The Families of Michael M McNamara and Mary Kenny from County Roscommon, Ireland

Bob Gray, January 2019

Based on their records in the US, I had estimated that Michael M McNamara and Mary Kenny, two of my son-in-law’s great grandparents, were married in 1883. Michael McNamara died 20 July 1903 in New York, New York. His death notice was published in the New York Times on 26 Jul 1903. It indicated he was born in Aran, County Roscommon, Ireland. I was unable to find a town or area in County Roscommon named Aran.  Wikipedia indicated there is one called Oran with the following information:

Townland:  Oran

Acres:  275

Barony:  Ballymoe

Civil parish:  Oran

Poor law union:  Roscommon

A search at Roots Ireland org for their marriage produced the marriage record below. There are actually two records for their marriage, one is a civil record and the other is a Roman Catholic record. The differences were the Parish/District entry and the civil record included their father’s occupations. The record below includes all of the information from the two records.

Clearly, the marriage record is correct for the Michael M McNamara and Mary Kenny of interest. Based on my previous research for my mother’s ancestors in Ireland, the marriage record for Michael and Mary is a gold mine of information. Not only does it include the complete names of their parents, it also gives their father’s occupations. The original record is not available at the National Library of Ireland.

A search at Ask About Ireland for Griffith’s Valuation records for the townlands of Oran and Runnabackan, County Roscommon resulted in the following table. My experience is that the townlands appear in geographical order as the surveyor would wander from town to town and the records were kept in that order. The fact that the townlands or Oran and Runnabackan are close together indicates they should be close together geographically.

This is verified by the Ordnance Survey map of Oran civil parish shown below. The townland or Oran is the area with the R inside. The townland of Runnabackan is the area with the N inside. The parish is nearly equidistant from the towns of Ballymoe, Roscommon, and Keaden. Looking on a modern map, the N60 highway runs along the north edge of Oran and just to the south of Runnabacan. There are four occupiers listed for the townland of Oran, none of the with the surname of McNamara. According to Wikipedia, the Griffith’s Valuation Record for County Roscommon was published 1 July 1858. So, the McNamaras must have moved to Oran sometime during the intervening 25 years between the Tenement Valuation survey and the marriage of Michael and Mary in 1883. Assuming no additional houses were built between 1858 and 1883, the McNamaras probably lived in the house occupied by Patrick Cowen in 1858. This house is in area 1 of Oran and is marked by a “b” on the detailed view of the Ordnance Survey map below.

Griffith’s Valuation record from Ask About Ireland for the townlands of Oran and Runnabackan, County Roscommon.

Ordnance Survey map showing the civil parish of Oran, County Roscommon. The townland or Oran is the area with the R inside. The townland of Runnabackan is the area with the N inside.

Detailed view of Ordnance Survey map showing Oran on the left and Runnabackan on the right. The house occupied by Patrick Cowen 1b and possibly later by the McNamara family is in the upper left corner of Oran above the red arrow. The Herd’s House in Runnabackan is located on the left side near the N in the next townland of Carroweighter to the left of the red arrow. Carroweighter has a graveyard in area 2, the balloon shape along its border with Oran.  According to Find a Grave, this cemetery is now called Oran Cemetery and is under the Roman Catholic Diocese of Elphin.

The table entries for Oran and Runnabackan indicate both have Herd’s houses and a lots of pasture land. Denis McNamara probably worked as a farm laborer on the property leased by Robert J. Bailey. Similarly, unless there were buildings added between 1858 and 1883, the Kennys probably occupied a portion of the Heard’s House identified as being occupied by Patrick Grehan in 1858. Thomas C Batty is identified as the lessor of the land in Runnabackan.

I then looked for additional information on Michael M McNamara and Mary Kenny. Unfortunately, baptism records for the Roman Catholic parish of Oran (aka Cloverhill) only cover 1865 to 1900. Marriage records run from 1864 to 1900. Therefore, the next step was to look for information on their parents.

Denis McNamara and Margaret Finnerty

A search at Roots Ireland for other children of Denis McNamara and Margaret Finnerty was conducted with no success. If they had children besides Michael M, they were born before 1865 and did not marry in Ireland. Returning to the Griffith’s Valuation records at Ask About Ireland, a record for Denis McNamara was found in the townland of Emlagunagree, Parish of Oran, County Roscommon. The property is owned by St George Caulfield. The fact that the previous record occupied by St George Caulfield says “In Fee” under lessor indicates he owns the land. According to his page on Wikipedia, St George Caulfield was Lord Chief Justice of Ireland and was well liked and respected. It also says he spent much of his time at the family estate, Donamon Castle, County Roscommon. He died unmarried in 1778. Given St George Caulfield’s reputation, it is likely he was a good to the McNamara family. Their move from the estate was most likely due to Caulfield’s death and his lack of heirs.

Griffith’s Valuation record for Denis McNamara in the townland of Emlagunagree, County Roscommon.

