The Connors/Conners were an ancient Munster family, who intermarried with various branches of my mother's family. Actually, we probably would have died out years ago without their genetic contribution....
The earliest documented member of the family was Cornelius O'Connor whose father was reputedly murdered by soldiers of Cromwell's army. His widowed mother settled with the infant Cornelius at Gallow's Hill Street in Bandon, Co. Cork, where she took the politically-motivated decision to drop the Irish 'O' from the name, hoping that this would make them more acceptable to the predominantly Protestant inhabitants of the area.
Cornelius Conner/Connor married Joane Splane, a widow, in 1670. (Marriage Licences of Cork and Ross.)
Cornelius and Joane had a son, Daniel Connor, a wealthy merchant of Bandon Bridge, who, in 1698, bought the confiscated estates of the rebel Justin McCarthy, and, in 1702, bought the confiscated estates of Donough McCarthy, Earl of Clancarty. The original Connor estate was situated at Manch, west of Bandon.
This Daniel Connor married, in 1698, Margaret Slone or Sloane. He was still alive in 1737 when he was named as an executor of his eldest son Daniel's will. Daniel Connor, the Elder, of Bandon made his own will on 25th October 1757 - in this he named his eldest (surviving) son as William Connor, two other sons as Henry Connor of Killonan, Co. Limerick, and George Connor; daughters were named as Mary Thomas and Elizabeth Gumbleton.
The children of Daniel Connor and Margaret Sloane, merchant of Bandon, were:
1) Daniel Connor (son of Daniel Connor and Margaret Sloane) - he made his will on 22nd January 1733, and died the same year. The will named mortgaged property in London, and estates in Co. Killkenny, which were to go to his only son, Daniel Connor, a minor. His brother was named as William Connor who was to administer the will along with the brothers' father, Daniel Connor. Four sisters were also mentioned - Jane Lapp and her two unnamed sons, Mary Connor, Sarah Wade, and Hannah Delahoid. The will of a Rowland Delahoide of Cork was granted on 11th December 1757 to the deceased's uncle William Conner of (Mushell?), Co. Cork,and to the grandfather Daniel Connor of Bandon.
2) George Connor (son of Daniel Connor and Margaret Sloane) who married Elizabeth Southwell (the daughter of the Hon. Henry and Dulcebella Southwell of Danesfort, Limerick) and who settled at Ballybricken, Monkstown, Co. Cork - these were the parents of Mary Anne Connor who married, in 1778, John Lysaght, 2nd Lord Lisle. John Lysaght was the brother of Mary Lysaght who married Kingsmill Pennefather - Kingsmill and Mary Pennefather were our maternal 6 x great-grandparents.
Ballybricken House and its 1000 acres was situated near Ringaskiddy by Cork Harbour. The house was destroyed by fire on the night of 20th August 1909, but was later rebuilt and sold on to the Bird family. It was demolished in 1965 and is now the site of the Pfizer Pharmaceutical Company.
Ballybricken House and its 1000 acres was situated near Ringaskiddy by Cork Harbour. The house was destroyed by fire on the night of 20th August 1909, but was later rebuilt and sold on to the Bird family. It was demolished in 1965 and is now the site of the Pfizer Pharmaceutical Company.
Deed 553-516-370622, dated 22nd December 1801 makes mention of the children of the late George Connor, who died before 1776, and of Elizabeth Southwell of Ballybricken. This 1801 deed records a transfer of land in Co. Cork from the Connor family to Robert Warren of Cork city, and was witnessed by William Lapp of Dublin - this same plot of land had earlier, on 13th November 1776, been assigned to a William Crooke of Cork city by Rev. Henry Connor of Waterford and by William Connor of Lismore, both trustees of the will of the deceased George Connor of Ballybricken. (Rev. Henry and William Connor were the brothers of George Connor of Ballybricken.)
The parties to the second deed of December 1801 were Roger Connor, eldest son and heir of William Connor of Lismore, now deceased, Roger being the surviving trustee of the will of George Connor of Ballybricken.
