In 1740, Elizabeth Cuffe married Thomas Pakenham. Elizabeth's parents were Michael Cuffe of Ballinrobe, an MP for Mayo and later, Longford. Her mother was Frances Sandford, from Castlereagh, County Roscommon. I believe as part of the dowry or wedding present, Elizabeth brought with her, a number of skilled workers who worked the land in Pakenham Hall. She also brought the title of Baron of Longford which was bestowed on Thomas Pakenham.
One of the group of workers, I believe, was an ancestor of mine who had the family name of Connor/O Connor. I understand, from snippets of conversation, this man may have come from Sligo. Can anyone shed any light on this or perhaps have some gem of information which will help me along? The farthest I can go back is to Michael Connor who had a son Patrick in 1810. Michael (my 3X greatgrandfather) has to be the son or grandson of the man who moved from Mayo/Sligo to Westmeath.
I would love to find the estate papers for Michael Cuffe which may throw some light on this. The Pakenham Hall papers only go back to 1850's but do show the Connor family in the employ.
Thank you
Gerry O Connor
Benchurian
Sunday 4th Apr 2021, 09:44PMMessage Board Replies
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Hello Mr. O'Connor. A colleague saw your post and asked me to see if I cold be of assistance or recommend a course of action. Lacking a townland or barony in Co. SLigo, where there are many O'Connors, makes this a mighty haystack. If you have any local names of places, more recommendations may be made. I wold also advise going to DuckDuckGo search engine and type in "estate papers for Michael Cuffe Ireland" - review the answers. Estate papers may be in the National Library [NLI] or up in the north in Belfast at PRONI research center. Without a place to land on and start, I'm stuck to make a furhter recommendaiton for a course of action. Perhaps a reviewof any documents you have re Irish ancestors may be of help. Take care and best of luck. Steve Lemken
Drumrat Sligo
Wednesday 14th Apr 2021, 08:43PM -
Hi Steve, thanks for the reply. I have been at this quite a number of years and every now and then, I have an epiphany and go with it to see what falls out. I do not have a townland or parish and to be honest, through another source, I heard it could be north Mayo that they came from. The suggestion of researching the estate papers for Michael Cuffe Ireland is something I have not tried for what reason I do not know. I have searched through the estate papers for Lord Longford, however they only start from the 1850's. From the papers I have reviewed, it is apparent that the Connor family were well entrenched and acted as foremen on the estate. This would be only two or three generations after the move from the west.
Again thanks for the reply. I will of course take up your suggestion and plough on.
Gerry
Benchurian
Thursday 15th Apr 2021, 10:59PM