Condran, Condren, Condrin, Condron One-Name Study

Name variants

2011-11-24T15:02:00.000-08:00

Today is the Thanksgiving holiday, so first of all Happy Thanksgiving to all U.S. Condrans, Condrens, Condrins and Condrons! I don't know exactly how many people that is, but at the time of the 1930 census (the most recent U.S. census to be publicly viewable), the index on ancestry.com shows there were 1488 people in the U.S.A. with the name CONDR?N (where ? stands for any one letter), namely 226 CONDRANs, 336 CONDRENs, 31 CONDRINs and 906 CONDRONs. (The reason these numbers don't add up to exactly 1488 is presumably that a few entries have been indexed under more than one spelling.)

As this one-name study has developed, I have realized that surnames can often be misspelled, and that names people go by can evolve according to local pronunciations etc. particularly in the nineteenth century and earlier, before widespread literacy. I do still regard CONDON as a distinct name different from the ones under study here (even though CONDRON can sometimes be misspelled in the records as CONDON). But the following name variants can I think all be considered to be related, and therefore relevant to this one-name study. I have grouped them according to their being most common, uncommon, rare, and then those instances that possibly only occur as misspellings.

Most common
CONDREN, CONDRON, CONRAN

Uncommon
CONDRAN, CONRON

Rare
CONARON, CONDERAN, CONDRIN, CON(N)ERAN, CON(N)ORAN, CONRYN

Possibly only occur as misspellings
CONARAN, CONDERON, CONDORAN, CONDORON, CONDRUN, CONERIN, CON(N)ERON, CONORON, CONREN, CONRIN

I stand ready to be corrected!

It is interesting to speculate whether CONDRON and CONRAN, for instance, are more ancient in usage than CONDRAN, say, and if so whether CONDRAN is a corruption deriving originally from CONDRON or from CONRAN.

So to summarize, the names whose instances need to be collected in pre-twentieth century records in order to try to understand present-day distributions and origins of CONDRANs, CONDRENs, CONDRINs and CONDRONs are of the form CON*R?N, where ? is a single letter and * is any number of letters (including none); but excluding names of the form CONC*R?N which I consider to be distinct from those under study here. In searching indices etc. for possibly occurrences of the study names, I use these searches with the wildcards * and ? when the search engines permit:
CONA*R?N
COND*R?N
CONE*R?N
CONN*R?N
CONO*R?N
CONR?N

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

CONDRANs on Facebook

2011-07-23T12:20:00.000-07:00

I just checked the number of CONDRANs on Facebook, using the family name search facility at http://www.facebook.com/family/ . It shows 210 entries for CONDRAN. Not all of these entries are unique, and I reckon some CONDRAN Facebook users are missing. Also, of course, this search doesn't find married women who were called CONDRAN but who haven't retained CONDRAN in their married name. From these entries I can readily identify the geographical location of 84 users of Facebook with the name CONDRAN: there are 41 in the USA, 30 in Australia, 11 in Canada, and one each in the the UK and in mainland Europe (France/Portugal). In the USA, the principal location of CONDRANs in this sample is Pennsylvania. In Australia, the principal location of CONDRANs is New South Wales.

A great place on Facebook to connect with other CONDRANs is the Condran Clan group. You can try going directly to it at

http://www.facebook.com/groups/2408036585

and if that doesn't work just search for "Condran Clan" on Facebook.

CONDR*N News - 1881

2010-04-17T07:09:00.000-07:00

To continue this occasional series, I turned to the papers in the British Library on-line collection for 1881. It appears not to have been such an eventful year as 1871 for CONDR*Ns, though I did find a new piece of information about my great-grandfather Joseph CONDRAN.

Two CONDR*N policemen testified in court proceedings. In the Leeds police court, Police Constable CONDREN made a report; and in a Dublin coroner's inquest into the death of a policeman during an affray, acting-Sergeant 24C Edward CONDRON testified.

[Leeds Mercury, 9 Aug; Freeman's Journal, 27 Sep]

Another witness in a coroner's court was Joseph CONDRAN, butler, who was called as witness at the inquest into the death of his employer Samuel John TRUMAN, surgeon, who resided at Basford, Nottingham. The jury found that the deceased died from heart disease.

[Nottinghamshire Guardian, 11 Mar]

Private John CONDRON of the 41st Regiment, stationed in Cardiff, was charged with smashing two windows: he was fined 1 shilling for being drunk, and was sentenced either to pay for the glass or else to face seven days' hard labour: it is not recorded which he chose. And in Liverpool, Ann CONNOLLY and Bridget CONDRON were each sentenced to five years' penal servitude for stealing money from the persion of Patrick Kearney.

[Western Mail, 6 Jan; Liverpool Mercury, 21 Apr.]

The British government was engaged in fighting the Boers in the Transvaal War. Many newspapers reported the casualties, which included Private CONDRON of the 58th Regiment who was seriously wounded at Mount Prospect.

