ryan, aged 55, and his family made their way up to the main deck as the ship exited the Atlantic Ocean and slowly entered the upper bay, sailing between Staten Island and Brooklyn via the Narrows toward the Bedloe's Island, later named Liberty Isl...