Signature Silhouette #7 ~ James Mahon

For many of my ancestors, we have no photographs, no treasured heirlooms, not even a funeral card to remember them by. But of those who could read and write, a few left their signatures behind. They often signed historical census returns, for example, copies of which still survive. Apart from descendants, their signature may be all that remains of them today. So, it's my intention to feature a Signature Silhouette for each ancestor, on a regular basis, until they are all are preserved.

Here's one for my paternal great-great-grandfather, James Mahon:-

James Mahon (1827-1903)

Sources:
Idea courtesy of Cathy Meder-Dempsey at Opening Doors in Brick Walls.

Source of signature: 1901 Census of Ireland, Mahon/Byrne household, Yellow Walls, Malahide, Dublin, The National Archives of Ireland.

James Mahon, a £10 freeholder

As discussed last week, James Mahon, potentially my GGGG-grandfather,  participated at a Special Vestry in Malahide, Co. Dublin, in 1823. The vestry sought to introduce tithes, a form of taxation payable to the (Protestant) Church of Ireland. I'm hoping to find out more about this James Mahon, but surviving records are thin on the ground.

The tithe records for the neighbouring parish of Kinsealy show James Mahon had over ten acres of land in the townland of Drynam (aka Drinan), paying one pound, seventeen shillings and eleven pence in tithes. Dynam shared a border with the townland of Yellow Walls, in Malahide, where my Mahon family lived. But was it the same James Mahon, or another sharing his name?

Tithes, 1824, Townland of Drynam, County of Dublin

This question was answered by a newspaper article, published in 1830, which confirmed the James Mahon, with land in Drynam, lived in Yellow Walls. The article contained a list of men registering their freehold interest in properties valued at more than £10. 

Excerpt: Dublin Evening Packet and Correspondent, 26 June 1830, p. 1

Why did they register their properties? - you might ask yourself. I did.

Following Catholic Emancipation in 1829, Irish Catholics were granted the right to sit in Parliament. However, a more restrictive county franchise was immediately introduced, whereby voters in subsequent elections were required to have a freehold interest in property worth at least £10. This was a five-fold increase on the previous 40 shilling (£2) franchise, and five times the requirement still applying in the rest of the United Kingdom. Few Irish Catholics met the new voting qualification, thus ensuring no real change to the status quo. Still, the freehold interest of those who did meet the requirements had to be registered, and a list of the registered freeholders published.[1] 

So, James Mahon made the newspaper when he registered his £10 holding in Drynam. John Gaffney, one of James Mahon’s colleagues at the Special Vestry, also registered his property in Malahide. This might explain why they both, being Catholic, were deemed eligible to participate in the Special Vestry in the first place, which settles last week's query over their participation there. 

But, as usual in genealogy research, when one question is answered, several more always take its place- 

Until now, everything I've found indicated the Mahons of Yellow Walls were tenants at will, meaning they were subject to eviction at any time, without notice. Now, we see James Mahon owned this land outright. What a surprise! But, it’s puzzling. As far as I was aware, the Drynam estate belonged to the Cruise (de Cruys) family for many generations, i.e. from around the time of the Norman invasion in the twelfth century.  How on earth did James Mahon get his hands on some of it?

And, if he did at some point own the land, what happened to it? There's no indication in the probate records of it being passed down to the next generation. By 1845, James Mahon, the same man, or maybe a descendant, can be seen leasing land in Drynam, at £4 an acre, from Robert Cruise, Esq.

House Book, 22 Aug 1845, Townland of Drinan, Barony of Coolock

It's getting curiouser and curiouser! Except, there's nowhere to go for more answers.

[1] 10 George IV. Cap 8, An Act to amend certain Acts of the Parliament of Ireland, relative to the election of members..., 1829, in William Finnelly, The Law and Practice of Elections in England, Scotland, and Ireland… (London,1830), accessed Google Books.

