CONDR*Ns in the 1940 US Census

Distribution of CONDR*Ns in the 1940 US Census (darker colors indicate more CONDR*Ns)

I've just finished indexing the CONDRANs, CONDRENs, CONDRINs and CONDRONs in the 1940 US census. The census contains over 1300 CONDR*Ns, located in over 500 households or institutions, across three quarters of the states of the union. (Remember there were only 48 states in 1940: Alaska and Hawaii didn't become states until 1959.)

 
In 1940, one in four CONDR*Ns (25%) lived in Pennsylvania, 11% in Texas and 10% in New York.

Almost two-thirds of the individuals counted were recorded as CONDRON, with CONDREN (20%) being the next most common, then CONDRAN (12%) and finally CONDRIN (5%).

The vast majority of CONDR*Ns in 1940 reported their birth place as being within the United States. Fewer than 4% reported being born in Ireland (Eire, Irish Free State and in one case Northern Ireland), and fewer than 2% were born in other European countries or Canada (mostly women who had married CONDR*Ns). This is in contrast with censuses in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when far more CONDR*Ns were first-generation immigrants from Ireland: for example, in the 1910 census, nearly 10% of the CONDR*Ns in the US (about 125 people) had been born in Ireland.

The occupations of CONDR*Ns in the 1940 census reflected the changing times. While some 50 people reported working on the land as farmers or farm laborers, a similar number reported being a "clerk" (though that could mean a lot of things, from filing clerk to sales clerk). There were 10 salesmen and 7 managers, 18 teachers and 10 stenographers or typists. There were two movie-theater projectionists. There were also several owners or attendants at gas stations and several beauticians - occupations that probably wouldn't have existed (or at least wouldn't have been common) in earlier times. Quite a few also reported that they worked in Works Projects Administration (WPA) programs. The WPA, which was the largest agency in Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, provided jobs to the unemployed during the depression of the 1930s: it existed from 1935 until 1943.

There are a number of sites where you can search the 1940 census (for free, I believe):
Official 1940 census site
FamilySearch.org
Ancestry.com
FindMyPast .

I am happy to answer search queries - email me at Condran [AT] one-name.org (replace the [AT] with an @) or at CondranONS [AT] gmail.com. I am also happy to try to provide further details about CONDR*Ns you have found in the 1940 census.

It has taken me several months to index the CONDR*Ns in the 1940 US census, so I am relieved that it will be four years before the 1950 US census is released in 2022 under the "72 year rule"!  The 1921 census of England & Wales will also be released in 2022, under the "100 year rule", so I expect I'll be very busy then!

Mikaela Shiffrin, ace skier ... and a Condron!

Mikaela Shiffrin in 2018
All image rights: Michael Probst/AP/Shutterstock

Congratulations to alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin on winning two medals (gold and silver) at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeonchang!

And, through her mother's side, Mikaela is a CONDRON!

Mikaela's gold medal in the Giant Slalom and silver medal in the Alpine Combined in Pyeongchang add to the gold medal she won four years ago in the Slalom at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. That win in Sochi made Mikaela the youngest slalom champion in the history of Olympic alpine skiing.

In addition, Mikaela is the reigning overall World Cup champion in women's alpine skiing and four-time World Cup champion in Slalom. To date she has 41 World Cup wins under her belt ... and all before her 23rd birthday!

CONDR*Ns worldwide are proud of you, Mikaela!

I wrote about Mikaela's CONDRON ancestry previously, in March 2013. Here's what I wrote back then:

Condrons claim slalom world champion!

Mikaela Shriffin in 2012 (courtesy wikipedia.com)

Mikaela Shiffrin is a member of the U.S. Ski Team and the new reigning World Cup and world champion in slalom. And she's a CONDRON. As is her elder brother, Taylor Shiffrin, who is also a skier.

Mikaela was born on March 13, 1995 (according to Wikipedia), in Vail, Colorado, to Jeff and Eileen (Condron) SHIFFRIN. Mikaela’s grandmother, Polly CONDRON, lives in Lanesborough, Massachusetts.

This CONDRON family has lived in Massachusetts since the 1870s. Mikaela’s great-great-great grandparents were Jeremiah and Mary CONDRON. Their son, James E. CONDRON (born about 1850 in Ireland), emigrated to the United States in 1871, and married Bridget NOONAN, daughter of Thomas and Bridget NOONAN, on November 5^th, 1874, in Westfield, Massachusetts. They had a son, Joseph Edward CONDRON, Mikaela’s great-grandfather, who was born in Westfield on May 7^th, 1876. James CONDRON died in Westfield in 1904.

