O’Hallorans in Clare

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RobOHalloran
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Joined: Fri Feb 01, 2019 11:12 pm

O’Hallorans in Clare

Post by RobOHalloran » Mon Feb 04, 2019 11:10 am

Hi - I’m trying to find out the ancestry of the O’Halloran family in Clare. From some DNA testing it appears I have links to Irish Type III or Dalcassian ancestry. This was news to me, as my family are from Cork!

From various sources (including medieval rental records) the Clare sept of the O’Hallorans originally had links to Fahy Ui Hallurain, which I believe is the modern townland of Fahy. But I’ve also see references to Ogonnelloe. Either way it looks like strong likes to Barony of Tulla.

Does anyone have any insights they could share? I’d be very grateful.

Rob

smcarberry
Posts: 1281
Joined: Fri Mar 30, 2007 4:31 pm
Location: USA

Re: O’Hallorans in Clare

Post by smcarberry » Tue Feb 05, 2019 2:34 pm

Hi, Rob,

I'll discuss a bit here, although I have no known O'Halloran in my own ancestry. My 2x-greatgrandfather Patrick Carberry was a sponsor in 1839 for a child of Michael Fitzgerald/Margaret Halloran in the RC parish (O'Callaghan's Mills) next to the Tulla one. I have kept a general eye out for O'Halloran materials.

Usually inquiries are on a specific line, but yours seems to deal with the sept as a whole. There are standard resources to see what conventional wisdom there is on history of a family a whole, usually connected with a particular prominent individual of the surname: Bernard and John Burke have a series of books published in the late 1800s/early 1900s, some of which are in major libraries and some online, digitized. Ditto for Edward MacLysaght, a Clare man and researcher of Irish families in general, as well as an authority on name origination. John O'Donovan and Eugene O'Curry developed family materials as result of their commissioned government work around Ireland in the mid 1880s; just input those names on WorldCat to see what is available where. I assume that you have already plumbed the depths of collections at the National Archives and the National Library, Dublin, both with handy search engines for what is in their collections.

In particular I want to bring to your attention one prominent O'Hallaron of East Clare, not connected with the place names you mentioned. Ballycunneen was the seat of Thady O'Halloran, a line which died out with his great-grandson John, who sold Ballycunneen in about 1897 to his cousin Michael Roche-Kelly of Firgrove. Thady is well-known for a "common place" book which he kept for his business matters on the estate; the book has been preserved. The National Library's collections includes these:

Thady O'Halloran of Ballycunneen, Co. Clare (1727-1798): his commonplace book edited; with a pedigree and some notes. By Patrick Hogan, North Munster Antiquarian Journal, Vol V, pp. 102- 116, 1946 – 8, NLI call no. Ir794105 n 1
and
Report on the O'Halloran Ms., the property of Mrs. P. K. Hogan, Mount Maulin, Enniskerry, a common-place book, containing O'Halloran genealogical notes written by T. O'Halloran of Ballycunneen, Bunratty, Co. Clare, circa 1743. (Photostat copy)

The other possibly-helpful observation that I should make is that the northeast corner of Clare was the site for transplanted Cork gentry back in the late 1600s. My family's parish of O'Callaghan's Mills is linked to one such man, and some of my family lived at Mountallon. Here is a description provided by the Clare-Limerick historian of the late 1800s/early 1900s:

THE ANTIQUITIES OF LIMERICK AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD
BY T. J. WESTROPP, PRESIDENT ; R. A. S. MACALISTER AND G. U, MACNAMARA
DUBLIN: HODGES, FIGGIS AND CO., LIMITED, 1916
http://www.archive.org/stream/antiquiti ... h_djvu.txt

"St Fynnan's Church in Quin.
In the Sacristy, north of the choir: 'Here lyeth the body of Mary Creagh, otherwise Macnemara, wife of Andrew Creagh, of the city of Limerick, merchant, and eldest daughter of Daniel Macnemara of Ardcluny, in the county of Clare, Esqr., and Mary Macnemara , otherwise O Callaghan, his wife, daughter and heiress of Thady Callaghan, of Mountallon, in said county, Esqr., deceased, who died the 28th of June, 1756.'

Thady O Callaghan, of Mountallon, [civil] parish of Clonlea, formerly of Coolroe, Co. Cork, was, we believe, the son of Conor O Calla- ghan, an officer in Clifford's regiment, transplanted to Clare in 1670. His wife was Mary Mac Carthy (ob., 1721), widow of Donough Callaghan (ob., 31 March, 1698, son of Donough, of Clonmeen, Co. Cork, son of Cahir Callaghan), who was a transplanted papist, and whose father obtained large estates in Co. Clare. Thady O Callaghan's daughter, Mary, married Daniel (ob., 1768), son of Finghin Macnamara, of Doon and Ardclooney (of the line of Sioda Cam, of Rosroe, ob., 1444), and was admitted to Grey's Inn, London, 24 June, 1713."

Finally, you might want to contact Paddy Waldron, who is not only a lecturer on how to set up a family DNA project, but who has a Halloran of Clare in his own family line.

Sharon Carberry
USA

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