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Redmond McEdmond O'Fallon - The Down Survey of Ireland

RoscommonTaghboy (Roscommon)

I can't PROVE that I am a descendant of this man, but I thought I'd post this here anyway as it is relevant to/for Taghboy Parish in County Roscommon.

Edmond McRedmond O'Fallon had 94 plantation acres forfeited by 1670 but was listed as the owner of these lands in 1641 and was listed as "Catholic". These lands were in the Barony of Athlone, in County Roscommon in Taghboy Parish and in the townland of Carrowkeel (ED Turrock)

By 1670 the ownership of said land or lands had passed to The Earl of Mountrath (Protestant)

Carrowkeel seems to be East of Ballyforan and North of Dysart in Southern County Roscommon, not too far from the Suck River.

By 1690 there is a Redmond Fallon selling land to Charles Carroll in Ann Arundell County in Maryland, when Maryland was still a colony. (The only Irish Catholic (by family origin) signer of the US Declaration of Independence from the British Empire by the way) of course THIS Charles Carroll was the grandfather of THAT Charles Carroll.

There was a Captain Henry Fleete (English) who transported a "Tagh O'Fallon" to Virginia in the 1650s as well.

There was a Dwaltagh (DwalTAGH) O'Fallon who had lands in 1641 in County Roscommon, in the Barony of Athlone, in Taghboy Parish who had 27 Plantation acres.

This land was forfeited and was in the ownership of a James Talbott (Catholic) by 1670

There sure werea lot of Fallon and O'Fallon people LOSING their lands in County Roscommon between 1640 & 1670 that is plain to see.

They just seemed to drop off the earth and start resurfacing in the 1650s to the 1690s in the Caribbean and in Maryland & Virginia

One more thing: on the Down Survey (website hosted by Trinity College Dublin) it also has links to "Depositions" basically complaints by English landlords stating "get these troublesome Fallons, Kellys & Naughtons out of here! They are too much trouble! Kill them, jail them or transport them!" that's the gist of it, but you can read the details yourselves at the Down Survey of Ireland "just google it" as they say.

So, while I don't have proof, we have timelines and names, names such as Redmond Fallon (which morphed to Fallin over time) and THAT name (Redmond Fallin or Fallon) has been in our family for centuries, the last ones to keep that name though died by 1900, we don't tend to name our sons "Redmond" anymore, so it seems to have finally fallen out of fashion with us.

Please pardon my poor grammar or "run on sentences" as my English grammar isn't the best or as good as it probably should be.

Slinte,

Labhrs Fallamhain (Lance Fallin who currently resides in Missouri and desperately needs to visit Ireland)

IrelandXO member

3 replies

Dear Labhrás

Thanks for the above info - it goes to show the gaps that exist in our records. That Trinity College site is really interesting, especially the Depositions. 

Feel free to add your ancestor's details to our XO Chronicles. You can learn more about it HERE and it might be another avenue to consider so that your ancestor's details can be seen by others. 

Best wishes for a happy 2017!

Clare Doyle

Genealogy Support 

PS My pre-marriage name was NI Labhrai in Irish (Lowery) meaning spokesperson I think, so we are connected in that way if in no other!

IrelandXO member

Hello Clare Ní Labhraí Doyle, 

I am so sorry that it has practically taken me all year to respond to your message!

So one thing I did want to clarify is that my Y-DNA is definitely Irish (as well as the Surname) and supposedly we go way back in time to the northwestern quarter of Ireland (I guess from Donegal down to Galway, including Mayo and Roscommon etc) so the dna does point us in that direction. We always knew this though from family legend and lore. We knew we were from Connaught, we had lost where in Connaught until the last 20 to 30 years of research started pointing us towards the Roscommon & Galway border area.

I only have PROOF (paper trail proof) going from me back to a Redmond Fallon living on the Dan River (near present day Danville, Virginia) in 1745 ... anything BEFORE that time are just strong hunches and circumstantial.  If I can ever 100% PROVE our Virginia State Redmond Fallon to be the same or a son of the Redmond Fallon (Fallen, Fallin etc spellings vary) from Maryland ... I'd be that much closer to Ireland.

Sometimes I think ... damn ... 1680s to 1740s  Ireland, Barbados, Montserrat, Maryland and Virginia ... harsh world back then. I don't think most people today could survive it. Those were some tough birds back then. 

I just imagine, fighting for your own inherited lands, your religion, your language... then losing it all and having to start over from below rock bottom and moving across a whole ocean and surviving maltreatment, possible enslavement, cultural genocide... well, I try to imagine it so I can be thankful for the here and now, but man, it sounds horrific for them back then, and then to pick yourself up and start over and over again until you barely put something together in a foreign land (and now you have to still deal with British rule AND "Indian attacks" (red indian aka the TRUE Native Americans). I've had hard times in my life but nothing as near as hard as anything like that.

I think I read somewhere once that Ireland had lost something like 1/3 to 2/3 of its entire population between 1650 to 1850 due to emigration and death (due to wars and starvation)

Of course today Ireland is in a much better position, Independent and regaining the language etc (I'm not saying it's all perfect either but compared to back THEN?  yeah much better)

The USA (where I live) has issues and I won't get into that here, but we have starving people right now, especially in our inner cities and in the Appalachian Mountains and unless we change course it is only going to get worse .... but I digress. 

In the meantime I'm trying to learn about Irish history ... agus Tá mé ag foghlaim Gaeilge anois :-)

Sláinte,

              Lance Fallin ... but ... Labhrás Ó Fallamhain ... as Gaeilge :-)   (trying to reclaim my linguistic heritage)

 

Oh ... one more thing... Merry Christmas!   

Nollaig Shona agus Athbhliain faoi Mhaise Duit (Daoibh)

IrelandXO member

HI Lance,

What a fascinating read this is. I am reading the Ron Chernow GRANT book on the US President - and there is a reference to his wife's family being friends with the O'Fallon family.  Looked up the family and linked them very quickly to Ballina House, Taghboy, Co Roscommon.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_O%27Fallon
http://www.selectsurnames4.com/fallon2.html

If you had the time, it would be great if you could make entries on the Chronicles section of the Taghboy parish profile - entering some of your descendents & buildings which were part of your families history.  The profiles would attract more free information on your descendents in time - its about everyone adding a little bit and building on what is there.  

Best Wishes,

Mike

Mike Feerick

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