Re: Kerrigans from Leitrim
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In reply to:
Kerrigans from Leitrim
stephen kerrigan 9/07/06
I'm also related to the Kerrigans of Leitrim, probably Lareen or Kinlough.
My great grandfather Daniel Kerrigan was born ca. 1846 in Leitrim, moved up to Dunmuckrum, Donegal as a young man and bought a farm there, marrying Margaret Keenaghan (Kinahan alt. spelling) in 1878 and establishing a family of Kerrigans all of whom died out in Ireland or emigrated to Boston, MA late 1890s.
The Irish records are so sparse, and the Kerrigans so many, it's difficult to do genealogy in these counties.Someone said Lareen was a bastion of Kerrigans--yes, the entire area was loaded with them, and they would all tell you they were unrelated.There were so many Kerrigans, they used to refer to each other by their wives family names sometimes.e.g. if you had three "Pat Kerrigans" in the same Township, one might be the 'Travers-Kerrigan and another the McNulty-Kerrigan.Of course, they were probably much more closely related than they knew, but the Irish didn't even begin recording their deaths in these counties until early 20th century, and they only carried two or three generations of oral family history in their heads.So.....it's difficult to ever be really sure of the records one is stringing together.
Having said that, I trace my possible/probably roots back to Lareen and Kinlough because 1.there were Kinahans there in the mid-1800s so that might have accounted for family connections that brought my great grandfather Daniel up to Dunmuckrum and Rathmore to marry a Keenaghan girl, 2. the distance is trivial, not much more than 10-20 Km., and 3.the naming pattern of my great grandfather's children Anne/John/Daniel/Mary/Hugh matches closely to the naming patterns of the Kinlough Kerrigans.
I am directly related to the Keenaghans of Rathmore and Bundoran who live there still through my great grandfather Daniel Kerrigan.