1st January 1820
Bailieborough (Cavan)
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John Donnelly and his brothers Peter and Brian came to the Townland of Greaghnadarragh two miles east of Bailieborough in the County of Cavan in the early 1800's. Through John's connections with the landlord Young (minors) they had acquired the lease for a total of 106 acres in four lots. John leased two lots, one of 30 acres and a second of 50 acres. The other two lots totalling 26 acres were leased between Peter and Brian. John was accompanied by his son Michael from his first marriage and Peter possibly with a son James from his first marriage. It is not known whether or not the brothers parents were with them.

All three brothers met and married after their arrival. John to Catherine Clarke, Peter to Catherine Reilly and Brian to Rose Carolan and between them raised numerous family members, some of whom emigrated but the majority remained and lived their entire lives in Greaghnadarragh. The last family member to do so that carried the Donnelly name died in the 1970's ending over a century and a half of the Brother's Donnelly by surname descendants being in the farming community. Descendants from daughters carrying different surnames still live in the area today.

I have attached a link of my story of the Donnelly brothers and some of their descendants in the hope that someone somewhere might recognise their ancestor, maybe enhance their knowledge of them and offer their comments. 

This link has been updated on the 8th of October 2020 to add new information gleaned from 3 years of extra research.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NG3miaqL8pctIY-Fip52Q1kT57HvBrHN/view?…

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Comments

  • Thank you for this story and your links. I do not know if my family connects with your Donnellys, but my great-great-grandfather, Peter Smith, was born in Cavan, 1821, and emigrated to Canada as a boy. His first-born son, Joel Parrish Smith, named his sons Joel Parrish, Francis William, Alva Dewey (after his mother's family), and Peter Donnelly Smith. This may lead nowhere, but I have wanted to learn more about Donnellys in Cavan, and this is a help. I have DNA tested at Ancestry, FamilyTreeDNA, 23andMe, MyHeritage, and uploaded to Gedmatch. 

    PattiKansas

    Saturday 15th September 2018 01:21AM

  • Hello PattiKansas. I am glad that you found my story interesting. There were a few  Donnellys in Co Cavan at the same time, some of them were from neighbouring townlands and were cousins so it may be possible that there is a family connection between us. I have uploaded my ethnicity DNA to GEDmatch and GEDmatch Genesis which gives a more refined search. If you can let me know your GEDmatch number perhaps through the moderators via email then I will compare our results. I could compare it to another Donnelly cousin at the same time. Good luck in all your research. Chris.

    Chris Cooper

    Saturday 15th September 2018 10:22AM

  • Thanks for your response, Chris. I'm sending a note to the moderators now... I, too, have both GEDmatch and GEDmatch Genesis. Fingers crossed!

    PattiKansas

    Saturday 15th September 2018 01:41PM

  • OK. I will wait for an email from them. Chris

    Chris Cooper

    Saturday 15th September 2018 06:39PM

  • I don't know if the moderators will get involved, so please let me know the Name that your GEDmatch Genesis is listed as on the matches and I will scroll down through them. I have tried looking for PattiKansas in the name column and the email column. Chris.

    Chris Cooper

    Monday 17th September 2018 06:43AM

  • Thanks for following up. I’m Patricia Bender on GEDmatch, Patti Bender on GEDmatch Genesis. 

    PattiKansas

    Monday 17th September 2018 07:10AM

  • Thanks. I will look for it but it would be good to have your number. Could do a one to one comparison then, takes just seconds as you know. Chris.

    Chris Cooper

    Monday 17th September 2018 09:08AM

  • I wish that IrelandXO had a "messenger" feature, so we could pursue this off the public page. 

    I used the FIND command to search for "Cooper" amongst my One-to-Many matches on both Gedmatch and Genesis and didn't see your name in the results, so we are either unrelated, or our DNA doesn't preserve the connection. My sisters and I match different people, so maybe there will be luck with your Donnelly cousin: Genesis BQ4335601  

    Knowing full well that present surnames may have nothing to do with ancestry, I searched for some common Cavan surnames among my results--Brady, Lynch, Reilly, McCabe--and had four to six of each. Then I put in "Smith," my great-great-grandfather's name--80 results. Hence, my problem and the reason I hope for DNA to crack the case. 

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    PattiKansas

    Monday 17th September 2018 03:56PM

  • , Hi PattiKansas. Thanks for getting in touch through the moderators, I agree a messenger addition would be very useful on this excellent website. Unfortunately there was not a DNA match for my cousin either. However, if you refer back to my story my cousin is well documented in it, ie he is mentioned in the forward for the DNA ethnicity test and his book The Eyes That Shone mentioned at the end of my story is contactable through his website " donnellycanada" . I can tell you that his maternal grandmother was Mary Smith who died in 1841 and reportedly came from the townland of Rakeevan just north of Greaghnadarragh and Ballinamona in the parish of Bailieborough. If you google Moybologue historic society and click on old Moybologue graveyard you will see a complete photographed list of every headstone and Mary Smith is one of them amongst numerous Smiths. It might well be the case that although you are not blood related to him the connection you have might be through marriages. The Griffiths Valuation also gives a Margaret Smith as tenant on a farm in Rakeevan, the year would have been 1854 and she may have been the mother or aunt of my cousin. Let me know if you have any luck. Chris.