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© Black Raven Genealogy

James Mahon in the Tithe records, 1823

By now, we can conclude, most of the Mahon families living in Swords parish, in the early decades of the nineteenth century, were near-neighbours of my GGG-grandfather, Patrick Mahon, of Yellow Walls, Malahide. And, chances are, some of them, if not all, were his siblings. And, James Mahon was the name chosen for most of their eldest sons.

So, if traditional naming practices were followed, James Mahon was quite probably the progenitor of most of the Malahide Mahons, and maybe even my GGGG-grandfather. Proving this theory has always been the problem, not least helped by the gap in the parish registers spanning the period June 1777 to June 1802.

This brings us back, full circle, to two earlier families mentioned in the Swords parish registers, that I discussed previously:

Patrick Mahon and Mary Cugan, who married in 1772, baptised two daughters, both called Mary, one in 1773 and another in 1776.

James Mahon and Elizabeth Owens married in 1774 and had a son John in 1776, before moving to the nearby Baldoyle parish, where they baptised Mathew in 1785, Mary in 1789, and Michael in 1791. 

But now, there is an even greater leaning towards James and Elizabeth being our progenitors. And, it's easy to conclude Patrick was James' brother, also living in Yellow Walls. In fact, the Tenure Book confirm a property occupied by the ‘Repts. John Mahon’ in 1845 was ‘John Cuggan’s holding’.

Further records for this period that might help are hard come by. The Tithe Applotment Books of the 1820s should provide additional clues. These records supposedly list everyone with more than an acre of agricultural land, along with the amount they owed in tithes (taxes) to the 'Protestant' Church of Ireland. But, unfortunately, the records are seemingly not available for Malahide. 

                       

All that remain are the minutes of the Church of Ireland (COI) parish meetings held in 1823, introducing tithes in the district.

Taxes are never popular, but in a predominantly Catholic country, tithes payable to a ‘rival’ church were particularly reviled. Still, it appears Catholics were represented at the COI meetings, and even formed part of the ‘implementation committee’. Surprisingly, the signatories to minutes of the initial meeting held in Malahide included James Mahon:

Signed:

Francis Chambly, Incumbent,

John Espine Batty, Chairman

James Reck

Charles Sadlier

Robert McEntire

John Gafney

Thomas Wogan

James Mahon

Excerpt from minutes, Special Vestry, Malahide, 13 October 1823

Prior experience of the Swords parish registers tells me Gafney, Wogan and Mahon were Catholic families.

At least, this proves there was a James Mahon living in Malahide, in 1823, but whether he was my GGGG-grandfather, his son, his brother, nephew or even his cousin, remains to be seen.

If this man was my GGGG-grandfather, he was likely in his seventies by 1823, but then again, longevity ran in the Mahon family; Patrick Mahon was in his eighties when he died in 1865.

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© Black Raven Genealogy

Homing in on Patrick Mahon's family

Before Christmas, I was working on Dad’s Mahon ancestors, trying to learn more about my GGG-grandfather, Patrick Mahon, from north Co. Dublin. I had found several of his contemporaries, with the same surname, in the church registers of Swords parish, where Patrick worshipped, and wondered if any of them were his siblings. 

John, Henry, William, Mary, and Thomas Mahon, all baptised their children in Swords parish, during the early decades of the nineteenth century. Thomas married there in 1821, two years after Patrick, and seemingly shared a particularly close relationship with my ancestor. They both associated with a James Mahon too, though James had no children mentioned in the baptism register. The others were likely a bit older, but not too old to have been of the same generation.

The next step was to check if any of them had links to Yellow Walls, a small townland of about 400 acres, in Malahide, where Patrick lived. If they were his near-neighbours, there is a strong chance they were also closely related.

The records best suited to this task are the manuscript notebooks of the Valuation Office. The Tenure Books contain a list of every holding in the region, specifying the occupier’s name and the annual rent paid, while the House Books contain a further description of each home and its rateable valuation. Both books are available for the Swords / Malahide area.