[The Standard (London) 22 Feb]

On a more domestic front, Miss F. CONDREN (listed amonst the people of Arklow and Woodenbridge) donated to the Political Prisoners' Sustenation Fund, and J. CONDREN of Avoca donated to the collection for Our Holy Father Pope Leo XIII. Also, D. CONDREN (or J. D. CONDREN) was reported several times as having attended the weekly meeting of the National Land League in Uppers Sackville Street [, Dublin]. And a pupil called CONDRON ("CONDRON II") at the Merchant Taylors' school in Crosby, Lancashire, was commended for English Subjects at the annual school Prize Day.

[Freeman's Journal, 17 Dec; ibid, 2 Aug; ibid, 25 May, 13 Jul; Liverpool Mercury, 30 Jun]

Most mentions in the year are of Caption CONDRON, who is listed in many advertisements in the Liverpool Mercury as caption of the City of Brussels of the Inman Line. This Royal Mail steamer was at this time sailing the route between Liverpool and New York, via Queenstown. I believe this is Capt. Henry Ainsworth CONDRON referred to in my blog post of 23 February 2009 concerning Charles CONDRON, silk manufacturer

CONDR*N News - 1871

2009-12-31T10:11:00.000-08:00

As one of an occasional series, today I look at coverage of CONDR*Ns in the newspapers for the year 1871 in the British Library 19th century newspapers on-line collection. This collection comprises full runs of 48 national and regional papers from the UK, including at that time Ireland.

Charge of manslaughter

The most sensational CONDR*N story of the year was the trial of Mary Condron of Henry Street, Manchester. Mary Condron, aged 26, was charged with having caused the death of her husband Joseph Condron. On Christmas Day, 1870, Joseph, who had been drinking, quarrelled with his wife regarding the quality of his dinner and kicked over the table. His wife told him he couldn't expect to have better food, considering he had not been working for 5 months. Joseph hit his wife, who was stirring the fire with a poker. He was about to hit her again when she turned around and struck him on the temple with the poker. Early in January 1871, Joseph went to Newton-le-Willows in search of work. He got wet through in the rain and soon after fell ill. He was admitted to the workhouse hospital, where he died on 17 Mar 1871. The workhouse doctor declared that he had died from erysipalas caused by a fracture to the skull, which induced one abscess above the eye and another beneath it. The jury acquitted Mary Condron.

[Manchester Times, 25 Mar, 29 Jul 1871; The Preston Guardian, 22 Jul; Liverpool Mercury, 28 Jul]

Other court trials

In a Dublin court, Samuel Condron and fellow defendants Patrick Pidgeon and Michael Toole were cleared by the jury of a charge of having stolen on 17 Dec 1870 a large quantity of barley and flour, the property of the Barrow Navigation Company, from the Dublin Canal stores. During the proceedings, James Murphy, a maltster of Clanbrassil Street, attested that Condron had been delivering corn at his place for many years and that he know Condron a long time as an honest man, whom he believed in these proceedings to have merely been acting as a carrier, as he had been accustomed.

[Freeman's Journal (Dublin), 12 Jan 1871]

A police court in Kingstown and Bray (Co. Wicklow) found one Esther Condron guilty of using abusive language and she was fined 40 shillings, or in default one month's imprisonment. She and fellow defendants John Hosey and wife were summoned in the matter by one Ellen Troy.

[Freeman's Journal, 3 Jul 1871]

Diverse announcements

Several CONDRONs made donations to Irish-French causes: Laurence Condron of Co. Wexford made a donation to aid for the wounded of the French army; Michael Condron of Little Strand Street, Dublin, made a donation to the Irish-France Ambulance Committee; and a Mr Condron won 9th prize - a lady's gold chain and cross - at the Kell's Bazaar for the French peasantry. Also in this same year, Thomas Condron of Arklow donated to the Peter's Pence Collection for the Pope.

[Freeman's Journal, 27 Feb, 4 Mar, 18 Mar, 2 May, 8 Aug 1871]

The Castlebridge Fair was held on St Stephen's Day (26 December). The principal buyers of livestock included a Mr Condron of Wexford.

[Freeman's Journal, 27 Dec 1871]

A mysterious marriage announcement

The final item is a small mystery. The following announcement of a Liverpool marriage between James CONDRON and Augusta KIDD appeared on 30 December:

Condron-Kidd - Dec. 26, at St. Mary's, Walton-on-the Hill, by the Rev. J. Lambeth, James, son of Mr. Thomas Condron, banker, Southampton, to Augusta, youngest daughter of the late Mr. William Kidd, of Cawthorne, Barnsley.

[Liverpool Mercury, 30 Dec 1871]

The mystery is that I can find no other record of this marriage, nor can I identify the banker Thomas Condron or a likely James son of Thomas. The named bride is probably Augusta Maria Kidd whose birth was registered in the first quarter of 1853 in the Wortley registration district. Perhaps the marriage did not in fact take place, though the notice had been sent to the newspaper, or the bridegroom was not in fact who he said he was? It would be good to inspect the parish register of St Mary's, Walton-on-the-Hill, to see whether the marriage actually took place.

