McHugo family

Hi Peter- Mr Nugent ( Earl of westmeath) held an Estate at PALLAS,TYNAGH,COUNTY GALWAY @ that time. PORTUMNA was the district court for crimes committed in that area. Both McHugo and Breheny families are still located in the area. Breheny/Brehony in Tynagh parish & Mchugo in neighbouring Duniry. Griffiths Valuation c.1850 show McHugo families living in Ballyargadaun townland Leitrim Parish about Two miles from Leitrim Church.-Liam Irwin

Thanks very much Col and Liam,

I have captured the additional baptism records for Catherine and Thomas (born to William and Mary) and pu them in my "possibles" folder

The connection to Mr Nugent looks promising and I had noticed the Griffiths valuation records for 1856 in the Ballyargadaun townland with a Thomas McHugo and Ajax McHugo listed. Ajax sounded like a strange name - do you know if that was common in Ireland at the time? Since these Griffiths valuation entried were after the transportation of "my" McHugos, if they were of the same family, then I assume they migh tbe for previous generation

Liam, Do you happen to know if the families you mentioned might be contactable - just in case they have any family infomration from back then that might confirm (or not) whether any of them were "my" McHugos?

Anyway, thanks to both of you for your help. The McHugos have been bothering me for quite a while - cannot get a breakthrough, so this sounds very promising

Regards,

Peter

Hi Peter- Do the Court Records show the Home address of the McHugos who were convicted in Portumna?. Ballyardaguan,Leitrim and Pallas ,Tynagh are about 10 miles apart. Stealing sheep and taking them that far would have been problematic in those days.It is probable that they were employees on pallas estate and so would likely have lived locally.

I will ask some McHugos for further info.----------Liam irwin

Thanks Liam,

I have not been able to find any court records so far. The only infomration I have found are prison registers and in one of those it showed Portumna as the place of conviction. All the other information just said Co Galway for place of conviction

Thanks for your help

Regards,

Peter McKenna

Hello again Liam,

Just wondering if you were able to make any contact with McHugos in the area?

Regards,

Peter

Hi.
Regarding the Mchugo's of Duniry and the surrounding area.
There are two distinct McHugo families in the area, one is located in the townlands of Bracklagh and NewtownBracklagh. They probably came originally from the Leitrim parish. The second McHugos, are from Tomanymore, NewtonBracklagh and Drim.
The two are not directly related ,However, my aunt a McHugo from Tomanymore married a McHugo from NewtownBracklagh in the early 1950's. The difficulty is you are looking for a Thomas and a Catherine. Thomas is an EXTREMELY common Christian name in the male line. In searching through my Mchugo's I have found numerous Thomas', especially in the 1820's
I would suggest you try and dig deeper into the court records.

Hi Kevirleand,

Thanks for this information> so far I have not been able to find any court records for the trial. I have found prison register information and convict records as well, but nothing on the trial itslef (where I was hoping to find mention of other family).

One thing I have found is that it appears the two sheep were stolen from a Mr Nugent. I found this in the convict conduct record for Thomas McHugo, I think. I understand that Mr Nugent was the owner of the Pallas estate within the parish of Tynagh at the time of the offence being committed, so am assuming that they may have stolen the sheep from him and if so, probably came from around that area. Does that narrow it down at all?

Thanks very much for you help

Regards,

Peter

http://landedestates.nuigalway.ie/LandedEstates/jsp/estate-show.jsp?id=…

Nugent owned thousands of acres in Galway, he also had a large house and untenanted land. Pallas is a short distance from Duniry.

Thanks again Kevireland,

I have since sent a note to the East Galway Historical Society to see if they can tell me whether any Portuman court records might still exist from 1848 when the three McHugos were convicted. I noticed on FindMyPast they have court records but only from 1851 onwards. It appears they might still have some records that have not yet been transcribed, or they just may not have survived.

I have 2 or 3 prison records for each of Thomas, Kitty and John and all except one give the place of trial as just Co Galway. I found one for Kitty that said Portumna so have assumed that is correct. I will keep looking

I am not sure if I am going to be able to narrow it down without finding some more specific records.

At this stage I have the family as including 4 siblings - the 3 convicted (Thomas, Kitty and John) and another sister "Biddy" referenced in one of the convict records, as well as their mother "Mary" listed in another convict record.

