Susan Conlan (Conlon)

Kris,

Something that strikes me as slightly odd is the differing places of birth for the various Conlon children. If Patrick was a farmer, then they tended to stay put, for fairly obvious commercial reasons. You stay on the one farm and improve it over the years. You don’t throw in the towel and move every few years. Labourers and other tradesmen did move about a lot but farmers generally didn’t.  So it’s unusual to find a farmer’s children apparently born in 3 different locations.

I looked in the tithe applotment records for Fermanagh and found 2 Patricks farming there in 1828:

Conlon, Patt.-Tl: Clonfad Yr: 1828-Drummully-Fermanagh

Conlon, Patt.-Tl: Gubdoo Yr: 1828-Drummully-Fermanagh

In Tyrone there were no Patricks in Kilskeery or Dromore.

I can see a baptism for an Anna Conlon in Kilskeery on 18th July 1846. Sadly no parents are given. Sponsors were Patt Kelly & Ann Gamble.

https://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000632881#page/23/mode/1up

I don’t see anything promising for Susan & Anne. Enniskillen RC baptisms start in 1838, Kilskeery 1840 & Dromore 1835. All are on-line on rootsireland, Ancestry and some other sites. The 2 Margarets born c 1811 and 1832 are probably before the start of chruch records, so there may be nothing for them.

I looked at the Patrick Conlon in Tonyglaskan. He had plot 21, a 15 acre farm. You can follow the Griffiths records forward using the Valuation Revision records on the PRONI website. These show that Patrick was replaced by Anne Conlon in 1874, and in turn she was replaced by Thomas McCarney in 1880. So rough years of death for Patrick and Anne, who is likely to be his widow. I couldn’t find deaths for either of them. I did spot this death for a Patrick with wife Ann, in Moneygar, Kilskeery, not too far away:

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1883/06363/4825816.pdf

2 Conlons in Tonyglaskian in 1901:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Fermanagh/Imeroo/Toneyglaskin/1353091/

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Fermanagh/Imeroo/Toney…

I also spotted this probate abstract:

Probate of the Will of Ellen Conlan late of Tonyglaskin County Fermanagh Spinster who died 5 May 1915 granted at Armagh to Thomas Durnion Farmer

The will itself will be in PRONI in paper format. (They’ll copy it for a fee).

Possibly DNA testing may be a way of matching with others who have additional information about where the family originate. Family Tree DNA reportedly has more people with Ulster roots than any other company. That obviously increases the chances of finding a match. You might want to try them or, if you have already tested, you can transfer your results to them for no fee.

The North of Ireland Family History Society is running an Ulster DNA project in conjunction with FTDNA and can offer testing kits at a reduced price.  http://www.nifhs.org (Go to DNA project on the website).

Hi Elwyn,

Thanks for your reply and all the information. Shipping records mention Anne's occupation as house servant and John's as Labourer, so maybe it is possible they moved away from the family farm to pursue work? What do you think? The shipping records mention native place and county. Does that necessarily mean place of birth, or could it be place where they were living at the time of embarkation? Susan is mentioned as a domestic servant on the shipping records as is the younger Margaret. The older Margaret is noted as a farm servant. Maybe Susan had moved from the farm to pursue work too? I would love to hear what you and others think on this. 

Thanks for being in touch. 

Kris

Kris,

Yes it’s quite possible that John & Anne moved away from the family farm for work. That would have been very common. 

Native place and county usually means where you were born, in my experience anyway. Sometimes people put their townland, and sometimes the nearest big town, such as Enniskillen.  (If Patrick was a farmer then he is most unlikely to have lived in the town of Enniskillen itself. Farmers lived on their land, not in a town, so he probably lived somewhere nearby. But the family might use Enniskillen to describe their place of origin, especially in the context of international travel, where officials are unlikely to have heard of a small townland nearby).

The 2 Patrick Conlons in the tithes are in Drumully which is at the extreme bottom end of Fermanagh, about 25 miles from Enniskillen. They wouldn’t have used Enniskillen as their address. So not sure where your Pat was in 1828. (Possibly he hadn’t married and wasn’t yet a farm owner). The only Conlon farming in the parish of Enniskillen was a Thomas Conlan who, in 1832, was farming in Letterbailey.

http://www.irishgenealogyhub.com/fermanagh/tithe-applotment-books/parish-of-enniskillen.php

That family had gone by the time of Griffiths Valuation c 1860.

Thank you again Elwyn. I have a good friend who is a family history researcher. I shall pass on all of this information to her and we will see what comes of it. 

I appreciate you taking the time to assist. It would be wonderful if we had some sort of breakthrough before our visit to Ireland in September. 

Kind regards

Kris