DEENIHAN of Kilrush

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pwaldron
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DEENIHAN of Kilrush

Post by pwaldron » Sun Dec 30, 2012 7:24 pm

Journalist Breda Heffernan, writing in the Irish Independent on 15 Dec 2012, quoted Raghnall O Floinn, head of collections in the National Museum, as speculating that "there must be some relationship" between Jimmy Deenihan from North Kerry, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (including for genealogical matters) and Private Thomas Deenihan, originally from just across the Shannon Estuary in Kilrush, Co Clare, who died in Gallipoli on August 11, 1915. See
http://www.independent.ie/national-news ... 26630.html

There appears to have been only one Deenihan family in Kilrush (or anywhere in Clare, for that matter).

The family appear in the transcription of the 1901 census as Deehan at
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/p ... t/1082254/
and in 1911 as Denihan at
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/p ... et/364157/

Here is a brief summary:

Maurice Denihan, d. Bef 1901, m. 1883 Kilrush Q3 v.4 p.132 Dora(h) Griffin, 40 in 1901, 56 in 1911, d. 1923 Q2 aged 64 (daughter of Mary Griffin, a widow aged 80 in 1901).

They had the following children:
  • Judith (Julia) chr. Kilrush 20 Dec 1883, 17 in 1901
  • John chr. Kilrush 21 Jan 1885, 16 in 1901, Leading Seaman, Royal Navy, WWI (see http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... e_list.htm)
  • Thomas chr. Kilrush 19 Oct 1886, 14 in 1901, 23 and married in 1911, presumably the Thomas from Kilrush who died at Gallipoli
  • Maurice jr. chr. Kilrush 18 May 1888, 12 in 1901, 21 in 1911, d. 1914 Q4 aged 24
  • Edmond chr. Kilrush 4 May 1890, d. 1891 Q1 aged 0
  • Richard chr. Kilrush 24 Mar 1891, 10 in 1901, 19 in 1911
  • Catherine chr. Kilrush 27 Jun 1893, 8 in 1901, 18 in 1911
At first glance, John appears to be the only member of the family who served in WWI, but a few lines below him appears:
Dinihan Thos Pte Burton Street Kilrush Army R M F Killed in action in France
Thomas's marriage was registered in 1910 Kilrush Q4 v.4 p.127. The following marriages are on the same page:
  • Patrick Blake D.M.P. m. 19 Apr 1908 Margaret Breene (This is a very late registration of a marriage to which I have referred on another thread here: http://www.ourlibrary.ca/phpbb2/viewtop ... f=1&t=2924 )
  • Michael Houlihan D.M.P. m. Henrietta Kelly/O'Kelly
  • Thomas Deenihan m. Mary Scanlan
  • Patrick Hayes m. Delia Galvin
[Michael Houlihan's brother James went on to marry Margaret Breene's sister Mary in 1913.]

Thomas Deenihan and Mary Scanlan probably had three children, born as follows:
  • Susanna Deenihan Oct-Nov-Dec 1910 Kilrush
  • Mary Deenihan Oct-Nov-Dec 1911 Kilrush
  • Thomas Deenihan Jan-Feb-Mar 1914 Kilrush
In 1911, Thomas was enumerated with his widowed mother in Kilrush, but Mary and baby Susanna were boarding with a couple called Davin in Kilkee. Mary's birthplace is Kilrush, but has been mistranscribed as Kilkee. Mary has been married for 6 months and her baby is 4 months old. See
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/p ... ce/364854/

The CWGC entry for Thomas Deenihan at
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casua ... ,%20THOMAS
has no family details.

I suspect that Dora Griffin may have been Maurice Deenihan's second wife, something that could be easily confirmed by ordering a photocopy of the civil record of the marriage (oh, to have those available online!). There was an earlier marriage of a Maurice Deenihan further west ...

Murray Ginnane's transcript of the Carrigaholt marriage register at
http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... ptions.htm
includes:
[All three marriages may have been on December 30th 1870]
MAURICE DIM from Moneen, (as Mooneen)
married to KATE BRENNAN from KILTRELLIG
Witnesses: as Jas, James KEATING & BRIDGET BRADLEY
Revd Fr D Smyth [in the Minister’s column.]
The marriage is registered in Kilrush in 1871 v.4 p.459 as between Maurice Dunne and Catharine Brennan.