Joseph CONDRON married Rose STEINER (daughter of Frederick and Catherine [Kate] Steiner) on September 29^th, 1904, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Joseph and Rose had five children: Raymond (1905), Mildred (1907), Rosa (1908), Frederick (1913) and Joseph E. (1919). Joseph junior, born June 14^th, 1919, married Pauline M. (Polly) TOWLE, and they had children Patrick, Anne-Marie, Eileen and Catherine.

I’m sure CONDR*Ns everywhere wish Mikaela continuing success on the ski slopes!

All the above information relating to living persons is available on the web, from wikipedia, media coverage of Mikaela's skiing successes, and the online obituary of Mikaela's grandfather Joseph in 2006. 

As usual, I welcome any corrections. If you know anything about Jeremiah and Mary CONDRON in Ireland, I'd love to know. Email condran [AT] one-name.org  or leave a comment below.

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!

A turtle called Condron

Condron the turtle (or friend). Photo courtesy of the Georgia Sea Turtle Center.

I was lucky enough to spend the past few days snorkeling in the sea around Hawaii, swimming with green sea turtles and fish of all colors and sizes and seeing wonderful coral. It was like being right inside an aquarium. Which gives me the perfect excuse to write a blog post about a turtle called Condron!

Condron is a juvenile Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle that got stranded on South Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, on April 21, 2013.  He (or maybe she?) was rehabbed by the wonderful folks at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island, Georgia, and was released back into the sea in Ponte Vedra on August 9, 2013.

And why is a turtle called Condron? Well, Condron was named after the person who found this turtle stranded on the beach. They have done a lot for the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, and so the turtle was named in their honor. I’m not going to speculate who that person is, but if they want to respond to this blog that would be great!

It turns out that this isn’t the first time that Condron has spent time with humans. Condron already had a transponder tag, and after a bit of searching it was discovered that Condron’s name used to be “Little Sunny”, and he/she was rehabbed over the winter of 2010 at the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center on Topsail Island, North Carolina.

I am indebted to Kristin at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center for information about Condron the turtle. And if you are a CONDR*N in the Florida/Georgia area, it would be great to hear from you. As usual, you can leave a comment or email me at condran[AT]one-name.org (replace the [AT] with an @).

From Surrey, England, to Texas and the battlefields of France

Two soldiers of the 75th Battalion Canadian Infantry with a German prisoner, northern France, 1918. (Courtesy of Les Fowler and the Canadian Expeditionary Force Study Group)

Next year is the centenary of the start of World War I (the Great War), and I shall mark the occasion with a series of blogs about CONDR*Ns who gave their lives in that war. But this blog is about the family of a man who bore the name "Condron" only as a middle name, who served in the 75th Battalion Canadian Infanty and who died in the fighting in northern France.

William Condron BRAY was born on September 19th, 1883, probably in Newington, Surrey, England, son of Joseph Sidney BRAY and Sophia Martha BRAY (nee CONDRON). His grandfather was William CONDRON, a bookseller in south London, who was born in about 1814 in Christchurch, Surrey. William (senior) married Sophia Martha HEATON in 1838. Sophia died in 1845 and was buried on January 23rd of that year at St. John's, Waterloo, Surrey, by which time the couple had already had two children: William CONDRON (born about 1839) and Sophia Martha CONDRON (born 1841).

At the time of the 1851 UK census, William CONDRON (senior) had apparently married a woman called Ann, but they still only had the two children William and Sophia Martha. Subsequently, a daughter Rebecca was born in 1851 and a son Henry Joseph was born in 1853. Daughter Sophia Martha married Joseph Sidney BRAY at St. Mary's, Newington, Surrey, in November 1869. I'm not sure what happened to William senior's wife Ann, but in 1860 he married Lydia PALLETT (nee PAINTER) at St. Peter's, Newington, Surrey. At the time of this marriage, William declared that his father was "William CONDRON, Gentleman". Possibly his father was the William CONDRON born in Blackfriars, in about 1787, who with his wife Frances had at least four other children, including Thomas (1810) and Sarah (1812) baptised at St. Ann's, Blackfriars, in the City of London, and also likely Elizabeth (1821) and John (1824). This William was an upholsterer (according to the 1861 census) and died in 1863.

Henry Joseph CONDRON, who was noted as a clerk in the 1871 UK census, emigrated to the USA in 1874, arriving into New York aboard the ship "Denmark" on May 9th of that year. In 1880, Henry was recorded in the US census of that year as a timekeeper and living in Galveston County, Texas. A year later, the 1881 UK census shows Lydia CONDRON (widow) and Rebecca CONDRON (unmarried) living in Newington, Surrey, in the household of Joseph and Sophia BRAY. Lydia died in Lambeth, Surrey, in 1892.