Ireland 1911 census complete

2009-09-15T06:53:00.001-07:00

The Ireland 1911 census (http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie) is now online for all counties.

The counties with the highest numbers of CONDR*Ns (no. of individuals in parentheses) are:

Co. Dublin (213), Kings Co. (116), Co. Wicklow (94), Queens Co. (66), Co. Westmeath (50), Co. Kildare (34), Co. Carlow (30), Co. Cork (25), Co. Wexford (25).

The full list of numbers of CONDR*N individuals by county is as follows: Antrim (4), Armagh (0), Carlow (30), Cavan (11), Clare (0), Cork (25), Donegal (3), Down (0), Dublin (213), Fermanagh (0), Galway (4), Kerry (0), Kildare (34), Kilkenny (18), Kings (116), Leitrim (0), Limerick (9), Londonderry (0), Longford (11), Louth (0), Mayo (2), Meath (2), Monaghan (4), Queens (66), Roscommon (20), Sligo (7), Tipperary (2), Tyrone (0), Waterford (0), Westmeath (50), Wexford (25), Wicklow (94).

A visit to Offaly

2009-09-04T04:56:00.000-07:00

I recently had the pleasure of making a trip to Offaly. Offaly, known until 1922 as King's County, is perhaps where the CONDR*Ns originate. Certainly there is a relatively high density of CONDR*Ns in the county in the Griffiths evaluation (mid 19th century) and again in the 1911 Irish census.

The county town is Tullamore, and just opening a copy of the Tullamore Tribune I spotted several occurences of the name Condron, including one of the reporters! Also just outside the centre of town is the Condron Concrete factory.

One of the high spots of my brief stay in Offaly was to visit the historic holy site of Clonmacnoise which was often known in the 19th century as the Seven Churches (e.g. The Kings County Directory 1890 compiled by John Wright, see also wikipedia). There are some well preserved (and very well displayed) decorated High Crosses there, the oldest dating from c. 800AD.

Beyond the ancient remains lies a modern burial ground, and I spotted three Condron headstones there. Here are photos of them. (Click on any one of them to see a larger image.) I wonder if anyone reading this is related to these Condrons? It would be good to hear from you.

More 1911 Ireland Census

2009-06-23T23:39:00.000-07:00

The National Archives of Ireland have put online (http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/) the transcribed and indexed entries from the 1911 Ireland Census for a further five counties. This brings to a total of nine the counties that can currently be searched online at this site.

I have of course extracted the CONDR*N entries. The statistics of numbers of individuals found by county are as follows:

Antrim - 4

Cork - 25

Donegal - 3

Down - 0

Dublin - 213

Galway - 4

Kerry - 0

Kings Co. - 116

Wexford - 25

It is a working hypothesis that the CONDR*Ns may be traced back to King's County, so it is welcome that this is one of the counties now online. For interest, the districts in King's Co. where there are CONDR*N households in 1911 are: Banagher, Birr (multiple), Broughal (multiple), Cappancar, Cloghan (multiple), Clonmacnoise (multiple), Derrinboy, Derryad, Derrycooley, Dromina (multiple), Dromoyle, Dunkerrin, Durrow (multiple), Eglish, Frankford, Gallen, Killeigh, Lumcloom, Rahan, Screggan (multiple), Shinrone, Srah (multiple), Tullamore (multiple).

CONDR*Ns on the map

2009-05-17T12:09:00.000-07:00

There's a Condren's Lane in Arklow, Ireland (view on Google Maps here) and a Condron Lane in Passnic, New Jersey. There are Condron Roads in Liverpool UK and in Throckmorton, Texas, and a Condren Road in Newfane, New York. There's a Condron Hall (named after Christopher "Kip" and Margaret Condron) at the University of Scrafton, Scrafton PA, USA (pictured). There's a commune called Condren in Picardie, north-east of Paris (02700 Condren, France). There are Condron Streets in Valley, Nebraska and in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. There's a Condran Drive in Middletown, Pennsylvania, a Condren Avenue in Spartanburg, South Carolina and a Condron Circuit in Elderslie, New South Wales, Australia.

Do you know which individual CONDR*Ns these streets were named after, and when? Do you know of any other places or streets named CONDR*N? Could you send me a photo of the street sign or similar for any of these places? If so, do please get in touch!

Irish BMD extractions completed to 1958

2009-03-18T15:37:00.000-07:00

Just a brief post to say that my data extraction of CONDR*N Births/Marriages/Deaths civil registration records have now been completed to 1958. Including an estimated 70 births for 1864-9 whichI already had in my database from the IGI, I reckon that the numbers of CONDR*N births, marriages and deaths registered in Ireland in the period 1864-1958 are:
Births 1848
Marriages 911
Deaths 1397.

By comparison, for the same period in England and Wales the corresponding numbers are
Births 960
Marriages 667
Deaths 556.