The books are searchable by barony, a now obsolete form of administrative area in Ireland. Malahide was in the barony of Coolock and Swords in the barony of Nethercross. So, both these baronies were examined. The records date to between about 1845 and 1847, some years after the noted church events, and when many of the targeted individuals might have already met their maker.

Still, it was significant that, apart from one Christopher Mahon in the neighbouring parish of Donabate, all the Mahons in the area lived in the townland of Yellow Walls. It’s therefore nearly a given they were all from the same extended family – my family. Plus, the names of all the men, now linked to Yellow Walls, also correspond with those previously found in the church records. Therefore, the families detailed in the church registers were probably also mine.

The tenure books showed a William Mahon sharing lot 41, while a James Mahon shared lot 42. James Mahon also occupied lot 111, my GGG-grandfather Patrick Mahon was at lot 112 and the Reps of John Mahon at lot 113. Presumably, John had recently died, and his family remained on the property.

The house books again confirm two men called James Mahon lived in Yellow Walls, both in good-quality thatched houses. One of them also leased land in the adjacent townland of Drinan, a.k.a. Drynam. They include my GGG-grandfather’s house in Yellow Walls, described further here, and mention that Thomas Mahon leased land in the townland. They make no reference to John, or William, who may also have recently died.

It is immediately obvious that James was an important name in this extended family. The church records also show that both Patrick and Thomas named their eldest son James, as did William Mahon and Mary (Mahon) Cave. John Mahon also had a son named James.

And, it was customary for the eldest son in Irish families to be named after his paternal grandfather, though the tradition was not always precisely followed. 

So, while I may never be able to prove it, I half suspect the Yellow Walls Mahons all shared the same father – James Mahon – who was perhaps my GGGG-grandfather.

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© Black Raven Genealogy

Branching out to find my Mahon roots

When you hit a dead-end in the search for your ancestors, like I did pursuing the parents of my GGG-grandfather, Patrick Mahon, it’s often helpful to branch out, and follow the trail of their siblings instead. Their siblings may have left additional clues as to the identity of the previous generation, providing a way around the genealogy impasse. 

Trouble is, in this case, Patrick’s siblings are also unknown!

They were probably all born within a decade or two of Patrick, i.e. around 1784. But, unfortunately for us, this coincides with a significant gap in the church registers for Swords parish, where Patrick lived, and was presumably baptised. So, if Patrick’s siblings were born in Swords parish between June 1777 and May 1804, there’ll be no record of their baptisms, either. They probably won’t appear in any surviving records until after they’ve left their parent’s home, married, and started families of their own.   

The earliest reference to my GGG-grandfather was in Swords parish, in 1819, when he married Jane Cavanagh, and where their children were later baptised. People often ask their brothers and sisters, or perhaps their nieces and nephews, to sponsor the baptism of their children. So, the Catholic parish registers for Swords, where Patrick, and hopefully his siblings worshipped, likely contain the only remaining evidence of their relationship.

Several other Mahon individuals, who also married in Swords in the early decades of the nineteenth century, were reflected in the parish registers. Any or all of them could have been related to Patrick. There was John Mahon who married Anne Gilsenan, probably about 1800; Henry Mahon who had a son out of wedlock with Sally Fitzgerald in 1808; William Mahon who married Elizabeth Owens in 1810; Mary Mahon who married Thomas Cave in 1816; Michael Mahon who married Mary Walsh in 1817, and subsequently lived in the neighbouring parish of Donabate; and Thomas Mahon who married Eleanor Farrell in 1821.

The parish registers also reveal Patrick and Jane selected James Mahon and Eleanor Mahon as Godparents for their eldest son, James, born in 1823, while Margaret Mahon was Godmother for one of their younger sons, Michael, in 1835.  It’s hard to know exactly how James, Eleanor and Margaret were related to Patrick, but it’s possible, Eleanor was born Eleanor Farrell, the wife of Thomas Mahon.

