Michael Mahony of Toughbaun, Drinagh

There's nothing like a good news clipping to push the genealogy research in a different, hopefully more constructive direction. Such is the case of Michael Mahony of Toughbawn. The Southern Star published a death notice of "centenarian" Michael Mahony of Toughbawn, Drinagh, on February 10, 1940.

The sources in the prior post, plus the funeral announcement, helped put together this information:

Married Ann (Mary?) Sullivan 24 Feb 1870 in Kilmacabea & Kilfaughnabeg R.C. Parish. Michael's father's name was recorded as Michael.
1871 Honora
1872 Michael John (M.J.), went to Kilorglin, Co Kerry
1874 James
1876 Daniel
1878 Stephen
1880 Mary Ann
A son Timothy went to Manchester.

Michael the centenarian was from Buddrimeen, Ballineen and was one of six boys. They were among the Mahony branch of the Cain O'Mahonys. If there is a death record in civil registration, it is puzzling. The entry for a 98 year old Michael O'Mahony in the Skibbereen district is dated Q1 1939. Why are the death record and the funeral announcement a year apart?

There is a Michael Mahony, son of a Michael Mahony and Anne Hennessy of Buddrimeen, baptized in Dunmanway on or after Feb 6, 1842.

The problem is - it's very difficult trying to find five brothers. There are other records with a matriarch Honora Hennessy. Perhaps Ann was her nickname. Or, perhaps Honora died and Michael the patriarch married Ann.

The earlier family with Honora Hennessy was:

1836 Sep 14 Michael

1838 Jun 29 Peter

1840 Apr 07 Timothy

Then a Jeremiah Mahony was baptized 11 Feb 1846, son of a Nancy Crowley. Another son to Nancy Crowley, James, was baptized 23 Jun 1850.

Even if Ann/Honora Hennessy died after 1842 and Nancy Crowley was a second wife, a reasonable assumption is that 1836 Michael died during childhood, hence Michael in 1842. That still leaves one more brother to account for.

Neither the Toughbaun family nor the Buddrimeen family have a member named Cain (Kean) as far as I know.

Derby Connolly and Susanna Fuller of Drinagh

Derby Connolly (likely a Jeremiah) was probably a brother or other close relative of my 3g-grandmother, Ellen Connolly McCarthy Knuck of Garryglass. Notably, his wife Susanna Fuller showed up as a godparent of one of McCarthy Knuck children. There were lots of men named Derby Connolly in Drinagh around that time, but for this particular Derby, his wife Susanna helped him stand out.

Derby and Susanna had a relatively colorful history, when all you have to view them by is ordinary church records.  There is a marriage record 26-Jan-1828 in Drimoleague & Drinagh R.C. Parish. The record says they eloped 12 months earlier!  Las Vegas wasn't exactly near by, so I wonder where they went.

The first child, transcribed as "Patrick", was baptized 24-Feb-1828. The baptism record is difficult to read and I question whether the child was really a "Patrick."

Yes, I could see where Derby and Susanna had some explaining to do to the local priest when they asked about getting their marriage on the books a month before the birth of their first child.

Susanna was received into the Catholic Church 11-Oct-1829, with only Connollys as witnesses. The surname Fuller shows up in Church of Ireland records, so perhaps there is an original baptism for her lurking there, and perhaps even the original marriage record for her and Derby.

Two more Connolly children have been found: Mary, baptized 20-Sep-1830, and Mick, baptized 10-Mar-1833. After that, this Susanna Fuller disappeared. Searching for her was a challenge - in one instance her surname was recorded as "Tuller" - in another case her first name was "Suan."

These Connolly and McCarthy families are recorded mostly in Garryglass, but some residences are recorded as Curraghalicky, right next door.

A Patrick Connolly does show up as a godfather later to a child of Charles McCarthy (1826 - ?) of Garryglass. If Patrick Connolly was "real", he would have been Charles McCarthy's cousin.

Not a single Fuller ever showed up on a Connolly church event. It certainly makes me wonder if Susanna severed ties with her Fuller family when she eloped with Derby.

In my quest to find out more about my Connollys in Drinagh, I did discover that some Connollys went by "Gackney" (or a spelling variation thereof), and others went by "Brack."

The Connolly-Fuller family tree is entered on Family Search (registration is free).

A Ride on the Mahony Genealogy Rollercoaster

Genealogy research is often like a visit to an amusement park. You go to the park intending to see the clown, but get distracted by the mirrors and forget about the clown. One minute you are elated to have a hot lead, only to be in despair moments later when that lead falls apart. It's like being on a roller coaster.

Such was my research day yesterday. It was a good lesson in realizing that "things may not be what they seem" and "read the ENTIRE record." Just because somebody named so-and-so is over in the next townland it doesn't mean he's the person you are looking for.

