The Ballycastle Blog: Irish Genealogy and More

Large cities with the highest percentage of Irish ancestry
Boston, Mass 18.87%
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 14.60%
Buffalo, New York 11.23%
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 10.74%
Kansas City, Missouri 9.66%
Cleveland, Ohio 9.43%
Baltimore, Maryland 9.14%
Cincinnati, Ohio 9.05%
St. Louis, Missouri 8.73%
Indianapolis, Indiana 8.61%

Medium-size cities
Augusta, Georgia
Savannah, Georgia
Mobile, Alabama
Charleston, South Carolina
Albany, New York - 18.1%
Omaha, Nebraska
Scranton, Pennsylvania - 30.3%
Syracuse, New York
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Huntsville, Alabama

Source: Wikipedia

See more Irish family history articles and lessons learned in earlier posts below and in the archives.

Some Irish surnames frequently found in County Mayo -
Barrett, Brady, Browne, Burke, Burris, Byrd, Conn, Connor, Conway, Costello, Crean, Cusack, DeExeter, Dillon, Doherty, Duffy, Dunlaney, Durkan, Erris, Fair, Fleming, Gallagher, Garvey, Gibbons, Golden, Higgins, Hughes, Jennings, Jordan, Joyce, Kane, Keane, Kearns, Kelly, Killala, Lavin, Lawless, Leonard, Loftus, Lynott, Lyons, MacAndrew, MacAveely, MacCunneen, MacDavett, MacDonnell, McEntee, MacEvilly, MacGarry, MacGavan, MacGeraghty, MacGibbon, MacGreal, MacHale, MacHenry, McHugh, MacJordan, MacKerribly, MacLaughlin, MacMorris, MacNally, MacNicholas, MacNulty, MacPhilbin, MacPhillips, Martins, May, McDonnell, McNulty-Gannon, Moore, Moran, Morris, Murphy, Murrish, Milford, Meelick, Morris, Mulroy, Nangle, Neary, O’Bannan, O’Beirn, O’Bligh, O’Brogan, O’Cahaney, O’Callaghan, O’Canny, O’Carney, O’Clery, O’Comane, O’Connigan, O’Connellan, O’Conway, O’Conor, O’Coolahan, O’Cummin, O’Derrig, O’Dolan, O’Donnell, O’Dorcey, O’Dougherty, O’Dowd, O’Duffy, O’Dugan, O’Fergus, O’Finan, O’Finnigan, O’Flannelly, O’Flannery, O’Flynn, O’Gara, O’Gaughn, O’Gavagan, O’Gilleen, O’Gearan, O’Gormley, O’Grady, O’Halloran, O’Henaghan, O’Higgin, O’Keerin, O’Keevane, O’Kerrigan, O’Killeen, O’Kirwan, O’Larissey, O’Lavel, O’Lennon, O’Loughane, O’Malley, O’Monghan, O’Moran, O’Mulkerin, O’Mulleeny, O’Mulrenin, O’Mullarkey, O’Mullover, O’Mulroy, O’Murray, O’Quigley, O’Quinn, O’Roddan, O’Rolan, O’Ronan, O’Rory, O’Tierney, O’Tolleran, O’Toole, O’Towey, Petit, Phillips, Prendergast, Reid, Reilly, Scahill, Solan, Stanton, Staunton, Sweeney, Twigg, Walsh. Add your County Mayo family surname here.

The following was contributed by an Irish relative in County Sligo, Ireland. He will be a guest contributor from time to time:

As a child growing up in 1940’s rural Ireland Christmas was a time of excitement and wonderment. During Advent the adults were required to fast but this did not affect us children. The Christmas season really started the Sunday before Christmas and one of the first manifestations of Christmas was a visit to the local shop with an ass and cart to purchase paraffin, flour, candles and other provisions for the Christmas period. My grandfather killed the goose and turkey and plucking, which took place in an outhouse took about an hour and a half. (When my grandfather became too infirm to kill the fowl I took over his duties as my father was too squeamish for the task and I performed those duties for the family for about 10 – 12 years).