And, it seems Thomas and Eleanor Mahon had quite a close relationship with my GGG-grandparents. They asked Patrick and Jane to sponsor the baptism of their eldest daughter, Margaret, in 1822. This Margaret was old enough in 1835, to have been the Godmother of Patrick and Jane’s son, Michael. Margaret was conceivably Patrick’s niece. Patrick and Thomas were probably brothers.  

Baptism of Margaret Mahon, 1822, Catholic Parish Registers, Swords

There was a James Mahon associated with Thomas and Eleanor, too. He was Godfather to their son Pat, in 1828, and the same man, or maybe another of the same name, sponsored the baptism of their daughter, Eleanor, in 1830. Perhaps Thomas and Patrick had a brother called James. But if they did, there’s no apparent record of him, with a wife and children, in the Swords parish registers.

Patrick and Thomas Mahon married within two years of each other, so perhaps they were closest in age. This may account for the number of 'connections' between them, found in the parish registers. Not, that theirs was the only hint of a familial relationship between the Mahons of Swords parish. Thomas was Godfather for John’s son James in 1812, while Mary Mahon sponsored the baptism of his daughter Alice in 1804. 

Next week, hopefully a trawl though the records of the Valuation Office, will provide evidence some of these men were close neighbours of Patrick, in the townland of Yellow Walls, Malahide.

Source: Catholic Parish Registers for Swords, Co. Dublin, at the NLI. 

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© Black Raven Genealogy

An Ill-timed gap in the register

When Patrick (Pat) Mahon married Jane Cavanagh in the parish of Swords, Co. Dublin, on 12 September 1819, his parents’ names were not recorded in the register. This severed all hopes of a documented connection to the previous generation, leaving little clue as to the identity of my fourth great-grandparents.

Pat was born about 1784. At least, that was what his daughter-in-law, Mary Anne Mahon, estimated, when she registered his death in 1865. His birthplace is unknown. Yet, we can surmise, for now anyway, he was born close to where he lived and died.

Regrettably, no one named Patrick Mahon was found in the baptism registers of Swords parish, or any of the neighbouring parishes, around the time of his birth. Then again, his birth coincided with a large gap in the Swords parish registers, spanning the period June 1777 to June 1802. If Pat was a local, there were two potential couples living in Swords parish, at the relevant time, who may have been his parents.

The first couple were Patrick Mahon and Mary Cugan, who married in Swords parish, on 5 July 1772. On 15 February 1774, in the same parish, James Mahon and Elizabeth Owens were wed. Either couple may have been my direct ancestors. Or not! Both are worthy of further consideration.

Patrick and Mary had two daughters called Mary, one baptised in Swords parish in 1773, and a second in 1776. James and Elizabeth had a son John, baptised in Swords parish in 1776.  Sometime before 1785, they moved to Baldoyle, where their son Mathew was baptised, followed by a daughter Mary in 1789 and a son Michael in 1791. Probably, both couples had many other children, coinciding with gap in the register.

So where do we go from there?

The names chosen for a couple’s children frequently provide some clue as to the identity of the couple’s parents. Pat and Jane Mahon named their children, Elizabeth, James, John, maybe James again, Mary, Christopher, Michael and Patrick. Unfortunately, that covers all the bases, and any leaning towards James and Elizabeth could well be coincidental. We’ll need to look elsewhere to uncover a connection.

From the mid-1840s onward, Pat and Jane are documented as living in the townland of Yellow Walls, in Malahide, a small village in north Co. Dublin. It’s not known when the family first arrived there, but it’s likely, all the Mahons in Malahide were related, especially those living in Yellow Walls.

Malahide and surrounds, in Co. Dublin

The trouble is, the church registers do not directly link either of our two identified couples to Malahide. In the Roman Catholic division, Malahide formed part of Swords parish, and Swords was a large town. While there was a separate chapel in Malahide, the church records were kept at parish level and home addresses were omitted. It’s not reasonable to claim a close family connection to every Mahon living in Swords parish, at least not with the same conviction.  

