Individual Details

John MORAHAN

(Abt 22 Apr 1816 - 25 Aug 1896)

It is not known where exactly John was born but it seems he was not a native of the townland of Cloonfeacle (in the parish of Kiltoghert) where he eventually ran his farm. The Tithe Applotment Books, compiled for Co. Leitrim in 1833, do not list any Morahan householders in Cloonfeacle, but by 1856 when Griffith's Valuation was carried out for Kiltoghert, John was farming in Cloonfeacle. He may well have come from the parish of Kiltoghert as there is an entry in the Irish Linen Board's 1796 list of flax growers for a James Moraghan (Moraghan is synonymous with Morahan) who grew flax in Kiltoghert. Could James have been related to John? And according to Griffith's Valuation, carried out for Co. Leitrim in 1856 and 1857, there were a number of other Morahans in Co. Leitrim at that time, all of them living in Kiltoghert, John being the only Morahan in the townland of Cloonfeacle.

It has been suggested that John may have been born in Co. Roscommon or had family connections in the county. This could well be true; although John had died by the time of the 1901 census, if one looks at the returns of the six Morahan households in Co. Leitrim at the time of the census, it can be seen that five of the six heads of household give their place of birth as Co. Roscommon (John's son, Owen, being the exception), and five of the six heads of household, including Owen, had wives who were born in Co. Roscommon. Furthermore I am told that many Morahan and Moraghan families in the area have roots in the Boyle/Cootehall region of Co. Roscommon (less than 12 miles from Cloonfeacle).

It is possible John was born in 1816 as a John Morahan, son of a Dominic Morahan and Mary Killelea, was baptised on on 27 April 1816 in Killukin, Co. Roscommon. However I have no proof that this John was our John above.

In case there is a connection between John's family and the other five Morahan families from the Co. Leitrim census returns, here are their details (with county of birth being Leitrim unless otherwise specified):

TOWNLAND / PARISH / HEAD / OCCUPATION / OTHER OCCUPANTS (family members only; servants, etc. not included):

Drumod town / Annaduff / Peter (35) / publican/widower (b. Co. Roscommon) / Francis (7), Peter (6), Margaret (sister, 21, b. Co. Roscommon)

Sranadarragh / Drumreilly / Owen (32) / tea dealer (b. Co. Roscommon) / Maryann (32), Charles (9), Mary Agnes (8), Lily (6), Annie (5), Caroline (4), May (2), Eugene (1 month)

Carrick-on-Shannon town / Kiltoghert / Thomas (50) / coach builder (b. Co. Roscommon) / Nora (44, b. Co. Roscommon), Mary Elizabeth (20), Delia (18), Nora (16), Kathleen (13), Bernard (11), Anna(9), Thomas (6), Bridget McDonough (70, mother-in-law, b. Co. Roscommon)

Carrick-on-Shannon town / Kiltoghert / Patrick (27) / printer (unmarried, b. Co. Roscommon) / Owen (20, b. Co. Roscommon, brother perhaps?)

Carrick-on-Shannon town / Kiltoghert / Timothy (58) / RIC pensioner (b. Co. Roscommon) / Thomas (23, b. Co. Mayo), Edward (19), Timothy (15), Joseph (13, b. Co. Roscommon), Patrick (11, b. Co. Cavan), Bertram (8 months)

Getting back to the life of John above, it has been discovered he was involved in an abduction in his youth. On the night of 7 April 1836, eight men, including John and brothers Robert and William Bertridge (who were John's brothers-in-law) forced their way into the house of a Mrs. Hanley who was a widow and lived in the townland of Pullymaughel (also spelled Pollnamoghil) in the parish of Aughrim, Co. Roscommon, a few miles south-west of Cloonfeacle, and kidnapped Mrs. Hanley's daughter Catherine. The police were quickly contacted, Catherine was rescued, and John and the Bertridges were arrested and sentenced to death but were subsequently granted a 'free pardon', possibly due to the influence of the Bertridges. The reason for the abduction is unclear, but such abductions were not uncommon in the late 18th / early 19th century. For information on the practice of abduction in Ireland at that time, and for further details on this particular abduction, please refer to the notes for Robert Bertridge.

According to John's death certificate, he was 72 years old when he died in 1896 (his son, Owen, was present at his death), which means he was born about 1824, which cannot be the case as he married in 1836. The age of the John Morahan who was tried for the abduction was 23 in 1836, indication a birth year of about 1813, while John Morahan, son of Dominic Morahan and Mary Killilea was born in 1916. For now I am going with 1813.

Through this website I have received information on another Morahan family from the Carrick-on-Shannon area. I am unable to make a connection between them and our Morahans, but just in case there is a link, here are their details:

Brothers Joseph and Thomas Morahan, whose father's name was Bernard, were born around the middle of the 19th century and both worked as coach builders in Carrick-on-Shannon. Joseph married Mary Rutledge in 1879 and later settled in Co. Sligo, and Thomas married Nora McDonough in 1880. It is known that Thomas and Nora had nine children: Mary Elizabeth, Delia, Norella, Kathleen, Bernard (Sonny), Anna, Thomas, Addy and Gertie.

Another family of Roscommon Morahans included a John Morahan (1833-1885) who moved with his family to Leeds in England where he lived for 10 years before emigrating to the United States in 1853. It is not known what parish in Roscommon John was from but it is known his mother's surname was Kelly.

Events

BirthAbt 22 Apr 1816possibly Boher, Croghan, Co. Roscommon
Christen22 Apr 1816Killukin, Co. Roscommon
Marriage24 Mar 1836Kiltoghert, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim - Mary BERTRIDGE
Death25 Aug 1896Cloonfeacle, Kiltoghert, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim

Families