McGlynn Family History - Chapter 8 (i)

The Story of one particular branch of the family of Eoin na mBa mor. Ireland 1750 - 1950

Chapter 8 (i)

The following pages are devoted to an account of one particular branch of the family of Eoin na mBa mor which is known by the patronymic Donnchadh Fanni (Dhonchat Fannie in the modern spelling), and was found in the northern Inniskeel area of the Glenties Parish. The family is centered around the townlands of Tievedeevan and Kingarrow, and called Don. Fan. McGlynn to distinguish them from the many others of the same name in the area; all related back to Eoin. It is probable that the original Don. Fan. generation lived in the 1860s; named after Frances and her son Denis (C1) born in 1861; though tradition puts them back to the eighteenth century. The name means Donnchadh - of Denis and Fanni - Frances. The Don. Fan. McGlynns have had the names Denis, Francis, or Frances for generations, until Frank (E3). This tradition ended when the family became Scots/Irish rather than Irish/Scots, after the Second World War. The old Irish way in the Gaelic west was for the first son to be named after the paternal grandfather and the second after the maternal grandfather. Similarly the first daughter was named after the maternal grandmother and the second after the paternal grandmother.

Line of Heremon

129. Eoin.

130 - 136. Not known at present.

137. Hugh, born @ 1750. (not confirmed)

The Donnchadh Fanni McGlynn Line

138. Denis, born c1790/1800.

139. Hugh, born c 1830.

140. Denis, born 1861.

141. Francis, born 1890.

142. Frank, born 1920.

143. David, born 1947.

144. Stevyn, born 1971. Nicholas, born 1974.

145.

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Hugh (probably) [137].: c1750 –c1820.

The only thing known for sure is that he had a farm to the north of Tievedeevan next to the Cummirk River. I was told long ago that he had three sons, one who emigrated and two who remained called Patrick and Denis. I have not made him the (A1) generation because I have never had it corroborated from any another source.

It is difficult, with our modern sensibilities, to create a clear picture of this generation. The next generation, with his son Denis(A1) living in the same house, didn’t change; but it was the end of an era that had probably lasted since the McGlynns first came to Donegal in the early 1600s. The archaeological remains show that his house, like the houses next to it, was roughly 20-odd feet by fifteen and built of rough stone. The rectangle of stone had a low turf-thatch roof with an opening on one of the longer walls closed by wattle or hide to keep out the elements. There were no windows and the smoke from the central hearth escaped through the thatch. The family lived on a beaten earth floor about the central hearth with one or two milk cows at one end and pigs and goats at the other. The manure would be shovelled out to the dung-heap for the fields. It was similar in the West Highland of Scotland and it is difficult to imagine now how people lived in these dark smoke filled rooms with smells that must have been powerful. The one thing that it does do is give us an insight into how these people would have viewed the squalor and hardship of emigration to the Americas and the industrial cities of Britain – not with our notions.

I have created a sketch of Hugh’s cottage; which passed on to Denis (A1); from the site itself and the map of 1830 [location maps at end of chapter].

The doorless openings face south-east to take advantage of any sunlight but more importantly to give some protection from the prevailing westerlies and northern winter winds. One cottage does face south-west which may indicate that it had some kind of door. The houses, built in the mid to late 1600s, survived unchanged for about two hundred years until the late 1800s.

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Denis McGlynn [138] (A1): c1795-c1865.

The oldest known of the line is Denis, 138 in the Line from Heremon, a tenant farmer born between 1790/1800. The map of 1835 shows the small clachan, to the north of Tievedeevan Hill and near the Cummirk River, where he took over his father’s farm. Like many, Denis had to wait for his father’s death before inheriting the farm, in the mid 1820s, and being able to marry.

