Hello,
I am a direct descendant of the Gaughwin family who were very localised in the far east of Galway along the River Suck between Ballinasloe and Roscommon and lived in and around Fogenagh. The earliest descendants were Denis (b 1774) and Thomas (b 1784 or 1794) and were listed on the 1828 Tithe in Killaderry and Durreen townships respectively. My great grandfather was Denis Joseph Gaughwin (b.1859) who emigrated to Melbourne in 1884. His parents were John (assumed born 1824?) and Mary Kelly. They lived in Kilgerrill parish presumably near the Killure Bog with other Gaughwin families either in Kilgerrill (near the current cemetery) or nearby Doone. Other local Gaughwins in the Killure, Fairfield and Doone townships in the Parish (possibly uncles) were Denis, John and Malachy Gaughwin. They feature in Tithe, Griffith and Fogenagh church records.
Denis, my great grandfather, had two siblings: Jane, born in 1852, who emigrated to Australia in 1868 as a Orphan, married and had a successful life in Melbourne where Denis joined her some years later. They had a brother Michael (b 1854) who migated to England in the early 1880's where he married and worked as a roofing slater.
My query to anyone who may have information: I am interested in learning about Denis' parents, John and Mary Kelly and who were their direct forebearers? Also it seems, not yet proven, that John and/or Mary may have perished in the 1860's and the family broken apart.
We will again visit the eastern Galway region from our home in Melbourne later this year in our on going search for information on the Gaughwin family.If you can provide some greater insights or even the names of distant living relatives who still live in the region and would like to make family contact it would be much appreciated.
Thank you for your time and interest.
Kind regards,
Tim
Tim
Thursday 11th May 2017, 05:02AMMessage Board Replies
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Tim:
Welcome to ireland Reaching Out!
We have a parish liaison who covers Ballymacward and Fohanagh civil parishes. I will send her an e-mail and alert her to your message.
If you have not heard back in ten days or so, please let me know.
Roger McDonnell
Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘
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Thank you Roger. I look forward to hearing from her. Tim
Tim
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Hello Roger.
You mentioned in your prior email reponse that I should contact you again if I had not heard from your colleague regarding Ballymacward and Fohanagh civil parishes.
At this time i am still waiting to hear from her.
Thanks & regards,
Tim
Tim
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Tim:
I will contact our HQ and asked them to contact the parish liaison.
Roger
Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘
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Hi Tim
I'm also a direct descendent of Denis Gaughwin, was (I think) as my mother, Myra Gaughwin's (born 1927) - daughter of Leo Gaughwin - great grandfather. I'm in Canberra and would be good to get in touch to learn what you have discovered about our family's history. Hopefully we can can make contact via this site..
Regards
Tim Crowe
Canberra, AustraliaCubillo
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Attached FilesDenis Gaughwin 2.jpg (66.06 KB)
Hello Tim,
Myra was my mother's (Greta Frances Gaughwin) first cousin. Leo (1897-1979) was brother to her father John (1889-1947) who was a postman living in East Prahran here in Melbourne. He died from pneumonia at a relatively early age and I never met him although I was close to my grandmother Frances Ada Duff (1890-1973).
Leo and John's father was Denis who emigrated here in 1884 from the UK where he relocated with his brother, Michael, following the death of both their parents in the 1860s. Michael remained in Manchester. Previously, their two known sisters, Jane and Honoria, also emigrated to Melbourne as young Irish orphans and their own life histories here are extensive.
The name Gaughwin (and at least 20 variations such as Gacquin, Gaquin...) came from Dysart in County Roscommon where a young French soldier, Daniel Gaqfin, married a local Irish girl Catherine Gately. Daniel came to Ireland to fight with the Irish against the British and fought in the bloody Battle of Aughrim from which he escaped to the north east after defeat.
Both Daniel and Catherine (my 6th great grandparents) are buried in the Dysart Ancient graveyard with an inscripted headstone. Their son John and wife Bridget Beirne are buried alongside them.
There is a lot more family detail but this gives you an overview. Get back to me if you would like to hear more.
Kind regards,
Tim
Tim
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Tim. I have made more sense of our connection. Colleen, your sister, used to stay with my Mum and Dad when she came to Melbourne for her PS work! Colleen also graciously came down for Mum's funeral. Regards, Tim
Tim
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Hi Tim. What great news! It would be great to catch up with you for a chat. I've asked Colleen if she has your contact details. Can we send them over here? My email is ttcrowe at Total Peripherals Group dot com dot country code if that is not too cryptic. :) Mum is 95 next Tuesday and today lives in Kempsey NSW. You have a wealth of knowledge that we thought was totally lost, so would be terrific to hear more. Anyway, hope you can decipher the email address and we'll be in touch soon.
Tim
Cubillo
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Hi Tim,
I have only an indirect connection to the Gacquin name. My brother's mother in laws name was Gacquin and I am curious about the family history and also the link to the battle of Aughrim. I have visited the Ancient Dysert Graveyard recently, but was unable to find the headstone for Daniel Gaqfin and Catherine Gately or their son John and his wife Bridget Beirne. I wonder has anybody got a photo of this headstone. It would save me having to go through the graveyard and further cleaning more of the headstones. However many of these headstones would probably require deep cleaning if that is possible. I would be glad of any help here.
