The Dennigans of Tomiskey

The Dennigans found in Killashee Parish on the Tithe Applotment Books were:

There seems to be no trace of Thomas Dennigan, the founder of this particular line of the family.

Mention must be made of the Thomas Donegan who is listed on Griffith’s Valuation as holding land in Corragarrow townland. Given that some of Laurence Dennigan’s children were later born in the same townland, this cannot be totally ignored. Sadly, the Cancelled Land Books of the Valuation Office¹⁵ simply show this land remaining in Thomas Donegan’s hands until it was passed into the holding of Michael Quinn, the lessor at the time of Griffith, and so no additional clues are provided here. The Civil Registration Indexes show the death of a Thomas Donegan in 1872 but it is not known at this point if he is the Thomas of Curragarrow. But it should be borne in mind that this Donegan held over 45 Acres according to the 1856 Valuation.

Some searches were made among the GRO records for the deaths of Thomas Dennigan and his wife Mary Casey. Unfortunately, only the following possible deaths were found, and none appear to match the couple in question.

• Thomas Dinnigan of Cartrongeeragh died in 1869

• Thomas Dinnigan of Clooneeny died in 1872, and the informant of his death was his son Michael of Clonbrock.

• The death of a Mary Dinnigan in Longford Workhouse in 1865 was found but unfortunately there is nothing to show if she was the correct Mary. And the same applies to the death of a Mary Dinnigan in the same place in 1867.

Perhaps this does beg the question of whether the Thomas Donegan on the Griffith Valuation was indeed the Thomas Dennigan we seek. An extra consideration keeps this possibility alive, as shall be seen in the next section.

A pedigree of the first generation, and children, is on Page 13.

15 Cancelled Land Books, Killashee Electoral District, Longford Registrar’s District, Townland of Corragarrow, Valuation Office, Dublin.