Sophia Martha BRAY (nee CONDRON) emigrated to the USA in 1889 with her husband Joseph Sidney BRAY, six children, and her sister Rebecca CONDRON, arriving into New York aboard the "Buffalo" on August 12th of that year. Her children and their given ages were Harry BRAY (19 years), Mabel (17), Esther (16), Sophia (12), Margaret (11) and William (5). The 1900 US Census for Galveston County, Texas, shows Sophia as widowed and living with three of her children and with her sister Rebecca in the household of brother Henry Joseph CONDRON and his wife Corrine. William C[ondron] BRAY is living with his married sister Esther HUGHES not far away.

The World War started in 1914, and somewhere William Condron BRAY joined the 75th Battalion Canadian Infantry. It is recorded that his parents were Joseph Sidney and Sophia Martha BRAY, and that he had a wife, Clara BRAY , of Houston, Texas. William travelled with his comrades to northern France and there, in the closing days of the war, he was killed in action by enemy shell fire on November 6th, 1918, during the attack and capture of town of Marchipont, just east of Valenciennes. The armistice that ended the war was declared five days later.

If anyone knows more about the families mentioned in this post, I would be grateful to hear from them. Also I am keen to hear from anyone the stories of their CONDR*N ancestors who died in the Great War. Please email me at condran[AT]one-name.org .

CONDR*Ns in the United States in the 19th Century

The 1877 courthouse in Williamson County, Texas (image from www.texasescapes.com , courtesy of texasoldphotos.com). William Franklin CONDRON migrated from Decatur, AL, to Williamson County, TX, in 1848.

Many CONDR*Ns today live in the United States. There was significant migration of CONDR*Ns from Ireland to the US in the nineteenth century, and this is probably typical of the migration of the Irish population as a whole for the areas of Ireland where they lived. But there were also certainly CONDR*Ns in the US whose families had lived there as early as the eighteenth century, if not earlier.

The census of 1880 was the first national US census to require respondents to specify the state or country where their parents were born. According to my extractions from the ancestry.com website (the precise numbers do not matter, rather the trends and ratios), there were 106 CONDR*N heads of household, of whom 56 (53% of the total) had been born in Ireland, as had their parents. So a little over half of all male CONDR*N heads of household were first-generation immigrants to the US. This is not so different from the population mix in the 1860 US census twenty years earlier, where 54% of the 46 CONDR*N heads of household were born in Ireland. Perhaps predictably, most of these immigrant heads of household in 1880 were living on the eastern seaboard, in New York (14), New Jersey (9) and Pennsylvania (9).

Some 35 (33%) of the 106 CONDR*N heads of household in the 1880 census had been born in the US and their fathers had also been born in the US, which we may consider to be established US-based families. Of these, 23 were born in Pennsylvania, 4 in Alabama, 2 in Kentucky, and one each in Arkansas, Illinois, Massachussetts, Michigan, New York and Ohio. And of the 23 born in Pennsylvania to US-born fathers, 3 had fathers born in Maryland and the remaining 20 had fathers born in Pennsylvania. Thus Pennsylvania seems to have been a focus for early US-based CONDRONs, at least in the early 19th century.

The occupations of these individuals in the 1880 census exhibit differences between the newer immigrants and their more established namesakes. Amongst the 35 established individuals, the most common occupation was farmer (16), followed by laborer (5) and carpenter (3). Amongst the 56 more recent immigrants, the most common occupation was laborer (24), followed by farmer (4) and miner (3).

In the coming months and years, I intend to research and write more here about the families and ancestry of both the established and newly immigrant CONDR*Ns in the US in the nineteenth century. In the meantime, I note two rich online family histories for established CONDRON families.

One is an extensive eleven-generation genealogy starting with James Condron, who was born about 1732 in New Castle County, Delaware:
http://www.saylorhomestead.com/McMahan/Condron_Tree.htm .

Another is based on a 1961 document and describes the migration of William Franklin CONDRON from Alabama to Williamson County, Texas, and his subsequent descendants:
http://files.usgwarchives.net/tx/williamson/history/condron.txt .
There is a discussion thread regarding inter alia the accuracy of this document at
http://boards.ancestrylibrary.com/thread.aspx?mv=flat&m=72&p=surnames.condron .

As always, I welcome your comments, corrections, additional information, etc. Please send them to me at condran[AT]one-name.org .

Descendants of Morgan and Winifred CONDREN

Extract from the marriage register of the Old Cathedral, St. Louis, Missouri, for 25 May 1853 (from the Drouin Collection, online at ancestry.com)

Morgan CONDREN / CONDRON is a fairly rare name, and all the instances in my database seem to trace back to the Arklow area on the borders of County Wicklow and County Wexford, Ireland. I think it's a fair bet that all male CONDR*Ns with first name Morgan and most who have Morgan as a middle name derive from families who lived in this area in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Continuing the occasional series on CONDR*Ns from County Wicklow, this post focuses on the descendants of Morgan and Winifred CONDREN who had at least eight children baptised in Arklow in the 1820s and 1830s. Their children that I know of are Sarah (born about 1820), Michael (1822), Edward (1827), Alexander (1829), Mary (1831), Winifred (1833), Eliza (1834) and Morgan (1835).

