This week Longford historian and author David Leahy shares some key information about the County for anyone doing their family history in the region.
The image above features Patrick Mallons's Corner House in the cencentertre of the photo had the agency for the White Star Line, Cunard Line, and all Transatlantic Liners, see an advertisement from Longford Learder dated 01 October 1921 here.
County Longford is the second smallest County in Ireland, occupying almost 423 square miles, and is situated in the Midlands. The population had seen a massive reduction from a peak of 115,491 in 1841 to just 30,138 in 1996 due to the potato famine of 1845-8 and subsequent emigration exceeding the rates for many of the western seaboard counties in the last century. The population has increased since to 46,634 in 2022.
Browse the County Longford community HERE
Surnames of County Longford
According to James P. Farrell’s Historical Notes of County Longford and Edward MacLysaght’s Irish Families, the clans/septs holding territory in County Longford circa 1550 were: McHugh, Masterson, Flood, Gaynor, Sheridan, Feeny, Conway, Slevin, Murtagh, Gilna, Gilchriest, Tuite, Leavy, McCormack, O’Farrell, Quinn, Gaffney, Mulroy, Gilligan and Cronin.
At the time of the 1901 Census of County Longford, some 350 years later, very few families of the surnames Mulroy/Mulry (2), Tuite (2), Gilna (4), Gaynor (7), Slevin (7), Conway (8), Gilligan/Galligan (8), Gilchriest (12), McHugh (15) and Gaffney/Gavan (19) remained in the County. The surname Cronan/Ronan has disappeared altogether.
In 1901 46,672 inhabitants were living, in the county — 42,742 being Catholics, 3,403 Church of Ireland, 256 Presbyterians, 203 Methodists and 68 members of other religions. To see a distribution of surnames by parish click HERE
Table Title: A Comparison of County Longford Surnames 1901, 1854 and 1659
| Surname | Number of householders in County Longford 1901 | Number of householders in County Longford 1854 | Number of Irish names in 1659 |
| (O) Reilly | 374 | 417 | 96 |
| (O) Farrell | 344 | 477 | 177 |
| (Mc) Kiernan | 176 | 173 | 42 |
| Brady | 149 | 166 | 23 |
| Kelly | 142 | 149 | 15 |
| Kenny | 129 | 153 | 34 |
| (Mc) Cormack | 110 | 148 | 47 |
| Quinn | 98 | 112 | 17 |
| Smith | 95 | 95 | 5 |
| Mulligan | 90 | 89 | 21 |
| Murphy | 84 | 94 | 0 |
| Casey | 80 | 81 | 12 |
| Duffy | 78 | 86 | 10 |
| Donohoe | 76 | 87 | 18 |
Presbyterian family names from the 1901 Census, some present since the seventeenth century, included:
Allen, Bothwell, Brock, Buchan, Caldwell, Carothers, Clarke, Conway, Corbitt, Cox, Crawford, Cree, Croskery, Denniston, McDonnell, Dowler, Frayne, Gilmour, Gray, Greer, McGregor, Hamilton, Higgins, Holmes, Hyslop, Irwin, Johnston, Kavanagh, Kelly, Kennedy, McKenzie, Leckey, Legge, Little, Lunam, Madill, Marshall, Moore, Murphy, Plant, Poustie, Poynton, Quigg, Rentoul, Robinson, Rosborough, Ryland, Sadlier, Sheppard, Small, Stephenson, Stewart, Strange, Taylor, Thompson, Trimble, White, Wilson, Wilson-Slator and Woudger.
Methodist family names from the 1901 Census, some present since the early eighteenth century, included:
Atcheson, Allen, Boyd, Burns, Caldwell, Campbell, Cody, McConnell, Cooke, Coole, McCord, McCormack, Diamond, Eakins, Elliott, Fee, Goodwin, Green, Hamilton, Harper, Harris, McIlwrath, Jackson, Lloyd, Mason, Maybury, Mitchell, Newton, Parkinson, Plant, Robinson, Scott, Stewart, Stoker, Swift, Thompson, Vince, Webb, and Webster.
