HARKIN MADDEN FAMILY FROM SWINFORD RC PARISH CO. MAYO

cavbeck:

We have a systems problem with attachments and your file did not attach. Could you copy and paste the information? Thanks!

Roger McDonnell

 

 

Sorry for the delay in replying. Having difficulty with cut and paste. Here are some brief details for my Harkin family from Swinford, Co. Mayo: Andrew Harkin (c.1785-1860s) He is listed in TAB 1833 as "head farmer" tennant in Lisdurraun Townland, Meelick Civil Parish, Swinford RC Parish, Co. Mayo. I also found his name, and John Harkin (brother?) listed among 1,000 ++ applying for right to vote published in the Mayo Constitution March 1833 confirming that Andrew was living in Lisdurraun Townland. North Mayo Heritage was very helpful in providing a full explanation. Andrew Harkin married Bridget Madden about 1820. We think she may have come from Newcastle townland, Meelick Civil Parish. So far I have identified the following children of this marriage: Michael (1821-1847); Patrick (1822-1847); Anne (1824-1897); Neil J. (1828-1902); Martin (1830-1907); Edward (1830-1847); James (1834-1847); Anthony (1845-1876) The only baptismal record for is for Anne d/o Andrew & Biddy A. Madden July 02, 1824 in Swineford RC Parish, Achonry Diocese. Also, Anthony's relationship to Andrew is unclear. Canadian census records says Anthony is "brother" of Anne but this doesn't seem possible. Bridget born about 1795 would have been 50 years of age in 1845. He may have been a grandson or even a nephew. 10 Harkins left Ireland from Sligo port on the Wolfville April 25, 1847and landed at Quebec on June 10. Bridget Madden, James and Patrick died at sea, Michael died at Gross Ile and Edward died in the fever sheds at Toronto. The survivors made their way north to Simcoe Co., Ontario where they were successful farmers and held  leadership positions locally. Most of what I know about the Harkins comes from Canadian records. I have found only 2 Irish records: the TAB which I know is unreliable but it does give me a place name which is confirmed by the newspaper article and Anne's baptismal records. Also, I have no record of the family relationship for those who died. A brief biography note for Neil Harkin says those who died were his brothers. That is the short version. If you have any thoughts about where I might look for Irish records I would be grateful. Thanks for your time and interest. 

cavbeck:

Very sad story about your ancestors. 

I searched on the subscription site Roots Ireland and the Tithe listings and did not find any additional records on your family. You are hampered by the lack of Swinford/Kilconduff/Meelick RC records other than the 1822-1826 baptismal records.  https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0133

I'm surprised that the marriage record is not available on Roots Ireland since Swinford marriage records go back to 1808.

I'm going to forward your message to another volunteer who is very knowledgeable in this area.

Roger

Thanks, Roger. Finding a marriage record would be a bonus. 

Hi!  I'm the other person mentioned by Roger as having some knowledge of the area, because two of my grandparents grew up there, and I’ve spent a lot of time researching my family in the parish registers for Swinford/Kilconduff and nearby parishes, such as Killasser, Killedan, and Bohola.  Lisdurraun is located not far from the Swinford-Bohola and Swinford-Killedan parish boundaries, and is only a few townlands away from the where my grandfather grew up.  Due to the proximity, many families in the area had relatives in two or more of the adjoining parishes.  I’ve found some info in the parish registers to add a bit to what you already have, but not enough to answer all your questions.

 

Based on the info listed below, I suspect that the 10 Harkin’s you mentioned were not just one immediate family, but an extended family of relatives which left Lisdurraun together.  Given that a number of them died in or just after the crossing, it’s possible that the family was hard-hit by the famine and particularly the fevers which accompanied it, so the survivors may have all decided to emigrate.  As noted in a few places below, there are also indications that they (or at least some of them) were very poor, which could also have motivated their emigration.

 

You can see more info about Lisdurraun at this link:

 

https://www.townlands.ie/mayo/gallen/meelick/meelick/lisdurraun/

 

There are additional links there, including one to the Griffith’s Valuation record for Lisdurraun (mid-1800’s).  If you look at that link, you’ll see that there were apparently no Harkin’s left in Lisdurraun by then (or at least none who held tenancies there), although there is an interesting person listed as Patrick “Harn”, which looks to me suspiciously like an abbreviation or mis-transcription which could refer to a Patrick Harkin who remained there.