But, by the mid-1840s, when an extensive property-tax survey was taken in the area, four Mahon families, including Pat’s, were found living in Yellow Walls, with another nearby in Donabate. There were none in Swords proper. This was surely significant.

Granted, our target couples were probably long dead by then. Even some of their children had likely passed on. But, it’s a promising start. And, if I can prove a relationship between Pat and his Mahon neighbours, and then connect any of them with either of our target couples, it may help overcome the disadvantage created by the lost church register.

Sources: Catholic Parish Registers at the NLI; Baronies of Coolock and Nethercross, 1844–1846, Valuation Office house and field books, National Archives of Ireland. 

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Black Raven Genealogy

Baptism conundrum – James Mahon

Patrick Mahon and Jane Cavanagh/Kavanagh were my third great-grandparents. They married in the parish of Swords, Co. Dublin, on 12 September 1819 and baptised seven of their children there.[1] My direct ancestor was their son James. I’d always believed James was one of the twin boys, born in July 1823. Now, I’m not so sure.

Infant mortality was high back then. And, when a child died, it was customary for their name to be given to the next child born with the same gender. So, it’s always prudent to examine the register for subsequent baptisms. And, I did. 

Name	Baptism date	Godfather	Godmother
Elizabeth Mahon	2 Aug 1821	-	Catherine Fagan
James Mahon	10 Jul 1823	James Mahon	Eleanor Mahon
John Mahon	10 Jul 1823	Peter Ratcliffe	Catherine Owens

Gap 6½ years

Mary Mahon	21 Jan 1830	Pat Cavanagh	Catherine Donnelly
Christopher Mahon	30 Dec 1832	James Dennis	Mary Dunne
Michael Mahon	04 Oct 1835	John Casey	Margaret Mahon
Patrick Mahon	24 Oct 1841	Jack Cave	Catherine Murphy

Another baby James Mahon was baptised in the parish, on 8 June 1827. His parents were James Mahon – not Patrick – and Jane Kavanagh. John McGlew and Jane Owens sponsored his baptism. My first thought was wrong father, wrong family! 

Baptism of James Mahon, 8 Jun 1827, Register of Swords Parish

But, the more I think about it now, the more I suspect this James was my ancestor, with his father’s name incorrectly recorded. Such mistakes did happen, sometimes. And, if my hypothesis is correct, it would help explain the otherwise large gap between the birth of the twins in 1823, and the birth of Mary in 1830.

Neither Mahon nor Cavanagh were particularly common surnames in Dublin, not that that would rule out the possibility of a so-called couple marrying, twice – but it would constitute a small coincidence, especially if the bride’s name was Jane, in both instances. Plus, no other mention of the couple James Mahon and Jane Kavanagh was found in the area, or elsewhere.

If this was my second great-grandfather’s baptism, it might also shed some light on why he claimed he was seventy years old in the 1901 census, when John, his supposed twin, was listed as seventy-eight.[2] James, born in 1827, would have been seventy-three at the time of the census, and people often rounded their age to the nearest ten years.

However, when James died, two years later, on 2 December 1903, his son-in-law, Michael Byrne, reported he was seventy-eight years old.[3] This is a better 'fit' for James, the twin born in 1823, who would have been seventy-nine. Stated ages were notoriously unreliable, so it’s near impossible to draw a final conclusion.  

I don’t suppose there’s any way to ever know, for sure, which is the correct baptism record for my ancestor.  What do you think?

[1] Swords parish marriage register, microfilm 06616/06, National Library; Swords parish baptism register, microfilm 06616/07 and 06616/07, same.
[2] James Mahon, Yellowwalls, Malahide, Dublin, Census of Ireland, 1901, National Archives; John Mahon, same.
[3] Death of James Mahon, Balrothery, 1903, Irishgenealogy.ie.

