The Taaffe family is rather remarkable for having held both an Irish/UK and Austrian peerage. However, it is not clear from the wiki pages whether they (for example, Count Eduard, who was Austrian prime-minister for a while) really maintained tangible ties to Ireland. Some questions for example:
I found a very interesting source — a Ph.D. thesis by Mag. Lisa Ferris entitled “Irish Views on Old Austria and Austrian Views on the Irish Question, 1848 – 1918” devoted to the study of Irish in Austria. (It’s 775 pages long!) Here is a bit from page 19 (page 104 of the PDF document):
The Taaffes, although almost completely integrated in Austria, never forgot their homeland; Nicolas Taaffe retained his title even if not all his lands in Ireland. In the Austrian Empire he had been made Field Marshal and Count, as well as serving as Chancellor to Emperor Leopold, but he was still concerned about the “Catholic Question” in Ireland, and in 1766 he published a tract entitled ‘Observations on Affairs in Ireland’, calling for generous treatment of Catholics in Ireland.
My 2nd Great Grandfather was Francis Taaffe born 1844 Ireland and died 1934 in Michigan. His father's name was James Taaffe. I have been trying to track down his father in Ireland who died in the early 1850's. Not sure if he died in the FAMINE or over in England, Manchester? 1853 Did Irish men go to England for work during the FAMINE years?
Doug Mills/Michigan