Alexander CONDREN married a Frances Maria PARR at St. Mary's Pro Cathedral in Dublin on 5 February 1857. They had three children baptised in Avoca, Co. Wicklow: Catherine (1858), John Morgan (1859) and Frances Winifred (1860). Alexander died in 1866, and his widow Frances subsequently remarried a James REDMOND in 1868. John Morgan CONDREN and his wife Sarah Annie had a daughter, Mary (1886), in Dublin, but then migrated across the Irish Sea to north Liverpool where they had three more children: Frederick (born 1889 in Bootle), William (born 1891 in Litherland) and Joseph Morgan (born 1897 in Litherland). Frederick married a Mary Jane EDGE in 1911 and hereafter this branch of the family seem to have gone by the name CONDRON. The couple had four children: Edmund (1911), Frederick (1912), William J. (1915) and Sidney (1922). A number of present-day CONDRONs in north Liverpool and in Southport are descendants of Frederick and Mary Jane CONDRON.

Of Morgan and Winifred CONDREN's other children, I know of the marriages of only two of them. Morgan junior married a Margaret TUKE in St. Nicholas church in Dublin in 1859: I don't know whether they had any children. And Mary (1831) turns up in an unexpected place. The marriage register of the Old Cathedral, St. Louis, Missouri, shows the marriage of a Mary CONDRAN and a Charles LAMBERT. The bride's parents are given as Morgan CONDRAN and Winefried LACY. Given the rarity of the name Morgan, and the coincidence of his wife's first name, I think that these parents must indeed be the Morgan and Winifred who were baptising children in Arklow in the 1820s and 1830s. In that case, we have learned also that before her marriage to Morgan CONDREN, Winifred's maiden name was LACY.

I'd be pleased to hear from any descendants of these CONDR*Ns, in Ireland, England, the US or anywhere else! And if you have a Morgan CONDR*N in your family, also please let me know. I can be contacted by leaving a comment below or by emailing me at condran[AT]one-name.org (replace the [AT] with an @). 

Condrons claim slalom world champion!

Mikaela Shriffin in 2012 (courtesy wikipedia.com)

Mikaela Shiffrin is a member of the U.S. Ski Team and the new reigning World Cup and world champion in slalom. And she's a CONDRON. As is her elder brother, Taylor Shiffrin, who is also a skier.

Mikaela was born on March 13, 1995 (according to Wikipedia), in Vail, Colorado, to Jeff and Eileen (Condron) SHIFFRIN. Mikaela’s grandmother, Polly CONDRON, lives in Lanesborough, Massachusetts.

This CONDRON family has lived in Massachusetts since the 1870s. Mikaela’s great-great-great grandparents were Jeremiah and Mary CONDRON. Their son, James E. CONDRON (born about 1850 in Ireland), emigrated to the United States in 1871, and married Bridget NOONAN, daughter of Thomas and Bridget NOONAN, on November 5^th, 1874, in Westfield, Massachusetts. They had a son, Joseph Edward CONDRON, Mikaela’s great-grandfather, who was born in Westfield on May 7^th, 1876. James CONDRON died in Westfield in 1904.

Joseph CONDRON married Rose STEINER (daughter of Frederick and Catherine [Kate] Steiner) on September 29^th, 1904, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Joseph and Rose had five children: Raymond (1905), Mildred (1907), Rosa (1908), Frederick (1913) and Joseph E. (1919). Joseph junior, born June 14^th, 1919, married Pauline M. (Polly) TOWLE, and they had children Patrick, Anne-Marie, Eileen and Catherine.

I’m sure CONDR*Ns everywhere wish Mikaela continuing success on the ski slopes!

All the above information relating to living persons is available on the web, from wikipedia, media coverage of Mikaela's skiing successes, and the online obituary of Mikaela's grandfather Joseph in 2006. 

As usual, I welcome any corrections. If you know anything about Jeremiah and Mary CONDRON in Ireland, I'd love to know. Email condran [AT] one-name.org  or leave a comment below.
 

A large CONDREN tree

St. Andrew's Roman Catholic church in Westland Row, Dublin. Built in 1832-7, James Patrick CONDREN and Mary Jane SHIEL were married here in 1861, and three of their children were baptised here.

One of the largest CONDR*N family trees I have reconstructed stretches from origins in Dublin and Co. Wicklow to London and even to Australia and the USA.