The second party to the 1801 deed were two sons of George Connor of Ballybricken, namely Daniel Connor of Ballybricken, his eldest son, and Henry Connor, his younger son. Also, the Hon. Mary Ann, Lady Baroness Lisle of Bath, widow of the 2nd Lord Lisle, and also a daughter of the late George Connor of Ballybricken. Also, another daughter, Elizabeth Fielding, née Connor, and her husband, Francis Fielding of Bandon. Also an Elizabeth Connor who was named as the executrix of the will of the late William Connor of Co. Cork, deceased, (Elizabeth was possibly William's widow) who was himself the son of the late George Connor of Ballybricken. Also Dulcebella Connor of Bath, yet another daughter of George Connor of Ballybricken.
George Connor of Ballybricken made his will on 15th April 1767. He named his wife as Elizabeth Southwell and a brother as Rev. Henry Connor. His nephew was William Connor and sons were Daniel, Henry, William, George and Thomas Southwell Connor. Daughters were Dulcibella and Anne.
George Connor's son, George Connor, who was named in the preceding will of 1767, made his own will in Bandon on 19th January 1783. He pregnant wife was Elizabeth; a daughter was Elizabeth Connor named for her mother. George's brothers were Henry, William and Daniel while his mother was Elizabeth and his uncle was Henry Connor.
Daniel Connor and Mary Pennefather of Ballybricken:
George Connor of Ballybricken made his will on 15th April 1767. He named his wife as Elizabeth Southwell and a brother as Rev. Henry Connor. His nephew was William Connor and sons were Daniel, Henry, William, George and Thomas Southwell Connor. Daughters were Dulcibella and Anne.
George Connor's son, George Connor, who was named in the preceding will of 1767, made his own will in Bandon on 19th January 1783. He pregnant wife was Elizabeth; a daughter was Elizabeth Connor named for her mother. George's brothers were Henry, William and Daniel while his mother was Elizabeth and his uncle was Henry Connor.
Daniel Connor and Mary Pennefather of Ballybricken:
The eldest son of George Connor and Elizabeth Southwell of Ballybricken, Daniel Connor of Ballybricken, married Mary Pennefather, the daughter of Mary Lysaght and Kingsmill Pennefather, Mary Lysaght and Kingsmill Pennefather being my immediate maternal ancestors.
A marriage is recorded of a Mr. O'Connor of Limerick marrying Miss Penefather of Newport on 6th February 1779 - this was most likely the marriage of Mary Pennefather and Daniel Connor, which which is also referred to in deed 335-175-222531, registered in Dublin in February 1780. The deed was drawn up between: Daniel Connor of Ballybricken; Mary Pennefather, widow of Dublin, ie. widow of Kingsmill Pennefather of Newport, Tipperary; Mary Pennefather, spinster, daughter of the previous Mary Pennefather, née Lysaght; the Hon. James Lysaght of Dublin, who was the brother of Mary Pennefather, née Lysaght, and of John Lysaght, 2nd Lord Lisle; and Richard Pennefather of Newport, who was the son of Mary Pennefather, née Lysaght.
A marriage is recorded of a Mr. O'Connor of Limerick marrying Miss Penefather of Newport on 6th February 1779 - this was most likely the marriage of Mary Pennefather and Daniel Connor, which which is also referred to in deed 335-175-222531, registered in Dublin in February 1780. The deed was drawn up between: Daniel Connor of Ballybricken; Mary Pennefather, widow of Dublin, ie. widow of Kingsmill Pennefather of Newport, Tipperary; Mary Pennefather, spinster, daughter of the previous Mary Pennefather, née Lysaght; the Hon. James Lysaght of Dublin, who was the brother of Mary Pennefather, née Lysaght, and of John Lysaght, 2nd Lord Lisle; and Richard Pennefather of Newport, who was the son of Mary Pennefather, née Lysaght.
The deed confirmed the marriage of Daniel Connor and Mary Pennefather, and transferred lands in Cork accordingly to James Lysaght and Richard Pennefather. The townlands concerned were Gogginshill, Ballyhooleen, Vicarstown, Glanballycullen and Lehackaneen. This deed of release was witnessed our immediate ancestor, Rev. John Pennefather, clerk of Dublin, who was also the son of Mary Lysaght and Kingsmill Pennefather, and also by his brother, William Pennefather of Dublin. It is interesting to see that Rev. John Pennefather was living in Dublin in 1780.
The children of Daniel Connor and Mary Pennefather were Daniel Connor of Ballybricken, Catherine Connor and William H.Connor, Captain Richard Connor (1781-1862) Elizabeth Connor and Anna Connor.
