CONDR*Ns of King's County (Offaly)

As I have said before, the CONDR*Ns perhaps originate from County Offaly (which was called King's County until 1922) in the midlands of Ireland. There are many CONDR*Ns (mostly CONDRON) in the county in the Griffith's Valuation of Ireland (mid 19th century) and in the 1901 and 1911 censuses.

It was only recently, however, when responding to a question about someone's King's County CONDRON ancestors, that I thought to map out where in Offaly the CONDR*Ns were distributed.

This county map shows the distribution of CONDR*Ns in the 1901 census for King's County.

Places with CONDR*N heads of household in the 1901 census

The small dots each indicate a townland with one household in which the head of household was a CONDR*N. The larger dots show townlands with more than one CONDR*N head of household, as follows: Clonfinlough and Glaskill (each have 4 such households), Pollagh (3 households). (A townland is a small geographical division of land used in Ireland. There are more than 1,100 townlands in Offaly.) The star denotes Tullamore, the county town, where there was also one CONDRON head of household.

The CONDR*Ns are pretty well spread about and don't have a single centre of concentration, though they are predominantly around Tullamore and in the west of the county.

The 1901 census is the earliest surviving census of the whole of Ireland. However a useful "census substitute" is the Griffith's Valuation of Ireland which recorded landowners and tenants in the mid 19th century. For King's County, the valuation was completed in July 1855, almost fifty years earlier than the 1901 census and almost ten years before universal civil registration of births, marriages and deaths began in 1864. Therefore the Griffith's Valuation is a useful early snapshot of where people lived.

Places with CONDR*Ns in the mid 19th century Griffiths valuation

This county map shows the distribution of CONDR*Ns in King's County in the Griffith's Valuation. Each small dot indicates one CONDR*N tenancy in that townland. The bigger dots indicate multiple CONDR*N tenancies, as follows: Glaskill (6 such tenancies), Clonfinlough (3 tenancies) and Fertaun (which almost merges with Glaskill on the map: 2 tenancies). There was one CONDRON tenant in Tullamore.

This shows that Glaskill (in Rahan & Lynally Roman Catholic parish) and Clonfinlough (in Clonmacnoise parish) were concentrations of CONDR*Ns in the mid 19th century as well as at the beginning of the 20th century. Although a few other place names are in common between the circa 1855 and 1901 distributions, most others are different although the overall geographical locations are similar. This is probably because the CONDR*Ns were generally tenant farmers, not land owners, and so by choice or - more likely - force of circumstance were more likely to move around than land owners would.


Comments and corrections welcome, either by leaving a comment below or by email to me: CONDRAN[AT]ONE-NAME.ORG .

Senator Michael H. CONDRON

The Massachusetts State House, Boston (image copyright of  Shane Hawke - hawkebackpacking.com)

Michael Henry CONDRON, a three-term Democrat senator for Berkshire in the Massachusetts Senate, was born in Pittsfield, MA, on Feb. 13, 1882, and died there on 9 May 1966. A master plumber by trade, Michael CONDRON served a term in the Massachusetts House in 1939-1940 and three consecutive terms in the Massachusetts Senate 1945-1950. Following his defeat in the 1950 election, he was appointed director of civil service registration by Massachusetts Governer Dever.

Michael Henry CONDRON was the son of Irish immigrant Michael CONDRON, who married Maria KANE in Pittsfield, MA, on 12 April 1877. The 1900 census indicates that Michael and Maria had 14 children, of whom seven were still living at that time. These were: Lizzie (born 1879), John (1880), Michael Henry (1882), Katie (1884), Patrick (1886), Nellie (1888) and Annie (1891).

The marriage record of Michael CONDRON senior indicates that he was born in King's County, Ireland, in about 1851, and that his parents (and hence the grandparents of Michael Henry CONDRON) were Patrick and Bridget CONDRON. Interestingly, two other CONDRON men who were born in Ireland and lived and got married in Pittsfield also gave their parents' names as Patrick and Bridget. One was Patrick CONDRON, born in about 1845 in "Tolemore, Ireland" [possibly Tullamore, King's County], who married Mary LALLY (also variously recorded as LARLEY and LASLEY) in 1875. The other was John CONDRON, born in "Ireland" in about 1856, who married Susannah FEEHEY (or FERREY or FUREY) in 1889. Possibly Michael, Patrick and John were all brothers, though the evidence is not conclusive: Patrick and Bridget were quite common names in Ireland, and as yet I have not found three baptisms in Ireland to match these three men.