James George CONDREN (born in Dublin about 1833) and his wife Mary Jane SHIEL (or SHEIL, born in Dublin about 1834) have nearly fifty descendants bearing the CONDREN name that I am aware of. In particular they had at least eight children, born between 1861 and 1877, the first four born in or near Dublin and the last four in London.

There is some confusion amongst trees of this family on the web, and an incorrect identification of James's father as "Richard CONDREN". This error apparently arises from the assumption that James George CONDREN is one and the same as an 8-year old James CONDREN who appears in the 1841 census for Hulme near Manchester.

But thanks to the people at churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie who have made numerous Dublin marriages and baptisms freely available on their website, we can now definitively identify James George CONDREN and Mary Jane SHIEL as the couple who got married at St. Andrew's, Dublin, on 7 January, 1861. Mary Jane's father is recorded as Patrick SHEIL, and James George's father is recorded as George CONDRAN. From the relatively rarity of the name George CONDR*N, we can tentatively identify James George CONDREN's parents as George CONRAN and Mary MORGAN, who got married in the Roman Catholic parish of Dunlavin, Co. Wicklow, in 1832. A George CONDRON and a Mary MORGAN had a son James baptised at St. Mary's, Dublin, in 1833. Given the usual variety of spellings in records of this period, I think these are the same people.

So, we have George and Mary (MORGAN) CONDREN, and in the next generation James George and Mary Jane (SHIEL) CONDREN. James and Mary had four children in Ireland (Mary Ellen in 1861, Rosanne in 1863 and George Stratford in 1864, all baptised at St. Andrew's, Dublin; and James Patrick in 1866, baptised in Rathmines near Dublin). They then moved to London, where they had a further four children (Richard Martin in 1868 and Catherine Frances in 1871 in Stockwell; William Joseph in 1875 and Margaret Josephine in 1877 in Wimbledon).

Eldest son, George Stratford CONDREN, married Emily Elizabeth NORTH in 1885, and they had seven children: George Stratford junior (1885), Emily Frances (1887), Ellen Louisa (1892), John (also called Jack, 1893), William James (1898), Alice Ruth (1901) and Ebenezer James (1904). All these births were registered in the Lambeth district of south London. All seven children got married in and around London: George Stratford junior to Edith Florence GEORGE, Emily Frances to Alfred SEGROTT, Ellen Louisa to Frederick NORRIS, Jack to Rose FOSTER, William James to Christina Frances LOWER, Alice Ruth to George SMITH, and Ebenezer James to Gladys Ivy LAWN. As discussed in this blog back in 2008, George Stratford senior fell foul of the law, was found guilty of stealing while employed in the Post-office, and was sentenced at the Old Bailey in April 1887 to five years' penal servitude.

A second son, James Patrick CONDREN married firstly Louisa MARTIN (who died in 1889) in 1886, and secondly Rose Mary DUNN in 1892, each time in St. Mary's, Lambeth, London. The latter marriage produced one son, Leslie Arthur CONDREN (1892).

Another son, William Joseph CONDREN, who also went under the name of William Stratford CONDREN,  married Caroline Matilda MISKIN in 1900 at St. John's, Newington, London. They had nine children: William Joseph ("Con", 1900), Caroline May (1902), George Stratford (1905), James Richard (1905), Lilian Alice (1907), Maud (1908), Kathleen (1911), Richard John (1913), and Margaret (1915).

Where the name "Stratford" which recurs in several family members comes from, I do not know. Do you? If so, please let me know! And, as usual, I would welcome any corrections to the above or further information, particularly from family members. E-mail condran[AT]one-name.org (replace "[AT]" with "@") or leave a comment below.

And finally, do you know of any CONDR*N family spread over more than three continents? If so, I'd like to hear from you!

It's a Long Way to Tipperary

CONDR*N places on a road sign near Lorrha, Co. Tipperary

It's a long way to Tipperary, in the words of the old music-hall song - but not if you're starting from Co. Offaly (King's County). Historically almost all of the CONDR*Ns in Co. Tipperary are found in the northern part of the county, not far from Co. Offaly where the CONDR*Ns appear to originate.

It's a long way to Tipperary from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but that's where a Co. Tipperary CONDRON family emigrated to, as we shall see.

Most of the nineteenth century CONDR*N baptisms in Co. Tipperary occur in the Roman Catholic parishes of Lorrha, in the far northern tip of the county, and the parishes of Birr and Shinrone which straddle the Tipperary-Offaly border. The earliest baptisms in Lorrha of which I have records are in the 1830s, to couples such as John & Judy, John & Margaret, Daniel & Mary, and Andrew & Mary. After the introduction of universal civil registration of births, marriages and deaths in 1864, a number of CONDR*N life events are recorded in the registration district of Borrisokane in the north of the county.