Anglicised Surnames
The following names have been used synonymously in various County Longford records:
- Banks (Brehan),
- Baxter (Buchannan),
- Black (Duff),
- Blessington (Mulvanaghty),
- Fox (Shanaghy),
- Grey (Colreavy),
- Judge (Brehony),
- Jordan (Sheridan).
- Prior (Friary),
- Smith (McGowan),
- Summers (Hourican) and
- Victory (McNaboe)
Settler Surnames
Mostly originating from the seventeenth century, these include
- Achmuty, Adair, Aungier (later Pakenham), Bickerstaff, Blackhall, Bond, Burrowes, Charters, Coates, Dopping, Dowdall, Gregg, Edgeworth, Fetherstone, Forbes, King-Harman, Kingston (McCloughry), Lane, Little, Montfort, Newcomen, Nugent, Sandys, Shuldham, Slator, Thompson, Tuite, and Wilder.
The population of County Longford
| 1659 | 1841 | 1851 | 1891 | 1901 | 1996 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5,392 | 115,491 | 82,348 | 52,647 | 46,672 | 30,138 | 46,634 |
According to Matheson's Report concerning the year 1890, the following surnames had County Longford mentioned as a county in which they were principally found (amongst other counties):
Belton, Brady, Briody, Clyne, Coyle, Cumiskey, Donlon/Donnellan, Donohoe, Evers, Farrell, Fox, Gill, Hartin, Hurson, Igoe, Kiernan, Leavy, Masterson, Reilly, Thompson, and Whitney.
READ MORE: COUNTY LONGFORD IN THE 1830'S
Geography of Longford
The county is uniquely situated on the border of the three provinces of Connaught, Ulster, and Leinster. It has as its western boundary the longest river in Ireland, at over 150 miles, the Shannon. The county also forms part of Ireland's lake district, the most notable being Lough Ree and Lough Forbes on the River Shannon and Lough Gowna in the north of the county.
Five counties are visible from Corn or Cairn Hill (formerly Sliabh Carbry), the highest point in the county at 912 feet. This location is said to be the burial place of Farbuidhe Fer Benn who killed Queen Maeve by a slingshot as she was at her bathing place on Inchcleraun Island in Lough Ree.
The south-west of the county contains a large area of raised bog/peatland. Peatlands comprise over 80 square miles or one-fifth of the county’s area. In former times these bog areas were traversed by a series of toghers or causeways (wooden trackways). A section of one of these toghers dating from 147 BC is preserved in the Corlea Bog Centre near Keenagh village. Other toghers in the area date as far back as the Stone Age circa 3500 BC indicating that the county has been inhabited for more than 5,500 years.
Image: Colera Trackway - ancient bog road.
Indeed the county has been well served from the transportation point of view with the arrival of the RoyalCanal, linking Dublin with the River Shannon at Cloondara, county Longford and completed in 1818. Longford is also on the main Sligo to Dublin railway which was constructed as far as Longford in 1855. The canal, railway, and both the army barracks and police barracks were responsible for the introduction of many new surnames to the county over the past couple of centuries.
LEARN MORE: IRISH TOWNLANDS EXPLAINED
The placenames of the county reflect not only their Gaelic origin such as Longford, the county town, which takes its name from Longphuirt Ui Fheargail or 'Fortress of the Farrells', but also their planter/settler origin, with Edgeworthstown being named after the Edgeworths, Lanesborough after the Lanes and Newtownforbes after the Forbes. These latter three places are also known by their earlier Gaelic names of Mostrim, Ballyleague, and Lisbrack, respectively.