Catherine Connor married, in June 1804, Captain Frederick Maitland of the Bellepheron, the ship upon which Napoleon surrendered in 1815.
Her brother, Lieutenant William H. Connor, was also aboard the Bellepheron - Lieutenant William H. Connor married Jane Cassandra Eustace, daughter of Rev. Charles Eustace of Robertstown, Kildare, and had two children, William Eustace Connor (he died in London on 25th August 1860) and Cassandra Connor. Captain William H. Connor had joined the Navy on 9th December 1809 and served under his illustrious brother-in-law, Captain Maitland, for the duration of the Napoleonic wars, fighting at three of the major battles, the Glorious First of June, the Battle of the Nile, and Trafalgar, before witnessing Napoleon's eventual surrender aboard The Bellepheron in July 1815.
Captain Richard Connor, also the son of Daniel Connor and Mary Pennefather of Ballybricken, married Elizabeth Perrot, the daughter of Samuel Perrot of Cleve Hill. (Richard Connor, of Monkstown, Co. Cork, a captain in the Royal Navy, died on 6th August 1862, and his will was administered by John Walter Perrot of Clevehill, Co. Cork.) Richard Connor joined the Royal Navy aged 22 on 2nd November 1803, serving under his brother-in-law, Captain Maitland.
Captain Richard Connor and Elizabeth Perrot had Daniel Connor (1835 - 1899) who married, in 1866, Emily, the daughter of Henry Steigen Berger of Hyde Park, London; they also had Dr. William Connor who married Emily Lawrence Dundas, Colonel George Connor of the 28th Regiment and Elizabeth Mary Connor who married Samuel Willy Perrot in 1870. Dr William Connor, born March 25th 1845, practiced medicine in England before returning home to Cork in 1890, where he lived at Cooleen, Rushbrooke, with his wife, Ellen Laurence Dundas, the daughter of William Colbourne of Cork.
The children of Daniel Connor and Emily Berger were Major Richard Connor of Ballybricken (1868-1915), the lawyer Daniel Henry Connor (1867-1941), Samuel Connor (1872-1934), Kathleen Louise Connor (born 1877), Henry Connor (1872-1942) and Emily Connor (1870-1937).
Another Ballybricken marriage took place on April 30th 1807, when Elizabeth, the daughter of the late Daniel Connorof Ballybricken, married Captain Thomas Burke of the 4th Regiment of Foot in Carrigaline Church, Cork. Given the date of the marriage, Elizabeth was the daughter of Daniel Connor and Mary Pennefather, and therefore the sister of Daniel Connor, Catherine Maitland, William H.Connor Captain Richard Connor, Elizabeth Connor and Anna Connor.
On 15th November 1861, at Prospect Villa, Elizabeth, wife of General Burke, died.
Daniel Connor, J.P. of Ballybricken, son of Daniel Connor and Mary Pennefather, married Anna or JANE Pennefather, the daughter of William Pennefather and Frances Nisbett, in 1824. Daniel Connor Junior was therefore the first cousin of Anna/Jane Pennefather, their mother and father being brother and sister, ie: Mary Pennefather and William Pennefather, both the children of Kingsmill Pennefather and Mary Lysaght.
Jane Conner, otherwise Pennefather, the widow of Daniel Conner of Ballybricken, made her will on 5th December 1866. In it she makes no mention of any children, but names her siblings as Richard Daniel Pennefather, Mrs. Margaret Warren, Elizabeth Bury, and two nieces as Laida Stepney and Fanny Conner. Jane's family are documented in the following link:
http://alison-stewart.blogspot.com/2012/04/siblings-of-rev-john-pennefather-of.html
Anna Connor, the 4th daughter of Daniel Connor and Mary Pennefather of Ballybricken, married her cousin Mathew Pennefather of New Park, Tipperary (1784 - 1858) - he was the son of Richard Pennefather and grandson of Kingsmill Pennefather and Mary Lysaght. The children of Mathew Pennefather and Anna Connor were named Daniel Francis Pennefather, Richard Pennefather, Mary Lavina Pennefather and Anna Pennefather.
http://alison-stewart.blogspot.ie/2012/06/family-of-mary-lavina-pennefather-and.html
3) Jane Conner (daughter of Daniel Connor and Margaret Sloane) who married John Lapp, merchant of Cork, in 1720 - their son was William Lapp, a lawyer of Dublin, who acted on behalf of his relative, John Lysaght 2nd Baron Lisle, who was married to Mary Anne Connor.