The 1901 census of Ireland records only 10 CONDR*Ns in Co. Tipperary. One of these is a widow Mary CONDRON, in Curra(gh)glass, Lorrha East, accompanied by her son-in-law Thomas WATSON and her daughter Mary WATSON (nee CONDRON). I believe that Mary CONDRON was the widow of Patrick CONDRON, and that her maiden name may have been NEEDHAM. Her daughter Mary, who may have been born in Riverstown and baptised in Lorrha, married Thomas WATSON in 1894. The same household is recorded in the 1911 census also, one of only two CONDR*Ns recorded in the county in that year. (The other was a Frank CONDRON, a 50-year old shoemaker in Roscrea, whom I have not yet been able to trace.)

A family living in Ballyquirke, Lorrha West, in 1901, but absent by 1911, was that of Andrew and Margaret CONDRON. Andrew married Margaret SMITH on September 1, 1855, in Lorrha. They had twelve children. I know of the baptisms in Lorrha of seven of them: Mary (1857), Patrick (1860), Anne (1862, presumably died in infancy), Thomas (1865), Anne (1867), Andrew (1869), and Peter (1871). Another son, Daniel, was born in 1874. In 1901, Thomas (aged 73) and Margaret (aged 66) are living in Ballyquirke with just two of their adult children: Andrew and Daniel.

Less than a month after the census date, Daniel emigrated to the USA, arriving in the port of Philadelphia on 5 May 1901 on board the Noordland with his cousin Michael GLENNEN. Both give their last residence as Portumna. Daniel nmes a brother Dennis CONDRON, living in Philadelphia, as his relative in the USA. In 1904, Andrew and Margaret and son Andrew also emigrated, arriving into Philadelphia on 31 October on board the Friesland. Andrew declares his relatives in the USA as daughter Mrs Teresa KEARNEY and son Daniel CONDRON, both of Philadelphia. He goes on to state, "Have also 4 other sons and 1 daughter here".

We next find the family in the 1910 census for Philadelphia Ward 34. Andrew and Margaret are living with their son Daniel and his wife of four years, Catherine, and their two children Andrew (1908) and Margaret (1909). It is this census record that states that Andrew and Margaret had twelve children, of whom eight were still alive in 1910. There are several other CONDRONs in Philadelphia Ward 34. One is our Andrew (junior), living in the household of his brother-in-law Peter KEARNEY and his wife of 22 years, Teresa. Another is Dennis CONDRON and his wife of 20 years, Mary, and their children. Going back ten years to the 1900 census, we again find the households of Dennis & Mary CONDRON and Peter & Teresa KEARNEY: at this time, there is another brother, Peter CONDRON, living with the KEARNEYs. It seems highly likely that Dennis (emigrated 1881 or 1882 according to the censuses), Teresa (emigrated 1886) and Peter (emigrated 1891), as well as Daniel and Andrew, are all siblings and the children of Andrew and Margaret CONDRON.

There are two other CONDRON heads-of-household in Philadelphia Ward 34, who might also be related though I have no further evidence for that: Patrick CONDRON who says he was born 1862-1864 and emigrated in 1884, and Thomas CONDRON who says he was born in 1857 and emigrated in 1886.

The elder Andrew CONDRON died on February 11, 1912, and was buried three days later. The details are on ancestry.com in their "Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Death Certificates 1803-1915 Index" collection. This record gives a clue that takes the family back one further generation: Andrew's parents are given as Andrew CONDRON and Annie MAHER, though I have not yet managed to trace either of them or their marriage in Ireland.

As always, I will appreciate any corrections or additional information, especially if you are related to any of the above people. Please email me at condran[AT]one-name.org (replace the [AT] with @), or leave a comment below. Thanks!

CONDRONs in unexpected places

CONDRAN, CONDREN, CONDRIN and CONDRON are not common names, but you are more likely to find CONDR*Ns in some places than in others. When it's a sparsely populated area, you are even less likely to find a CONDR*N there by chance. So I was very surprised to spot this sign ("The CONDRONS") hanging outside a house this summer. At the time I was driving up a rather inaccessible dirt road in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.  In order to respect their privacy, I shan't give the location more precisely.

A correspondent recently told me of CONDRONs in another unexpected place. Those CONDRONs are a family living in Sweden -  the only CONDR*Ns in Scandinavia, as far as I know.

I have recently been researching CONDR*Ns in the records of passengers leaving the UK on board ships. The records cover the period 1890 to 1960, and are for long-haul voyages from the UK to destinations outside the UK and continental Europe. Mostly the CONDR*Ns recorded there appear to have been emigrating, or in a few cases are emigrants who have returned to visit home. The most common destinations are the US (174 instances), Canada (37 instances) and Australia (28 instances). But a few destinations are more surprising. One CONDREN girl aged 15 sailed to Bombay in 1935 with the declared intention of living permanently in India. In other cases, CONDR*Ns sailed to Kenya, South Africa, Jamaica, Martinique (en route to St Lucia), Malta and the Canary Islands, to name some of the more unusual ones. Are there CONDR*Ns there still?

