CONDR*Ns of County Cork

County Cork is the largest county in Ireland, at 2,895 square miles. Cork city is the largest city in the province of Munster, and the second largest city in the south of Ireland. It is therefore not surprising at first sight that a number of CONDRONs I’ve had contact with on email and Facebook relate their roots back to Co. Cork. 

Yet in fact, the nineteenth century and early twentieth century records show that there were not many CONDR*Ns in Co. Cork, and most of those came from the small Roman Catholic parish of Shandrum in the north of the county, close to the border with Co. Limerick. (There were even fewer CONDR*Ns in Co. Limerick.)

From the start of civil registration of births in Ireland in 1864 through to 1911, there were only 30 CONDR*N births registered in Co. Cork. Nineteen of those (nearly two-thirds of the total) were in the registration district of Kanturk, which contains the parish of Shandrum. And seven births in the neighbouring registration district of Kilmallock are all for the family of James CONDRON who was baptised in Shandrum parish in 1853, son of Patrick CONDRON and Margaret REIDY. The names Denis and Michael seem to be common amongst the male Shandrum CONDRONs, but John, William, George, Richard, Patrick, James, Timothy, Simon, Arthur, Jeremiah and David also occur.

There were 24 CONDR*Ns in Co. Cork in the 1901 census by my count, out of 839 CONDR*Ns in the whole of Ireland, and 25 in Co. Cork in the 1911 census. The only CONDR*Ns in Co. Cork in the 1911 census who were not born in that county were:  

• Joseph CONDREN in Ballymurphy, who was born in Stradbally, Queen’s County (Co. Laois) in about 1896 to James CONDRON and Bridget HEWITT;
• Denis CONDRON and his family in Knocktemple, who was born in London in about 1855 (though I have not found any record of this birth); and 
• Michael CONDRON in the city of Cork, who was born in Queen’s County in about 1835, married Elizabeth PRICE in Pembrokeshire, Wales, and had eight children (born variously in Wales and Scotland) before he returned with Elizabeth to Ireland.

After 1911 the number of births and marriages in Kanturk registration district declined. More and more births and marriages took place in Cork registration district, which includes the city of Cork, starting with the marriages there of Thomas CONDRON in 1915, Albert CONDRON in 1920, and James CONDRON in 1924.

 

Can CONDON become CONDRON?

As I have commented before (see my posting on Name Variants), surnames can be mispelled or can evolve according to local pronunciation. So when searching for our ancesters, or conducting a one-name study, it's necessary to look for records with variant spellings of the name. There are many instances of where CONDRON has evolved to say CONDRAN or CONDREN, or vice versa. It may change our understanding (one day!) of how our family surnames CONDR*N originated.

Sometimes it's claimed that CONDON and CONDRON are variants of the same name. So for example, it's not possible to set up a new DNA group at FamilyTreeDNA.com to study CONDR*N (as far as I know, I haven't actually tried), because the owner of the CONDON DNA Group Project has set up the project on the presumption that the names CONDON, CONDREN, CONDRON, CONGDON and CONRON are all connected.

So my question for readers of this blog is, does anyone have any well-documented example of the family name CONDON changing permanently to CONDRON (for example, when the family migrated from one country to another)? I don't mean an occasional misspelling - I have examples of where baptism records of a family sometimes spelled the name CONDON and sometimes CONDRON, apparently almost at random - but a permanent change.   I'm skeptical that these names are connected, but probably someone reading this will correct me!

Similarly, does anyone have a well-documented example of CONRAN changing permanently to CONDRAN, or CONRON to CONDRON in their family tree?  I think it's far more likely that such transitions have occurred, because putting a "D" in (or taking one out) might make the name more pronounceable. But I cannot see how a local pronunciation would lead to inserting an "R". So I think CONRAN, CONDRAN, CONRON, CONDRON are connected, but that CONDON and CONDRON are not. But I could be wrong, so .... .

If you have an example, please send it to me at Condran[AT]one-name.org (replace the [AT] with an @ sign), or post here using the Comment facility. Or post to FaceBook.

I look forward to hearing from you!

CONDRANs in New South Wales

As I have previously remarked, today most CONDRANs (with an "A"!) in the world are to be found in the USA, Australia and Canada. That of course is due in part to migration, and in large part to the vagaries of which genealogical branches have led to prolific offspring.

To judge by the activity on the Condran Clan Facebook group, most Australian CONDRANs today desend from a single ancester who arrived in New South Wales (NSW) from Ireland in the first half of the nineteenth century. That patriarch is Michael CONDRAN, who was born in about 1812 in Athlone, County Westmeath, Ireland, and who died in Wollombi, NSW in 1882. He married Mary Ann HANLEY in 1848: Mary Ann was born in about 1822 in County Tipperary, Ireland. Michael CONDRAN's parents are recorded as Patrick CONDRAN and Julia O'CONNELL.

Michael and Mary Ann appear to have had about ten children, born between about 1848 and 1867. Amongst them were three sons who had large families. Thomas Henry CONDRAN (1854-1911) married Ellen Winifred O'HERAN (or possibly O'HERAU) in 1876 in Maitland, NSW, and had four children, Frederick W. (b. 1877), Edwin Thomas (b. 1878), Albert Clarence Clive (b. 1880), and Gertrude (b. 1885). Michael (1856-1918) married Christina B. KERR in Wollombi, NSW, and had six children that I am aware of: Agnes Ruthina (b. 1884), Vincent Peter (b. 1886), Elizabeth Mary (b. 1888), Catherine (b. 1890),  Hyacinth (b. 1893), and Michael Hugh (b. 1895). Joseph Andrew CONDRAN (1862-1930) married Clara Jane MONNOX in 1887 in Wollombi, NSW, and appears to have had twelve children: Andrew John (b. 1888), Ernest Thomas (b. 1890), Millicent (b. 1890), Edward Albert Charles (b. 1892), Alfred George (b. 1895), Mary (b. 1898), Sabina (b. 1900), Frederick Arthur (b. 1905), Emma (b. 1907), William Joseph, Charles, and Henry Daniel ("Jim").