Michael Henry CONDRON married Mary Louise CULLEN on 11 October 1905 in Pittsfield. They had eight children: Edward Henry (1907), Mary Elizabeth (1908), Marjorie Louise (1910), Michael Harold (1912), John Farley Francis (1916), Francis Joseph (1918), Elizabeth Helen (1919) and Joseph James (1924). Francis Joseph CONDRON followed in his father's footsteps of public service, serving as city clerk for Pittsfield from 1971 until 1983.

As usual I welcome corrections or additional information, and would be particularly pleased to hear from anyone related to these CONDRONs. Leave a comment here or email me at CONDRAN[AT]ONE-NAME.ORG .

Finally, Happy New Year 2014 to Condrans, Condrens, Condrins and Condrons everywhere!

Little Ireland, and an Offaly update

Three months ago I wrote about a puzzle of three CONDRON families of Cloghan, Co. Offaly ("Family 1", "Family 2", "Family 3") because I could find no link between them. I still have not solved that puzzle, though I have found out some more about at least one of the families. In the 1871 UK census, the following members of "Family 3" are living in Hulme, south Manchester: John (age 2) with his parents William (age 28) and Judith (nee ROURKE) and younger sister Jane (age 10 months). In the same household are two other CONDRON families: Thomas (age 30) with wife and one child, and Michael (age 32) with his wife Joanna (nee WALSHE or WELSH). Everyone except Thomas's child was born in Ireland. Could Thomas perhaps be the same Thomas who was head of "Family 2" in Cloghan? It seems quite likely though not proven that William, Thomas and Michael are brothers. One small piece of supporting evidence is that Michael's marriage record to Joanna at St Wilfrid's RC church in Hulme shows that his father was called John, which I know also to be the name of William's father.

The historic townships of Hulme and Chorlton-on-Medlock (not to be confused with Chorlton-cum-Hardy) lie within the registration district of Chorlton, which is located just to the south of Manchester and was separated from it by the River Medlock. (Today this area is very much part of Manchester). Many Irish immigrants lived in Hulme and Chorlton-on-Medlock in the nineteenth century, many CONDR*Ns among them. More than 70 CONDR*N births are recorded in Chorlton between 1845 and 1900.

One area adjacent to the Medlock was known as Little Ireland because of the high density of Irish immigrants living there, and is described in horrific detail by Friedrich Engels in his 1844 book, The Condition of the Working Class in England. Of the Medlock, Engels say, "Along both sides of the stream, which is coal black, stagnant and foul, stretches a broad belt of factories and working-men's dwellings, the latter all in the worst condition." And he goes on:

But the most horrible spot ...  lies on the Manchester side, immediately south-west of Oxford Road, and is known as Little Ireland. In a rather deep hole, in a curve of the Medlock and surrounded on all four sides by tall factories and high embankments, covered with buildings, stand two groups of about two hundred cottages, built chiefly back to back, in which live about four thousand human beings, most of them Irish. The cottages are old, dirty, and of the smallest sort, the streets uneven, fallen into ruts and in part without drains or pavement; masses of refuse, offal and sickening filth lie among standing pools in all directions; the atmosphere is poisoned by the effluvia from these, and laden and darkened by the smoke of a dozen tall factory chimneys. A horde of ragged women and children swarm about here, as filthy as the swine that thrive upon the garbage heaps and in the puddles. ... The race that lives in these ruinous cottages, behind broken windows, mended with oilskin, sprung doors, and rotten door-posts, or in dark, wet cellars, ... this race must really have reached the lowest stage of humanity. ... [I]n each of these pens, containing at most two rooms, a garret and perhaps a cellar, on the average twenty human beings live.

Apparently, and fortunately, Little Ireland was demolished in about 1847. One can only hope that the CONDR*Ns and others who lived in Chorlton district lived in better conditions than Engels so harrowingly described.

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.

A visit to Offaly

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.

Origins of the CONDR*N surname

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.