Perhaps in your travels you will find CONDR*Ns in these or other unexpected places!

Condr*n as a given name

Some weeks ago I had a few hours to spare in Washington DC and visited the library of the Daughters of the American Revolution (see picture), which is located close to the White House. I didn’t have high hopes of finding any CONDR*N leads, but in fact there was one book in the library catalogue with CONDR*N connections: “The Ancestors and Descendants of Michael Dan Mitchell (1759-1995)” compiled by Marlene Wilkinson (revised July 1996).

The book details the genealogy of Michael Dan MITCHELL, son of Charles Reeves MITCHELL (1890-1953) and Grace Lenora CONDRAN (1887-1962). As stated there, Grace was the daughter of Patrick CONDRAN and Rachael MORRISEY, both offspring of unknown parentage. Grace was born on 15 May 1887, married Charles MITCHELL on 1 August 1910 in Mitchell, South Dakota (Grace’s home town), and died on 18 February 1962. Charles worked for the Chicago Milwaukee Pacific Railroad and the family lived variously in Aberdeen, South Dakota; Spokane, Washington; and Linton, North Dakota. Charles MITCHELL and his wife Grace (nee CONDRAN) had five children as detailed by the book:

            Condran Finch MITCHELL (1913-1921)

            Charles Thomas MITCHELL (b. 1915)

            Rachael Beverly MITCHELL (b. 1918)

            Mary Patricia MITCHELL (b.1924)

            Michael Dan MITCHELL (1926-1994).

Has anyone else come across Condran, Condren, Condrin or Condron used as the given name (first name, Christian name) of a child, as in Condran Finch MITCHELL?

The U.S. 1910 census shows Grace CONDRAN (aged 22) shortly before her marriage to Charles, living in Mitchell, South Dakota, with her parents Patrick (born in Iowa about 1861 of an Irish-born father and Canadian-born mother) and Rachael, and her younger siblings Michael (aged 20), Anna (18), Harry (17), William (15) and Lucy (13). All the children were born in Iowa. Another child (Patrick and Rachael had seven in total, following their marriage in about 1883) is not present in the household.

Do you know anything more about this family?

Incidentally, ancestry.com announced this week that they have completed the indexing of the U.S. 1940 census. According to the ancestry.com indexation, there are 1352 CONDR*Ns in that census: 164 CONDRANs, 277 CONDRENs, 78 CONDRINs and 833 CONDRONs. There’s quite a bit of research to be done to fit all these people into CONDR*N trees! I happened to note that only one male CONDR*N in this 1940 census was born in England: that was Edward CONDRON (aged 13) in Passaic, New Jersey, son of John (aged 39, a dyer, born in Ireland) and Emma CONDRON (aged 41, born in England). Their other child, Mary (aged 12), was born in New Jersey. Research in the UK births and marriages records reveals that John CONDRON married Emma TAYLOR in the Salford registration district (in the county of Lancashire) in the second quarter of 1924, and Edward CONDRON was born also in Salford registration district in the first quarter of 1925.

CONDR*N migrants to the USA from Ireland

I have barely begun to scratch the surface of researching CONDR*Ns in the USA. It's a big area of research: according to ancestry.com, there were 1,086 CONDR*Ns in the 1900 US census, 1,315 in the 1910 census, 1,497 in the 1920 census, and 1,537 in the 1930 census. The 1910 US census seems as good a place to start as any.

Given my databases of CONDR*Ns in Ireland in the nineteenth century and in the Irish censuses of 1901 and 1911, I decided to look first at CONDR*Ns in the 1910 US census who were born in Ireland. I have restricted myself initially to looking only at male heads of household who were born in Ireland. There are 37 of them. They are listed below in alphabetical order of state, with their town of residence, occupation, year of birth, year of arrival in the USA, and year of marriage and wife's name if applicable. Note that all dates are somewhat approximate, as they are based on the information given to the census collector and may be out by one year or even more.

Do you know more about any of these people, where in Ireland they came from, or what ship they arrived on when they came to the USA? Perhaps you are descended from one of them. If so, I'd be very pleased to hear more from you, either by adding a comment to this blog or by email to condran[AT]one-name.org (replace the "[AT]" with "@").

