The  Origins of  my  Family

by

 Peter Manning, FIGRS

Some period into my family history research, I was most fortunate in discovering that my great - great - grandfather Dennis Manning was born in the year 1798 in the parish of Kilbride, a large scattered parish situated some three to five miles north of the town of Roscommon in County Roscommon, Ireland.

Early naval records I have of him, indicate that Dennis, having left Ireland, was ‘volunteered’ as a young man, into His Majesty’s Royal Navy at Shadwell in the east end of London, England on the 28th April 1825; being recruited to serve in the ‘Coast Blockade’.

The Coast Blockade was a naval force set up on the south coast of counties Kent and Sussex for the express purpose of suppressing the illegal trade of smuggling, whose members were bringing contraband goods such as brandy, silk and tobacco into the United Kingdom from France.  This evidence came to light whilst searching through Admiralty Records at the Public Record Office in Kew, Surrey.

The 1841 census returns for the parish of Ratcliff, Stepney, in the east end of London, show Dennis as having been born in Ireland and living with his family at 2 Love Lane. Further evidence of Dennis’s origins was found in the 1851 census returns of the Royal Naval Hospital at Greenwich, South London, where he was recorded as a Pensioner, residing in the hospital for seventeen years up to his death. He died at the age of sixty-one years, on the 29th August 1859, and was buried in the Royal Naval Cemetery at Greenwich.

During the following years of my research, my efforts were spent in trying to bring my family history up to date and to delve into the ancestry of Dennis in London and that of his origins in County Roscommon, Ireland. With further research, I now knew that Dennis was unable to write, this was evident from the marriage register where he had made his mark following his marriage to Ann Sharp at St. George in the East, Stepney on the 24th February 1829, that he was of the Roman Catholic faith, this indicated by having his four children; Thomas, Mary Ann, John and Sarah baptized at the local Catholic Chapel in Virginia Street, Wapping, London, and that he was employed as a Labourer prior to being impressed into the Royal Navy.

Many Irish migrant labourers came to England annually, to work in the market gardens around London and help with the harvesting of hay and corn in the home counties surrounding London, this may have brought Dennis here, although from 1816 the Irish Province of Connaught began to suffer from widespread potato crop failures caused by heavy flooding in counties Galway and Roscommon. These disasters were followed by further crop failures in 1817 and 1819, during which smallpox and typhus fever became rampant.

During 1821-2, Ireland suffered one of its worse famines caused by a serious potato blight; this, followed by a typhus epidemic resulted in much poverty, starvation and death, those who were able, fled to the towns in search of food, while many others made their way to coastal ports in the hope of obtaining passage to another country.  Dennis, then a young man, may have been one of the many thousands who fled to England.

According to a common, old Irish custom, the first son born to a Catholic family was named after his paternal grandfather and, as the records show that Thomas was the first son of Dennis and Ann, it is possible to suppose that Thomas was the Christian name of Dennis’s father. So began my search for a Thomas Manning in the Kilbride area of Co. Roscommon during the early nineteenth century.

The Tithe Applotment Books for Co. Roscommon, dated 1826, show several persons bearing the name Mannion located in the parish of Kilbride, and as the surnames of Manning, Mannin, Manion and Mannion in this district were the anglicized form of the Gaelic Irish surname O’ Mainnin, (an ancient Firbolgic sept who were located in the counties of Galway and Roscommon from time immemorial), it is highly probable that there was some relationship between Dennis and these Mannion tenant land farmers. Dennis of course, being unable to write, probably had his name anglicized to Manning by the Naval clerk in England on joining the Royal Navy.

Two Thomas Mannions’ are recorded in the Tithe Applotment Books for Kilbride, one occupying two acres of land in the townland of Corbo, and the other occupying five acres in the townland of Aughtnamalaught, also found was a T. Mannion holding eight acres in the townland of Castlemine.  A John Mannion was also recorded as occupying three acres of land in the townland of Corbo.  Other Mannion’s occupying land in Kilbride Parish were; Michael of Tully with four acres, George of Aughtnamalaugh with five acres, H of Coolcom with eight acres, M of Castlemine with three acres, D, (possibly Dennis), of Cloonerk with six acres and P of Cagglebeg with four acres - all these living within a short distance of each other.  Moreover, numerous other Mannion / Manning tenant farmers were recorded in the adjoining parishes surrounding Kilbride, one being a Thomas Manning farming six acres of land in the townland of Rowane in Kilglass parish.

An earlier Irish document showing the tenants of the Barony of Ballintobber, in which the parish of Kilbride was situated, circa 1817, shows several Mannions resident in this area - as does both the Register of Freeholders for Co. Roscommon, circa 1808-9 and the Forty Shilling Freeholders register for the baronies of Ballintobber and Athlone, circa 1796, these Mannions holding sufficient land entitling them to vote in local elections.  The Spinning Wheel Premium Entitlement Lists of Ireland, circa 1796, for County Roscommon, have registered some fourteen Mannion / Manions’ in its records.