Yesterday I unintentionally ended up revisiting some Mahony questions that have been on the back burner. First question: Were the Mahonys of Bredagh related in some way to the Mahonys in surrounding areas, such as Toughbaun and Minanes? Second question: Where was Catherine Hurley Mahony of Bredagh from? I will leave the second question for a separate posting.

Mahonys in the Drimoleague, Drinagh, Ballymoney, and Kilmacabea areas

If you have read earlier postings, you'll know from the release of the remaining Castlehaven & Myross baptism records I found more conclusive evidence indicating that Grandmom's paternal grandmother was the Mary Mahony who was the daughter of Denis Mahony and Catherine Hurley of Bredagh. Kate Hurley showed up as a baptism sponsor for Laurence (indexed as Jane), the first son of Daniel Collins and Mary Mahony.

There have been only two minor problems with that conclusion: 1) Mary Mahony's birth year, as suggested by the 1901 census and her 1901 death record, suggested 1825/6 as a birth year. The Mary from Bredagh was baptized in late 1823. It's not uncommon for people to be slightly off on their birth years, so this is not a major problem. 2) One of the Mahony baptism sponsors of the Collins children was a Daniel. There is no baptism record for a Daniel out of Bredagh in the right time period, but given that there is no marriage record for Denis Mahony = Kate Hurley, it is impossible to know what children were born before the start of available church records. Daniel could also have been a younger brother of Denis or a cousin. The name of Daniel's co-sponsor, Mary Burke, is also the name of the wife of a Daniel Mahony in Castledonovan, as per the Drimoleague & Drinagh online church records. Unless this is some amazing coincidence, Daniel M and Mary B of Castledonovan likely had a relationship to the Mahonys in Bredagh.

The known siblings of Mary of Bredagh were Patrick (1822), Norry (1826), Margaret (1831), Tim (1834), Denis (1836), and Kate (1840). In addition, there is evidence from the 1901 census that there may have been a brother named Cain.

Margaret Mahony of Bredagh married Denis Collins of Lissane. They had a son Tim, who became a baker and had a grocery with his older sister Mary in the village of Drimoleague. Mary and Tim Collins are in Drimoleague in the 1911 census.

They weren't yet situated there in 1901. I have no idea where Mary was in 1901, but where was Tim the baker? I believe I found him, listed as a boarder with a Michael Mahony, his wife Ann, and some of their children, in Toughbaun.
Was Tim Collins a second, or maybe third cousin of Michael Mahony of Toughbaun? Or just a neighbor or friend?

To dig into that, I had to look at my research from when I was originally researching Mary Mahony. One family really stood out - Tim Mahony and Ellen Crowley of Minanes, a townland adjacent to Toughbaun. Tim and Ellen married 30-Jun-1822 in Drimoleague & Drinagh parish. The known children of this Minanes couple were Denis (1823), Mary (1825), Juliann (1827), Dan (1829), Tim (1832), Ellen (1834), Cain (1837), Ann (1840), Michael (1844), and Kate (1848). Whew! Ellen Crowley must have been quite young when she married!

When I was first researching my gg-grandmother, this daughter Mary, baptized in 1825, seemed like a better fit. Could this have been my ancestral family? After some long deliberation, I concluded they weren't.

The names of the Mahony witnesses to events for the family of Daniel Collins and Mary Mahony of Cullomane East were Denis (the wedding of Daniel C = Mary M in 1845), Margaret (in 1847), Cain (in 1852), Daniel (in 1856), Catherine (in 1858), Timothy (in 1860), Margaret (in 1860), and Kate (in 1863). The Minanes family did not have a Cain or a Margaret that I could find. The Bredagh family was missing only a Daniel, which might be explained due to incomplete information on the Bredagh family. Kate from Minanes, baptized in 1848, would have been way too young to have been a Godmother in 1858. Furthermore, no Juliann or Ann or Michael shows up as a Collins event witness.

Some time ago, when I first investigated the Toughbaun family in the 1901 census, I obtained the birth record of son Stephen. Stephen was registered 1-Sep-1878, in Toughbaun, father Michael Mahony, a shoemaker. The mother was listed as Mary Sullivan. The mother in the census is named Ann. So there are conflicts here.

The Michael from Minanes would certainly have been a suitable age to marry Ann Sullivan from Leap on 24-Feb-1870 and settle in Toughbaun, right next door to Minanes. But everything falls apart from there.

The Kilmacabea R.C. parish marriage records for the time period lists the names of the fathers of the bride and groom. Michael's father was listed as Michael, not Tim. Oops!