CONDR*N male heads of household in the US 1910 census who were born in Ireland

• Bernard CONDRON, Hartford, Connecticut (Gardener), born about 1874 immigrated to US 1881, married about 1906, Mary
• Patrick J. CONDRON, Hartford, Connecticut (Painter), born about 1864, arrived in USA 1880, married about 1904, Mary
• Michael CONDRON, Hartford, Connectict (Conductor), born about 1882, arrived in USA 1905, married about 1906, Helen
• Luke F. CONDRON, Chicago, Illinois (Laborer), born about 1867, arrived in USA 1884, married about 1882, Kate
• James CONDREN, La Salle, Illinois, born about 1848, arrived in USA 1855, married about 1877, Sarah
• Robert CONDRON, La Salle, Illinois, born about 1842, arrived in USA 1868
• Patrick CONDRON, Clay, Indiana (Farmer), born about 1855, arrived in USA 1880, married about 1894, Jane
• Mike CONDRAN, Eminence, Kentucky (Farmer), born about 1846, married about 1880, Phoebe
• John CONDRON, Berkshire, Massachusetts (Laborer), born about 1857, arrived in USA 1870, married about 1890, Susan
• Patrick CONDRON, Berkshire, Massachusetts (Turnkey), born about 1849, arrived in USA 1868, married about 1876, Mary
• Michael CONDRON, Berkshire, Massachusetts (Saloon proprietor), born about 1852, arrived in USA 1875, married about 1877, Maria
• James CONDRON, Jersey City, New Jersey, born about 1838, arrived in USA 1860, married about 1864, Mary
• John CONDRON, Auburn, New York (Laborer), born about 1857, arrived in USA 1875,, married about 1881, Catherine
• James CONDRON, Bronx, New York (Laborer), born about 1866, arrived in USA 1885, married about 1891, Nora
• Matthew CONDRON, Brooklyn, New York (Clerk in grocery store), born about 1867, arrived in USA 1893, married about 1887, Sarah
• Patrick T. CONDRON, Brooklyn, New York (Engineer), born about 1868, arrived in USA 1883, married about 1893, Hattie
• Simon CONDRON, Buffalo, New York (Engineer), born about 1867, arrived in USA 1879  
• Robert J. CONDREN, Buffalo, New York (Coachman), born about 1865, arrived in USA 1888, married about 1895, Margaret
• Matthew CONDRON, Lewiston, New York (Farmer), born about 1843, arrived in USA 1856, married about 1888, Bridget
• Thomas[?] CONDRON, Manhattan, New York (Guard), born about 1882, arrived in USA 1898, married about 1905, Nellie
• Bernard CONDRAN, Manhattan, New York (Driver), born about 1860, arrived in USA 1874, married about 1894, Mary
• Michael CONDRON, Manhattan, New York (Watchman), born about 1850, arrived in USA 1872, married about 1874, Bridget
• Michael CONDREN, Manhattan, New York (Clerk – grocery), born about 1866, arrived in USA 1888, married about 1895, Ellen
• James CONDRON, Manhattan, New York (Clerk –groceries), born about 1875, arrived in USA 1897, married about 1901, Mary
• Thomas J. CONDREN, Queens, New York (Driver), born about 1867, arrived in USA 1884, married about 1895, Julia
• Lawrence CONDREN, Royalton, New York (Farmer), born about 1846, arrived in USA 1868, married about 1883, Johanna
• Robert CONDRON, Washington, New York (Laborer), born about 1852, arrived in USA 1868  
• John J. CONDRON, Ashtabula, Ohio (Engineer), born about 1874, arrived in USA 1876, married about 1898, Jennie
• Michael CONDREN, Cincinnati, Ohio (Chauffeur), born about 1868, arrived in USA 1885, married about 1903, Julia
• Thomas B. CONDRON, Springfield, Ohio (Machinist), born about 1847, married about 1875, Margaretta
• John CONDRON, Lower Merion, Pennsylvania (Coachman), born about 1880, arrived in USA 1901, married about 1906, Margaret
• Thomas CONDRON, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Laborer), born about 1869, arrived in USA 1889, married about 1891, Annie
• Dennis CONDRON, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Melter - US Mint), born about 1858, arrived in USA 1881, married about 1890, Mary
• Patrick CONDRON, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Dyer), born about 1862, arrived in USA 1884, married about 1887, Jennie
• Daniel CONDRON, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Paster), born about 1874, arrived in USA 1901, married about 1906, Cathrine
• Patrick R. CONDRON Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Warehouse man), born about 1865, arrived in USA 1883, married about 1886, Mary
• Patrick CONDRON, Watertown, Wisconsin, born about 1820, arrived in USA 1851  

I'll post here more about the origins of these CONDR*Ns in Ireland and their journeys to the USA as I research them. If you know about any of these people, please help me add those details by commenting or emailing me: condran[AT]one-name.org (replace "[AT]" with "@"). Thank you!

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*Ns on the map

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!