4)Mary Conner (daughter of Daniel Connor and Margaret Sloane) who married Rev. Bartholomew Thomas of Everton, Carlow, in about 1750. Their son, Rev. Dr.William Bartholomew Thomas (1751-1826) married Anna Jocelyn Davidson. They had two sons, both of whom emigrated to Van Diemen's Land - Jocelyn Henry Connor Thomas (1780 - 1862) and Bartholomew Boyle Thomas (1785 - 1831).
4)Hannah Connor (daughter of Daniel Connor and Margaret Sloane) who married Mr. Delahoyde.
6)Elizabeth Conner (daughter of Daniel Connor and Margaret Sloane) who married Richard Gumbleton, Esq., of Castlerichard, Waterford, in 1743. (The same Richard Gumbleton, or perhaps his son, of Castlerichard featured in deed 548-195-362169, of 1802, which dealt with the administration of the will of Rt. Hon. Joseph Lysaght of Cork - he died in Buxton Wells on August 8th 1799; he had named as his executor, his nephew, Rev. John Pennefather of Newpark, who was the son of Kingsmill Pennefather and Mary Lysaght. Also named in this deed were William Gumbleton, Richard Edward Gumbleton, Richard Boyle who was the Earl of Shannon and his daughter, Juliana the Countess of Carrick and her husband, Somerset.) The children of Elizabeth Connor and Richard Gumbleton were - Richard Gumbleton of Castlerichard, William Gumbleton of Fort William, Robert Warren Gumbleton, George Gumbleton of Marston, Henry Gumbleton of Curriglass House, Jane Daunt, Mary Peard, Ann Rashleigh, Eliza Walton and Catherine Gumbleton. A Richard Gumbleton died at Castle Richard on 7th March 1793.
7) William Connor (son of Daniel Connor and Margaret Sloane) who was MP for Bandon in 1765, and who married, in 1721, Anne Bernard, the daughter of Roger Bernard of Palace Anne, Cork. Anne Bernard was of the family of the Earl of Bandon. William Connor founded Connorville in 1727. Further detail follows....
8) Sarah Connor (daughter of Daniel Connor and Margaret Sloane) who married a Mr. Wade.
9) Rev. Henry Connor (son of Daniel Connor and Margaret Sloane) of Killonan, Co. Limerick, and then of Williamstown, Co. Waterford. Rev. Henry Connor made a will on 24th October 1785, in which he named his wife as Ellen and his nephew as Henry, 2nd son of George Connor of Ballybricken. Henry's grandnephew was Daniel, the eldest son of ......Connor of Connorsville, and Roger Connor, the only son of William Connor of Lismore. Rev. Henry Connor's nephews were John Lapp of Cork, Rev. Bartholomew Thomas and Henry Gumbleton.
The children of William Connor and Anne Bernard of Connorville:
Children of Roger Connor and Anne Longfield:
The Longfield family of Longueville family recur in this genealogy - Anne Longfield was the daughter of Robert Longfield and Margaret Geering; her brother was Richard, Baron Longueville of Longueville, Co.Cork. Anne's aunt, Mary Longfield, the wife of William Longfield, was accidentally buried alive; her butler decided to break into the Longfield family vault in St.Peter's, Cork, to steal her ring but, the moment he cut into her finger, she awoke, frightening the thief off. She then walked home to her home in Patrick Street and lived for many years afterwards.
Another member of the Longfield family, the Rev. Mountiford Longfield, Vicar of Desertserges, Cork, married, firstly, Grace Lysaght, the daughter of William Lysaght of Fort William who was a relation of the Lysaghts of Mountnorth; he married, secondly, Mary Anne Conner, the daughter of Colonel William Conner.
