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James/Jeremiah ? Fallon (1815). Elphin

Roscommon

Hi,

I have found five children of Thomas Fallon and Eleanor McGovern (McGoveran) born between 1809 and 1815 in Cullune (Culleen, Cullane) Elphin, Roscommon. They are Honor (1809), Catherine (1811), Mary (1814), James (1815), and Margaret (1818). The RootsIreland website shows all these births.

My question is this...what is the possibility that James (1815) changed his name to Jeremiah at some point prior to emigrating to the U.S.? I realize that this question is hard to prove! All of the Ancestry trees show "Jeremiah" instead of James with these same parents and siblings, and Jeremiah Fallon is a well-documented early pioneer in northern California.  

I could not find ANY Jeremiahs on the RootsIreland site born in this time period at all in all of Ireland. There were only a few Griffiths Valuation mentions for that name, but I do not think it is him. Finally, the original document on the NLI site clearly shows that his name was Jacobus (James).

Thanks for any insights!

Carolyn

carolyntoohey@…

4 replies

Carolyn:

Jeremiah was not a common name in Co. Roscommon. Only 16 with that name in the 1901 census and ironically there was a seven year old Jeremiah Fallon among the group.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Roscommon/Lissonuffy/G…

Maybe James had some "issues" and he wanted a fresh start in America.

Roger McDonnell

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Thank you, Roger....I'm thinking that he changed his name.....

 

Carolyn

carolyntoohey@…

Hi Carolyn

Diarmuid (aka Dermot) was a popular Roscommon first name that was most likely to appear on record Anglicised as Jeremiah, Jerome and/or Darby (one individual could appear under any of these variations according to the record-keeper). In Latin parish registers it may have appeared as Demetrius / Dermicius. 

More about first name variations here: irelandxo.com/ireland-xo/news/irelandxo-insight-old-irish-boys-names-aliases

 As for James, it wasn't a likely alias. However, if James was his middle name, and there was already an older individual called Jeremiah in the household, it is not out of the realm of possibility that he became known by his middle name and just used that after emigrating. 

Rua

Hi Rua,

Thanks for your reply. I didn't realize that the Irish gave their children middle names back in the early 19th century. I have not seen that written in the records...perhaps it was more informal than the practice is today. Anyhow, I am just going to accept the fact that he gave himself another name when he emigrated as I have seen numerous instances of Irish immigrants giving themselves a new birth year as well.

 

Thanks,

Carolyn

carolyntoohey@…

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