Charles CONDRON silk manufacturer

2009-02-23T12:48:00.000-08:00

One of the more well-to-do CONDRONs I have found in 19th century England was Charles CONDRON, silk manufacturer of Macclesfield, Cheshire. Charles CONDRON was born in about 1805 in Macclesfield, a town renowned for its silk manufacture. He appears in the 1841 census as a clerk, and in 1851 as a silk manufacturer. With his wife, Ann, he had five daughters and one son, all born in Macclesfield: Emma (born c. 1825), Anne (born c. 1830), Elizabeth (born c. 1833), Mary (born c. 1835), Harriette (born 1841/2) and Henry Ainsworth CONDRON (born 1838). Emma married John TURNER in 1846/7; Ann married John Gerhard TIARKS, sometime rector of Loxton, Somerset, in 1862/3; Harriette married William Lawrence KENT in 1868. Harriette was evidently musical: she was "specially commended" in the first competition for the Potter Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Music, according to a report in the Daily News (London) of 22 December 1860.

On 23 January 1866 at St. Saviours, South Hampstead, Henry Ainsworth CONDRON married Johanna Louisa Augusta BISHOP, daughter of Sir Henry R. BISHOP, professor of music at the University of Oxford: they were married by Henry's brother-in-law the Rev. J. Gerhard TIARKS. Johanna died on 25 September 1875 "after a short illness", but not before the couple had had two sons and two daughters: Henry Bishop (b. 1866/7), Charles Percy (b. 1868), Emma Louise (b. 1872) and Alice Riviere (b. 1874). Captain Henry Ainsworth CONDRON, by then of Blundellsands near Liverpool, subsequently married Jane Lawrence KENT in 1880: he died in 1889. His widow Jane died on 9 March 1900. Henry Bishop CONDRON died in Santos, Brazil, of the yellow fever in April 1893, aged 26 years, as reported in the Liverpool Mercury of 15 April of that year. The other son, Charles Percy CONDRON, married Florence Alice E. HUNT, made his living as a ship store dealer, and died in 1946 in Liverpool.

Charles CONDRON was declared bankrupt in 1855: in 1861 he is described as a "manager in a silk mill". He died on 19 Feb 1869. His widow Ann outlived him by 14 years and died in 1882/3.

As always, I would be delighted to hear from any descendants.

CONDR*N update

2009-02-04T12:41:00.000-08:00

Its been a while since I posted, though the CONDR*N one-name study has not been inactive! New records of births for County Wicklow have been put online by the Irish Family History Federation (IFHF - see the blog entry for 5 April 2008), which is an important county for CONDR*Ns with over 250 entries, particularly in Arklow. Also I'm happy to have had contact with a couple of people decended from the Condron brushmakers featured in the posting of 12 October 2008. And I discovered recently two more Facebook Groups devoted to Condrons: "Condron Family Tree" and "Condrons" - it's great to see some younger(!) Condr*ns also interested in tracing family roots.

In the UK the 1911 census for much - not yet all - of England has been released online. To date I have traced 231 CONDR*Ns, and no doubt this number will increase particularly when County Durham goes online, as well as the Welsh counties.

Another important development has been the pilot-version release of Irish civil births, marriages and deaths indices for 1845-1958 at the Family Search Record Search. Previously these were only available as far as I know by visiting the records office in Ireland. Of course I am extracting all the CONDR*Ns and so should be able to help if anyone is looking for a CONDR*N in Ireland in that time frame.

That's a quick update. Do keep those emails coming!

William Condron of HMS Strafford

2008-12-07T02:46:00.000-08:00

The oldest CONDR*N document of which I have a copy is the will of William Condron, dated 1744:

I William Condron Mariner now belonging to his Majesty's Ship Strafford being of sound and disposing Mind and Memory, do hereby make this my last Will and Testament. ...[A]s for such worldly Estate and Effects which I shall be possessed of or intitled unto at the Time of my Decease, I give and bequeath the same as followeth that is to say unto my loving Friend Ann Grafton of Portsmouth in the county of Hants. All such Wages Sum and Sums of Money Goods Chattles Estate Rights and Credits whatsoever that I shall be possessor of at the time of my Decease I give and bequeath to the said Ann Grafton her Heirs Executors Administrators and Assigns. And I do hereby nominate constitute and appoint the said Ann Grafton sole Executrix of this my last Will and Testament. ... In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this twentieth day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand and seven hundred and forty four and in the eighteenth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Second ... .

Does anyone have any older CONDR*N documents?

The oldest CONDR*N events in my database are a marriage and christening in St. Giles, Cripplegate, London, in 1578: Ann, daughter of John CONDRON, christened on 24 August; and John CONDRON marrying Katheren HEWETT on 16 November of the same year. Both of these are from the International Genealogical Index (IGI).

The next oldest events, over 100 years later in Dublin and also from the IGI, are at St Michan's, Dublin: the marriage of Robert CONDRAN and Mary CARLETON on 31 July 1695, and the christening of their son Richard on 31 August 1697.

