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John (Con)Cannon & Ellen Shiel - Kiltullagh, Kilcroan or Kilbegnet?

Galway

Our great-great-great-grandparents John Cannon / Concannon (b.appx 1805) & Ellen Shiel (b.appx 1818) were married in Co Galway around 1835.

Based on other surnames connected to this family we’re guessing that the most likely place of origin for them would be the NE corner of Galway, in parishes along the Roscommon border, maybe Kiltullagh, Kilcroan or Kilbegnet.   

They had 3 children John (1838) Patrick, our ancestor, (1841) and Bridget (1843) while still in Ireland, but then the next record we have for them is in 1848 in Walsall, West Midlands UK, where they registered the birth of their 4th child Mary.

Shortly after, on the 1851 census they have John’s brother Thomas (b.1820) living with them in Walsall, and John & Ellen's family  grew with two further children: James (1850) and Edward (1857).

We know that the eldest sons, John & Patrick, each got married but then left the West Midlands and went to find coalmining work in Derbyshire.  They both lived in Chesterfield for several years where they brought up families of their own, then the eldest brother John moved on again and settled in Barnsley, West Yorkshire.

There was another branch of this family (possibly cousins) who followed the same trail when they left Ireland;  Michael and Mary (Con)Cannon also lived in the West Midlands for a while, before they too moved to Chesterfield - although Michael found work on the railways rather than the mines.

It was our late father’s lifelong wish to know where his family originated from and in tribute to him my sister and myself are continuing his search for the answer. 

It has been a wonderful, educational and emotional journey of discovery over the last few years, and now finding this excellent website it feels as if we’ve almost reached home!

If you recognise this family we’d love to hear from you !

Demeter

4 replies

Hi Sally.

Many thanks for your message. Just wondering is the name Cannon or Concannon. This surname is common in East Galway, as is Shiel surname. There are alot of Concannons in the Ahascragh parish. There are Shiels in the Kiltomer, Clontuskert parishes as well.

I will forward your message  to a few parishes and see, if we can source anything for you.

 

Regards

 

Paula

IrelandXO member

Hi Paula,

Firstly, I would like to say how exciting this project is, and to thank yourself and all on your team for all the hard which will make this website possible!

As we've traced our family back we've discovered that although they were using the name Cannon in England they were probably Concannons originally, who dropped the 'Con' part as so many other Irish emigrants did !

Our ancestors consistently said they were from Co Galway (on census etc) so this theory of their surname is based on long study of Griffiths Valuation and maps of Ireland, where it seemed that the majority of Cannons were across the central portion of Galway  but that the Concannon name is mostly in the north-east of the county and that this was also the area where all the other significant surnames for our family appear most closely together. 

There is also one English newspaper report of the death of one of our ancestors in a railway accident, where his name was given as Concowan.  We're assuming that this was an inaccurate transcript of a roving reporter's handwriting !

Having put lots of name-tagged pins in my map, it seemed that Kiltullagh, Kilcroan or Kilbegnet would be the most likely parishes, although there are 3 or 4 other  (less likely looking)  parishes which stand out on the map too !

I thought it would be best to post a message on just the Galway county messageboard to begin with, hoping that someone who read it would have a closer knowledge of the actual place of origin.

Thank you for such a quick response!

Kind regards

Sally

Demeter

Hi, I have a Margaret Concannon married to a Thomas Hardiman. One of their elder children, Thomas, was born in 1858 in Kiltullagh. I have also found her in the 1901 census as a widow, living with another son, Michael and his family at house 12 Brackloon, Killimor, Galway. I have yet to find Margaret's marriage cert to Thomas Hardiman. If I have any more information about the Concannons I will let you know. I hope this helps you in any way. Good Luck

IrelandXO member

For further helpful information in relation to this please see related Message Board Thread HERE

IrelandXO member

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