 

Roger already gave you the link to the online parish records for Swinford/Kilconduff.  I’m citing some entries which I found in the registers from the period 1808-1827 for marriages and 1822-1826 for baptisms (the baptisms for 1827-1840 are not available online).  In the entries below, I give the image numbers for the ones I’m citing (from microfilm 04225/01 for the marriages and 04225/02 for the baptisms), in case you want to download them.  You may want to search for more records than I found this time, but this will give you a start.  Here are some hints when doing that (of which you may already be aware):

 

-- I’m assuming that the dates you’ve mentioned are drawn mostly from Canadian census or death records.  As you may already know, emigrants from Ireland often had no idea exactly when they were born (not even which year, in many cases), so ages and birth years as stated in North American censuses and other records should always be used with caution.

 

-- Another thing to remember is that Irish surnames were often “anglicized” in different ways, often at the whim of the priest or official creating the record, and the form could change within the same family.  In the early 1800’s, virtually everyone in Mayo was still Irish-speaking, and a good number would not have known much (if any) English.  Also, few were literate in rural areas (in Irish or English), so they would have been unsure how to spell their names.  The priest or official (even if also Irish-speaking) would write down what he thought he heard, or in some cases would try to translate an Irish name into something more English (with varying degrees of success).  For example, in Mayo the surname King (which is not uncommon in the area around Lisdurraun, and occurs in my family) is usually a mistranslation of Mac Conraoi (McConry) or Ó Conraoi (O’Conry), due to a belief that they were forms of the Irish expression mac an rí (“son of the king”).

 

-- Harkin and Harkan are alternative anglicizations of the Irish surname Ó hEarcáin, which is derived from the word earc, an archaic word for "red", so the original meaning may have been “descendant of the red-haired fellow”.  It was not a particularly common surname in East Mayo, having originated in what is now County Donegal, and more specifically on the Inishowen peninsula.  Presumably, some people of that name migrated to Mayo, probably in the 17th century (at the time of the Plantation of Ulster), as did some of my Mayo ancestors.  I’m mentioning all this, because both forms of the name occur in the Swinford parish register, and they are probably from the same family, since there don’t appear to be a huge number of Harkin references in the register.

 

-- Another problem when reading parish registers is that the handwriting can be hard to decipher, and similar surnames can be confused, especially since abbreviations were sometimes used.  In East Mayo, there were several other names which might be confused with Harkin, such as Horgan, Horan, and Forkan (the capitalized forms of the letters “H” and “F” in the script of that time can sometimes look very similar).  There’s also the very common East Mayo surname Durkin/Durkan, but the letter “D” is usually easy to distinguish from “F” or “H”.

 

With all that in mind, here are some things I found:

 

(1)  I looked through all of the marriage records from 1808 through 1827, but was unable to find a marriage record for Andrew Harkan and Bridget Madden.  The earlier records are sparse, so the record may just have gotten lost, but there are other possible explanations.  Priests generally charged about £1 for a marriage, and that was a huge amount of money in those days.  People often married quite young back then (and, in Mayo, still did after the famine years), and may have had little or no money.  So, couples sometimes did not marry right away, or (whether they were Catholic or Protestant) might take advantage of the services of itinerant preachers or defrocked priests who traveled around and performed informal marriages for much less, with the couple perhaps later getting married in a Catholic church when they could afford it.  Given that people were courting at quite a young age, there were also a good number of births out of wedlock (which priests often noted in the baptismal register), with the parents perhaps marrying later on.  It may seem strange now, but rural Irish people back then were pretty pragmatic about such things, and did not feel quite the stigma that came later with the Victorian era.

 

(2)  11 December 1822 [baptisms:  image 14]:  A Mary Harkan appears as a sponsor at the baptism of a Bridget Carty (same Mary as in some entries below?).

 

(3)  26 August 1822 [baptisms:  image 12]:  Baptism of (apparent) twins Michael and Patrick Harkan, with parents Michael Harkan and Elinore Mulloy (might actually be Mulroy).  These may be the Michael and Patrick mentioned in your info as both being born in 1822.  That may mean that their father, Michael, was a brother or cousin of your Andrew Harkin.  Baptismal records usually state the name of the townland where the family lived, but that was not done here.  Baptismal fees were much lower than marriage fees, but there's a note appearing to indicate that the parents had no money, so they would presumably have paid later.  This is why I mentioned that the Harkin family may have been somewhat hard up back then.

 

(4)  19 Jan 1823 [marriages:  image 17]:  Marriage of James Gent[r]y? and Mary Harkan, with one of the witnesses being a Michael Harkan (possibly the father of the children mentioned above and below).  James and Mary are indicated as being related, but not closely enough for the marriage to be forbidden.  This was not uncommon in rural areas where many people had the same surnames and/or were distantly related.