Support for the Griffith’s Valuation record for Denis McNamara being the father of Michael M is found in the closeness of the townland of Emlagunagree to the townland of Oran. The Ordnance Survey map below shows the townlands of Emlagunagree, Oran, and Runnabackan outlined in blue. The scale indicates Emlagunagree and Oran are about 3 or 4 km apart. A close up view of Runnabackan follows the larger scale map below. Denis McNamara is identified as living in area 8 A a, which is seen in the close up map. Based on Google Satellite views of the area, no house or Herd’s House exists on the property. It is all farm land.

The townlands or Oran, Runnabackan, and Emlagunagree are outlined in blue on this Ordnance Survey map from the 1840s.

Detailed view of Emlagunagree. Denis McNamara lived and worked in area 8. The lower case “a” marks the location of his house.

A search of census records at the National Archives of Ireland produced the record in the table below which shows Denis and Margaret McNamara living in Oran, Cloonygormican, Roscommon. I was unsure of the meaning of Cloonygormican at first, but in looking through the records at the National Archives of Ireland, I found that Cloonygormican is a civil parish. So, Denis and Margaret Finnerty McNamara did not move, only their civil parish changed from 1883 to 1901. The original census sheet is available using the link in the table title below. The census record provides us with an estimate of their birth years and that they both speak but cannot write Irish and English. Neither Denis or Margaret show up in the 1911 census records, indicating they died in the intervening decade.

1901 Census Record Residents of a house 4 in Oran (Cloonygormican, Roscommon)

Patrick Kenny and Anne Coony

Repeating the process for Patrick Kenny and Anne Coony produced a marriage record for Michael Kenny in 1888 shown in the table below. The fact that the wedding took place in the parish of Tulsk instead of Cloverhill simply means Tulsk was Catherine Healy’s parish. Michael Kenny has an address of Blackpark and Catherine Healy lives in Rathmoyle. Roots Ireland provided three baptism records for children of Michael Kenny and Catherine Healy. Their children were Maria Ann, born 13 May 1892; Michael, born 27 August1893 and died a few days later; and Catharine, born 14 April 1895. Their baptism records follow their parents’ marriage record.

FR P O HARA

FR EDWARD HANNON

SUB CONDITIONS

FR E HANNON

DIED IN A FEW DAYS LATER

FR EDWARD HANNON

Michael Kenny and his family were found in the 1901 and 1911 census records as shown in the following tables. They now live in Ballyglass, County Roscommon. Michael’s occupation is given as shepherd. His wife, Catherine, is also identified as a shepherd in the 1901 census but as Herd’s Wife in the 1911 census.

1901 Census Residents of a house 3 in Ballyglass (Bellanagare, Roscommon)

1911 Census Residents of a house 20 in Ballyglass (Bellanagare, Roscommon)

I then went back to the Griffith’s Valuation records to see if I could identify where Patrick Kenny lived prior to becoming a shepherd in Runnabackan, County Roscommon in 1883. There are 53 records for County Roscommon that include the name Patrick Kenny as an occupier or lessor. One record of interest is in the Parish of Oran for the townland of Ballydooley, shown below. Ballydooley is just south of Carroweighter. Carroweighter is the townland between the townlands of Oran and Runnabackan shown in a map above. In addition, the property is owned by St George Caulfield, the same person who owned the property Denis McNamara occupied in the townland of Emlagunagree. It is noted that the last entry for the townland of Ballydooley is Michael McNamara. The relationship between Michael and Denis is unknown but they could have been brothers. A search for baptisms and marriages where the father was Michael McNamara produced no results for the Parish of Oran.

A detailed view of the townland of Ballydooley is provided below. Patrick Kenny is listed as occupying area 16 and his house should be identified on the map with the letter “a.” It is noted that there isn’t an area labeled 16 in the map. Ask About Ireland provides several versions of the Ordnance Survey maps. A different version of the map shows area 16 crossed out and a 9 has been penciled in. So, Patrick Kenny lived in area 8 in a house located next to the red arrow in the map below. Michael McNamara is identified in the table as occupying area 19 which is area 10 on the map below.

Griffith’s Valuation record showing Patrick Kenny in the townland of Ballydooley. A Michael McNamara lived in the same townland.

Ordnance Survey map of the townland of Ballydooley, County Roscommon. Denis Kenny occupied the house next to the red arrow on the map.

Conclusion

Michael M McNamara and Mary Kenny were born in Ireland and immigrated to New York shortly after being married in Ireland. Through the Roman Catholic Church records indexed by Roots Ireland org, their marriage record was found, and it provided important information about their parents. Other research sources including Ask About Ireland and the National Archive of Ireland provided additional information about the families of Michael M McNamara and Mary Kenny.

The records found for the fathers of Michael and Mary indicate the families lived and worked close to each other for most of their lives. They were always in the Roman Catholic Parish or Oran, also called Cloverhill. The location of the houses occupied the families were found on Ordnance Survey maps c. 1850. Michael and Mary’s parents are probably buried in Oran Cemetery in the townland of Carroweighter. Find a Grave indicates that several gravestones in the cemetery have the surname of McNamara and Kenny. However, these are all recent burials.

At least one member of Mary Kenny’s family continued to live in Ireland and had children. They were traced to 1911 through the census records for that year. Additional research may provide information on the children of Mary Kenny’s brother. Given the presence of family surnames in the Oran Cemetery, distant relatives of Michael M McNamara and Mary Kenny may still live in the area.

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