Michael and Honora Connor

Rob:

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

I could not find any records for Michael Connor.

I checked the Tithes and there was no record. RC records for Ogulla RC parish do not begin until 1864. The 1855 Griffiths Valuation records do not show any Connors in that townland. Same with the 1901 census. My guess is that the two sons and maybe other siblings all emigrated and they did well and paid for the headstone. (See next paragraph)

The only possible clue was a 1901 census record in a nearby townland where there was an Owen Connor who was 62. Possibly this is the son on the headstone and he understated his age a few years in the census and was born right before his father died. This Owen does have a son named Michael.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Roscommon/Ogulla/Kilre…

Roger McDonnell

Roger:

Thank you for your prompt response
and confirming that no online records exist for Michael Connor.

Owen, Francis and Daniel Connor all migrated to Ballarat, Australia in the australian goldrush. Owen, my gggrandfather married Catherine (Kate) Beirne in February 1858 before leaving Tulsk for Australia.

Do you think it might be worth investigating if any parish records exist that are yet to be published and can you recommend an authority on the Connor families in Ogulla parish?

Many thanks,

Rob

Rob:

Just seeing your post of the 28th.

I don't think there are records earlier than 1864. They would have been microfilmed. For various reasons, older records for some parishes were lost.

I don't have any contacts for that parish.

The closest library branch is likely in Elphin. You may want to e-mail them to see if they have a contact.

Roger

Elphin Branch Library

Main Street, Elphin, Co. Roscommon, F45 VW27
Branch Librarian: Rebecca Thompson
Tel. 071 9635775
E-mail: ebllib@roscommoncoco.ie

Tuesday: 11.30am to 1.30pm and 2.00pm to 5.00pm
Wednesday: 1.30pm to 4.00pm and 4.30pm to 7.00pm
Friday: 11.30am to 1.30pm and 2.00pm to 5.00pm
Saturday: 11.00am to 2.00pm

Roger,

Thanks again for your assistance.

Rob James

Hi Rob, Michael is my GGGrandfather. Francis is my GGrandfather. They came to Ballarat in 1859. Their Sister Catherine came with her husband Heny O'Beirne and their children. Owen ran an inn. He then went into the Skin and Hide business. He was a bit of a lad. He's buried in Old Ballarat Cemetery with some of his children. I have a photo of him.     

Regards

Kath O'Connor

Hi Kath, I have no further information on our ancestor Michael Connor but l'll keep trying. Did not receive a reply from Elphin Library after sending a request for information about Michael; that is understandable as they must get so many. I have been reduced to second guessing what the names of the previous generation might have been and trying to locate those names in sources such as the Census of  Elphin 1758. Of interest are shepherds Owen and Francis Connor of Glenballythomas and Daniel and Michael Connor of Boyanagh who were crofters on land owned by the French family. You would expect Michael to be listed in the Tithe Applotment Books 1832 for Kilree or Rathnaglye but unusually only the land owner Lord Crofton is listed and not the name of the tenent. I'll keep searching and hope that something else turns up. Have yet to look at other sources such as wills etc. Cheers Rob.

Kath,
I'll be in Ireland on holiday soon and will pass thru Tulsk again. Do you have any updates on the O'Connors? I still haven't got further back than Michael O'Connor 1790-1837 buried in Ogulla cemetery. Cheers, Rob

Received this from Kent Smith - "Hi Rob, I spent a week in Tulsk last summer and wandedown to Ogulla Cemetery several times. e 3 gravestones in Michael's plot, the really old one on the left seems to be Michael's father. Don't know if you read it--it's very hard to read--but I rubbed grass on it and it's inscribed: "Erected by Dan. and Mich. Connor in the memory of their father who died April 23, 1827 and of their uncle Francis who died May 12th, 1799. Lord have mercy on them. Amen" So they mentioned the uncle's name but not the father's. And there's more than 3 people buried there. I met several O'Connors in the area and the grandson of the 1995 Joseph O'Connor buried in the center told me that when he dug the grave for his grandfather he found about a dozen skeletons there.
Michael's stone reads "Rathnagly" which I was told is a townland in the civil parish of Ogulla. Kilree must be as well--they are close together on a map an O'Connor showed me--and it's my understanding that probably Michael's wife (also an O'Connor) was a Kilree O'Connor. I did spend a night at Clonalis House where a direct descendant of the last O'Connor High King lives and he told me that the Irish never moved around much prior to the famine, so any O'Connors in Tulsk prior to that time would "most definitely" also be descended from the High Kings. That doesn't rule out the "town O'Connors" arriving only (!) 300 years ago, but it is quite possible that the Kilree O'Connors are the "local" family that goes back 1000 years.
But the short answer is that regretfully I do not know Michael's father's name."
Kent