When, how, and why did Michael CONDRAN arrive in Australia? Ancestry.com's "New South Wales, Australia Convict Ship Muster Rolls and Related Records, 1790-1849" show three possible Michaels arriving in the early nineteenth century. Two of them appear to have birth dates that are too early and do not fit with the other available evidence: Michael CONDRON who arrived aboard the "Lord Sidmouth" in 1821, aged 35, and Michael CONDRON who arrived about the "John Barry" in the same year, aged 24. The most likely candidate in my view is Michael CONRAN, who arrived aboard the "Royal Admiral" in 1833, aged 21 (and hence born about 1812). Michael CONRAN and fellow transportees Michael MANNING (aged 30) and Owen HUNT (aged 24) were tried in County Westmeath, Ireland, in July 1832 of stealing two powder horns and convicted to transportation for seven years. According the ship's records, Michael CONRAN was 5 feet 7 inches tall and had blue eyes, brown hair and a "fresh" complexion.

If you have additional information about these Australian CONDRANs or can correct any of the above information, I would be pleased to hear from you!

Sources for this information quoted here include Ancestry.com, postings by fellow researchers at the Condran Clan Facebook group, and the birth, marriages and deaths records for New South Wales available at www.bdm.nsw.gov.au .

CONDRONs of Cloghan, Co. Offaly

In the nineteenth century, the densest population of CONDRONs was in County Offaly, Ireland (called King's County back then). Oops, that sounds like I might be insulting the Offaly CONDRONs! What I mean is that Co. Offaly had the largest number of CONDRONs as a proportion of the total population, or something like that. Anyway, that means it's quite a puzzle to sort out how the different CONDR*Ns in Co. Offaly in the nineteen century fit into different families. So here's a puzzle that I hope someone might be able to help me with.

Cloghan is a town in the west of Co. Offaly (see map below). It's not far from the town of Banagher. I have three CONDRON families all living in the Cloghan district electoral division (DED) in the 1901 census, and all three families were baptising children in the Roman Catholic church in Banagher in the period 1888-1900. The puzzle is, I cannot find any blood relation between the three families. So are they all related, or is it just coincidence that they're in the same place at the same time? Below are some details of each family.

Family 1 are living in the Ballingowan Glebe townland of Gallen civil parish in the Cloghan DED in 1901. The head of this family is Martin CONDRON who was born in about 1853 and died in 1906/7. He married Mary GUINAN in the parish of Moore, Co. Roscommon in 1878, and they had 7 children that I know of: Kieran (born 1880), John (born about 1882), Mary Jane or Marianne (born about 1884), Lucy (born 1886), Thomas (born about 1887), Edward (born 1891) and Martin (born about 1897). The last three children were baptised in Banagher, most of the earlier children were baptised in Ferbane.

Family 2 are living in the Tonlemone townland of Gallen civil parish in the Cloghan DED in 1901. The head of the family is Thomas CONDRON who was born in about 1840. He married Mary CLANCY in 1877. They too had 7 children that I know of: William (born about 1879), Kieran (born about 1880), Julia (also born about 1880), Patrick (born 1882), John (born about 1885), Kate (born about 1888), James (born 1890), Francis (born 1891) and Bernard (born 1894). Most if not all the children were baptised in Banagher.

Family 3 are living in Cloghan town in the Cloghan DED in 1901. The head of this family is John CONDRON, a railway porter who was born in Co. Laois (Queen's County back then) in 1868 and baptised there in Borris in Ossory. John married a Johanna (surname unknown) and they had two children: William Joseph CONDRON (born 1899) and James CONDRON (born 1900). The two children were baptised in Banagher. Unfortunately, Johanna died in 1902, and so by the 1911 census the two boys are living with their grandmother near Borris in Ossory, Co. Laois, while John himself is living in Tullamore, Co. Offaly. I also know that John's father was William CONDRON, who brought up a moderately large family in Borris in Ossory with his wife Judith or Julia (nee ROURKE) and was still living there in 1901. Going back a further generation, John's grandfather was also called John CONDRON: I don't know whether the grandfather lived in Co. Offaly or Co. Laois. William and Judith/Julia had 8 children, of whom I know of seven: John (head of Family 3), James (born 1870), Anne (born 1873), Michael (born about 1875), Thomas (born about 1877), Peter (born about 1880) and Johanna (born about 1883): most if not all were baptised in Borris in Ossory.

So, three CONDRON families with apparently separate origins, but living in the same place in 1901. Coincidence? Maybe.

If you know anything about any of these families, I would love to hear from you!


(Click to enlarge map).

Map of western Co. Offaly showing location of Cloghan and also parts of the adjoining counties of Roscommon, Galway and Tipperary. CONDRONs lived in quite a few places shown on this map. In particular, places nearby to Cloghan with early nineteenth century occurances of CONDRONs are Eglish (about 10km to the south), Lemanaghan (about 11km to the north-east) and Clonmacnoise (about 12km to the north-west: not indicated on the map, but approximately at the location of the R444 road sign on the banks of the River Shannon).

The map is copyright of Google Maps.

Name variants

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

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

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