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Tenants in Strokestown area of Roscommon 1810-15

Small Sources No. 66.   This is a list of 94 tenants of the Pakenham-Mahon estate in Roscommon in the period 1810-1815.  All tenants have properties in Strokestown and neighbouring townlands,  and particularly in  Cloonslannor,  a neighbouring townland.  The original document is in the National Library of Ireland (NLI Ms. 5501).  It is one small item from the large NLI collection of Pakenham Mahon papers  and is  entitled “Rent ledgers of Baron Hartland of Strokestown, Co. Roscommon, 1803-1818; 1824-1836”.  Baron Hartland was one of the honorary titles held by the Mahon family.

The names are from an index to the rental,  which is the account-book used by the estate agent to manage the affairs of his tenants.   The index provides the page reference (see numbers to the right of each name in illustration above) for the  detailed account for each tenant.   These accounts are in the classical  Debit/Contra style  which shows the amounts due by each tenant on the left (debit) page  (see Fig 1 below)  and the payments made by the tenant on the right (contra) side (see Fig 2  below).  The two illustrations show the account of Luke Quinn.  Fig 1 shows that he paid £3. 17 shillings and 9 pence (£3.17.9) for a half-year rent.  As is very common in rentals, he paid this by several means,  i.e.  cash (8 shillings and 9 pence);  a pig (value £1) and a barrel of potatoes to the value 12 shillings (see Fig. 2).   A full explanation of tenant management practices on Irish estates is in our blog on Rentals.

The Pakenham-Mahon estate originated when Captain Nicholas Mahon was granted 5,700 acres in Roscommon in the mid 1700s The estate included what would later become the town of Strokestown, where the family built a magnificent family home.  This is now a wonderful museum and archive with a focus on the Great Famine.  The Mahon family name changed to Pakenham-Mahon when  Grace Catherine Mahon, the heiress, married Henry Sandford Pakenham, and this branch of the Pakenham family then took the additional name of Mahon. The ‘Baron Hartland’ referenced in this document is a title  created in 1800 for the then head of the family, Maurice Mahon, who also represented the Roscommon constituency in the Irish Parliament.

Among the unusual names listed are the very rare Catcheside,  of which there are only 2 occurrences in Griffith’s Valuation,  both in the Strokestown area: Caslin ( a variant of Cashlin or McCashlin) which is only found in Roscommon and Donegal; Hedian (possibly a variant of Hedigan); Dockry which (in Griffith’s Valuation) is only found in Roscommon; Meeagh,  a name very specific to Mayo; and Goolrick which has a huge variety of variants ranging from McGoldrick to Colerigg.  If you are interested in information on specific families,  our e-book title ‘Sources for Irish Family History 2021  lists 6,500  books and articles on over 2,500  Irish families.  The sources listed contain a wealth of information in the form of articles and books. The full details are described in one of our blogs.

The  images  were created by Ancestor Network and are reproduced courtesy of the National Library of Ireland.   Ancestor Network will offer 1 free hour of research by a professional researcher to conduct further research on these individuals, or on other tenants of the estate. We can also obtain images of the original documents. Click here and quote ‘RoscommonSS66’ in the subject line.   We also publish an e-book  ‘A Guide to Tracing your Roscommon  Ancestors‘ by John Hamrock.

Figure 1. Rent due by Luke Quinn for 1814 and 1815 – payments are due half-yearly. The fee for Con-acre in 1815 is for additional land taken on an 11-month rental basis.
Figure 2: Payments made in lieu of rent. As was very common, payment is partly made in commodities. In this case a pig valued at £1 and a barrel of potatoes valued at 12 shillings.

Tenant                              Location of rental property  (author comments)

Arthur, John                        Strokestown
Barrett, Martin                   Cloonslanor
Brannon, Patt
Beirne, John,  Butcher
Boland, Mark
Beirne, Thady
Blakney, John                                     (probably a variant of Blakeney)
Barton, Robt.
Cloonslanor tenements                     (smaller tenants who were accounted for as a group) 
Cain, Thos.                           Cloonslanor
Caslin, John                                   do.              (i.e. ditto – same as above)
Cain Darby                                   do.
Catcheside, Robt.                Strokestown
Carney, Micheal
Collins, John                         Strokestown
Connor, John                                 do.
Connor, Pat                                    do.
Connor, Roger                               do.
Cunningham, Widow                    do.
Connor, Dominick                         do.
Connelly, James                            do.
Cain, Pat                                   New Line
Conlon, Micheal
Cruise, Micheal
Crofton, Henry
Devaney, Martin
Donnelly, Widdow                       do.
Devany, John do
Donnelly, Widdow
Dockry, Michl.                        Strokestown
Donnellan, Martin                        do.
Doran Edmd.                                 do.
Eagan, Pat                               Cloonslanor            (usually spelled Egan)
Eagan, Connor                        Strokestown
Fallon, Pat                               Strokestown
Fallon, John
Fury, James
Gibbons, Thomas                  Cloonslanor
Geenty?, Patt do
Goolrick, James
Gallagher, John
Gordon, Wm.
Heferin, Pat                            Cloonslanor
Hedian, John                               do.
Hague, Richard                      Strokestown
Hester, James
Kelly, James                           Cloonslanor
Kilmartin, Pat Jnr.
Kilmartin Thomas
Kilmartin Pat Senr.
Keveny, Bart.Quinn
Kilmartin, Thos.                     Cloonslanor
Leonard, Owen                     Strokestown
Lally, John                                     do.
Lyons, Hugh                                 do.
Larkin Thos.
Mahon, Hon.Richd. Maurice
McDonagh, Bryan                       Cloonslanor
McGann, John                              Strokestown
McDermott, Michl.                      Cloonslanor
McDermott, Andrew                      do.
Meeagh?, Henry                             do.     (this name is usually only found in Mayo)
McCoy, Michl                                   do.
Morton, George                         Strokestown
McCausland, Timothy                   do.
Moore, Danl.                                   do.
McDermott, Peter                          do.
McGarry, Patt
McGann, Thos.                        Strokestown
Mealiff, Thos.                           Cloonslanor
McCoy, John                                   do.
Mellon?, Bart
Murry, James                                (usually spelled Murray)
Murry, Roger
Neilan, Timothy
O’Hara, Luke                           Cloonslanor
O’Hara, Patt                                 do.
O’Hara, John                                do.
Prenty, Patt
Quinn, Patt                             Cloonslanor
Quinn, Luke do
Robinson, Henry                    Strokestown
Strokestown Tenements
Swiney, Owen                          Strokestown
Shannon, Micheal                    Cloonslanor
Tristan, Thomas                       Strokestown
Thompson, John
Underwood, James                   Strokestown
Vaughan, Laurence                        do.
Vaughan, Hugh                               do.
Waldron, John                            Cloonslanor
Walsh, Bart                                      do.
Waldron, John jr.
Waldron, Patt

Ancestor Network conducts  research on all Irish family history sources and archives.   If you need help in following up on anything related to this source,  or any other Irish research, you can outline your requirements here and we will let you know what we might be able to do for you.


Further Roscommon and general articles in our series on Irish Family History sources include:

Roscommon Sources 

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