People and Places
11 April 2016Our research showed that in the 1760s the Benn and Donovan families first settled in the townland of Ballygurteen, and that nine generations of the Benn family have farmed the land down to the present day. The Donovans likewise remained in Ballygurteen down to 1999. The identity of both families...
Continuity and Memory
11 April 2016The Benn family have demonstrated a strong entrepreneurial streak down through the generations. Dick’s grandfather ran a hardware shop in Roscrea in the 1920s and 30s, in addition to the farm. Dick’s great-grandmother Susan Benn (nee Wakeley) who jauntily recorded her trade as ‘confectioner’ in her 1879 marriage certificate, established...
Researching the Benn Family
11 April 2016In March 2010 during a live radio interview with the late Gerry Ryan, Fiona Fitzsimons ‘outed’ Dick Benn as a cousin of president Barack Obama’s. “We came across the Benns when we were researching the President’s Kearney ancestors” she explains. “I thought everyone knew of the connection, and didn’t think...
The Extended Family
11 April 2016By compiling a 9 generational family tree, Fiona Fitzsimons and Helen Moss were able to make some interesting observations about the President’s extended family – the Benns, Donovans and Kearneys. Close relationship between the Benns and Donovans From the 1760s the Benns and Donovans lived side by side in the...
What’s In A Name?
11 April 2016Our research to this point showed that the name Benn had a certain ‘rarity value’ in the Irish records. The records used to compile the family tree also went towards constructing a ‘family profile’ indicating the Benn family had ‘substance’ Family marriages took place by Marriage License Bond rather than...
The Benn Triangle
11 April 2016Using documents from the Registry of Deeds, Eneclann’s researchers identified three distinct but interconnected clusters of Benn/ Behn families between 1719 and the early 1800s in Limerick, Galway and Tipperary. The earliest records we have for the Benn family show them in 1719 in Limerick city. The information found in...
Origin and History of the Benn Family
11 April 2016Research has established that by 1712 the Limerick Benns were a middleclass mercantile family living in the prosperous Limerick parish of St. John’s. It is unlikely that as Palatines, they would have been able to integrate this quickly into Irish society. This then begs the question – assuming that Mrs....
An Interview with Lorna Moloney for Ancestral Connections Summer School 2016
11 April 2016Eneclann’s own Fiona Fitzsimons met up recently with Lorna Moloney to discuss the annual Ancestral Connections Summer School in Genealogy. The Summer School is now in it’s 4th year, and has rapidly become a fixture in the genealogy calendar. In 2016 Ancestral Connections will be held 19th to 24th June....
Tom Cruise’s Family History & the Mapother Name Origin
08 April 2016If you’re interested in genealogy, a fascinating way to explore it is by researching famous people and their family trees. One celebrity whose ancestry can be traced back to Ireland is Tom Cruise, the actor known for the films Mission Impossible, The Color of Money, and Risky Business, among others....
Patrick Russell Cruise – From Ireland to America
08 April 2016On 11th August 1825 Patrick Russell Cruise married Teresa Johnson in Warrenstown House, the ancestral seat of the Johnson family in county Meath.[1] The marriage united two ancient families, with origins in competing cultural and political traditions. Left: reproduced with the permission of the board of Trinity College Library Below: marriage...
Patrick Russell Cruise returns to Ireland
08 April 2016As a younger son Patrick Russell Cruise had not inherited the family ancestral seat of Drynam House. However, he had inherited a half share in approximately 500 acres of land, comprising the townlands of Paristown and Dardistown, in the Barony of Delvin in county Westmeath.[1] These lands had been set out to...
Limerick Christ Church Records Go Online
08 April 2016For the first time the historic parish registers held by Christ Church Limerick are being made available online. They contain the names of thousands of people who were members of the Presbyterian and Methodist congregations of Limerick city as well as Kilrush in County Clare and Killarney in County Kerry....