Other towns such as Granard and Ballymahon as well as several villages including Ardagh (National Tidy Town winner in 1989, 1996 and 1998), Ballinamuck (scene of the famous battle in 1798 in which the British forces defeated a combined French and Irish force of United Irishmen), Newtowncashel (National Tidy Town winner in 1980) Abbeyshrule (National Tidy Town winner in 2012) and Ardagh (National Tidy Town winner in 189,1966 and 1998) are dispersed throughout the county.
LEARN MORE: FIND YOUR COUNTY LONGFORD PARISH
County Longford Ancestors Added to the IrelandXO Community
The County Longford community has profiles of hundreds of its' country's diaspora, featured below are two famous essayists from Longford Oliver Goldsmith and Maria Edgeworth, we've also included some profiles written by the IrelandXO family including that of Michael Joseph Skelly, Mary Anne Brady, and Francis Campbell.
Famous Longford People
- Lord Baltimore (George Calvert) from whose title the City of Baltimore, Maryland, USA is named took his title from Baltimore, Cloonageeher, CountyLongford where he resided 1625-1627.
- George Clinton, Vice President of the USA 1804-1812, was the son of a CountyLongford emigrant.
- James Bronterre O'Brien, born at Granard, a Founder of the Chartist Movement in England circa 1850.
- Francis McCoppin, Mayor of San Francisco, USA 1867-1869, was born at Longford.
- Samuel W. Blackhall, Coolamber, CountyLongford, Governor of Queensland, Australia in 1868.
- Thomas C. Scanlen, Prime Minister of the Cape of GoodHope, South Africa 1881-1884 was the son of a CountyLongford emigrant.
- Edelmiro O'Farrell, possibly of CountyLongford descent, President of Argentina in 1944.
Researching your County Longford Roots
Whatever stage you are at with researching your Longford ancestry, we have the resources to help you find out more. Once you have tracked down your Longford ancestors, be sure to add them to the IrelandXO Chronicles so that others can read their stories. Who knows? You may even find a connection you never knew you had.
We highly suggest checking out our Longford Message Board where our wonderful team of volunteers are waiting to answer your queries and help you to solve your family history mysteries. CLICK HERE to get started.
In the meantime here are some pages that we have put together to help you on your genealogy journey.
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If you're not sure where exactly in Longford your Ancestors lived then CLICK HERE for information on how to Find Your Longford Parish.
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If you want to know how the Famine affected Longford CLICK HERE to read our handy guide
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In 1837 the Lewis' Topographical Survey was published. This provides detailed snapshots of life in each Civil Parish just before the Famine. CLICK HERE for more information on Longford
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The County Longford Graveyard Survey carried out in 2005, identified, mapped, and created a database of basic information on every graveyard or burial ground in the county – including those no longer or not currently in use and those not in the care of Longford County Council.
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The Archives Department at Longford County Library holds a wealth of information, more information HERE
About the Author:
David Leahy was born in Edgeworthstown, Co. Longford in 1964. He attended Lenamore (Legan), Ballinalee, Abbeylara, and St. Michael's National Schools & St. Mel’s College in County Longford. A Chartered Civil Engineer by profession, he was awarded a Master of Arts Degree in Local History (Hons.) from the University of Limerick in 2006. His family tree has its origins in Counties Longford, Kerry (Connell, Diggin, Falvey, Heffernan, Leahy, Nammock, Scanlon & Stack) – Abbeydorney & Lixnaw Parishes), and Antrim (Connolly, McGarry – Loughguile Parish).
His County Longford connections are with the Courtneys, Mahons, McManus’ & Mimnaghs – Drumlish, Killoe & Newtownforbes Parishes, through his mother's relatives.
David’s first book 'County Longford and its People - an Index to the 1901 Census of County Longford' was published in 1990. His second book 'County Longford Survivors of the Great Famine – a complete index to Griffith’s Primary Valuation of Co. Longford' was published in 1996.
He has published numerous articles about County Longford from genealogical information he has been collecting over the past thirty-five years.
Are you living in County Longford, would you like to be the local representative for your town/village? If so we'd love to hear from you, get in touch at info@irelandxo.com
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