Christmas Eve was a day of abstinence (no meat) but my mother believed in the Celtic day which starts at night-fall and so we had a special meal after dark to commence the Christmas festivities. After the war tinned fruit became available and a big treat at that Christmas Eve meal was tinned pineapple, to this day my favourite fruit. A huge excitement was caused by lighting the candles as two candles were lit in every window in the house and to look around the village and to see candles in every window except those houses that had a bereavement during the year. (Someone who was a bit tight- fisted would be described as “He only lit candles in his front windows”).

We were lucky and unusual in that Santy came to our house with a toy, a book, an orange (a huge treat after the war) and a garment knitted by my mother or grandmother.

Christmas Day we walked to Mass fasting and while I was an altar-boy a big treat was the shilling we got from the parish priest after Mass. (We were terrified of upsetting him and he did not know how to deal with children but in hindsight he was a most compassionate and caring man. When I got involved in local history I found out that as a young priest he had campaigned vigorously to improve the material lot of his impoverished parishioners).

We had Christmas dinner in my grandparents’ house next door. My grandmother cooked the turkey and my mother the goose in large ovens by an open turf fire. Glowing coals had to be constantly replaced on top and under the oven and the duties of keeping the fire blazing and providing a supply of hot coals was assigned to one of the children. How they managed to get them as perfectly as I remember is a wonder to me as even with an electric oven I still struggle to get the goose right.

On St. Stephens Day we dressed up as mummers (also known as wren-boys or straw-boys) and went round the village singing and dancing in each house. A neighbour made the classical straw-hats for us and in most houses we got a few pennies and some sweets or cake.

The candles in the windows were again lit on New Year’s Eve and we had the Scottish custom of first-footing where it was considered lucky if the first person through the door was dark and carried a sod of turf for the fire. All children old enough blackened their faces with polish or soot and came as an excited group all together. Ours was a tee-total house so there was no whiskey as is usually involved.

The candles were lit for the last time on the eve of “Little Christmas” the 6th January. It is known in Irish as “Nollaig na mBan” . “The Women’s Christmas” and on that day my mother and grandmother did no cooking.

I still put two candles in a window (I am tight-fisted) after dark on Christmas Eve to welcome the Baby Jesus. Join me.

Guibhim Beannachtaí na Nollag agus Ath-Bhliain faoi shéan agus faoi mhaise oraibh uilig

(I wish for the Blessings of Christmas and that Next Year will be content and successful for everyone).

The following was contributed by an Irish relative in County Sligo, Ireland. He will be a guest contributor from time to time:

American Presidential elections always start a search for the village in Ireland where an ancestor came from. The year before he was assassinated President Kennedy visited the farm in Wexford that an ancestor had left about 1850. the farm was still in the Kennedy family.

Later still records were found of a Reagan ancestor who had left Ballyporeen in Co. Tipperary. President Reagan made a visit while he was in office. (Poreen in Hiberno-English means a tiny potato so Ballyporeen means Town of tiny spuds which is code for Hungry Town).

A lovely row is developing between Moneygall and Shinrone in Co. Ofally both claiming ancestors of President Obama. As I understand the story so far, and I have not followed it that closely, it started when the local Church of Ireland vicar in Moneygall was contacted from Salt Lake City to see if he had a baptismal certificate for Falmouth Kearney President Obama’s great-great-great-grandfather. The vicar was only too delighted to confirm and indeed has gone to the inauguration with a 7th cousin of the President. It seems that Falmouth Kearney, aged 19, went to the United States in 1850 and over the years his whole family moved there.

When they followed up the research they found that Falmouth’s father was the local shoemaker, was originally from Shinrone, married Mary Healy from Moneygall and had settled in his wife’s home place. Back came Shinrone with the graves of all Falmouth Kearney’s ancestors.

Moneygall, of course, have all his Healy ancestors and the cousins to the 7th degree are all Healys.