O'Connors of Castleruby

Teige oge O'Connor rue, who executed the deed of composition with Queen Elizabeth, on the 3rd October 1585, as the chief of his name,* is stated, in the "Annals of the Four Masters," to have been son of Teige buidhe, son of Cathal rue, son of Roderic, son of Bryan ballagh, son of Hugh, son of Felim, who fell at Athenry.
Turlogh rue, the brother of Teige oge O'Connor, had two sons, Hugh and John. Hugh (named Mirgagh) O'Connor (b.1592 d.1673), of Castleruby near Tulsk, in the county of Roscommon, is mentioned by the annalists as O'Connor rue in 1597. He had a son Teige who had a son Teige (d.05.1720), and a daughter, Mary (wife of Bryan O'Connor, of Corrasduna). Teige had a son, Roderic (aka Roger d. 08.1727 and buried at Tulsk Abbey married Ann Crofton daughter of Lord Crofton of Mote, a major landowner in the County and later landlord of many O'Connors), who had a son, Michael (who may have had another son Michael according to some texts), who had a son, John (d.06.1777), whose son, Peter O'Connor (dsp. 14.08.1839), of Tumona, in the parish of Ogulla, and county of Roscommon, Esq., was the acknowledged legal representative of Teige oge O'Connor rue, and died without issue, leaving his niece, Maria French, of Larchgrove, in the county of Roscommon, his heiress, the legal representative of the Castleruby family.*

TOOMONA (old Tumona)
Toomona lies about five kilometres WSW of Tulsk. The townland of Toomona had a manor house belonging to the O’Connor family. The manor house was occupied by Michael Connor, a gentleman, in 1749. Michael's grandson Peter O'Connor occupied the manor house in 1814 and 1837.

In 1858 Griffith’s Valuation listed the house as being occupied by Maria French as a tenant of Edward Henry Churchill 3rd Baron Crofton, indicating that Lord Crofton had taken ownership of the O’Connor title. As the O’Connors were in seizen until 1837 it is probable that the property was purchased rather than seized.

The house was destroyed by a fire in 1970.

About a kilometre from the site of the old manor lies the Patrician shrine and holy-well of Ogulla. This site is said to be the place where Saint Patrick baptised the daughters of Lir and a number of druids.
Adjacent to the shrine is the Ogulla cemetery where "our" Michael Connor is buried with many of his relatives (At least a dozen according to Kent's source) Michael is recorded on his headstone as having died in 1837 the same year as seizen was lifted on the Connor family.

Some interesting reading:

1. Historical and Genealogical memoir of the O'Connors Kings of Connaught and their decendants.
Collected from the Annals of Ireland, and authentic public records.
By Roderic O'Conor Esq.
Barrister at Law
Dublin
1861

2.Pedigree of the O'Connors of Roscommon.
By R. O'Connor Esq.
Barrister
DUBLIN:
1862

On the life and labors of John Donavan LL.D
FROM THE “ DUBLIN REVIEW,’ I NO. CH11
1889?

Most of these texts are available free on Google Books. Then as now they they raise a number of points for discussion.
Rob James

From John O connor:

It is my understanding that the kilrea o connors are buried in Toberelva cemetry near castleplunkett and not ogulea cemetry. Oconnor head stones in tobelelva date back to 1800 and include the name micheal. I also think that the o connors ofTamona house are buried in ogula.____see (Michael Connor Tamona house gentleman farmer1749).

However I am in the processof further research and I will keep you posted

John O'Connor have you found more information?
Rob James
Grandson of Anne James (nee o'Connor)
GGGgrandson of Michael Connor of Tulsk 1790-1837