This couple had at least three children:
  • Transcribed by Murray Ginnane from the baptismal register as:

    JANUARY 14th 1872 BRIDGET DUNNE from MOVEEN ? / Moneen
    MAURICE DUNNE & KATE BRENNAN
    KATE BRENNAN IWM = Mahon ???

    but from civil records at https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FP1H-8YD as

    name: Bridget Denihan
    gender: Female
    baptism/christening place: CARRIGAHOLT, CLARE, IRE
    birth date: 17 Jan 1872
    birthplace: Carrigaholt, Clare, Ire
    father's name: Maurice Denihan
    mother's name: Catharine Brennan
    indexing project (batch) number: C70254-3
    system origin: Ireland-VR
    source film number: 255845
  • Transcribed by Murray Ginnane from the baptismal register as:

    APRIL 22nd 1877 BARTHOLOMEW Dremlian from MONEEN / Moveen ???
    MAURICE Dremlian ?? & KATE BRENNAN
    BRIDGET Dremlian ??? Rev M Corry C.C.

    but from civil records at https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FGD3-VQX as

    name: Batt Dernihan
    gender: Male
    birth date: 05 Mar 1877
    birthplace: Clare, Ireland
    father's name: Maurice Dernihan
    father's birthplace: Moveen
    mother's name: Kate Dernihan Brennan
    indexing project (batch) number: C00528-9
    system origin: Ireland-EASy
    source film number: 255983
  • Transcribed from civil records at https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FGDD-LHJ as

    name: Michael Denehan
    gender: Male
    birth date: 22 Jul 1878
    birthplace: Moneen, Clare, Ireland
    father's name: Maurice Denehan
    mother's name: Kate Brennan Denehan
    indexing project (batch) number: C00555-6
    system origin: Ireland-EASy
    source film number: 256012
Griffin, Brennan and Scanlan are all surnames which have strong associations with Scattery Island and the Shannon pilots. That connection would certainly explain how they became connected to a north Kerry family with a name so unfamiliar in west Clare as to generate this remarkable variety of spelling variations and mistranscriptions:

Deenihan
Deehan
Denihan
Dinihan
Dim
Dunne
Dremlian
Dernihan
Deenehan
Denehan

pwaldron
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Re: DEENIHAN of Kilrush

Post by pwaldron » Sun May 15, 2016 7:46 pm

The Gallipoli campaign had a devastating effect on one Kilrush family in August 1915. Thomas Deenihan died there on 11 Aug 1915 aged 28, leaving a widow and three children under five and a number of siblings, including Catherine, married to Martin McGrath, also away at war at the time, with three children under three at home in Kilrush. Just six days later, Martin died of wounds aboard a ship. Both brothers-in-law are commemorated on the Helles Memorial.

For more, see
https://www.facebook.com/waldronp/posts ... 5564123947
and
https://www.facebook.com/firstworldwark ... 9439500112

pwaldron
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Joined: Sat Aug 09, 2008 9:31 pm
Location: Ballina, Killaloe
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Re: DEENIHAN of Kilrush

Post by pwaldron » Thu Jan 06, 2022 2:01 am

Over nine years on, I stumbled across the marriages of Maurice Deenihan's parents, Thomas Denihan (son of another Maurice) and Bridget Shea, who were married first in the established church in Rathronan, County Limerick, on 28 Aug 1853 (see civil record) and again in the Catholic church in Athea parish on 14 Nov 1853 (see register). The various Latin terminology used in the Athea registers are the subject of another discussion.

By 1866, Thomas Denihan had died, for on 9 Oct 1866 in Kilrush Bridget remarried to a widower named Patrick Keane (see civil record).

I am almost certain that another victim of the First World War was a grandson of that second marriage - Thomas Deenihan's probable half first cousin, Charles Michael Wheeler, born in the Turret Lodge in Kilrush on 14 Aug 1894 (civil record), and died in France on 18 May 1918 (CWGC).

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