Katherine Cecilia Banahan (1846-1908)

Grace, Richard Burke and Francis Burke McMurdo were the children of

Mary Ellen Burke McMurdo, the daughter of

Katherine Cecilia Banahan, the daughter of

Mary Theresa Kilduff, the daugher of

Margaret Mulvey and Patrick Kilduff

Katherine Cecilia Banahan was the mother of Mary Ellen Burke McMurdo. She was born December 20, 1846 in County Roscommon, Ireland, possibly in the town of Athleague, where her grandmother was born. Katherine was commonly known in her lifetime as Kate, Katie or Kitty. Based upon the statement of Katie's younger sister, Margaret Banahan Brady, it is believed that the Banahans immigrated to America from Ireland in 1853, settling in the Boston area.

Katie's father, George Banahan, died at a young age. Whether he came to America or died in Ireland isn't known to me. Katie's mother, Mary Kilduff Banahan remarried to a younger man, Michael Mellynn, also from Ireland, and they (including presumably Katie and her sister) were living in Boston as late as 1864, when Katie's younger half brother, Hubert, was born.

According to family tradition, by 1865, the Mellynn/Banahan family had moved west, settling in Sawmill Flat, Tuolumne County, in California. Sawmill Flat, which still exists as a wide spot in the road, was famous during the Gold Rush for its Mexican gambling hells. Whether this was still the case by 1865 isn't known. Sawmill Flat is adjacent to Columbia and Sonora.