Denis is one of five McGlynn households that are shown in Tievedeevan on the 1857 Griffith’s Valuation lists. It is probable, but not proven, that the Patrick mor and Patrick beag on the Lists were his brother and nephew. The birth rate in general slowed around the 1820s due to the pressure on living standards, late marriage, and emigration. Denis married a local girl called Mary McGlynn from Meengilcarry about 1825 and although it is not known at present how many children they had, of the three boys, two emigrated. The agricultural economy was not able to cope with the dynamic population increase and, without more land to open, late marriage and emigration were inevitable.

The McGlynns had managed to hold land and thrive in the Finn Valley because of the lack of population in these wild parts in the 1600s and, after the Scottish Planters, because of long leases. Even in the late eighteenth century Irish tenants would take a lease for twenty-one years or 'three generations'; unlike the annual farm leases in England; because they were responsible for upkeep and improvements to the property. Taking into account the capital cost of the land, the leases that the McGlynns had at this time were favourable. It would not appear to be the case from contemporary accounts, which tended to dwell on the landless and subsistence cotters in their poor cabins, but agriculture mainly consisted of tenant farmers who made a reasonable living from the land. In general the McGlynns produced cattle for the less than lucrative 'live export' market, but they had no control over the local market requirements.

The end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 disrupted the market as Britain returned to purchasing cattle from Europe. Prices had held well during Denis's father's days but a lower order of prices had been established by the time he married. There was however a favourable local market as many had ceased to provide their own food in favour of shop bought bacon, cheese, etc; and of course there was fishing and illicit distilling. Irish cattle were still coming by boat to Whiteinch, Glasgow until the 1960s.

Denis probably grew some root vegetables such as potatoes and cabbage; keeping pigs, goats, and hens to some degree but his main wealth; as it had been with the original McGlynns who came here; was in cattle. Hugh of the three sons remained while Frank emigrated to San Francisco, never to be heard of again, and Daniel emigrated to Philadelphia where he had two sons and eight daughters. Sadly, at the time, I did not ask Frances Quinn of Kingarrow the dates of their emigration or whether Daniel married and had any children in Ireland before he left.

Denis was the last in this cottage and it was demolished after his death in the 1860s-1870s.

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Hugh McGlynn [139] (B1): c1820-c1890.

Hugh was the oldest of Denis's family; born roughly 1826-30; and he lived through the Famine which struck the land when he was about fifteen. Hugh married another McGlynn, Frances McGlynn of Meenatinny, Conwal; on the northern side of the Cummirk River; on the 4th of February 1856; with Hugh’s brother Daniel and France’s brother Hugh as witnesses. Hugh built a new cottage into the hillside at Tievedeevan at the southern edge of the farm. His father Denis and his wife were still living so Hugh does not appear on the 1857 Griffith’s List, which would indicate that the cottage was built about 1860. Whether there was a new land grant; as there was a land division in the 1860s-70s; is not known at present, but he built a far superior dwelling of three rooms and four windows. The byre, separate but part of the building to the west was added at some point later. Since the 1830s nearly all the wood for house/roof construction had to be imported into Donegal, unlike the original cottage where he was born.

Hugh levelled off the site leaving the natural shelter of the hill to the rear to protect it from the worst of the weather. It would have been built by Hugh with the help of relations and friends, having a turf and thatch roof. The exposure of the site is attested to by the wall pegs to hold the ropes that held down the thatch.

The building was still standing; water-tight though empty; in 1993 on the open, sodden, bare hillside; at 600 feet above sea level to the south-west of the Cummirk River. This marginal land was worth, at the time, about four shillings an acre. Around 1900 an additional free standing barn was built to the east of the house, and at some point later the thatch was removed and replaced with a corrugated tin roof. An outside toilet, free-standing about 20 feet in front of the house, was added in the 1950s.

