It has been revealed that the ancestors of actress Nicole Kidman were originally of Granard in Co Longford.
According to Irish Lives Remembered genealogy magazine, the Masterson family were recruited as 'craftsmen immigrants' to Australia between 1838 and 1842.
This was because there was a shortage of craftsmen in industry, farming and other trades at the time, and a new 'colonial bounty scheme' was brought in to entice people to go.
The earliest documented record of Kidman's ancestors is the baptismal certificate of her great, great, great, great grandfather - Hugh Masterson - from 1791 in Granard.
The publication says Masterson married Eleanor Briody and settled in Rincoolagh.
One of their children, Mary Bridget Masterson, married James Callachor in or around 1841.
In late 1841, the family headed for Australia aboard the Agnes Ewing S.S.
Information from Australian documents says Masterson was about 20 years of age and the couple had an infant son, named Hugh, who was 'born at sea'.
Their second son Philip is said to be Kidman's great, great grandfather.
