Cloonboo / Cluain Bú

3 thoughts on “Cloonboo / Cluain Bú”

• 

  Karen Pickford

  June 9, 2019 at 11:31 am

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  I am really interested in this information as I am trying to trace my Great Grandfathers roots. He was born in Drumgriffin but it was said he lived in Cloonboo. He was Thomas Hannan/Hannon and was born c. 1850, and emigrated to Invercargill, New Zealand around 1871. His death certificate lists his father’s name as Thomas and his mother’s as Cecilia. He had a brother Michael Hannan and sister Mary (married her cousin Thomas Staunton in N.Z.) who both also emigrated to Invercargill, New Zealand. Another brother was said to have emigrated to America. Any information would be appreciated.

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  • 

    Patrick Murphy

    January 31, 2025 at 11:31 pm

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    Hello, Karen,

    I’m interested in the Hannan/Hannon family as well – and Cloonboo, in general. I have a large number of DNA matches with Hannan descendants in New Zealand – I will get back to that in a minute. My ggg-grandmother, Mary Allen/Allan was born in Annaghdown in roughly 1825. She married a man from Mayo and they resettled in New Brunswick, Canada. (How she met a man from Mayo is a mystery….) Mary’s father was William Allen and by looking at various records and DNA matches it has become clear that he was originally from Cloonboo before settling in Aucloggeen townland around 1850. I do not know for certain what Mary Allen’s mother’s name was. I have one hint. In the Griffith’s Valuation records for Aucloggeen, there are two listings for William Allen but one of them is listed “William Allen (Betty).” I’m not sure there is any way to know what that may mean for sure, but I believe one of these Williams is the father and the other is my ggg-gm Mary’s brother William. I know that this brother’s wife was Bridget – so that leaves me with a guess that Mary’s mother was named “Betty” – Elizabeth. Every sibling of Mary’s that had children had a daughter named Elizabeth. The reason that this matters in my conversation with you is that I believe Elizabeth “Betty” Allen was a Hannan.

    Because the Hannans and Allens were neighbors in Cloonboo, the DNA matches that I have with your cousins in NZ could possibly come from my Allens and that there was other intermarriage prior to my William Allen. However, I also have DNA matches with a number of people that all descend from a Katherine Hannan, likely born in the 1830’s who married a Thomas Flaherty and settled in Grange. So, at that point I have cousins descended from Hannans who emigrated to New Zealand and one who stayed in Annaghdown. Another interesting point is that my ggg-gm Mary Allen’s eldest sister Margaret married a Michael Hanley, they settled in Slievefin. Their daughter Margaret married a John O’Connor and they moved their family to New Zealand in about 1865. I know that a number of Annaghdown people emigrated to NZ, so this may be pure, unrelated coincidence – but might be a thing for us to look for.

    So, in an attempt to understand all of this further, I began looking at all of these New Zealand DNA matches to see how they connect back to Annaghdown. Most of my NZ Hannan cousins descend from your Thomas Hannan (1845-1908). However, I have at least one NZ DNA match who descends from a different Hannan. This woman descends from a Bridget Silke (b 1843 in Annaghdown) who was the daughter of an Honor Hannan and Thomas Silke. Now that I know that your Thomas had two siblings, Michael and Mary, who emigrated to NZ I will see if I have any DNA matches to their descendants. I knew of Michael and Mary, but I did not know what happened to them. In the course of all of the research that I was doing, I learned that your Thomas Hannan was the son of Thomas Hannan and Cecilia (Sesily) Hargadan. They had, at least, six children born/baptized between 1835 and 1845 and I have found the baptisms for all of them including you Thomas. Thomas was baptized in March of 1845 in Annaghdown. His sponsors were Martin Downey and Mary Glynn. I did also identify that there was a Martin Downey in Cloonboo in Griffiths Valuation.

    I am not completely sure how these posts/replies work but if you get a notice about this, I would very much like to compare notes with you.

    Patrick Murphy
    Chicago, IL, USA

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  • 

    Michael Wooldridge

    April 14, 2025 at 9:25 am

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    Think I can help a bit. I am interested in the Staunton family and they do come into the Hannan family by marriage. There was a Staunton/Hannan cousin marriage in the first decade of the 19th century and you mention another two generations later in New Zealand in 1863. Presumably you know this, as they would have required permission from the church before marrying, so we should be able to take this as a fact. It is hard to see how they could be first cousins and unless they were royalty, they didn’t need permission as third cousins, so I assume they were second cousins, which means a common set of great grandparents.

    The key for me was trying to work out who Mary Hannan’s husband was and how he was related, as this might tell us something about Mary (and hence your great grandfather Thomas’s) forebears.

    I believe the common ancestors were James Staunton and his wife Mary Blake. Janes was styled as James Blake Esq of Galway and Jamaica (c1750-1795) was a great great grandson of George Staunton (1637-1712) of Cargin Castle. He had issue including

    1. Thomas Esq of Galway City, styled as ‘of Yougall’ (Claregalway) flourished 1800s and did not marry. Acknowledged ‘head’ of the family, so quite likely his siblings would be using the name Thomas in their children.
    2. Patrick of Lisheenanoran, Annaghdown and
    3. Catherine, married Edward Hannan of Annaghdown.

    Patrick had 5 sons, i) Thomas, ii) Edmund, iii) Michael, (these 3 brothers farmed 80 acres of land at Lisheenanoran/Coteeny under a perpetual lease dated 1781 and subsequently farmed by their descendants for 180 years), iv) John of Gort & v) Patrick of Annaghdown.

    If Thomas Hannan (who married Celia Hargadan) was a son of Edward & Catherine and Thomas Staunton (who married Mary Hannan) was a grandson of one of Patrick’s 5 sons, then Thomas & Mary would be second cousins. As an aside, in looking for Thomas Staunton’s father, we can exclude Patrick’s sons Edmond and John (as they migrated to Invercargill and all their issue is accounted for), so the Thomas Staunton in your tree must be a son of Thomas, Michael or John. Interestingly, these three names are accommodated in your Thomas (?died 1879) and his brother, Michael John (1850-1909).

    In a previous generation, Michael Staunton (# iii above) required and received permission to marry his first cousin Catherine Hannan, daughter of Edward & Catherine.

    I know many have Thomas Staunton as being born in Victoria and the likely son of John Staunton & Mary Regan, but the dates and locations don’t fit. It is forcing a square peg into a round hole. I think it is likely another person of the same name.

    The suggestion that I make above would have the dates and locations fit perfectly. As a bonus, two of Edmond (# ii) Staunton’s sons emigrated to Invercargill and would have been a cousin to the Thomas in your family. As to Edward Hannan, who would have been born circa 1790 and would be your great x3 grandfather, I am afraid that I can’t make any suggestions to take him back further.

    Michael Wooldridge, Melbourne, Australia.

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