Searching McDonnell from the Clare area of Tullylish

James:

Can you provide more specifics on your McDonnells? Names, timeframes. I took a quick look at the 1901 census and there was only one McDonnell family within the Tullyish District Electoral Division.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Down/Tullyish/Loughans…

Roger McDonnell

Hello Roger,   

Thank you for your reply. My earliest known ancestor of this line is a James McDonnell (estimated birth of 1805-1810), and he was already deceased when listed for his son (James Jr.'s) marriage of 10 Oct 1857 to a Charlotte Watson. The wife of James Sr. is unknown. Charlotte and James Jr both had fathers named James, that were weavers, living in the Clare area. There was a James McDonnell of Clare who died on 28 Jun 1837 according to the RC Church records; but I cannot prove it was my James Sr.

James Jr and Charlotte had 7 children, four of which are known to have survived to adulthood. Several of their births were noted in the Waringstown records. However, by the early 1870's, the entire family moved to Portadown, living at 9 Marley Street until about the early1950's.  James Jr had only 2 siblings that I am aware of:  Thomas b- ca 1830 d- 18 Apr 1895, and a Catherine b- ca 1837, fate unknown. His brother Thomas also moved to Portadown at some point, and died there.

In the event it might help these are the children of James Jr & Charlotte:

John         ch- 10 Jan 1858  d- before 1865

James 3rd ch- 16 Aug 1859 d- 4 Aug 1936

Thomas    ch- 15 Sep 1851  d- 3 Nov 1917

Catherine  ch- 27 Sep 1863  d- 19 Mar 1952

John         ch-  6 Jun 1865   d- 30 Jul 1865

Mary         ch- 12 Mar 1868  d-     ??

Elizabeth   ch- 21 Nov 1869 d- 23 May 1958

Incidentally, James McDonnell 3rd is my great grandfather.  Tow of my Portadown relatives have informed me there was a Randall 'Dall' McDonnell in our family, a blind hedgerow teacher. So if my understanding is correct that hedgerow instructions were pretty much discontinued by the 1830's, if Randall is related, he would be of James Sr's generation or earlier.

I don't know if any of this is of any assistance to you; but again I thank you for your response and interest, and wish you well in your research.

Jim Kelly

Jim:

I'm one of the Ireland Reaching Out volunteers who monitor the message board and try to assist folks with their Irish research. Looks like you have done a very thorough job with researching your McDonnell family and don't need any additional assistance.

My McDonnell line comes from a small village called Carracastle in East Co. Mayo. My grandfather emigrated to Philadelphia in 1907. 

All the best!

Roger

Hi - I just noticed your earlier post back in 2014 regarding your McDonnell ancestery and I am researching the McDonnell line that settled in the Creggan Parish of the Fews also in Co Armagh. I was interested in particular in your reference to 'Randall Dall McDonnell' as there was a Gaelic poet of the same name viz. Raghnall Dall Mac Domhnaill who was associated with the Creggan Parish and composed a 120 line poem on the ancient Creggan Church and its graveyard - he has however remained an elusive figure despite his learned status and I have compiled what we know of him and his works in an article published in Creggan Journal (2018) and attached below.

It could be possible that Randall the blind hedgeschool teacher is the same person as the poet who had the same name and accompanying epithet 'dall' and I would be grateful if you could contact me to explore this further. 

Many thanks, Gearóid