Frances, who married Hugh in 1856, came from a few miles north of the Cummirk River in Meeniroy or Meenatinny which probably indicates that it was a borderline farm. There are two stories about her father who was known as Buorde (probably Eoin), and I suppose the truth lies somewhere in between. The first was that on his wedding night the best man, a John McGlynn who had returned for the wedding, danced off with his new wife. This would mean that the family were sired by him and another woman which is very unlikely in the early 1800s. The other is that his wife left him with the family and ran off with a childhood sweetheart who had returned from abroad. Whatever the case her father was not the householder in Meeniroy or Meenatinny in 1857. He may have been in Inishkeel or Kilteevogue, or more likely living in a household where the head was the woman’s father or mother. One of his sons married a girl from Clochan or Letterbrick (both adjacent) forming another McGlynn family amongst those already there. The only McGlynn on the 157 Griffith’s was Hugh, born 1821 and a widower living with his daughter Kate in 1900. The farm where Francis was raised eventually passed to her brother Hugh and he married Kate McGeehan in 1870/1, raising his family there.

Hugh(B1), like his father, had a small family for reasons that have been previously discussed. Late marriage was now normal with the ownership of a farm closely tied to the prospects of marriage. It is believed that their first born was a girl who died at birth and was called Frances. Hugh probably died about 1890.

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Denis McGlynn (C1): 1861 -c1915.

Denis was born on his father's farm at Tievedeevan in 1861. As a young man he worked the farm until, according to John the Fiddler(of Letterbrick & 18 Cranbrook Dr., Maryhill), he went to New York where he worked as a tram driver. He sailed from Derry to Glasgow on the Laird Line and from there he boarded one of the Anchor Line's sail-assisted steam ships to New York. There was no Ellis Island at this time.

The Clyde in 1855 with the Anchor Line sail-assisted steam ship

on the left. This worked the Glasgow/New York route till 1891.

It is more likely that he worked as a labourer on his first trip, at the age of nineteen, helping to build the skyline that is now familiar as New York. Tram drivers, like the police, were jobs of considerable social status in the immigrant community. On his return from America, Denis bought a farm in Kingarrow, a mile south-east of Lough Muck; still on the southern bank of the Cummirk River; and about a mile north of his father's. There were no farms in this area in the mid 1800s therefore probably he purchased a tract of land and had to build the farm from scratch. It is also probable that he then returned to America to acquire some working capital. The story was that he purchased two farms but more likely on his return the second time he acquired another tract of land. This is a new age with people’s expectations changing.

Denis appears to be a diligent, hard working young man with his heart firmly planted in Irish soil. By the time that he was thirty he had, in a short space of time, saved enough on two trips to America to buy his return fares and purchase two adjacent tracts of land. His second trip would have been the time that he became a tram driver, probably with the aid of somebody in the Irish community in New York; maybe his uncle. It was in 1890 that he returned to add the adjacent “farm” to the one he already held.

The cost of travelling steerage to America at this time was at an all time low, before it was eventually scrapped all together. Emigration to the States was tailing off with the Industrial Revolution in full swing in Britain after the Napoleonic Wars and the expansion of the British Empire. This resulted in a price war between the shipping companies for steerage passengers, dropping fares to about £5 by 1800 and as low as £2 by the mid 1800s. Still a fair amount of money - about a month’s wages.

On the 23rd of May 1891, at the age of thirty-one (although the certificate shows 26), he married Mary McGlynn; the daughter of Paddy mor: big Paddy of Edinintagh. This is the third Don. Fan. McGlynn marrying into another McGlynn family in three generations, and it is only the tenth generation away from the original ten to fifteen families who arrived in Donegal with Eoin na mBa mor in 1602. This makes an interesting blood line, especially when Mary’s mother was also a Mary McGlynn before she married Paddy mor.

They were married in the chapel of St Connell’s at Glenties with Denis's near neighbour Pat McDevitt as best man and her older sister Anne as bridesmaid (see linear plans).

Mary was born in the district of Edinintagh, probably the townland of Meenachuit one of a family of six, one boy and five girls. Her father was known as Paddy mor which usually means that there is a son Paddy beag but I have no trace of one unless he died young. Paddy mor (her father) had married Mary McGlynn(her mother) the only daughter of Patrick McGlynn of Meenachuit and took over the farm. It is not known where Paddy mor’s family came from.