If anything interesting develops in the row I will keep you informed.

See more Irish family history articles and lessons learned in earlier posts below and in the archives.

The following was contributed by an Irish relative in County Sligo, Ireland. He will be a guest contributor from time to time:

Irish Surnames

The definitive book on Irish surnames is

Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall
Irish Names and Surnames
By Rev. Patrick Woulfe
Published by M. H. Gill and Son, Dublin, 1923.

A facsimile copy appears to have been published in America in 2007 as it is available on Abebooks.com for about $50 though I have not seen it on sale in Ireland yet. It is written in English and the Irish words used and explained in it are in the old spelling and not the standardized spelling introduced in the 1950’s, ( e. g. Gaedheal [old] instead of Gael [new]). This contribution is largely based on Fr. Woulfe’s book.

The patrician classes in Ancient Rome used surnames (inherited family names) but the practice died out after the fall of the Roman Empire. Surnames began to come into use in much of Europe from 1000 to 1400 and most Irish surnames evolved in this period though new ones continued to be created up until the fall of Gaelic Ireland at Kinsale in 1601. Brian Boru, High King of Ireland, who was killed in the decisive battle with the Vikings at Clontarf in 1014, did not use a surname and neither did his sons. However his grandsons adopted the surname Ó Briain (O’Brien) and Fr. Woulfe maintains that all O’Briens are descended from Brian Boru. O means “descended from” and Mac means ”son of”.

Almost as soon as they were created there was pressure to provide Anglicized forms. In 1467 an ordinance required all Irishmen living within the Pale (Counties Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Louth) to adopt English surnames e. g. a colour or trade etc. though 100 years later the ordinance seems to have had little effect.

The main Anglicisation of Irish names occurred 1550-1650 and these attempted to render phonetically in English the Irish surname. The spellings varied substantially and it was between 1750 and 1850 that the current “standard” spellings were established. Many dropped the “O” and ”Mac” and some moved away from an approximate phonetic version. Fr. Woulfe describes the different categories as follows:
1 Phonetically
2 Translation
3 Attraction
4 Assimilation
5 Substitution

1. Phonetically

Fr. Woulfe gives a number of examples. I will retain his spelling and also attempt an approximate phonetic version of the Irish name. “Ó” is pronounced “Oh” and “Mac” is pronounced “Mock”

Ó Néill (Nail) O’Neill
Ó Briain (Breen) O’Brien
Ó hEilighe (Hay-lee) Healy
Ó Ceallacháin (Cal-a-hawn) O’Callaghan
Mac Cárthaigh (Caw-ree) Mc Carthy
Mac Searraigh (Shar-ee) McSharry
Mac an Bhreithimh (un Vreh-iv) Brehony.

In a footnote Fr. Woulfe says:-
“It may be remarked that the anglicised form was in most instances originally much nearer the Irish pronunciation than at present, owing partly to a change in the sound of the English letters, and partly to the corruption of the Irish forms. Thus O’Brien and O’Neill were originally pronounced O’Breen and O’Nail.”
Vowel sounds in English in particular have changed since Elizabethan times and “sea”, for instance, was pronounced “say”. Consequently Healy would have been pronounced as Hay-ly, much closer to the original Irish pronunciation. The great majority of Irish surnames are in this category

2. Translation

Some families Anglicised their surnames by translating ( or as Fr. Woulfe testily observes mistranslating) the root word in their Irish names.
In this section I give a translation of the root word in the Irish surname

Ó Bruic (badger) Badger
Ó Bruacháin (miser) but Bruach (bank) Banks
Ó Cadhain (barnacle goose) Barnacle
Ó Coinín (rabbit) Rabbitte
Ó Maoilbheannachta (Servant of the blessing) Blessing
Ó Marcaigh (horseman) Ryder
Ó Bhradáin (salmon) Salmon or Fisher
Mac an tSaoir (craftsman also free) Carpenter or Freeman
Mac Conraoi ( king’s hound) King
Ó Draighneáin (blackthorn) Thornton
Ó Gaoithín (little wind) Wyndham

