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The remarkable story of the McLaughlin Clann - from royal halls to distant shores  McLaughlin Clann Crest Few surnames carry such a long memory as McLaughlin. Behind its familiar rhythm lies a tale of kings, battles, and exile - a family line that once shaped the destiny of Ireland itself.
Back in the twelfth century, before surnames had settled into the forms we know today, the north of Ireland was ruled by the powerful Cenél nEógain, one of the great Gaelic kindreds descended from Niall of the Nine Hostages - yes, that Niall, whose legend links to the founding of dynasties across Europe. From this noble stock rose the O’Lochlainns (later McLaughlins), whose stronghold was in Inishowen, Co. Donegal. Their territory stretched across the rolling hills and deep glens between Lough Foyle and Lough Swilly, crowned by the ancient ringfort of Grianán of Aileach, the ceremonial seat of their ancestors. From that high stone circle, they ruled Ulster with a mix of wisdom, pride, and the occasional bloody feud.
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 "Island Living" inspired by frequent visits to Clare Island off the coast of the West Of Ireland in County Mayo painted by Irish Artist Shay Maguire There are many records available to those tracing their family history, and it’s often worth examining and comparing the details they contain more closely. One revealing approach is to note what appears in one record of an event but is missing from another. For instance, church records often provide additional clues not shown in the civil records.
When we pore over baptism and marriage records, most of us focus on the main names - the bride, the groom, the child, the parents. But look just to the side of those lines, and you’ll often find another story quietly waiting to be told. The witnesses and sponsors - those extra names squeezed in to margins or scrawled at the bottom - were rarely random. They were the people our ancestors trusted most, and sometimes they hold the keys to unlocking entire branches of a family tree.  An Gorta Mór Garden, Carndonagh, Co. Donegal Inishowen Workhouse
Carndonagh, Co. Donegal, Ireland Have you ever stopped to imagine what life might have looked like in Inishowen a century or two ago? Picture a windswept peninsula in Ireland’s northwest, where rocky soil and tough winters made daily survival an unrelenting task. Now imagine trying to raise a family there in the 1800s, when failed crops, poor health, and economic hardship could push a household over the edge in a matter of weeks. When things fell apart, where could people turn? For many, the answer - grim though it was - came in the form of the local workhouse. In Carndonagh, at the heart of the Inishowen Peninsula, one such institution opened its doors in 1843. Known as the Inishowen Workhouse, it was designed to be a last refuge for those with nowhere else to go.  Inch Castle in silhouette - Inch Island, Co. Donegal An Uncommon Name
"Sometimes you come across a name in Irish genealogical research that stops you in your tracks. Is it an Irish name whose modern form masks its ancient Gaelic roots, or is it one of those interlopers - brought in through colonialism, war, trade, or simple immigration? One such name landed on my desk recently: Lenny. According to my usual go-to handbook on the subject: "The Surnames of Ireland" by MacLysaght, there was no specific entry for "Lenny", and no real reference to possible derivatives, other than O'Lennon or Lennan, from the Irish "Ó Leannáin" or Lunny, from the Irish "Ó Luinigh" which was "originally from Co. Donegal, but now strongly associated with the adjoining Co. Fermanagh". The Lenny surname, in this case, was that of a family who was believed to have originated on Inch Island near Buncrana in County Donegal from at least the mid-1700s. My client, Tracey from near Portland, Oregon, reached out to trace her ancestor James Lenny, son of Daniel and Ann Lenny. James emigrated from Ireland in 1840 and settled in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. A fragment of family memory survived through a single line of song passed down through generations: "Inch Island, seven miles around and around." That line became the anchor to an intriguing investigation.  Gill Cottage - Gortaran, Clonmany, Co. Donegal Irish genealogical research can be daunting, especially when you have no idea where to start. I often receive requests from people who reach out to me armed with very little in the way of information tying their Irish ancestor to a particular location and perhaps only a very vague family anecdote on where they came from in Ireland. These are the difficult cases which may take years to tap away at until one day you are lucky enough to make a breakthrough, even with DNA analysis. It is even more difficult when an Irish ancestor left these shores before the mid-1800s. I can never guarantee that I will find that elusive ancestor's exact connection to Ireland, but I do promise that I will try everything in my power to do so! That said, sometimes there are very lucky breaks that can literally just land on your lap!
The following family history research story has a local flavour to it, from Clonmany where I live. It has similar elements of my own family history to it, in the migration to and from Ireland to Scotland and back and also a family tie of sorts...my sister-in-law is married into this family. **PINNED BLOG NOTE: If you are reading this from a third party social media platform, then you are very welcome to my website. If you have some time to explore the various pages I would be delighted! I will be posting regular blog articles here and consolidating some of the articles I have posted in various other sites in this space also.  I was commissioned by Donegal County Council to look into Tip O'Neill's Donegal ancestry as part of their celebration of his centennial year in 2012 and the introduction of the Tip O'Neill Irish Diaspora Awards. It was the start of a very special relationship with his family which endures to this day. I knew this would be a mammoth task and since it was a particularly important and prestigious project , I asked my friend Agnes O'Donnell to assist me. Agnes is a very skilled and thorough genealogist and I knew that she would relish the challenge as much as I would. It took many months of diligent work to put together his family tree and in doing so we established that he had not one Inishowen grandparent, but two!
Following the completion of this work, Agnes and I were invited by Tip O'Neill's family to join them in Boston for the US celebrations of his centennial year. What followed was my first trip to the US and a most enjoyable week of events. The Tip O'Neill Irish Diaspora Awards is an annual award presented by Donegal County Council to recognise members of the global Irish diaspora for their outstanding achievements and service, while also celebrating their connections to Ireland. Launched in 2012 to commemorate the centenary of the birth of former U.S. Speaker of the House Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill Jr., whose maternal ancestors were from Donegal, the awards foster a global connection to the county and the island. The awards honour diaspora members for contributing to Ireland and maintaining cultural ties. In 2015, Agnes and I arranged the O'Neill family visit to one of their Inishowen ancestral homes in Rashenny, Clonmany. This is the story of that day.....  Ancestral tours are something that have organically followed my genealogical research story. I get contacted to do some genealogy with the next request being - "can you help us plan a trip to Ireland?" This led me to undertaking the National Tour Guiding course offered by ATU (Atlantic Technological University formally LYIT) and becoming an AITG National Tour Guide. The course was advertised as "suitable for anyone interested in working in the tourism activity sector providing a range of professional guiding services for visitors, and in delivering and managing a comprehensive tour management and guiding service for tourists visiting and travelling in Ireland." It was the perfect next step in expanding my business and my skill set.
My blog will cover some of the tours that I have arranged over the years, the people I have met and their family stories. Way back in May 2013, I met the "Dougherty" sisters from New Zealand who were visiting Inishowen in the hope that they could find out a bit more about their O'Dochartaigh Clann heritage than their Uncle had on his visit during the O'Dochartaigh Clann Reunion 2000. The lovely Kitty Doherty Barr (USA & Moville) had put them in touch with me and I arranged to meet them in Moville town after doing a bit of pre-meeting research. This is the story of their visit to retrace their O'Dochartaigh Clann ancestor back to Ireland from New Zealand... |
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