The Drimoleague & Drinagh baptism records show the following children for this Toughbaun couple: Hanora (1871), Michael John (1872), James (1874), Dan (1876), and Maryanne (1880). That the oldest boy was named Michael John convinces me the Kilmacabea register did not have an error. The ONLY Mahony wedding witness was John.

Practically none of the Minanes names show as Toughbaun event witnesses - no Tim, no Denis, no Ann, no Juliann, etc. The only Mahony names as baptism sponsors in Toughbaun are John and Ellen.

So the Michael married to Ann Sullivan and in the census in Toughbaun doesn't appear to be the Michael from next-door Minanes. That theory looks dead.

Who then, was this Michael, son of a Michael? Another review of the church records for the area was necessary, and there was a chance I would never find him, if he was born before the availability of area records. Drimoleague & Drinagh R.C. Parish records contain a BIG GAP in missing marriages, roughly 1864-1876, so to fully travel this avenue of research I will have to exhaustively search the civil registration index. I will leave that task on the back burner.

Here's a possibility for Michael Junior. A record for Mick Mahony, baptized in Drimoleague & Drinagh R.C. Parish, 29-Mar-1835, was transcribed as father White Mahony, mother Dunn, and sponsor Kate Donovan. I looked at the image, and I believe it reads: Mick, illegitimate of Mick Mahony Dunmanway and Kate Donovan. The record is too blackened to get any further information out of it, so I don't know where the mother lived.

Here's another one. Baptized Sep-1844, Castlehaven & Myross R.C. Parish. Mother is Ellen Donovan. No residence given. Further search on that couple did not lead to anything enlightening.

Here's another possibility for Michael Junior. Baptized 24-Oct-1846, Kilmacabea R.C. Parish. Mother listed as Elle Donovan. The residence is blackened out, but looks like it could start with a T. I searched for more children for this couple. A son John, baptized 14-Mar-1840, shows the residence of Tralong, which is in the civil parish of Ross. This is not outside the realm of possibility, and there is a sibling John, which is a nice plus.

Here's a final possibility. Baptized 8-Sep-1838. Mother yet another Nell Donovan. The residence is listed as Carranashingane. Searching for more children of this couple, there is a Denis, baptized 6-Feb-1845, residence is listed as Killaveennogue. A daughter, Margaret, baptized 12-Feb-1836, is listed with a residence that looks like "Tuligdarmuid." I think that last place could be Toughmacdermody. These three locations are adjacent to each other and they all lie just a few miles north of Toughbaun. I am guessing that this Michael Senior was a laborer, who moved his family around a bit.

Neither Griffith's Valuation nor the Tithe Applotment for Drinagh have so far shed any light on the origins of this Michael Mahony Senior. In addition, I would like to have seen a son John in this family to feel more like this is Toughbaun Michael's family.

Have I extracted all the clues I could get from the marriage record of Michael Mahony and Ann Sullivan? No! The record lists the groom's residence as Drinagh. It also lists the residence of the groom's father. It is rather unreadable, looking like Kilculua or Kilculan. That does not look familiar. But wait, there's more! The Kilmacabea R.C. Parish record also lists the residence of the witness John Mahony, as Kilcaskan. The only Kilcaskan around is in Ballymoney civil parish, in Dunmanway. There are a few intriguing place names around there, like Kilvinane, and Kilvurra. The Ballymoney Tithe Applotment lists a Michael Mahony in Currabeg, which lies maybe a mile southeast of Kilcaskan and is near Kilvinane and Kilvurra. Now I am wondering if perhaps the illegitimate Michael, son of Kate Donovan, has come into play.

One obvious line of research is to look at the civil registration birth records for some of the other children, to confirm the mother was Ann Sullivan. Other interesting facts that have sprung up - present at the birth of Stephen Mahony was a Mary Donovan of Curraghalicky, another place in the same neighborhood. And Michael of Toughbaun is listed as a grocer in Francis Guy's directory of 1914. Perhaps at one time Tim the baker was an apprentice shopkeeper?

For now, I will leave this research as it is, and revisit it later.

The Mahonys of Bohernabredagh, version 2.0

When the church records went online in October 2011, I was able to more conclusively link the Mahonys of Bredagh (jpg pdf) to my Grandmother's Collins line.  However, there remain many open questions, specifically, whether and how they are related to Mahonys in Clashduff and Tonafora, Toughbaun, and in Minanes.  Recently I've added Castledonovan to the list of Mahony locations of interest.

Up to now I had assumed that the Mahonys along and south of R586 were a somewhat different set than the ones in the north part of Drimoleague parish.  Now I'm not so sure.  I had originally based my assumption on the names I've seen on both sides of the road.  For example, I haven't yet found anybody named Cain, and I don't know if there are Timothys deep in the north side.  But those names occur very frequently along R586 and on the south side.

