The Dennigans of Tomiskey
Much of the story of Thomas John Dennigan has been covered in other research by members of the Dennigan family and it is not proposed to expand upon this in these pages. These other researches give Middleton as Thomas’s place of birth.
The writer is somewhat struck, however, by the use of the two given names in baptism. While this was less uncommon in 1878 than earlier in the 19th Century, it was still far from the norm. We know that Laurence’s father was Thomas, and there are grounds for suggesting that his mother’s father was John Casey. Were these names chosen in homage to both men? Or, as Laurence’s older brother was John, is it possible John had died or emigrated and his name was honoured by applying it to the first son?
Laurence’s second son was baptised in 1879:
|
Name of Parish |
Killashee |
NLI Microfilm Ref |
POS4235 |
|
Event |
Baptism |
||
|
Name of Child |
Bernardum |
||
|
Date of Baptism |
1st May 1879 |
Date of Birth |
Not given |
|
Name of Father |
Laur. Denigan |
Name of Mother |
Anna Clyne |
|
Residence |
Not given |
||
|
Sponsor 1 |
Thoma Diffley |
Sponsor 2 |
Maria Clyne |
|
Other Information |
Not given | ||
The sponsors on this occasion were Thomas Diffley, possibly the man who acted as witness at Laurence and Anne’s wedding, and Mary Clyne, possibly Anne’s sister.
This presents some difficulties though. The Dennigan pedigrees presented by his relatives to Tony Dennigan clearly give 8th June 1879 as Bernard’s birth date. Yet, as can be seen, he was baptised on 1st May! A possible explanation is that Bernard was born late in April and the family did not get around to registering his birth until later. As this was punishable by a fine, the birth entry from the GRO needed to be consulted to see if this is the case. A copy shows as follows (see also Page 17):
|
Superintendent Registrar’s District |
Longford |
Date of Birth |
8th June 1879 |
|
Name of Child & Place of Birth |
Bernard Dinigan, Curragarrow |
||
|
Name & Dwelling Place of Father |
Laurence Dinegan, Curragarrow |
||
|
Name & Maiden Name of Mother |
Anne Dinigan, formerly Cline |
||
|
Profession of Father |
Farmer |
||
|
Details of Informant |
Laurence Dinigan, Father, Curragarrow |
||
|
Date of Registration |
24th June 1879 |
||
This shows that Bernard was ‘officially’ born on 8th June, but in reality this was over a month after his baptism. His birth was registered on 24th June. It seems very unlikely that Bernard was born much before his baptism on 1st May, so it may be that the deliberate falsification of his birth date on the GRO record was due to a misunderstanding on Laurence’s part of the length of time he had to register the birth – he may well have thought it had to be within one month.