Does anyone know of any older CONDR*N events?

CONDRANs of Nova Scotia

2008-11-08T07:05:00.000-08:00

I'm grateful to Darrell Condran of Nova Scotia, Canada, administrator of the Condran Clan group on Facebook, for permission to share this picture of Condran's Grocery in Woodside, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. John Condran, who was Darrell's ggg-grandfather, was one of the original settlers of Woodside, Dartmouth, in the mid-nineteenth century. There have been CONDRANs in Nova Scotia ever since. The store in Woodside was founded by Darrell's g-grandfather. Darrell took the picture about 30 years ago, since which the store has been demolished.

The Condran Clan group connects Condrans from across the world, including Australia, Canada and the USA. If you are a Condran I encourage you to go and find the group on Facebook!

John CONDRON strikes it rich

2008-10-19T09:38:00.000-07:00

This item from The Evening Post (Wellington, New Zealand), Monday December 31, 1906

Striking It Rich

The Poseidon Rush

Outlying the main Poseidon rush, and almost on the eastern outskirts of the pegged-in ground is situated the claim in which the 960oz nugget was recently unearthed within 2ft of the surface. The story of the acquirement of the lease by the four partners is one of romance (writes a special representative of the Argus). Scarcely five weeks ago two Newbridge miners, John Condron and Samuel Woodall, walked to Poseidon. They pegged out adjacent claims on the easterly limits of the rush, and then decided to amalgamate their interests. George Brooks, who had previously worked as a mate with Condron, joined the party, but still no success was met with. About three weeks ago Robert Woods, a Woodstock resident, who follows mining at Bendigo, purchased a one-sixth share in the claim from Condron and Brooks for £5, but after three days' work he said he would rather go back to a regular job, and he sold his share to a new-comer, Frederick Eva, for £2 10s. That share is now worth £500. Condron and party continued work, and they sent about 17 loads to the puddling machine, for the return of 28dwt of gold. Then the lucky day arrived. At half-past 3 on Tuesday afternoon, when all attention was centred in the discovery of a 373oz nugget by Williamson and Stevenson, in an adjoining claim, Woodall started to pick from the surface. At a depth of 15in his pick struck a hard substance, and he beckoned to Condron. "There's something here, Jack," he exclaimed. "Stand behind me." Condron did so, and when Woodall placed the point of his pick underneath the surface the nugget rolled out on to the bottom at their feet. Condron, as he lifted the gold, exclaimed, "Oh, here's a beauty!" but Woodall simply stared at the treasure speechless. Then the crowd gathered. The nugget was embedded in dark dry clay, and as it fell from its bed it weighed 97lb avirdupois. It measured 15in in length, about 7in across, and had a thickness of from 4in to 5in. According to its size, it should have weighed more than it did, and it was evident that it contained a fair proportion of quartz.

The Poseidon gold rush took place in central Victoria, Australia, between 1906 and about 1912. The above article was found on the New Zealand website, PapersPast (http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/). I have no knowledge at present of what happened to John Condron and his new-found wealth: if you do, please let me know!

CONDRON ancestor pictures?

2008-10-12T08:49:00.000-07:00

Does anyone have pictures of their CONDR*N ancestors from the 19th or early 20th century? If so, I would be delighted to feature them in this blog with some biographical detail of the ancestor. Please email me at condran@one-name.org and share with the rest of us the pictures of your CONDR*N ancestors.

CONDRON brush-makers of North London

2008-10-12T07:53:00.000-07:00

Today I feature a CONDRON family in 19th century North London. These CONDRONs were brush-makers for at least two generations. One of them (probably Richard CONDRON, see below) was interviewed on 12 September 1893 about conditions in the brush-making trade: the interview (of which I have a copy) can be found in the collection of social reformer Charles Booth (pictured left) in the library of the London School of Economics. The patriarch of this family was Thomas CONDRON, brush-maker, who was born in Blackfriars, Surrey (UK) in c.1809 and died in the St Pancras district of North London in 1858. He married Charlotte BARRETT and they had three children of whom I am aware: Thomas William (b. c.1834), Richard (b. c.1835) and Charlotte (b. 1843). Charlotte married a Charles DUTTON in Islington in 1861. The brothers were both brush-makers. Thomas married Mary Ann BRAY in Islington in 1861, and died in Islington in 1908: the family are to be found in Wedmore Street in the 1891 census and not far away in Hargrave Park ten years later. Richard and his wife Sarah are found in Offord Road in 1891 and in Thornhill Crescent in the 1901 census. Both are close to the Caledonian Road in North London, which is apparently where the Mr Condron interviewed by Charles Booth had his premises. Mr Condron made "fancy work": hair brushes, clothes brushes and hat brushes. It is evident that by the 1890s times were not so easy for the English brush-making trade: the good times were the 1870s in the aftermath of the Franco-German war when those two nations were struggling to recover from the dislocation of their trade.

