The Frain Family Descendents that immigrated from Ireland to South Bend, Indiana and Beyond
John Frain and Catherine Holden came from Ireland to South Bend Indiana sometime before 1857 based on census records and 1862 based on church records. The Irish Families of McNulty, Frain (Fresnay, Frenay, Frain), Roche (Rush, Roach, Rusch), Brennan, Corcoran and Commen frequently sponsored each other's childrens baptisms in the early years of the Sacred Heart, Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana Records. Oral family history that was captured by Barbara (Gray) Cutter from Anna Brennan suggests that our Brennan Family (Martin Brennan and Catherine Corcoran) may have journeyed from points beyond with the McNulty's and Frains. They may not have traveled further than from New York once the train lines opened up between New York and Chicago, but there is the chance that they did and even if they didn't may have come from the same County or Civil Parish in Ireland. It is therefore my intention to trace each of these families (The McNulty's and the Frain's) back to their roots in Ireland and down to their descendents in the United States to try to find out how and if we have common origins. The Frain surname was quite challenging to trace in the census records because of the vast array of spellings utilized. It was misread by those that have compiled indexes for the census, and was written as Fresnay, Frenay, Frain and Fraine in the church records. The Surnames that I have idenfied thus far connected to this family were Holden, Carroll, Beening, Pittman and Heintzelman, McCafferty, Dorn, Sinnott, Rauling and Heinrich and I am only just beginning. It appears that Margaret (Frain) Beening for one may have ended up in Fresno, California.
I plan to document their path via Census, Church, Directory and other available records.
I have recently heard from three McNulty descendents and one Frain descendent. There doesn't appear to be any concrete evidence of origins in Ireland at this point. Mary Seed Forsell, a Frain descendent shared some amazing information on the Frain line which I will began adding to this family's web pages. Brian Schroeder did some detailed research on them and passed it along to Mary's mother. The information confirms the details I have compiled on the children and adds unique family details that would not have been uncovered otherwise. The elder widowed John Frain was living with his daughter Nellie Curran, her husband Daniel and children in Arapahoe County, Denver Colorado when the 1900 census was conducted. According to the information he gleened, John died in a coal oil can explosion along with his daughter Nellie on June 15, 1906 in Pueblo, Colorado. They were both buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery in South Bend, Indiana where many of the other South Bend Portage Township Irish community immigrants were buried. John's wife Catherine had died previously on October 8, 1892 of Cancer. Special kudos to Mary Seed Forsell and Brian Schroeder for these valuable and most appreciated details!.
If you feel you are related to this family or their descendents that I document in this section please contact me so we can share information!
This is a work in progress!
The following are a compilation of the John Frain and Catherine Holden Family and their descendents in Church Records, Census Records, Directories and other Sources: