The Irish surname Cullinan is not common around Maine – it appears just 17 times in the state’s telephone listings.

But there are certainly more Cullinan descendants than that fact would indicate – people named Shanley, Shaughnessy, Taber and Kelly, for example.

I became interested in the Cullinans when Bill Cook, local history librarian at Bangor Public Library, was working on information to add Staff Sgt. Dennis T. Cullinan Jr. to the Bangor Book of Honor.

Cullinan, who was killed over France in 1943, was the son of plumber Dennis T. Cullinan Sr. and Mary (McCarthy) Cullinan.

Cook showed me a book at Bangor Public Library, “The Descendants of Dennis T. Cullinan, Ennis, County Clare, Ireland: With Notes on the Shanley Family,” written by Richard D. Kelly Jr. in 1976.

The name was originally O’Cuileannain in County Clare, Kelly wrote, and the emigrant ancestor of this branch of the family was Dennis T. Cullinan, b. 1821 to a tenant farmer, Dennis Cullinan, and wife Bridget Tierney.

The younger Dennis and brothers Michael and Patrick were in Bangor in 1855, while brothers James, Lott and John were in Lewiston in 1850. All worked on building the railroad between the two cities.

Dennis married Catherine Frances McMahon from Dysart, Ireland, and they had Mary Josephine, who married a Shanley; Dennis J.; Patrick; Johanna Elizabeth; Michael J.; Charles H.; and Catherine Frances.

Charles H. married Mary A. Sullivan, and their children included Dennis T. Cullinan Sr.

I checked for Cullinans on the multipurpose genealogy Web site of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, www.familysearch.org, and found the marriage of Dennis T. Cullinan to Catherine McMahon on Sept. 1, 1848, in Lewiston.

Another interesting site is “The Cullinan and Cullinane Family Genealogy Project Website,” by Michael Cullinan of Ottawa, at http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Valley/5946/index.htm.

Here’s a request that is very dear to my heart, because it pertains to my hometown of Abbot.

A picture of Dana Carr in his World War II uniform is needed for a composite photo of the Carr brothers being done for the family and the Abbot Historical Society. If you have a picture that could be copied, contact Merton Carr, P.O. Box 577, Limington, ME 04049; telephone 637-3603; or e-mail Kaye Sakahara at sakahara@kynd.net, and she will contact Merton Carr.

I had a wonderful time speaking to 38 people at the Abbot Historical Society last week, especially because those attending included my parents, Dinty and Joyce Moore.

The Lovina Moore quilt, circa 1893, and two albums of photographs, including some of several Monson people, will be on display at the society’s annual Memorial Day dinner at the Abbot Town Hall.

On another subject, if you see a library table covered with worn-out fan charts full of ancestors, there’s probably someone nearby you want to meet.

Recently, I was pleased to make the acquaintance of Ann Small Stinson and husband Willard Stinson of Deer Isle.

Not many holes in those fan charts, I pointed out.

“Well, on Deer Isle it’s not so much a family tree as a fish net,” Willard Stinson pointed out good-naturedly.

Yes, an island can, on occasion, help keep your forebears rounded up. Just as much of the credit goes to the fact that Ann Stinson has been doing genealogy for nearly a half-century. As a graduate student at Columbia University in the early 1950s, she made ample use of the genealogical collections at New York Public Library.

“And, I’ve got very obliging ancestors,” she said with a grin.

Stinson goes to the Bangor Room at Bangor Public Library every chance she gets when it’s not gardening season.

Originally from Auburn, she was a librarian in both South Portland and Lewiston. She has a son by a first marriage, and has lived on Deer Isle with her husband, where he grew up, since 1973.

Ann Stinson explained that her great-grandfather, Thomas Colby Small, was the first keeper of Mark Light on Deer Isle. She and her husband both have numerous Colby lines

By the way, they give high recommendations to the genealogical collections at the Deer Isle-Stonington Historical Society.

3109. CLARK-BUNKER. Searching for descendants of George E. and Florence (Bunker) Clark in order to return family pictures and other memorabilia to a family member. George b. Aug. 8, 1871, son of Dennis and Sarah (Dodge) Clark of Strong. George and Florence md. July 15, 1898, Portland, lived in Wilton and Farmington area, had at least three children: Ruth Clark, b. March 29, 1900, md. Orie Smith, June 11, 1921; Gwendolyn Clark, md. Herbert A. Thompson, June 9, 1923; Maxine Clark, md. F.M. McLaughlin, June 28, 1925. Florence’s sister, Anita Bunker, md. Fred C. Lord, July 5, 1905. Write to Wilton Public Library, P.O. Box 454, Wilton, ME 04294, telephone 645-4831, or e-mail VGagne@Wilton-free.lib.me.us.

Send queries to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402; or e-mail familyti@bangordailynews.net. Full name and address of sender are required even if e-mail is used.