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© Black Raven Genealogy

‘Black Raven’ and the Mahon lineage

Our ‘proven’ Mahon lineage goes back as far as Patrick Mahon, who died in Malahide, Co. Dublin, on 6 December 1865, at the stated age of eighty-one years.[1] Our family home today is situated on the same site leased by Patrick in 1848.[2]

'Ownership' of the site has been traced from 1848 to the present day. The holding was passed from Patrick Mahon to his son, James, and from James Mahon to his son-in-law, Dad’s grandfather, Michael Byrne, and eventually to us. Also, James Mahon’s parents were explicitly named as Patrick and Jane Mahon, when James married Margaret McDonnell, on 27 May 1866.[3] There’s little doubt Patrick Mahon was my third great-grandfather.

I’ve often wondered if the house, officially named ‘Black Raven’ in the early twentieth century, was the exact same one where my family lived during the Great Famine.

Further information about Patrick's property is now available in the records of the Valuation Office, recently published online. The House Books contain a description of Patrick's home in 1846, at the outbreak of the Famine, and it was there I may have found the answer to this question.[4]

House Book, Patrick Mahon, Yellow Walls, Malahide, 1846

The ‘quality letter’ applied to Patrick’s dwelling – ‘3C+’ – describes the appearance and condition of the house in 1846 and confirms it was not the same house standing on the site today.

‘C+’ was the code used for buildings that were ‘old, but in repair’, at the time the survey was conducted. The designation ‘3’ signified Patrick lived in a ‘thatched house with stone walls with mud or puddle mortar; dry stone walls pointed or mud walls of the best kind’.  

Even before modern-day remodeling, our house had ‘stone walls with lime mortar, and a slated roof’. If the roof had been thatched back then, and only slated later, our home would still have achieved a ‘2’ designation. So, it's likely, Patrick’s house in 1846 was knocked down at some point and replaced with a new one. 

I still don’t know if Patrick Mahon built ‘Black Raven’, of if it was built by his son James. Probably, it’s more likely, James built the new house, soon after Patrick’s death, and around the time of his own marriage.

'Black Raven', as it appeared in the late 1960s, can be glimpsed in the little picture at the top of the page.

[1] Copy death register for Patrick Mahon, Balrothery, 1865, vol. 17, p. 289, General Register Office. 
[2] Patrick Mahon, Malahide, Griffith's Valuation, Ask about Ireland.
[3] Jacobus McMahon and Margarita McDonnell, in the marriage register of St Mary's Pro-Cathedral, Dublin, 27 May 1866, Microfilm 09160/01, National Library.
[4] Patk Mahon, Valuation Office books 1824-1856, House Book, Yellow Walls, Malahide, 25 Jul 1846, National Archives.  

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© Black Raven Genealogy

Origin of our surnames

The documented ancestral trail in Ireland often goes cold around the end of the eighteenth century, but, on many of my lines, I don’t even get back that far. Surely, I could squeeze out another generation, or two, if I knew where to look. The trick is finding out where to look.

So, for starters, I thought I’d check out what the Irish surname expert, Edward MacLysaght, had to say about the surnames of my eight great-grandparents. Maybe, his insights can provide a few pointers on where to pick up my lost lineages.

Byrne, Mahon, O’Neill, Donovan, Wynne, Carroll, Byrne (again) and Devine

(O) BYRNE, Ó Broin in Irish, from bran, meaning raven. This was a leading sept in east Leinster. It is now one of the most common names in Ireland, especially in Co. Wicklow.

Recent successes traced Dad’s line back to my third great-grandfather, Andrew Byrne, who married Anne Clinch in Suncroft, Co. Kildare, in November 1833, and far more speculatively to Andrew’s baptism, as the son of Edward and Elenor Byrne, in that parish, in 1805. I’ve more work to do on this line, though I doubt it will lead all the way back to Co. Wicklow and the Kings of Leinster.

