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| Painting of a colliery at Seaham, County Durham, in the mid-nineteenth century(courtesy of Google Art Project) |
There were 208 CONDR*Ns in
the 1881 census of England. After Lancashire (which then included both
Manchester and Liverpool) and the greater London area, the county with most
CONDR*Ns was County Durham in the north-east of England. The CONDR*Ns of County
Durham were coal miners.
In County
Durham in 1881, there were 21 CONDR*Ns in six households. (I include the family
group of Thomas, Elizabeth and Elinor [sic] CONDEN, because earlier and
subsequent records indicate that their family name was actually CONDRON.) These
can be arranged into four (as yet) unconnected families.
Living in
Brandon & Byshottles in 1881, Thomas CONDRON and his wife Ann were born in
Ireland in about 1830. Thomas was a coal miner and died in Durham registration
district (RD) in 1887. Ann died in 1896 and is buried in Redhills Roman
Catholic Cemetery, as are various other family members. Thomas and Ann had
children James (born about 1852), Thomas (1855), Michael (1862) and Patrick (1865).
All the children were born in County Durham except Thomas, who was born in
Ireland. Thomas (1855-1911) married Susannah THORNTON (1862-1927) in 1880 in
Lanchester RD and they had children Mary Ann (1881), Catherine (1882), Susannah
(1885), Jane (1886), Joseph (1888), Ellen (1890), Francis (1892), Veronica
(1894) and Margaret (1896). Joseph married Maria O’DONNELL and there are
CONDRON descendants of this couple in County Durham to this day. Michael
(1862-1914) married Harriett PAYNE
in 1888, surprisingly in Kensington RD in London, and they had children John
Thomas (1889), Ann (1890), Kathleen or Cathrine (1892), Mary Ellen (1894), Ann
(1901) and Margaret (1908).
Living in
Hutton Henry in 1881, James CONDREN, a coal miner, was born in Queens County,
Ireland, in about 1843 and married Mary Ann McDERMOT(T) in Easington RD, County
Durham, in 1869. James and Mary Ann had children Catherine (1871), John (1873),
Alice (1874), Michael (1876), Mary (1878), Eliza Jane (1885) and Catherine Ann
(1892), all born in Easington RD. Michael (1876-1957) married Sarah Ann
SPELLMAN and there are still CONDREN descendants of this couple in the north-east
of England.
Living in
Wingate in 1881, William CONDREN, a coal miner, was born in Ireland in about
1844 and married Margaret GOUGH in about 1870 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. William
and Margaret had children John (1871), Ann (1872), James Thomas (1880), Mary
(1884) and Hugh (1890), all born in Easington RD. Interestingly, the family
migrated to the USA in 1892, arriving into Philadelphia on board the British
Princess on April 26th of that year. The ship’s passenger list has:
William CONDRON (40), miner; Margaret (35), wife; John (20), laborer; Ann (19),
spinster; James (10), child; Mary (8), child; and Hugh, infant. Yet the family
(or at least some of its members) returned to the UK, because William died in
1909 in the Sunderland RD, John got married in 1905 in the Houghton RD,
etc. John (1871-1932) married Dorothy
SCORER and they had children Margaret (1905), Thomas William (1906), Michael
(1908), Ann (1909) and Hugh (1911). Hugh had a son (also Hugh) and I believe
that CONDREN descendants continue to live in the north-east of England.
Finally,
living in Crook & Billy Row in 1881, Thomas CONDRON, a coal miner, was born
in about 1856 in Queens County, Ireland. In 1878, he married Elizabeth PURCELL,
who was born in about 1857 in County Kilkenny. They had children Eleanor
(1878), James (1881), Elizabeth (1882), Thomas (1886), Andrew (1888), John
(1891) and Margureta/Margaret (1896).
In my recent post, I suggested that Doonane in Queens County is a good place to
look for coal mining CONDR*N ancestors who came from Ireland. Although the
above information does not definitively link any of these miners to Doonane, it
is not inconsistent with the idea either. Indeed, the two who state their
county of origin both identify it as Queens County. Thomas (1855), son of
Thomas and Ann, who was born back in Ireland, may be the Thomas who was
baptised in Doonane parish in 1855. Alternatively, the Thomas living in Crook
and Billy in 1881 could be identified with the Thomas baptised in Doonane in
1855, or else perhaps the Thomas son of James who was baptised in Doonane
in 1853. Interestingly, in the
1911 census (where people often gave more detail about their origins) there is
a 38-year old miner James CONDRON living in Esh Winning, Co. Durham, who states
he was born in Doonane, as was his wife Mary and eldest child (also Mary).
As always, I
welcome corrections or additional information: please note that quoted birth
dates and so on may only be correct to within one year. I would also love to hear
from descendants of any of the CONDRENs and CONDRONs mentioned here. Please
send comments etc. to me at condran[AT]one-name.org .
