PATRICK DARGAN AND ANN FLYNN
PATRICK DARGAN (DORGAN) was born on a farm in Carrigkilter, Ballycotton, Parish of Cloyne, County Cork on or about 1830. His father, whose name we do not know, leased this farm from Thomas Garde Durdin, a Protestant landowner who died in 1867. This was the era between the Penal Laws (1690s) and Roman Catholic Emancipation (1829). Catholics were not allowed to “own” land nor “vote”. Thomas Garde Durdin owned many acres of land that he leased to the tenant farmers.
All five children of Patrick DARGAN and his wife, Ann Flynn, were born on the farm in Carrigkilter. Ann Flynn may have come from Ballyandreen. There are Flynn’s in that area today. In the records, Ann Flynn is known as Ann, Johanna, and Nancy Flynn, Flinn, and Fling. She is buried with her husband at Ballymacoda “Hill Top” Cemetery near Ladysbridge, East Cork.
My Internet friend, Jerry Kelly, tells me that Ann Flynn’s maiden name in Irish was Ní Fhloinn = ‘Granddaughter of Flonn’. Flonn is a variant form of Flann which means ‘ruddy’ as in a ruddy complexion. Again, ‘of’ is actually included in the word Floinn by the insertion of the “i”.
Here is an account of the times of Patrick DARGAN. Patrick leased the land in Carrigkilter from Thomas Garde Durdin. Thomas Garde Durdin would arrive in East Cork from England each year to collect the rents. While in Cork he stayed at one of his estates: Shanagarry “Castle” or Sunville House. Patrick paid Thomas Garde Durdin 24 English pounds, 15 Shillings, and 0 Pence annually for 14 Acres, 0 Roods, and 5 Perches (Property 8A) and 10 Acres, 3 Roods, and 25 Perches (Property 8B) in Carrigkilter according to Griffith’s Valuation of Tenements, Parish of Ballintemple (Churchtown) in 1853. That was a sizeable amount in those days.
Dave Clements, an internet friend, tells an interesting story about the Durdins. Many people believe that the Durdins were descended from the William Penn family, the founder of Pennsylvania. They were not. They obtained ownership of part of the Penn estate (Shangarry Castle) only by marriage and a 30 year lawsuit. The following is a brief outline
Alexander Durdin (1712-1807), father of Michael and grandfather of Thomas, married 4 times. His 3rd wife was Ann Vaux Penn, the estranged wife of William Penn and potential heir to 1/4 of all the Penn family holdings in Ireland and America.
Alexander Durdin was a Dublin lawyer in 1767 when Ann Vaux came looking for help to support her claim to the inheritance. Two months later, they were married and 2 months after that she died leaving Durdin as her heir.
He then proceeded with a lawsuit that continued through the American Revolution to get a share of the moneys. Part of what he obtained was Shangarry Castle and 1/2 the estate.
Durdin also managed to get possession of Huntington Castle in Carlow. A Durdin family still lives there.
Alexander Durdin, married a 4th time and had 10 or 12 children (different versions exist). Thomas Garde was eldest son of Warham the eldest son of Alexander.
Michael was the youngest son and the only child for whom Burke’s does not list a wife or residence. We don’t know what happened with Michael but by 1851 he and his wife Mary Jane Adams and his children are in Canada.
His two sons are listed as a carpenter and a tailor. His daughter is married to an farmer who had emigrated from Wicklow.
The previous tenant was Maurice Cusack. He went bankrupt and Patrick DARGAN later leased the same land about 1855.
In the 1855 Landlord Index of “County Cork Encumbered Estates” (Volume 4, FHL Film No. 25883), Thomas Garde Durdin, Esq. sold his land holdings at auction on 19 June 1855.
At the time he held the “Lands of Killderrig, Carrigkilter, Coalvodig otherwise Sunviille, Ballybraher West, Snugborough, Ballyronahan, Ballybraher East, Ballinamona, and part of Shanagarry – 19 June 1855 – (lot maps).”