The cultural division between the north and the south is not a complete figment of my imagination. When I told my aunt about talking on the phone to one of her first cousins who grew up in Ceancullig, she asked me if he "sounded rough." She then explained that even they in Bauravilla had a hard time understanding the speech of "the people in the mountains" even though those "mountains" were hills just a few miles away within bicycling distance! My Bauravilla-raised aunt, in turn, told me about how the nuns in the convent school in Skibbereen, just a few miles south, would constantly correct her speech and pronunciation.

That was a digression.

The Mahony names that are practically ubiquitous in the area are Denis and Daniel.  The earliest Mahony in my direct line was Denis (1788-1872), who married Catherine Hurley (date unknown).  Given that their youngest known child was Kate (1840), I would not expect Denis and Catherine to have been married too long before 1820.  Unfortunately the Drimoleague & Drinagh church records don't go back before about 1818.  The earliest child found in the church records was Patrick (1822), followed by my gg-grandmother Mary (1823).  There isn't a baptism record available for him, but based on census and death records, I believe there was a child Cain born before the first available baptism records. 

Mary Mahony married my gg-grandfather Daniel Collins of Adrigole and I believe they first lived there, in Castlehaven civil parish, before moving out to Cullomane East on the west edge of Caheragh civil parish, near Bantry, around 1850.  Catherine and Laurence, their two oldest children, were born in probably in Adrigole and the rest of the Collins children were born in Cullomane.  One of those children, whose name remains somewhat unreadable to me, was born in 1856.  That child's baptism sponsors were Daniel Mahony and Mary Burke.

I put Daniel Mahony and Mary Burke in the church records search engine and lo and behold, a couple with those names turned up in Castledonovan.  I turned up three children for them: Denis (1838), Margaret (1840), and William (1842).  The reason I am paying attention to Castledonovan and the area north of the R586 is because I have a good autosomal DNA match who has Mahony ancestry in Clodagh, which lies north of R586. This is the first piece of evidence I have found placing some of my Mahonys on my match's side of the road.

It isn't clear when Daniel Mahony and Mary Burke married and whether they were roaming around.  There are records of couples with these names married in Rosscarbery (1824) and in Enniskeane & Desertserges (1836).  But children show up in 1823 (maybe illegitimate) and an odd one pops up in 1830 in Aughadown church parish.  So far the marriage record in Enniskeane & Desertserges looks like a better match, and there is a Daniel Hurley as a witness - possibly a relative through Catherine Hurley.  I find it somewhat odd that there were only three children in Dromdaleague, but the famine could have put an end to their family production capacity.

If Daniel was an older brother of my gg-grandmother, he strikes me as somewhat young to have married in 1836 let alone 1824 !  So the evidence is weak that he's my gg-grandmother's older brother; I think he may have been a first cousin or an uncle. Supporting that theory is the difficulty turning up men named Daniel in the descendant branches of the Bredagh Mahonys, though I did manage to find a few.  The Daniels I found were among the youngest children in their families suggesting to me it was not a "high priority" name.  There are plenty of Daniel Mahonys elsewhere.  For now I am putting Daniel in the tree as an older brother even though I believe this is not correct.

If Daniel and Mary were moving around and if Daniel was an uncle, it could explain why he is not recorded in Castledonovan in Griffiths Valuation, although there is a Castledonovan Daniel in the Dromdaleague Tithe Applotment and there are Daniels in neighboring Garranes North and in Deelish recorded in Griffiths.

I am somewhat more confident in data indicating that my gg-grandmother's older brother Patrick married Catherine Hayes, though the marriage date for the record - 1861 - causes me to question whether I have the correct marriage record.  There were apparently children born well before that date, and I haven't found any marked illegitimate. 

So my work has progressed in tracing these branches of the Bredagh Mahony family:

Cain Mahony - Remained unmarried and stayed in Bredagh
Patrick Mahony and Catherine Hayes of Rearahinagh - Probably deceased by 1901 with their son remaining
Mary Mahony and Daniel Collins of Cullomane East - My line; Mary was widowed by 1901
Honora (Norry) Mahony - unknown
Margaret Mahony and Denis Collins of Lissane - Possibly also related through the Collinses
Timothy Mahony and Mary Ann Donovan of Rearahinagh
Denis Mahony and Mary Anne McCarthy of Bredagh
Kate Mahony - Witnessed several baptisms through 1869

What I still have not done is link any of these people to anybody in Clodagh, the home of my DNA match's family.  None of the Clodagh Mahonys have names that correspond to mine, except for a Denis Mahony baptism sponsor, and there were a lot of men named Denis Mahony running around back then.