     

    Chris Cooper

    Monday 17th September 2018 05:32PM

  • Sorry Patti, you have probably let this go now but just to edit my last post to you Mary Smith who died in 1841 was my cousins great grandmother. His grandmother died in 1941 aged 90 and so was born in 1831, she was also christened Mary Smith which means her mother probably died quite young. Mary Smith junior married into the Tully family and one of her daughters married James Donnelly my cousins father. Margaret Smith from Rakeevan listed in the GV in 1854 could have been related or connected through marriages. Chris.

    Chris Cooper

    Tuesday 18th September 2018 08:37AM

  • Forget my last post , I pressed the wrong button to post it before reviewing it. I think the descendants of the two Mary Smiths may be wrong in assuming they were the same family. I took the details from the two headstones and if Mary Smith junior was 90 when she died in 1941 she would have been born in 1851. This was either recorded on the headstone plate with her age being wrong ( not unusual she could have been over 100 ) or the Mary Smith on a separate headstone who died in 1841 or 1842 was not her mother. I will leave it with you now. All the best Chris.

    Chris Cooper

    Tuesday 18th September 2018 09:16AM

  • My GF was James Donnelly, one of eleven of Thomas Donnelly. His GF was Patrick, but so many children in between with the same name. My GF bought land in Keshcarrigan, Leitrim. I'm wondering if the brothers are relatives. Would love to find out. 

    SMurph

    Friday 18th December 2020 01:54AM

  • My GGG grandmother was Fanny Donnelly married to Petri McIntyre. Their son, Stephen, was baptized in Bailieboro, Killanne, in September 1842. He had a sister named Mary Anne. Stephen emigrated to Australia prior to 1862. I have found little information about Fanny. How can I find out if she was a part of your Donnelly branch? 
     

    Jill Hilts
     

     

    Hilts

    Friday 30th April 2021 11:48AM

  • Jill

    Sorry I am sure that she was not part of my branch of Donnellys. They came from Cloven Eden, Tyrone and settled in Greaghnadarragh.  I see from the Parish Church Register Peter McIntyre and Fanny Donnelly's son Stephen was baptised in Killane on the 18th of July 1842. One of the witnesses was a James McBrean. The same James McBrean was a witness to the marriage in Killane according to the Register of Tom Sheeran and Bridget Donnelly on the 20th of May 1835. She might have been Fanny Donnelly's sister.

    Good luck in your research 

    Chris Cooper

    Saturday 1st May 2021 06:25AM

  • Chris- many thanks for your speedy response. I had noticed this same connection to Bridget Donnelly and wondered if it was too much to be a coincidence. Bridget may very well be Fanny's sister. Another path to pursue, thanks again. Just finished reading your three Donnelly brother's story, really a great job of research! I'm jealous. 

    Hilts

    Saturday 1st May 2021 01:53PM

  • Jill. Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I hope you have some luck going forward with your research.

     

     

     

    Chris Cooper

    Saturday 1st May 2021 04:10PM

  • John Donnelly is my fifth great grandfather from my paternal side his daughter Mary Mc Guire is my 5th great grandmother, her daughter Mary Donnelly is my 4th great grandmother and my 3rd great grandmother was named after her grandmother Mary Mc Guire. She gave birth to my 3rd great grandmother "Maggie" Margaret Mevich. Her daughter is my great grandmother Ethel Walker she married my grandfather James Wallace and gave birth to my grandfather Raymond Daniel Wallace who is my father's father. I'm a 37 year old parentless daughter so I recently started researching my family history. I have so much respect for my ancestors. I'm saving all of the information for my 19 year old son and my future grandchildren.

    Danie Wallace

    Sunday 15th May 2022 04:09PM

  • Correction on my first post John Donnelly and Mary Mc Guire are my 5th great grandparents. Their daughter Mary Donnelly is my 4th gg. I know John married after her death and had more children. I wonder how she died so young. 

    Danie Wallace

    Monday 16th May 2022 12:40PM

  • Danie. Sorry I can't help you with your John Donnelly.I have done the same for my sons and Grandchildren. Good luck in your future research. Very hard in Ireland. Chris 

    Chris Cooper

    Friday 20th May 2022 10:07AM

  • Thank you so much for your response Chris! I believe I'm on the right track and you are right so many of the parents name children after their parents or siblings so it's so confusing. I believe my 5th great grandfather who birthed Mary Donnelly is the brother of James Donnelly who birthed the black Donnelly's. My 5th grandfather John named his son John as well. I do know that the name Bridget is used in my Mevich family my grandmother was Margaret Maggie Mevich Mc Guire daughter of John McGuire married to Peter Mevich Meibach. Her mother was Mary McGuire daughter of Mary Donnelly who's mother was mary McGuire married to John donnely. Mary died young and John remarried I believe Mary had a older brother with the same mother. Hopefully someone out there has the same John Donnelly. Best of luck to you as well!

    Danie Wallace

    Monday 23rd May 2022 02:49AM

  • James father of the black Donnelly's correction. 

    Danie Wallace

    Monday 23rd May 2022 02:50AM

  • It's probable that we're related because there were other Donnellys in County Cavan at the same time. Some of them lived in nearby townlands and were cousins.  It would only take a few seconds to perform a direct comparison, so that's what I'd do. 

    Wednesday 23rd August 2023 10:06AM

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