The farm was in a valley protected by a higher ridge to the west and south. On the hillside they kept sheep and cattle, while near the cottage they kept goats for milk, pigs and hens. They grew barley, winter hay/clover, and in 'lazy beds' potatoes and some root crops for the kitchen. It was a labour intensive farm with the scythe still used for grass and grain cutting into the 1950s. There was no plough and all digging was done with a spade, as the land was very wet and stony. Denis also kept some 'special' potatoes hidden alongside a hedge, well away from the main crop. This I cannot explain at present.

The cottage, now only derelict foundations, was three rooms and a byre with a thatched roof; the same as his father's. It had never been modernised and the open peat fire in the living room was still used for cooking till the end. In Denis's day it was kept whitewashed, but towards the end it was in a sorry state. During the 1950s, when only his sons Hugh and John were living there, a storm brought the roof of one of the rooms down. The door was just closed and the room never opened again.

Drawing taken from frame of old 35mm film, 1953, shows fallen roof

Additional byre/barn built separately on right.

Mary, who was born in 1865, had two daughters and four sons to Denis. She outlived her husband and her younger son dying, at the age of 67, on the 6th of December 1932. She was buried in the cemetery at Fintown, just to the right of the church, with her younger son.

Francis was the first born on the 12th of November 1892. He emigrated to Glasgow in 1911 where he met and married Mary Green from Gortahork, dying in 1943 at the age of 50 from a chest complaint. Francis left Ireland against his parent’s wishes and was funded by his aunt Frances Quinn of Kingarrow.

The first daughter born was Mary Ann in 1895. She was married to Dan Coll of Kingarrow and died without children in the 1960s.

The third child, born 1896, was called Hugh and he died unmarried on the farm at Kingarrow in the late 1960s. Hugh was the last on the farm and was buried by Father John McGlynn, when he was a curate at the church in Fintown, about 1967. Hugh appears to have been a colourful character who was not only the local self-taught vet', but also butchered sheep for the local farmers. He appears to have been a natural storyteller and when he and John lived on the farm by themselves, it was the all night 'singing and dancing' spot in the area.

The next born was Bridget in 1898, and she married William Ward of Meenavale in 1918 in the chapel at Fintown. Bridget died in May 1941 leaving one son, Owen, and three daughters, Mary Brigid, Anne, and Margaret. Owen married Brigid Muloy in 1968 and had three children – David, Kevin Barry, and Ann Marie. Mary Brigid married Eric Payne of Birmingham and had a son Sean. Margaret married Robert Harrison of Romford and had four children – John, Robert, Paul, and Sheila. Anne married Manus Heron of Fintown and had two children, Theresa and Martin.

John was the fifth child and he was born in 1900 and he lived out his days unmarried on the farm with Hughie. John died about 1966, and is probably buried beside his mother.

Their last son was born in 1901 and they called him Denis. Living all his days on the farm he died, an unmarried young man, on the 17th of December 1918 of a weak chest; probably pneumonia.

Top – Denis’s farm in 1950s

Bottom – John (left) and Hugh between the side of the cottage and the barn

When Hugh died, unmarried in 1967, the roof of the farm collapsed and it became a derelict building. The oldest son of Francis (D2), John, was heir to the farm but under the laws of the time he would have had to take up residency; and so it was left unattended. On John's death it fell to Frank as the next in line, but similarly he had no interest in it. The land was sold eventually to the State Forestry Commission by Owen Ward and is now planted with conifers. A share was given to each of Frank(D1)’s sons and daughters of £338.67p, which makes a land value of £3,725.37p

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Denis’s brother and sister stayed on the farm at Tievedeevan with his mother. Mary(C3) died on the farm, never marrying. Eoin married Ann McMonagle in the early 1900s and had a family of fourteen.

Frank and Sarah were both teachers in Leintrim while the rest of the family migrated out of Tievedeevan leaving John on the farm and Frances, who married Hugh Quinn, living in Kingarrow.

John was born and died on the farm unmarried, after which Frances sold the land in the 1980s.