Thanks again for your help

I have the same records as you. There is a real difficulty in getting accurate records before 1830. There are few church records. I notice you have looked in Leitrim parish. There are no Mchugo's in that parish today. There are in Duniry and Ballinakil Parish.
Logic suggests that many of the Mchugo's in Leitrim parish must have emigrated.
What I am trying to do is link children's names to the previous generation. The practice of naming children after parents and grandparents. Just too many makes called Thomas . Good luck with the heritage centre in Woodford. I will keep looking

I have the same records as you. There is a real difficulty in getting accurate records before 1830. There are few church records. I notice you have looked in Leitrim parish. There are no Mchugo's in that parish today. There are in Duniry and Ballinakil Parish.
Logic suggests that many of the Mchugo's in Leitrim parish must have emigrated.
What I am trying to do is link children's names to the previous generation. The practice of naming children after parents and grandparents. Just too many makes called Thomas . Good luck with the heritage centre in Woodford. I will keep looking

Thanks again Kevireland,

When I have a look at the Cathloic Parish Register site (registers.nli.ie/parishes) I have noticed they have Duniry and Ballinakil listed as parish variants under Ballinakill (Esat Galway), along with Kilnelehan. However, they show the earliest records starting in 1839, so after my lot were born. I am not sure if any earlier exist (but maybe not scanned), or whether they just don't exist at all

Anyway, I will keep looking

Regards,

Peter

The parishes were in a state of flux. Today Duniry is linked with Abbey and Ballinakil is a separate parish. The parish records, with Mchugo's , which go back the furthest is Leitrim parish. As I said before there are no Mchugo's there anymore.
I am stuck in the same time frame, you need that elusive piece of information.

Hi again KevIreland,

Looks like i may have had some sort of breakthrough.

After sending a query to National Archives (at suggestion of East Galway Historical), they got back to me and have found some records. I am waiting to get the details retrieved but in the response they said Kitty, Thomas and John McHugo were actually part of a group of 7 people convicted of the same crime.

Using that bit of information, I searched prison registers again and found another lady, by name of Anne Kinavan who was convicted on same day and in same place of "sheep Stealing" and subsequently transported to Hobart aboard "Earl Grey". Her convict record shows she was married (husband Thomas I think + 2 children) and committed the offence against a "Nugent at N.P.". I think N.P. stands for Native Place but that is only recorded as Co Galway. She appears to have amrried again in Hobart a few years after transportation.

I have not been able to find any additional males invloved in the crime but understand there were, and that at least one of them died in Irleand before transporation (as did my Uncle John)

Will now wait and see what else I might get from National Archives (might take a few weeks).

Regards,

Peter

Hello again,

I am following up on the posts above from 2018 after finding another possible baptism record for my 2nd great grandmother - Catherine "Kitty" McHugo (born ~ 1827) who was convicted with her two brothers - Thomas (born ~ 1824) and John (born ~ 1832) at Portumna Courthouse on 27th Dec 1848. They were sentenced to tranportation to Hobart in Tasmania, but the younger brother John subsequently died in Kilmainham gaol prior to transportation. Both Kitty and her brother Thomas ended out in Hobart and started quite large families in Australia. I also know they had a sister "Biddy" who was not involved in the crime.

The reason for this post is that via either Ancestry, or Catholic Parish Registers at NLI I have found 3 births to the same family of a Thomas McHuge (or maybe McHugo) and his wife Mary Brehenny in the right time period - these are for a Bridget (bap 10 Jun 1821) Thomas (bap 26 Jan 1824), and I think, Catherine (bap 24 Jun 1826). I have attached a copy of what I think is Catherine's baptsim record below to see if anyone could review the writing to confirm my interpretation. If it is accurate, does anyone know of any connections to families in the area now?

Also, it appears the Catholic arish registers for baptisms for the perior around 1832, when John may have been born might not exist - would that be correct?

Thanks for any help anyone might be able to provide

Peter McKenna

 

Hello again,

In addition to above information, reasons I think this family might be "mine" are:

1. The 3 McHugo siblings appear to have been convicted of the same crime, along with another lady - Anne, or Ann, Kinavon who was abit older (about 35 y.o. in 1848)
2. we know from convict records that the McHugo siblings mother's christian name was "Mary" and that they had another sister named "Biddy"
3. I have found three baptism records in Catholic Parish Records for a Bridget McHugo (or McHuge) born 1821, Thomas McHugo (or McHuge) born 1824, and Catherine McHugo (or McHuge) born 1826. All three have same parents - Thomas McHugo (or maybe McHuge) and Mary Brehenny
4. In looking at who the sponsors were for each baptism I have found Bridget's were Michael Kennedy and Mary Kinavon (? - same surname as the lady convicted of the same crime?); Thomas' were Patt Brehenny and Mary Brehenny and Catherine's were Thos Kennedy and Mary McHugo (or maybe McHuge). Same names keep coming up?

Would anyone know anything about these families, or have any suggesions?

Thanks,

Peter McKenna