Hello everyone,
Welcome to my blog. I’m from Dublin, Ireland and have been researching my family history for a number of years now and I love it. I’m starting this blog as a way of sharing my ancestors’ stories with family and friends.
My interest in genealogy started when my parents and I visited the little graveyard at St David’s, Kilsallaghan in Co. Dublin. My great-great-grandmother, Mary Mahon, né Aungier, was supposedly buried there. Just inside the gate, behind the tree, we found her grave. The headstone was in fairly good condition and it read:
'Erected by JOHN MAHON of Yellow Walls, in memory of his beloved wife, MARY MAHON, who departed this life, September 14th 1888, aged 68 years.'
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| Mahon grave, St. David’s, Kilsallaghan, Co. Dublin. (Aug. 2011) |
Mary and the surname Aungier appealed to me and I started to research her family history. I then discovered that Mary was not my great-great-grandmother after all. My great-great-grandfather was actually James Mahon, who was probably John’s Mahon’s twin brother and Mary’s brother-in-law. By then however, I was hooked on genealogy, so I thank Mary for sparking my interest in family history.
I chose the name Black Raven Genealogy because ‘Black Raven’ is the name of the house in Yellow Walls, Malahide, Co. Dublin where I grew up; the same house where my father was born, and his father before him, and his mother before him, and maybe even James Mahon himself.
My direct lineage surnames include: Byrne, O’Neill, Mahon, Donovan, McDonnell, Coyle, Cavanagh and Wynne, Byrne, Carroll, Devine, Hynes, McGrane, Radcliffe, Keogh, Daly, Cummins, Doyle, Sarsfield, Crosby, McGuirk and O’Hara. They all lived in Co. Dublin, Dublin and mainly Dublin. Here’s hoping this list gets ever longer!
If we share ancestors or if you just want to say ‘Hi’, it would be great to hear from you.
For those more closely related, if these stories spark any ‘recollections’ or if you know any good tales that should be investigated further, please let me know.
For those more closely related, if these stories spark any ‘recollections’ or if you know any good tales that should be investigated further, please let me know.
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© 2013 Black Raven Genealogy
Hi Dara, I've just found your blog through GeneaBloggers. I notice you have some Mahon's in your tree. Are they sometimes recorded as McMahon? I doubt we have any connections as my McMahon family are all from County Clare. I've enjoyed reading the articles you've posted so far. I'm from England, but made my first trip over to Ireland in July. Was great to visit the places my ancestors live and found many of their graves.
ReplyDeleteThanks Niall, I love the simple look of your web-site. McMahon is a polygenetic surname here, with two distinct septs, one originating in Co. Clare and one in Co. Monaghan. I'm not sure (yet) where my line came from; they were in Malahide from the 1820s, at least. The Mc was inserted on a rare occasion. In Malahide we pronounced it like 'Mann'.
ReplyDeleteHi, Dara. I just hopped over from your GeneaBloggers interview to read your opening post. What a great interview. I'm impressed at how quickly you moved from being interested in genealogy to obtaining a formal education in genealogy. Good for you!
ReplyDeleteMy surname (Doyle) and family legend (on the Bartley line) indicate I have Irish ancestors but I'm not so far along the line to be able to work at finding them -- yet. One of these days!
Hello,
ReplyDeletemy name was Patricia Mahon. My Father's family tree had two MAhon brothers marrying two Aungier sisters in Dublin in the mid 1800s I think and two of those Mahon's came out, or went down should I say to Australia later in the 1800s. I wonder If that's the same family line? I will go have a look at the records I have and get back to you. KInd regards, Trish Callaghan
That's very interesting Trish, Do let me know the names of your immigrant ancestors and I'll see if I can spot them on my tree. My email address, if you prefer, is blackraven (dot) genealogy (at) gmail (dot) com.
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