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I have my 2g grandfather Dominick McDonnell (changed to McDonald in America) and his Wife Briget Hoban. Dominick and Briget both County Roscommon, emigrated to America, Dominick dying in Illinois 1868.

McDonnell

Saturday 6th Apr 2019, 05:00PM

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  • Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

    The subscription site Roots Ireland has an 1858 marriage between a Dominick McDonnell and a Bridget Hoban in the Ballintubber/Ballymor parish which is in western Roscommon not far from the Galway border. There were also baptismal records for a Mary McDonnell in 1859 and a Celia McDonnell in 1861. Is this your family? 

    Roger McDonnell

    Date of Marriage:04-Feb-1858
    Parish / District:BALLINTUBBER/BALLYMOE
    County:Co. Roscommon
    Husband  DominicMcdonnell
    Wife BrigidHoban

    Witness 1  JamesMcdonnell
    Witness 2 PatrickHoban

    Name:Mary McDonelDate of Birth:22-Jun-1859
    Date of Baptism:
    Address:LaraParish/District:BALLINTUBBER RCGender:FemaleCountyCo. Roscommon
    Denomination:Roman Catholic
    Father:Dominick McDonelMother:Brigid HobanOccupation:
    Sponsor 1 /
    Informant 1:Patrick Hoban Sponsor 2 /
    Informant 2:Ng Hoban 

    Name:Celia McDonelDate of Birth:28-Jul-1861
    Date of Baptism:
    Address:NgParish/District:BALLINTUBBER RCGender:FemaleCountyCo. Roscommon
    Denomination:Roman Catholic
    Father:Dominick McDonelMother:Brigid HobanOccupation:
    Sponsor 1 /
    Informant 1:Patrick Berns Sponsor 2 /
    Informant 2:Mary Hannon 

    Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Saturday 6th Apr 2019, 05:57PM
  • Indeed it is. Thanks so much..

    McDonnell

    Sunday 7th Apr 2019, 03:53PM
  • One other thing I ran across is birth place for Dominick McDonnell as Shankoah. Not too sure of that spelling but it shows on a US census record.

    McDonnell

    Sunday 7th Apr 2019, 04:11PM
  • If you would like more info about Shankoagh, you can find it at this link:  https://www.townlands.ie/roscommon/castlereagh/ballintober/ballintober/…

    That site usually has a link to take you to the logainm.ie site, where the origin of the townland name and some other info is normally given, but I noticed that logainm.ie does not yet have an entry for Shankoagh.  That probably indicates that there is some dispute as to the exact origin of the name.  The "shan" part is clearly from the Irish word "sean", meaning "old".  In another county, I found a place name, Seanchua, which means "old hollow", and that might be the origin of Shankoagh as well.  The pronunciation in Irish would not have a hard "k" in the middle, but names were often mistranscribed that way in a situation where, as in seanchua, the second part of the name (which is from the word cuach) does have a hard "k" sound when standing alone.

    Since I have McDonnell ancestors form the area I'll add the usual info about the family name which people sometimes like to know.  The surname McDonnell in Irish is Mac Domhnaill, which means “son/descendant of Donal”.  According to MacLysaght’s Surnames of Ireland, the McDonnell's in Mayo annd nearby areas such as that part of Roscommon are descendants of a gallowglass (in Irish, gallóglach, or “foreign fighter”) mercenary family who were related to the Scottish Clan MacDonald (in Scottish Gaelic, MacDhòmhnaill).  It appears that the Irish Mac Dómhnaill clan migrated from Scotland to the Glens of Antrim in the 13th century, and by the 15th century controlled all of North Antrim, and a large number of them were brought from Antrim to Mayo in the late 14th century to assist the ruling family of that area, the Anglo-Norman Burke family.  Many people in Ireland have ancestry in such gallowglass families.

    Alteration of the name to MacDonald or McDonald was quite common, even in the same family (sometimes even in the same generation).  It often depended on how the priest or government official wrote it down.  As you can see above, the "d" at the end does not occur in either the Irish or Scottish Gaelic form of the name, and was a later addition by English speakers who often could not hear or pronounce the sounds of Irish or Gaelic clearly.

    kevin45sfl

    Sunday 7th Apr 2019, 10:51PM
  • Wonderful info thanks so much. My location is Stockton in the Central valley of California.

    McDonnell

    Monday 8th Apr 2019, 01:18PM

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