EARLIEST CONWAYS IN RENEWS, NEWFOUNDLAND

The Pole Census, that is, the listings prepared by Surrogate Robert Carter for Governor Pole in 1799-1800 has one family named Conway in Renews:

Lawrence Conway, his wife Mary and the following:

John Cain, 21

Michael Cain, 19

Edmund Conway, 15

Thomas Conway, 11

Mary Conway, 6

Bridget Conway, 2 ½

It seems from this Census that the wife Mary had been a Cain (now spelled Kane in this area) and had brought the two older when she married Lawrence Conway.

The same Lawrence is listed as one of the Dieters attached to Edmund Merrigan.

There is one other by the name of Conway in the 1800 list of Masters, Servants and Dieters. There is another dieter, Denis Conway, attached to the master, William Tucker

In 1832 Michael Donovan took a group of Renews men to court for assaulting him. The defendants were William Ryan, Thomas Tobin, James Kean, Christopher Kean, Lawrence Neille, Joseph Conway, and Patrick Gardner. They were all discharged when Donovan failed to appear and testify.

On Goodridge's Account Books for 1838-39 among over 500 names, the following appear as debtors:

Thomas Conway Jr.

Amelia Conway

Edward Conway

In the 1840 voter's list for Ferryland District the following name appears among the list of Renews voters in the area known as the North Side: Edmund Conway.

In 1841 Richard Conway was one of two witnesses who officially witnessed the Renews marriage of John Maheney of the Parish of Ehada, County Cork to Bridget Squires of Renews

In 1852 Denis McCarthy married Mary Conway.

In 1856 Joseph Wine (Ryan?) married Margaret Conway

In 1862 Edward Conway married Anne Roache

On January 11, 1891 John Conway married Maggie Foley, witnessed by Michael Keating and Mary Squires

On Goodridge's Account books for 1892, the following names appear as debtors:

James Conway

Anthony Conway

John Conway (of Lawrence)

Thomas Conway(of Ant.)

In 1899 the Lily May was lost with skipper William Johnson and all hands. One of the contributors to the fund that raised for the families was James Conway.

In June 1900 Kate Conway was one of the two official witnesses to the marriage of Pat Dunne to Anastasia Lawlor

In the old Cemetery at Renews, which is no longer in use, are the following three headstone inscriptions:

"In memory of William Conway

Who died December 1, 1853

Age 27 years."

"In memory of Thomas Conway

who died 29 October, 1868

Age 78 years

Also in Memory of Emma Conway who died January 8, 1854"

"Erected by James Conway in memory of his beloved wife, Rosanna, died 25 August, 1896, aged 35 years. Also their children, Katie, died 2 December, 1878, aged 4 years 3 months, John died December 1878, aged 2 years 2 months, and Nicholas who died in infancy."

The 1921 census was a nominal census. However, there is a scarcity of the name Conway in it. In the household headed by Lawrence Doyle and his wife Margaret there are two daughters listed with the surname Conway. There is Annie Conway, single, age 26, born December 1894 and Margaret Conway, single, age 24, born 1896. They lived on the North Side of Renews.

THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME CONWAY

The name Conway is British and Celtic and refers to a river of that name in Wales, which issues from a lake in Merionethshire, and flows through a fertile vale of the same name, and enters the Irish Sea, at Aberconway; from Con, head, chief, and wy, a river.

A surname of England and Ireland; in England from the Welsh place name Conway, "one of the few Welsh towns that have originated a surname". (Bardsley); In Ireland, the anglicized form of several Gaelic surnames, Mac Connmhaigh, Ir. condmach - head smashing, Mac Conmidhe - hound of Meath, Ó Conbhiudhe, Ir. con - hound and buidhe - yellow, and Ó Connmhacháin (Bardsley, Cottle, MacLysaght). Traced by MacLysaght in Cos. Clare, Tyrone, Sligo and Mayo

This name may be derived from the Mac Conmhaigh, an important Thomond sept till the end of the fourteenth century. They were one of the families who rallied to the O'Brien cause in 1317. As early as 1360, this name is recorded in Ireland; the Four Masters make note of the death of one Gillananaev O'Connmhaigh, said to be the chief professor of music in Thomond in that year. It is suggested that this name may be traceable to the old Gaelic term "condmach" meaning "head-breaker", and was undoubtedly used to denote one who was a fearsome warrior.

Shield: Sable, on a bend cottised argent, a rose gules, buttoned or, leaved vert, between two annulets gules.

Translation: The rose symbolizes Beauty and Grace. The annulet is held to be an emblem of Fidelity

Crest: The bust of a moor in profile, couped at the shoulders proper and wreated about the temples argent and azure.

Motto: "Fide et amore", 'Faith and love'.

Origin: Ireland