Kearsley’s Peerage of Ireland printed in 1809 records that Margaret and Helen, two of the Catholic daughters of John Dillon the 10^th. Earl of Roscommon of Mountdillon, Co. Roscommon, married Laurence and Matthew Manning around 1775. Mountdillon House was situated in the ajoining parish to Kilbride approximately five miles distance. Several Dillon’s in Kilbride were living close-by to the undermentioned Mur Mannin in the mid 1700’s.

The next record available of some twenty-six years earlier, is the Census of the Diocese of Elphin, compiled in 1749 by Bishop Synge, this manuscript covering the population of most of Co. Roscommon and parts of counties Galway and Sligo.

A complete search was made of the census transcripts covering some sixty parishes of counties Roscommon and Galway, this containing about twelve thousand five hundred named persons - many with their families. In the census transcript was found sixty-four persons, some heads of households, bearing the name Manning, Mannin, Mannion, Manion and Mannen. Only one person of the name, a Mur (possibly Murtagh) Mannin was found to be living in the parish of Kilbride at the residence of Hollywell in Coolteige Townland. He was a single man, of the Catholic faith, and employed as a skilled Plowman (Ploughman) by Barnaby Gunning, the Protestant landlord of Hollywell House.

Having now satisfactorily established the surname of Manning / Mannion in this area, my task began of tracing its origins in Co. Roscommon, using what earlier documentation was available, covering the previous several hundred years.

In the book ‘The Transplantation of Connaught’ by Robert Simington, covering the period 1654 to 1658, and the ‘Books of the Survey and Distribution of Counties Roscommon and Galway’ 1636 to 1703, there are several Mannin / Mannings’ recorded as having been confiscated of their lands in Co. Galway and transplanted to land in Co. Roscommon. We find a John Mannin transplanted to the parish of Moore in Co. Roscommon having been removed from the parish of Tullagh in Co. Galway; a Donnogh (Dennis) Mannin, the proprietor of fifty-two acres of land and property in Corderryhugh in the parish of Fluerty, Co. Roscommon, (the next parish to Kilbride), he having been confiscated of his land and property in Galway following the Civil War of 1641 - 1652; and likewise a Dermot Manin who was also confiscated of his land and settled in Corderryhugh, holding some sixty-seven acres, until this was also confiscated.

A Census of Ireland taken in 1659 shows a John Manyne now residing in the barony of Half Moycarnan in Co. Roscommon - yet another variation of the surname. Earlier evidence, which is shown in the Fiants of Elizabeth I, record in 1581 a William O’Mannyn of Athleague, Co. Roscommon - this just six miles from Kilbride - while a Shane O’Manine is recorded in 1592 as ‘of O’Kelly Country’ (Roscommon), which included the parish of Kilbride.

Historical documents of this period and earlier, show that the Manning / Mannions’, during the sixteenth and seventeen centuries, were mainly congregated around their castle stronghold of Menlough Ui Mainnin, within the barony of Tiaquin - previously called Sodhan - in north-west Co. Galway, having been here for many hundreds of years, and were systematically subjugated by invasion and confiscation forced from their ancestral lands eastwards towards the borders of counties Galway and Roscommon and eventually into the adjoining counties including Co. Roscommon itself.

  The books and documents previously mentioned show this quite clearly.  In the ‘Transplantation of Connaught’, a Donough (Dennis) O’Mannin was transplanted to the parish of Clonbern in North Galway, some seven miles from Menlough and about fifteen miles from Kilbride. All the following, being Thomas, Hugh, Bryan, Teige and Connor O’Mannin were moved to Ahascragh parish on the Galway / Roscommon border, eight miles from Menlough and about sixteen miles from Kilbride.  Another Donnagh Mannin was granted land in Clonfert parish, eighteen miles south-east of Menlough; also on the Galway / Roscommon border.

‘The Books of Survey and Distribution’ show many who were evicted from their lands in the barony of Tiaquin, Co. Galway following the Civil War and Cromwellian confiscations, and left to find their own salvation.

Recorded as proprietors in Killoscobe parish, Co. Galway in 1641, were Donnogh, Thomas, Hugh, Catling and Teige O’Maning; and from the adjoining parish of Moylough were William, Donock, Hugh, John and Donogh Manning - all had to find land and build homes elsewhere for their families to live, having had their ancestral lands confiscated and crops and homes destroyed.

The seventeen century manuscripts of the Grosse Survey, printed in the publication ‘Analecta Hibernica’ show the Galway demesne of both William and Hugh O’Mannine being seized, this having been left to them by Thomas O’Mannyne and Connor O’Mannine in 1641, further, at this period, part of the castle and bawne of Menlough, with other lands in Menlough, in the possession of Hugh O’Manyn, now deceased, were sold for the sum of four hundred pounds sterling to Nicholas French, a Protestant landowner, and that of the land of Gillragh belonging to Donnogh Maile O’Mainnine, being conveyed to the son of Nicholas French, in consideration of a ten pounds payment of debt.