 

(5)  I did not find in the register the baptism on 2 July 1824 which you mentioned for Anne Harkan.

 

(6)  5 August 1825 [baptisms:  image 25]:  Baptism of Mary Harkan, with parents Michael Harkan and Elinore Mulloy.  Presumably a sibling of the Michael and Patrick mentioned above.  Again, no townland is given, and there is a note that the fee for the baptism is to be paid later.

 

(7)  1 April 1826 [baptisms:  image 29]:  Baptism of Mary Harkan, with parents Thomas Harkan and Mary Peaton [?].  Thomas might be yet another sibling or cousin of Michael, Mary and/or Andrew Harkan.  Again, no townland is given.

 

(8)  13 February 1827 [marriages:  image 27]:  Marriage of Lawrence McNulty and Sara Harkan, with two McNulty witnesses, who may have been my relatives.  My grandmother was a McNulty who grew up not too far away in Killasser parish, and weddings were usually held in the bride’s parish.

 

(9)  13 February 1827 [marriages:  image 27]:  Marriage of Michael Mulroy and Eliza[beth] Harkan, with witnesses Michael and Neal Harkan (obviously not the Neal whom you have in your records, who would have been too young).  The townland of Lisdurraun is mentioned in this entry.  I also have Mulroy relatives from nearby in Killasser, and this couple and the one above may have known one another or been cousins, choosing to get married in the same day.

 

(10)  26 February 1827 [marriages:  image 28]:  Marriage of Anthony Harkan and Mary McLoughlin, with one of the witnesses being Neal Harkan again.  The townland of Lisdurraun appears to be mentioned in this entry, but the “d” is hard to see.  Interestingly, there’s another Gallagher marriage the next day on that image, where Lisdurraun is clearly mentioned.

 

That’s where I stopped searching this time, but you can certainly continue.  It can be very interesting to search parish registers, because you may see all sorts of leads, and sometimes some interesting notes added by the priest.  You can often just skim down the left-hand side, but note that the entries can suddenly switch in format.  There are several approaches with baptisms:

 

John Harkan, son of Pat Harkan and Mary Madden

John Harkan, son of Pat [Harkan understood] and Mary Madden

John, son of Pat Harkan and Mary Madden [so you have to look further to the right for the father's surname]

The “son” part is often replaced by something like “P” or “PS” [= parents] before the names of the parents.

The sponsors are usually in a separate column to the right, but sometimes their names are given under the names of the parents, and the priests often switch formats there as well.

 

Although I stopped searching at that point, I also know of another Harkan marriage later on, because I already had it noted in the records I made for my Gallagher family:

 

13 February 1831 [marriages:  image 39]:  Marriage of Mary Harkan and Martin Gallaher .  One of the witnesses at the wedding was a Michael Harkan again, and the other was Edmund Gallaher.  This might have been a second marriage for the Mary Harkan married in 1823, or the two Mary’s may have been cousins.

 

Finally, Newcastle townland in Meelick civil parish is close by, and you can see more info about at this link:

 

https://www.townlands.ie/mayo/gallen/meelick/meelick/newcastle/

There were no Madden’s listed as tenants there in Griffith’s Valuation (mid-1850’s), but it is full of surnames from my various family lines.  The Irish form of the Madden surname is Ó Madáin (earlier spelling was Ó Madadháin), from the word madadh (= “dog”), so the meaning would have been something like "little dog" (many surnames are based on nicknames borne by an ancestor).  It originated in what is now Galway, so it is more common there than in East Mayo.

Wow, this is a lot of information and useful tips for proceeding with research in the Irish records for my ancestor families, Harkan & Madden. I had begun to think that the 10 Harkins who sailed on the Wolfville in May 1847 were likely related but not members of the same immediate family, just as you mention. Having said that, I have a brief biography of Neil Harkin written while he was still living which mentions that his mother and a brother died during the passage to Canada and two more brothers died in June of that year at Gross Isle, quarantine station, located just below Quebec city in the St. Lawrence River. The note also states that Neil was seriously ill for some time before he was able to continue inland. It is also interesting that Andrew Harkin appears in the Ontario land records as "purchasing" land in N. Simcoe for 40 pounds on September 20, 1847. It is curious that an "indigent" immigrant was able to "buy" a farm within a few months of arriving in Canada. This will require further research on my part. It is not clear to me if Andrew had to put money down on the purchase or not. Also, Maddens had been in the area for a few years and may have assisted the Harkins in their initial land purchase. By the time Neil died in 1902, he owned 500 acres, 300 cleared and planted. These immigrant stories are amazing and inspiring. I am tracking 16 Irish immigrant ancestor families who came to Canada in the 1830s & 40s, from about 9 different counties and each one is remarkable. One family, the O'Connors, still farm the original homesteaded in eastern Ontario that was first settled about 1832. 