His total land holdings amounted to a sizeable 935 acres, 1 rood and 10 perches for which he was valued (taxed) 749 English Pounds.
This is the date that Patrick Dargan “bought” his farm … a farm that he had formerly “leased” from Thomas Garde Durdin. This is the first recorded Dorgan “deed of sale” since the English Reformation of the late 1500s. I have sent for a copy of this deed from the Dublin Archives.
Patrick DARGAN’S yearly rent was 17 English Pounds for the land and 1 Pound, 5 Shillings for the buildings. If he improved the land, the rent would increase each year.
Thomas Garde Durdin died in 1867.
In the 1880s, the Land Reform Acts went into effect sponsored by Michael Davitt of the Irish Parliament and later by Charles Stewart Parnell a member of the House of Commons of the English Parliament.
The Land Acts sought reform in three areas called the three F’s: Freedom of Rent, Freedom of Tenure and Freedom from Eviction without trial.
Amazingly, the Protestant landowners peacefully went back to England in the 1880s and 1890s never to return to their estates.
The tenant farmers continued to pay their rents to the State in the 1880s and 1890s. After the 1920s the State made these tenant farmers the actual “owners” of the lands they once leased!
Patrick DARGAN bought the DORGAN Pub in Cloyne, East County Cork in 1865 and it remained in the DORGAN name until it was sold in 1998.
It is now known as “Aunty Biddie’s” although the DORGAN name remains on the marquee.
ANN FLYNN
Johanna Flynn appears in the records as Ann, Johanna and Nancy Flynn (Flinn and Fling)! She was most likely from Ballyandreen. There are Flynns still represented there. She is most likely buried in the ancestral Dorgan cemetery at Ballymacoda Hill Cemetery, Shanagarry, East Cork where the name Johanna appears on one of the two gravestones.
There is a church baptismal record that Patrick and Nancy (synonym for Ann and Johannah) Dorgan were the godparents of Michael John Shinnick who was born December 18, 1873 in Ballycatoo, Midleton, Cloyne, County Cork. He was baptized in St. Colman’s Church, Cloyne on December 20, 1873. His parents were John Shinnick of Ballycatoo, East County Cork and Elizabeth Dorgan of Ballybraher, Parish of Cloyne, East County Cork. John Shinnick and Elizabeth Dorgan were married about 1872. Elizabeth Dorgan was the daughter of Patrick Dargan and Ann (Nancy, Johannah) Flynn.
Michael Flynn may have been the father of Ann Flynn. There is only one Richard and one Michael “Fling” on the 1855 Grifith’s Valuation of East Cork. There is no Flynn or Finn. Richard never appears as a given name in the Dorgan Family. But Michael is the second born of Patrick Dargan and Ann Flynn. This follows the Irish naming pattern. The second-born male child was named after his mother’s father.
When Patrick DARGAN died before 1886, he gave the farm to his eldest son, David DORGAN. David DORGAN and his wife Elizabeth Ahearne had no children. But, David Dorgan and Elizabeth Ahearne took in David’s nephew, John Healy (his sister Mary’s son) and Elizabeth Ahearne’s niece, Margaret Grahame (her sister’s daughter). John Healy and Margaret Grahame were married before living with David Dorgan and Elizabeth Ahearne. It was an “arranged” marriage. They had five children: Elizabeth, Jerry and David (twins), John Christopher, and James. All five children never married. I visited the Healys in 2005. Elizabeth, David and John Christopher were still on the farm in Ballybraher. James died in 1994. Jeremiah died in July 2002. Elizabeth died in 2007. John Christopher died in 2009 and David died in 2010.
THE SOURCE OF INFORMATION FOR PATRICK J. DORGAN IN IRELAND
Below is a letter I received, dated 25 May 2004, from Mrs. Jo Cashman of Knockglass, Ladysbridge, Castlemartyr, Co. Cork, Ireland.