I have more extensive information about this family into the twentieth century if any members of the family wish to contact me off-line.

End of summer

2008-09-07T05:59:00.000-07:00

This blog has been inactive over the summer, but I have been adding sporadically to my database of CONDR*N records and had a very enjoyable trip to Ireland a two weeks ago, visiting Co. Offaly for a couple of days and doing some extraction of CONDR*N records in the National Library of Ireland and General Register Office in Dublin for a couple of days prior to that. In Tullamore, Co. Offaly, I was even able to pop in to the Condron Concrete Works!

I was asked recently whether I am also interested in the name CONDERN. This is a new one to me, but the answer is yes! At present I am capturing all records of surnames COND*R*N (where * is a wildcard representing 0 or more characters), since I believe these names were probably used and recorded somewhat interchangeably. I realise that our CONDR*N forbears may also have dropped the "D" so in the future intend to collect CON(D)*R*N (so including CONRAN and CONRON) though this is on the back-burner for now.

Similar names that I am NOT studying include CONDON, CONDROY, CONDROW, CONDRY, CORCORAN as I don't believe them to be connected (though occasionally they may arise through transcription errors).

The Irish Family History Foundation (IFHF) has continued to add to its online indices of records (see my blog of 5 April 2008) which is great. Various counties now have indices to extant census records as well as to parish records. The records from Irish Midlands Ancestry for Cos Offaly and Leix (King's and Queen's Counties) are not yet online, but I had a very encouraging conversation with someone in the centre at Tullamore when I popped in while I was in Co. Offaly. He said that the parish records have all now been prepared for uploading and could appear in "as little as a few weeks" or longer: it now depends only on the paperwork being sorted out with the IFHF. This is good news and I hope that the IFHF and Irish Midlands Ancestry will now get the records online very soon.

CONDR*Ns in the Proceedings of the Old Bailey

2008-05-05T12:02:00.000-07:00

The historical records of proceedings of the Old Bailey, London's central criminal court, which have recently gone on-line at http://www.oldbaileyonline.org, reveal a few CONDRENs and CONDRONs who paid dearly for breaking the law.

1726 December 7 James COWDON alias CONDRON Theft - grand larceny
James Cowdon, alias Condron , was indicted for stealing a Fustian Frock, Value 10 Shillings, a Wig 7 Shillings, a pair of Shoes 3 Shillings, a Leather Apron and 2 Linnen Handkerchiefs , Oct. 29 .
John Baxter depos'd. That he found the Goods upon the Prisoner in Clement's Lane in Clare-Market, the Sunday was Sev'night after.
The Prisoner said he was sorry for it, and intended to bring the Goods again. The Jury found him guilty to the Value of 10d.
Punishment: Transported.

1748 July 6 Thomas CONDRON Theft - receiving
Catharine Bourne was indicted for breaking and entering the dwelling-house of William Simpson , about the hour of two in the night, and stealing two silver spoons, a ham of bacon, a table-cloth, two pewter dishes, and one hundred and eight glass bottles, the property of William Simpson , in his dwelling-house. Thomas Condron was indicted for receiving a ham of bacon, and two pewter plates, part of the said goods, knowing them to be stolen , June 12 .
Punishment: Thomas CONDRON was sentenced to be transported for 14 years.

1831 October 21 John CONDREN Theft - stealing from master.
JOHN CONDREN was indicted for stealing, on the 29th of September , two 100l. Bank notes, and an order for payment of 30l. , the property of John Phillips Beavan , his master.
MR. JOHN PHILLIPS BEAVAN . I am a solicitor , and live in Sackville-street - the prisoner was in my service as porter for about eight months. On Thursday, the 29th of September, I gave him two 100l. Bank notes and a cheque for 30l.; I desired him to leave the two 100l. notes at my bankers, Sir C. Scott and Co., and to bring me the money for the cheque - he did not return; I found him in custody at Liverpool on the following Monday; when I went into the room I said."I am sorry to see you in this situation: you are the last man in the world I should suppose would be guilty of such conduct" - he said he was very sorry for it, that it was the first time he had ever committed a wrong act, and he said a 100l. note which was found on him was mine also one hundred and three sovereigns, which he said he got in exchange for the other 100l. note and the cheque- I have recovered 203l.
Cross-examined by MR. PHILLIPS. Q. You believe it is his first offence? A. Yes - he bore an excellent character from several masters with whom he lived many years- he could have robbed me of 700l. the day before.
JOHN McCOMB . I am an officer of Liverpool. I apprehended the prisoner - Mr. Beavan's evidence is correct.
GUILTY . Aged 27.
Strongly recommended to Mercy by the Prosecutor and Jury.
Punishment: Transported for 7 years.

1887 April 25 George Stratford CONDREN Theft - mail theft
GEORGE STRATFORD CONDREN (22) PLEADED GUILTY to three indictments for stealing while employed in the Post-office three letters containing orders for the payment of money, the property of Her Majesty's Postmaster-General, also to four indictments for forging and uttering receipts to the said orders.
Punishment: 5 years' penal servitude.