Different family groupings got different surnames from the same Irish surname

Mac an Bhreithimh (judge) Brehony phonetically
Judge by translation
Mac Searraigh (foal) McSharry phonetically
Foley by translation

3. Attraction

Fr. Woulfe states that some name that were uncommon in some districts were attracted to a more common (or prestigious?) name

Anglicised Attracted to
Ó Bláthmhaic (Blaw-vic) Blawwick,Blowick Blake
Ó Braoin (Brain) O’Breen O’Brien
Ó Duibhdhíorma (Div-yeer-ma) O’Dughierma McDermott
Ó Maoil Sheachainn (Meal Hock-lynn) O’Melaghlin McLoughlin
Ó Duibhir (Div-ers) Divers de Vere.

4. Assimilation

Irish monks writing in Latin instead of attempting to Latinise Irish personal names simply substituted an established Latin name of somewhat similar sound e g

Assimilated
Conchobhar (Kruk-u-er) Cornellius
Eoghan (Own) Eugenius
Tadhg (Tieg) Thaddaeus )

This practice spread to surnames after the middle of the 17th century and a small number of Irish surnames began to assimilate similar sounding English or French surnames

Ó Bruaidair (Brew-der) Broderick
Ó Cairealláin (Car-ill-awn) Carelton
Ó hArachtáin ((Har-act-awn) Harrington
Ó Roideacháin (Red-act-awn) . Reddington
Ó Somachain (Some-a cawn) Summerville
Mac Cathmhaoil (Koch-weel) Caulfield
Ó Lapáin (Lap-awn) de Lapp
Ó Maoláin (Meal-awn) de Moleyns
Ó Duibhdhíorma (Div-year-ma) d’Ermott

5. Substitution

Fr. Woulfe says of substitution :-
“Substitution differs from assimilation only in degree. The similarity between the Irish surname and its English equivalent is in this case much more remote; very often there is no connection whatsoever.”

Ó Clúmáin (Clew-awn) Clifford
Ó Fiannachta (Fien-act-a) Fenton
Ó Lachtnáin (Locked-nawn) Loftus
Ó Niadh (Knee) Neville
Ó Niadhóg (Knee-oge) Newcombe
Mac Conghamhna (Kun-ow-na) Caulfield

(Fr. Woulfe’s surname comes from de Bhulbh (Wolve) a Gaelicised version of the Norman French name le Wulf)

See more Irish family history articles and lessons learned in earlier posts below and in the archives.

The following was contributed by an Irish relative in County Sligo, Ireland. He will be a guest contributor from time to time:

After travelling the whole wide world several times Riverdance had its first performance in Connaught last month. I must admit that I am a complete philistine when it comes to music and dance. (My wife gave up on me decades ago as when she puts music on I slope off into the garden or to my computer).

I had seen Riverdance on television and my daughter reminded me that that I also saw it in Dublin several years ago but as it was so near and there was a birthday about we went to see a performance in Castlebar. What struck me was how well the first act evoked our Celtic heritage. In a review, when it first started, the scene where Michael Flatley rushes out to challenge the drums was described (and I quote from memory) “…with the braggadocio and super confidant bombast of a Celtic chieftain going into battle”. The Riverdance itself struck me for the first time as echoing the “buaileadh sciath” by which the Celtic tribes challenged their enemy before battle. The literal translation is “beating the shields”. This was done in rhythm and all together and interspersed with their war cry e.g. they would all beat together three times and then shout

Ó h-Éilidhe Abú
( Oh Hey-lee Ah-boo)
Healy for ever
( This translation does not give all the nuances in Abú which also includes
Healy Invincible
Healy Never Beaten
Healy All Conquering).

Celtic warriors were usually armed with a sword, shield, helmet and two javelins and apart from a leather belt or bandolier they fought naked which gave them all sorts of opportunities to incorporate rude gestures in their “buaileadh sciath”.