My mother’s documented Byrne lineage has been traced only as far as Francis Byrne, who married Jane Daly, in St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral, in October 1846. Francis worked as a stoker, probably in the engine rooms of a steam-ship. Was he born in Co. Wicklow?

(Mac) MAHON, Mac Mathghamhna in Irish, from mathghamhan, meaning bear. This surname cropped up in numerous places in Ireland at various times. One sept, related to the Irish king Brian Ború, originated in Co. Clare and another in what is now Co. Monaghan. The name remains common in these counties. Two other unrelated septs of the name Mohan, or Ó Mócháin in Irish, also adopted Mahon as their surname, and are common in Galway and Sligo. 

The earliest record of my Mahon family was found in Swords, Co. Dublin, in September 1819, with the marriage of my third great-grandparents, Patt Mahon and Jane Cavanagh. They lived nearby at Yellow Walls, Malahide in Co. Dublin, but left no clue as to where they originated.

My family tree on Ancestry

O’NEILL, Ó Néill in Irish. This is another surname with more than one origin. The prominent sept descended from the legendary Niall of the Nine Hostages, originating in Co. Tyrone. The surname is now common all over Ireland, especially in counties Tyrone, Antrim, Down, Carlow and Waterford. 

My great-grandfather, Charles O’Neill, remains my most persistent genealogy brick wall. The earliest record found was his marriage to Mary Agnes Donovan in April 1874. Here, his parents were named as John and Margaret O’Neil, with an address in Lower Dominick Street, in Dublin city.

I don’t think the surname origins will help with this one.

(O) DONOVAN, Ó Donnabháin in Irish. Originating in Co. Limerick, the sept became prominent in south-west Cork. A branch also settled in Co. Kilkenny, but today remains most common in Cork.

Our Donovan family has been traced back to the marriage of Thomas Donovan and Catherine Flood, in Dublin’s Pro-Cathedral, in November 1821. This couple also sponsored the baptism of Joanna Flood in that parish in 1816 and Elizabeth Donovan in 1817. Ok, so we now know where they originated, but I wonder how many generations lived in Dublin city. 

WYNNE, as a Gaelic surname, is a synonym of numerous names containing the sound ‘gee’, from gaoithe, meaning of wind.

First found living in Dublin city in 1848, John Wynne said he was born in the city about 1820. I investigated the origins of the name previously, here, and concluded, although it might have originated anywhere in Ireland, DNA clues suggest east-Leinster.

(O) CARROLL, Ó Ceirbhaill in Irish. Again, this was the name of several Irish septs originating throughout Ireland. The most prominent were of Ely O’Carroll in Munster (Offaly and Tipperary) and the O'Carrolls of Oriel (Dundalk), as well as two lessor septs in Kerry and Leitrim. 

I’ve recently traced my Carroll family roots as far as Coolmoyne, near Fethard, in Co. Tipperary, in the 1840s, suggesting we descend from the Kings of Munster or, more likely, their servants. 

(O) DEVINE, Ó Daimhin in Irish, from damh meaning stag. The Devines were a branch of the MacGuires, who rose to power in Co. Fermanagh in the fifteenth century. The name is now found mainly in Co. Tyrone. 

My great-great-grandfather John Devine married Maryanne Keogh, on 18 September 1859, in St Laurence O’Toole’s parish in Dublin city. His parents are fully named in the copy marriage register. Sadly, it’s illegible. L L Their address reads Longford, I think. 

Excerpt from St Laurence O’Toole’s parish register

If anyone wishes to see if they can make out their names (I’d be so happy), the record is on the NLI website, second marriage down, on page 8 (link to register). Christian names are given in Latin. Maryanne’s parents, known from other sources, are Darby Keogh and Joanna Crosby.

Sources: Edward MacLysaght, The Surnames of Ireland, 6^th ed. (Dublin, 2012); ‘Catholic Parish Registers’, St Laurence O'Toole's, Dublin city, microfilm 06611/03, p. 8, l. 67, National Library Ireland.

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© Black Raven Genealogy