The published journals of the ‘Memorials of the Dead in Ireland’ record a large tombstone, erected in 1648 at the Franciscan Abbey at Killconnel in Co. Galway, some ten miles south east of Menlough, this bearing the names Thomas and William sons of Hugh Mannin, and John son of Malachy Mannin; all of Menlough who had been laid to rest within the abbey.  

Prior to the Civil War and confiscations by Oliver Cromwell, the records of the ‘Irish Patent Rolls of James I’ (of England - VI of Scotland), for the period  1616 to 1618, and the ‘Fiants of Elizabeth I’ between 1581 and 1601, show numerous land and property owning O’Manin, O’Mannin, O’Mannine, O’Mannen and O’Mannyns in the barony of  Tiaquin, Co. Galway.

In Menlough and the surrounding parishes were recorded those who had surrendered their lands and estates to the crown, and received part back in re-grants.  In 1616 we find Donogh O’Manin surrendering his estate in the townland of Ballaghnagrossiny. From the parish of Killoscobe, in which Menlough was situated, surrenders are recorded in 1617 by Donogh, Thomas, Teige, Rorie, Dermot Reagh and Hugh O’Mannine / O’Manin; while in the adjoining parish of Moylough, those surrendering their lands and property were Brian, Uriel, Rory and Melaghlin O’Manyn / O’Mannin.

In 1618, the Castle of Menlough, ancestral home of the O’Mainnins, was surrendered by Thomas and John O’Mannin / O’Mannen, to be re-granted.  Additional surrenders of lands with re-grants were made by Brian, Uriell, Rory and Thadeus O’Mannin and Connor O’Kelly fitzManin.

The Elizabethan fiants record many pardons to members of this native Irish sept, an important one being in 1581 to Donall O’Manyn, Chief of the O’ Mainnin sept of Mynloughe, with a pardon to Hugh O’Manyn of the office of tanist (successor to the chief).  Other pardons were also granted to Thomas, Donell, William, Melaghlin, Hugh, Donnogh, Connor, Laughlin, Brian, Nich, Downough, Owny, Teig, Shane, Donill, Rory and Dermot O’Mannyn / O’Mannin; all these pardons and re-grants following the subjugation of the Irish by the invading English armies - those armies having first plundered and destroyed the property, land and crops of the indigenous Irish, killing many in the process.

The earliest recorded Elizabethan pardon found was in the year 1569, which was given to a Rory ynvally O’Manyne, freeholder of Kerrollenighe in Imanny (Hy Many), Conaght. An early deed drawn up in 1583 by the Brehon of Hy-Many, to settle a dispute of ancestral land between two parties of this tribe in Co. Galway, records the names of several O’Mainnins, they being Aodh, Tadhg, Diarmaid, John, Thomas, Irial, Donnchadh, Maghnus, Domhnall, William, Ruairi, Maoilseachlainn and Dunadha.

The ‘Annals of the Four Masters’ in 1491 record that, during a tribal conflict, Teige Caech O’Mainnin’s two sons, John and Hugh, were captured by O’Kelly of Hy Many, being released later for a ransom. In the same annals in 1377, O’Mainnin, with his followers, joined O’Kelly and MacWilliam Burke in battle at Roscommon against O’Connor, King of Connaught.  In the conflict many were slain including O’Mainnin, Chief of Sodhan.

Some very early details of the history of the O’Mainnins of Menlough are recorded in the book ‘The Tribes and Customs of Hy Many’ by John O’Donovan, published in 1843.  The book recounts their settlement in Co. Galway as ancient chieftains of the cantred of Sodhan with a residence at Killaclogher in the barony of Tiaquin until about the year 1352, when O’Kelly of Hy Many captured and hanged O’Mainnin and took possession of his castle and estate at Killaclogher.   After this incident, the chief of the name with his followers removed to Menlough Ui Mainnin, where they built a castle of considerable strength.

O’Donovan states in his publication, ‘ The earliest notice of the family of O’Mainnin is found in the Chronicon Scotorum at the year 1135’ ...... 1135 AD, The battle of Mongagh was gained by the Sil-Muiredhaigh (O’Connor) over the Hy Many (O’Kelly), together with Connor O’Kelly and O’Mainnin, King of Sodhan’.

The full history of this noble Belgic tribe, from whom I believe my family to have descended, has yet to be written - if it can. Following their arrival into Connaught, and through the many centuries of turmoil in Irish history of which tribal wars, foreign invasion, confiscation, persecution, famine and disease reduced this ancient Firbolgic sept from tribal chieftains and landlords down to land farming peasants and labourers of little means.

Although I lack the concrete evidence required to claim descent from this ancient Irish tribe, I believe I have presented strong presumptive evidence of a link to them, that may one day, assist in it being substantiated.