Gerard Murphy
Gerard Murphy
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Hi Tim,
Since my post of the 01/09/2023 I have been shown the two headstones by William Gacquin who I happened to meet at the Ancient Dysart Graveyard. The first script is as followes; 'Pray for the soul of Daniel Gaughwin & Bridget Birn his wife who d.d May ye 3rd 1761 Erected by his son John Gaughwen & Cate Gately his wife' and the script on the second headstone is as followes; 'Pray for the soul of John Gaquin deptd ye life Nov 8th 1786 this mon was erected by his son William Gaquin in memory of him and posterity.' This script is identical to the script that appears in the article "Information on Gacquin Name" by William Gacquin on his website dated February 20th 2001. If Daniel was the French soldier who fought at Aughrim in 1691 aged say at a guess about 20 he would have been about 90 in 1761 at a time when the life expectancy was decades less. If he was about 15 then he would be 85 in 1761. It would be interesting to know if there are any further details in the family tradition. Gerard Murphy
Gerard Murphy
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Hi Gerard
Was good to read your messages from September and October. Apologies for the delay but I only look at this website every now and again.
I also advised the other Tim of your message too.
That was so fortunate for you to see the headstones of Daniel and Bridget. I'm travelling to Ireland next August 2024 so will visit Ancient Dysert Cemetery. I gather Willima Gacquin some you met must have been a relative?This past week I have been reading about the Battle of Aughrim. One of my cousins here in Canberra (who is my uncle's son and so a Gaughwin) has done a lot of research on the Gaughwin family, as has the other Tim (above). I'll make contact with him too for you to find out what he knows about the Battle of Aughrim. Where did you find the article "information on Gacquin Name" was it on this website?
Anyway, it was great to read you posting. Be good to stay in touch.
Regards
Tim Crowe
Canberra, Australia
Cubillo
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Hi Tim,
Glad to hear from you.
The information sheet by William Gacquin is on his website. If you are unable to find it in Google, I can send you on a copy of it.
There is an Interpretive Centre near the village of Aughrim in Co, Galway not far from Dysert, which you may know of. I visited it some years ago.
I'm more interested in the history of the young French soldier Daniel who survived the bloody battle of Aughrim and decided to stay on? Was he like some Irishmen today who go to help Ukraine in it's battle for their homeland and democracy. Was he a descendant of the wild geese who fled Ireland for France in the 17th century?
Of course it is unlikely that there are any historical records about this available to us today.
I will inform William Gacquin of this website in case he doesn't know about it.
Please let me know your email address, if you need a copy of the above information sheet.
Best wishes,
Gerard
Gerard Murphy
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Hi Gerard
Happy New Year to you and family.
Apologies it has taken me two months to get back to you. It was a busy end of year here, but I am now on holidays for the next week, which will be nice break.
Thanks for the information on the Aughrim Visitor Centre. I will be sure to include that on our visit later this year.
I'll speak with my cousin about if he ever found any information about Daniel, so will email you direct. My email address is ttcrowe AT tpg DOT com DOT au - (I hope you can understand that? I'm just avoiding bots pulling out email addresses!!)
I couldn't find William Gacquin's website, so would be nice if you could email me the details.
Okay, talk to you over email. Hope you had a good Christmas.
Regards
Tim Crowe
Canberra, AustraliaCubillo
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Hi Tim,
Thanks for your email.
I tried to sent the abovementioned document to your email address. It was sent back to me as undeliverable. I contacted the service provider. They advised me to suggest to you that you send a test email to me. I will then be able to try again.
My email address is gmamurphy@eircom.net.
Best wishes for the new year.
Gerard
PS. William Gacquin's website address is as followes:-
Gerard Murphy
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Hi Tim,
I am replying to your 2017 post.
You mentioned two of the earliest known Gaughwins(Gaquin, Gacquin etc) - Denis and Thomas. Do you know if they are brothers? I am a direct descendant of Thomas Gacquin from Derreen (spelled Durreen in Tithe). Are there any other sources for Denis and Thomas other than Tithe and Griffiths? Denis appears to have so many more descendants than Thomas- Thomas had only two daughters so the family name was lost.
Would appreciate any info that you might have.
Thankyou,
Maryann Flaherty
mollymalone
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Hello Maryann,
I wrote the original message in 2017 and have visited Galway several times chasing up the Gaughwin family ancestors. In short the early Gaughwins (Daniel b. 1670 in France) evolved into three tribes within reasonable proximity to each other…Fohenagh, Muckloon in Galway and around Dysart across the Suck River in Roscommon. Your tribe were, and still are, living around Muckloon. The tree is very chaotic with likely your Denis d.1866 married four times. Thomas b.1784 d.1874 lived at Durreen next to Muckloon townland. They are likely first cousins or brothers but as I focus on Fohenagh there may be other people better able to comment.
Hope this helps.
Tim H
Tim