A big welcome to the IFHF on-line genealogy databases

2008-04-05T12:44:00.001-07:00

I am delighted that the Irish Family History Foundation has made a major step towards making searchable parish records for the whole of Ireland available through the Irish Genealogical Online Record Search System. This will surely revolutionise genealogical research for Ireland.

So far, records are online (ifhf.brsgenealogy.com) for 19 of the counties of Ireland: Antrim, Armagh, Cavan, Cork (north), Down, Dublin, Fermanagh, Galway, Kildare, Kilkenny, Leitrim, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Roscommon, Tipperary, Tyrone and Westmeath. Those for Donegal, Sligo and Wicklow are "coming soon", whilst for 10 counties plus Cork (south) and Dublin City there are no indications of when yet they will become available online: Carlow, Clare, Derry, Kerry, Laoise, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Waterford and Wexford.

This development by the IFHF is a far-sighted one. I am sure that by making it much easier and more efficient for individuals to search their indexes online for free and then obtain selected full records also online for a reasonable fee, they will greatly promote Irish genealogical research and increase the income of the member organisations of the IFHF.

For the most part the records cover the nineteenth century. In the county records so far available I have found 673 CONDR*N baptisms and 278 marriages, plus a few dozens of births, deaths and burials records. Of these, the counties with the most occurences of these names are Dublin, Kildare and Westmeath.

As the CONDR*Ns originate in the heartlands of Offaly (King's County) and Laoise (Queen's County), it is a slight regret that these two counties are not amonst those already online. It is very much to be hoped that Irish Midlands Ancestry, who hold the records for Offaly and Laoise, will engage with this initiative and put their records online in the near future.

Surname challenge

2008-03-23T06:54:00.000-07:00

I have today added a downloadable list of all CONDRANs, CONDRENs and CONDRONs from Griffiths Valualtion of Ireland to the Condran One-Name Study website. Griffiths Valuation was the outcome of a survey by Sir Richard Griffiths, Ireland's Commissioner of Valuation. The survey was used to determine the amount of tax each person should pay. This involved determining the value of all privately held lands and buildings in rural as well as urban areas to figure the rate at which each unit of property could be rented year after year. The resulting survey was arranged by barony and civil parish with an index to the townlands appearing in each volume. Griffith's Valuation can be used as an excellent census substitute for the years after the Great Famine as censuses prior to 1901 were destroyed. These data from the index to Griffiths Valuation were extracted using the excellent site http://www.failteromhat.com. Unfortunately this site does not give all information that is available in Griffiths Valuation (in particular "description of tenement"). If anyone can tell me where on the web I can find these additional details, or if anyone can send those to me for the CONDR*Ns listed in Griffiths Valuation, I would be most grateful.

I had an email recently from Bill Conran of Reno, Nevada. Among several interesting pieces of information Bill shared with me was that a Philip CONRAN was mayor of Dublin in 1593. Bill asks whether my line been traced to a Conerain or O'Conerain founding father, and whether I have Church of Ireland or Quaker ancestors or were they Catholic? On the latter point, I don't know for my own ancestors but it is noteworthy that in the 1911 census of Dublin where religion is recorded all the CONDR*Ns are Roman Catholic. Of course, non-Catholics may have emigrated. It would be interesting to hear what religious faiths other people's CONDR*N ancestors were.

As for Bill's first question, for my own family line the answer is not as yet. But it's a very good question, so here's the Surname Challenge: has anyone out there with CONDRAN/CONDRON or CONRAN/CONRON forebears traced their line to a CONERAIN or O'CONERAIN ?

Changes in surnames

2008-02-21T11:52:00.000-08:00

Surnames can and do change over the generations, meaning that some lateral thinking may be required to succeed in tracing our ancesters to earlier generations. This is well illustrated by Karen Conderan's family. I am grateful to Karen for sharing the following information. Karen's great-great-grandfather was John CONRAN of County Carlow, Ireland. John CONRAN's son Patrick emigrated to Canada. There his name appears under a variety of spellings in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century directory listings. Finally it appears as CONDERAN which it has been consistently since. Having run into a brick wall tracing her family back before Patrick, Karen was fortunate to find baptismal records for Patrick CONDERAN and his brother James showing CONRAN as the original spelling of their surname. So as Karen says, we should really consider all the possible variations in spelling - an extra letter after the D, and especially dropping the letter D - if we run into a dead end. It worked for her!

Origins of the CONDR*N surname

2008-02-14T00:45:00.001-08:00

I'm grateful to Robert CONDRON for the following information on the origins of the CONDRAN, CONDRON etc. surname (posted to the CONDRON Rootsweb mailing list 31 Jan 2008):

The Irish surname Condron is patronymic in origin, being one of those names derived from the first name of the father. Thus the name means "son of Condron". The name finds its roots in the Irish surname O Conarain, the prefix "O" denoting one who is the descendent of or the grandson of Conarain, the personal name of the original bearer. The Irish name was then anglicized as Conron or Condron, the "O" being dropped, probably as it was a reminder to the bearer that he was one of a conquered nation. Condron is a relatively modern variant, as all known references to the name before 1700 take the forms Coneran, o'Conran and O'Coneran.