It often seems two lifetimes would be insufficient to "complete" this research! Still, the hunt itself can be rewarding.

I just noticed that I was able to open the document I attached to my first message so you might be able to see it as well. It includes an image of Ann Harkin's baptism in 1824 indicating it was "paid in full." Of course we know that the decades following Union were fraught and Mayo experienced a number of significant famines during the 1820s & 30s when Andrew & Bridget were having and raising kids so their circumstances may have deteriorated over time. Diminished circumstances along with the fact that they had family members (Maddens) already in Canada would have contributed to their decision to emigrate.

I'm currently trying to reconstruct the period from the late summer of 1845 to the spring of 1847 when the Harkins left their home in Meelick parish. There are so many good resources for the Great Famine which have been very helpful in this work. For understanding the social and economic history of Lisdurraun and neighbouring townlands, I found Donald E. Jordan, Land and Popular Politics in Ireland & Mayo (1994) (available on Internet Archive) particularly helpful. If you have read it, and because you are familiar with the district, I would be interested in your assessment of his work. If you don't know it, it might be of interest to you. He provides good maps and charts showing fertility across the county and changing farming practices which I found particularly useful. 

In any event, you have given me a lot to go on which is all very helpful. Much appreciated. Thanks very much for your time and interest. 

 

Oh, and yes, the dates I am using are from Canadian records, newspapers etc. and US records where Andrew was living with his daughter Ann in Rochester, New York, when he died, likely about 1864. I have not yet found a death record. He would have been about 80 yrs of age. I think of his life in Ireland as bookended by two seminal events in Mayo/Irish history, the Rebellion, French Invasion, of 1898 when Andrew would have been about 13 yrs of age, and the Great Famine. It was these events that marked him & his children and sent them fleeing to Canada.

BTW, Ann married Patrick O'Malley from Galway in Ontario. Their 7 children were all born in Rochester between 1860 & 1870 when they returned to Canada and settled on the farm Andrew & his sons had established some 20 years earlier. 

Thanks again. 

I'm really glad that you mentioned having attached a copy of the Anne Harkan baptism record from 1824, because I hadn't noticed that you did that, and looking at it helped me to figure out what was going on, and may also help with my own family research!  That baptism did not appear in the main part of the Swinford baptismal register, but when I looked at the excerpt you had, I could tell that the handwriting was just like that of the priest who was recording Swinford baptisms in 1824.  Only then did I realize what must have happened.

 

In some larger parishes, there was more than one church, with the extra ones sometimes being referred to as "sub-churches".  I knew this to be the case in Killasser parish, to the north of Swinford/Kilconduff, but I had not been aware of it being true in Swinford.  I should have thought of that, because it's a large, fairly populous parish.  In those cases, separate registers were sometimes maintained at each church (by the same or different priests), and back when the registers were microfilmed, the registers were usually combined.  If you look at the records at the site which Roger gave you, on image 32 there is a reference to a separate church in Meelick, and then a separate recital of baptisms at that church from 1822-1826 starts on the next image.  And, lo and behold, Anne's record occurs after that, on image 40!

 

Knowing this is really helpful to me, because (as I mentioned above), my Gallagher grandfather grew up very nearby, and at a glance it lookes as though there may be all sorts of records form that Meelick church record which may be relevant to my family lines.  I didn't go through all of those extra images yet, but I plan to do so, and to look for separate Meelick baptismal and marriage records for later years as well.  Those might not be too useful for your research, since they would be from the 1840's on, but if I spot any useful Harkan records, I could let you know.

 

Although I didn't search those pages carefully yet, as I said, in locating Anne's baptism I did notice two more Harkan-related baptisms (so there may be a good few more Harkan references than I had previously noticed):

 

31 Aug 1822 [image 34]:  Baptism of Judy Gallaher, daughter of Thomas Gallaher and Mary Harkan, with Neal Harkan again as one of the sponsors.

 

23 Aug 1824 [image 40, where Anne appears also]:  Baptism of Sibby Harkan, daughter of James Harkan and Bridget Hogan.

 

So, one mystery solved and new avenues of research opened up!