I have transcribed it as she wrote it, except that I have capitalized all names.
I had originally contacted Pete Morrison through a genealogy Internet-friend, Ed Duggan, who has visited many times the townlands of our ancestral DORGAN family, especially Ballybraher, Ballycotton, Shanagarry, Churchtown South, and other surrounding areas.
Pete Morrison asked Mrs. Jo Cashman to write down his recollections of the DORGAN family.
Pete Morrison wrote this and appended it to Mrs. Jo Cashman’s letter:
Churchtown South,
Cloyne,
Co. Cork
25-5-04
Dear Bill,
Just a few lines in reply to your letter. I met with a friend, Mrs. Jo Cashman and she wrote out the information. As you can see my writing is not the best. I hope what were sent you will be of use.
Yours sincerely,
Pete Morrison
This is Mrs. Jo(hanna) Cashman’s letter:
Knockglass, Ladysbridge
Castlemartyr
Co. Cork
Ireland Eire
My Dear Bill,
Some time recently PETE MORRISON received a letter from you re family tree. Enclosed is some of the information I have for you.
DAVID DORGAN lived in Ballybraher & married Elizabeth Ahearne & no family.
DAVID (DORGAN) brought his nephew JOHN HEALY (his sister Mary’s son).
Elizabeth brought her niece MARGARET GRAHAME.
Then JOHN HEALY & MARGARET GRAHAME married.
They had family as follows: ELIZABETH, JERRY and DAVID twins, JOHN CHRISTOPHER and JAMES. All unmarried.
ELIZABETH, DAVID & JOHN CHRISTOPHER are still in Ballybraher & JAMES died 10 years ago & JERRY died last July.
The over said brother DAVID (DORGAN) had a brother MICHAEL DORGAN who bought a pub in Cloyne, was married to a Guard woman from Ballynamora, Shanagarry & had four in family: LENA (DORGAN) married BILLY O’BRIEN, MARY (DORGAN) married BILLY’S brother JOHN O’BRIEN and neither had family.
PATRICK (DORGAN) married a Mellerick woman & had family of five & BILL (DORGAN) in Cork (City) unmarried. (This information has since been updated!)
The above DAVID & MICHAEL DORGAN (brothers) had a sister ELIZABETH (DORGAN) married JOHN SHINNICK, Ballycatoo, Cloyne & had 3 in family: EDMUND, ELIZABETH & HANNAH. Another sister, MARY (DORGAN) married to JERRY HEALY, Lisanley, Cloyne (parents of the JOHN HEALY who married MARGARET GRAHAME whom I already mentioned). The above JOHN HEALY had a brother PAD & MICK HEALY (Patrick and Michael Healy) & sister ANN (HEALY) unmarried and a sister married to MEANEY, Aghada.
DAVID DORGAN & MICHAEL DORGAN, ELIZABETH SHINNICK & MARY HEALY were brothers and sisters of your great grandfather, PATRICK J. DORGAN.
MARY CATHERINE HARTNETT came from Garryvoe & had brother JAMES (HARTNETT) in Garryvoe who was married to MARY COLEMAN, Maytown, Ballycotton & had (a) son MAURICE (HARTNETT) & two daughters HANNAH (HARTNETT) and MINNIE (HARTNETT). They (There) may be other(s). I don’t know of that family.
PATRICK J. DORGAN left Ballybraher & moved to Carrigkilter (a mill down the road). In later years DANIEL O’CONNELL from Co. Kerry bought the above farm & it has now changed to new owners.
I do hope this little bit of information is of some help & do hope to hear from you sometime.
God bless from,
(Mrs.) Jo Cashman”
During my trip to Ireland in April 2005, I met with Mrs. Jo Cashman and Pete Morrison. They were delightful and full of Dorgan information which I devoured and savored.