Families bearing this name originated in County Offaly, where the name was common and it was also popular in the adjoining counties of Leix and Kildare, as can be seen in the Ormond Deeds, the Tudor Fiants and Petty's "census". In Munster the surname is recorded, in the form Coneran, in the survey of County Fermanagh, made in 1603. There people bearing this name are mentioned as coarbs, that is the abbot or "heir" of the saintly founder, of the "parish church of the Mill" in the barony of Tirkennedy. However the surname has not survived there, as is has in Lenister. The place name Ballyconran in County Wexford suggests that there were once influential families bearing this name living there also.

UK CONDRANs

2008-02-14T00:33:00.000-08:00

One of the pleasures of genealogy is that one occasionally makes contact with hitherto unknown relatives. Hence it was a great pleasure recently to be contacted by Nick CONDRAN. It turns out that Nick CONDRAN's great-grandfather Ernest CONDRAN (b. 1893, Nottingham) and my grandfather Frank CONDRAN (b. 1890, Nottingham) were brothers. Nick tells me that of the small number of CONDRANs in England and Wales in 2002, 13 are descendants of or related by marriage to descendants of Ernest CONDRAN.

CONDRAN website goes live

2008-01-20T06:55:00.000-08:00

The new site for CONDRAN One-Name Study information (including
of course CONDREN, CONDRIN, CONDRON) is now live at
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~condran .
I hope to develop the pages to include links relevant to these names, downloadable material such as census listings and family histories, surname distribution maps, and other material on individuals and families with these names that people want to see or contribute.

Michael Thompson
condran[AT]one-name.org (replace [AT] with @)

CONDRAN profile page created at Guild of One-Name Studies

2008-01-12T07:26:00.000-08:00

The Guild of One-Name Studies (http://www.one-name.org) hosts pages profiling the names studied by members. I have just created a profile page for the CONDRAN One-Name Study: it is available at http://www.one-name.org/profiles/condran.html . This will be updated from time to time as the study progresses. Comments and suggestions are welcome.

Rarity and possible geographical origins

2008-01-05T09:11:00.000-08:00

The surnames CONDRAN/CONDREN/CONDRIN/CONDRON are uncommon. In the 1881 census of England and Wales there are 189 people in total with these names (CONDRAN:29, CONDREN:29, CONDRIN:2, CONDRON:129), with a further 33 in the 1881 census of Scotland (CONDRAN:3, CONDREN:3, CONDRIN:9, CONDRON:18). An extract of an Office of National Statistics database of surnames in use in England, Wales and the Isle of Mann in September 2002 (http://www.taliesin-arlein.net/names) indicates just over 1000 people with these names, as follows: CONDRAN:21, CONDREN:202, CONDRON:839. In 2002 this makes CONDRON the 7590th most common name in the UK, with CONDRAN and CONDREN being much rarer still (87652th and 21183th respectively).

It seems likely that most if not all lineages of people with these names link back originally to Ireland. Although not a definite indication of ultimate origins, the distribution of householders with the name CONDRON and variants in the Griffiths Valuation of Ireland 1848-1864 is suggestive. The names CONDRAN/CONDREN/CONDRIN/CONDRON are uncommon even in Ireland. In the Griffiths Valuation of Ireland index (http://www.failteromhat.com/griffiths.htm) there are only 132 heads of household with these names. Of these, 33 are in County Laois (also known as Leix, formerly Queens County) and 25 in County Offaly (formerly Kings County), suggesting that the names perhaps originate in this central midlands area of Ireland. The next highest aggregations of people with these names are 22 in Dublin (County and City) and 18 in County Kildare. It would be natural for there to have been a migration from the provinces towards Dublin, and Kildare is situated directly between Dublin and the counties of Offaly and Laois.

Condran, Condren, Condrin, Condron One-Name Study

2007-12-30T13:43:00.000-08:00

This Blog is primarily to record day-to-day activities of the Condran, Condren, Condrin, Condron One-Name Study.

My initial interest in the name came through researching my mother's family CONDRAN in Nottingham in the UK. I now run a One-Name Study into the names Condran, Condren, Condrin and Condron registered with the Guild of One-Name Studies (http://www.one-name.org). As a member of the Guild I collect all occurences of these names worldwide and will happily share my researches with others interested in the Condran, Condren, Condrin, Condron names in response to requests for information. If you send me a request for information, please be as specific as possible.

I hope that this blog will facilitate contact and exchanges with others interested in the Condran, Condren, Condrin, Condron names. Most of the data I have collected to date are for the United Kingdom, and I am gradually acquiring data for Ireland. At present I would particularly welcome information about occurences of these names in the United States and Australia.

Welcome to my Blog ... .

Michael Thompson