The second half I found less easy to interpret. It is obviously and rightly a celebration of Irish America but what struck me mainly was that we had the music and dance of two world powers, America and Russia, and a former world colonial power, Spain, in supporting roles to our music and dance. Robert Emmet’s words on the scaffold in 1803 come to mind “When Ireland takes its place among the nations of the earth then, and only then, shall my epitaph be written”.

Even after the eleven or twelve years they have been on the road it was a superb spirited performance and we both thoroughly enjoyed the evening. They have been wonderful ambassadors for Ireland. Do the Chinese think that the Irish are a nation of good looking young people, beautifully dressed, superbly athletic and with amazing and elegant skills in their own unique music and dance.

PS
Mike described last month’s contribution as a Culinary Contribution whereas
I would describe it as a Famine Survival Dish. Since then my daughter got some nori in a Health Food shop and I have tried it out. There is no need for the Food-processor; just tear up the sheets into pieces about 2 inches by 2 inches and cook on milk for 15 minutes. Use about three sheets per person for a starter and five or six for a main course. We used to eat the dish with bread and milk.

PPS
The mind boggles. What if Michael Flatley had performed the drum dance authentically dressed as a Celtic chieftain.

My written thoughts about a once-in-a-lifetime Irish family gathering in 2003 are overdue. I’ll attempt to capture, in simple words, the feelings and emotions of attending an extended Irish family gathering.

One summer bank holiday weekend in 2003, descendants of Thomas Healy and Sarah (Bourke) Healy, pictured above, gathered in Belderrig, north County Mayo, Ireland, to celebrate a common ancestry and pay tribute to parents and grandparents along the way. What a special experience!
To spend four days with over 150 people, related in numerous branches of a Healy family tree, was an experience to cherish for a lifetime.

Day One, Friday – Relatives from all around the world began arriving in north Mayo. Family members traveled from near and far to attend the Healy clan gathering. They came from as far away as Australia, the Mideast, the European continent, and the United States. They came to their ancestors’ small village in a remote part of north Mayo. They gathered together to celebrate and commemorate family members who had gone before and passed on. Late night pub revelry and house parties, with conversations into the wee hours, were the norm. Extended family members, many who had not seen each other for five or more years, renewed relationships and filled in the missing parts of life stories. There were plenty of smiles and laughs that went on and on into the night. There is nothing in the world that can compare to the feeling and memories of late night conversations and storytelling around a fireplace turf fire in an Irish cottage in a remote part of the Irish countryside with the beverage of your choice!

Day Two, Saturday – After the late night revelry and house parties of the previous evening, it was up early at 10 a.m. for a brisk, refreshing walk to the site of a former Irish Coast Guard station that ancestors had manned long ago. The site, on high ground overlooking the wild North Atlantic, is close to dramatic north Mayo sea cliffs. The site offered quite a breathtaking view for the early morning risers. We were walking the trails and paths that our ancestors had walked long ago. We were now wide awake and ready to face the long, exciting day ahead of us. I had great admiration and a new respect for the older members of the group who showed more spunk and energy that some of the younger members.

After a very sociable, hearty lunch in the village community center, the more adventuresome, fit, athletic family members walked from Belderrig to Doonfeeney, a distance of about 13 kilometers or 8 miles. They traced our forbearers’ footsteps and followed the same route that our ancestors walked between the two villages. The modern day walk commemorated our ancestors’ late 19th century and early 20th century travels in north County Mayo. Of course, the less adventuresome, fit, and athletic, including yours truly, drove the route to the destination. At the destination, family members gathered in the Doonfeeney cemetery, where grandparents and great grandparents are buried, to pray for and honor our ancestors long gone.

Later that evening, the family packed the community center for a special, once in a lifetime, intimate concert by family members delivering their best “party pieces”. The talent on stage included wonderful Irish folk singers, poetry readers, comedians, and “three lovely lasses from Bannion”! A great session, with plenty of audience participation, went on well past midnight.