The children of Roger Connor and Anne Longfield were:
1) Robert Longfield Connor of Fortrobert, a demesne adjacent to Connorville, both near Dunmanway, Cork. Robert Connor was a fierce Orangeman, loyal to the crown, who commanded his own corps of militia; he threatened to invade France and bring Napoleon back to Ireland to be displayed in a cage. Not surprisingly, Robert Connor was popular with the Ascendancy administration in Dublin Castle. Robert even attempted unsuccessfully to have his own brother, Roger O'Connor, arrested on charges of treason. Robert, known to his family as Bob, founded Fortrobert in 1788 and married in 1789 Anne-Eliza Madras, the daughter of Rev. John Madras of the French Church in Cork. Robert and Anne-Eliza Connor had three daughters, two of whom married Robert's nephews - Mary Conner married her cousin Arthur (son of Roger O'Connor and Wilhelmina Bowen), while Elizabeth Conner married her cousin Roger O'Conner (also son of Roger O'Conner). The 3rd daughter, Anne, never married, but left her portion of her father's estate to her bachelor cousin Feargus O'Connor (son of Roger O'Conner and Wilhelmina Bowen).
2) Roger O'Connor, was born on 8th March 1763, and entered Trinity in 1777. His first wife, who he eloped with on the day that he met her, was Louisa Anna Strachan, the eldest daughter of Colonel Strachan of the 32nd Regiment of Foot. He had one son by Louisa - Roderick O'Connor who lived for a time on his Dangan estate, before emigrating to Van Diemen's Land; there was also a daughter, Louisa. The older Louisa O'Connor, née Strachan, died young in 1787, and Roger supported her father financially until his death.
Roger O'Connor's second wife was Wilhelmina Bowen of Bowenscourt, Cork. They had several children, including two daughters; amongst their sons was the Nottingham MP, Feargus Edward O'Connor, and also Francis Burdett O'Connor of the Bolivian army. This son, Francis Burdett O'Connor, had been named after Roger's friend, Sir Francis Burdett.
Both Roger, and his younger brother, General Arthur O'Connor, assumed the earlier spelling of the family name, both men being ardent nationalists. Roger was put on trial in Trim, Co. Meath, on 5th August 1817, for the robbery of the Galway mail-coach at Annagh Hill on 2nd October 1812, the object of which was to accumulate arms. He was acquitted of this on the evidence of Sir Francis Burdett who hurried to Ireland to support his old friend - it was believed that the real purpose of the robbery was to seize love-letters belonging to Burdett and written to his lover, whose husband was on the verge of bringing charges against Sir Francis.
Strongly influenced by the French revolution, Roger O'Connor bought Dangan Castle in Meath with the intention of entertaining Napoleon there, following the expected French invasion of Ireland; this never happened and the castle subsequently burnt down which netted Roger £7000 in insurance.
Following the loss of Dangan Castle, three of Roger's sons, Arthur, Feargus and Roger, went to live with their Orange uncle Robert Connor at Fortrobert, where Arthur and Roger were later married to Robert's daughters - Arthur married his cousin, Mary Conner while Roger married his cousin Elizabeth Conner. Arthur, a fervent foxhunter, died of consumption in 1828.
Their father, Roger O'Connor of Dangan, died at The Ovens, Cork, in 1835. Of the three sons of Roger O'Connor of Dangan, the nationalist Feargus Edward O'Connor was the most prominent. He was educated by another of our maternal ancestors, our 4 x greatgrandfather, Thomas Willis, who ran a prominent school in Portarlington, and one of whose daughters - possibly Eliza Willis - Feargus attempted unsuccessfully to elope with. One of Feargus's schoolfriends was the nationalist doctor, Richard Grattan of Drummin, whose daughter, Frances Grattan, married William Willis, the son of the schoolmaster, Thomas Willis of Portarlington, in 1826.
At the height of the Tithe Wars in 1832, Feargus O'Connor was elected for Cork, carried into office by a wave of anti-union sentiment. A fabulous orator, although obviously unhinged, he gained the support of the Catholic population but eventually lost it when he attempted to usurp O'Connell as the head of the Irish nationalists. Falling out of favour at home, he moved to England and involved himself in the Chartist movement there, founding their newspaper ' The Northern Star' ; Feargus O'Connor died insane in Dr. Tuke's Asylum near Chiswick in 1855.
From The Dublin Evening Mail of 23rd June 1852: 'Mr. Feargus O'Connor - No perceptibel change for the better was up to yesterday reported by Dr. Tuke to have taken place in the state of the unfortunate gentleman since his removal to Chiswick, where he is not placed under anything like the restraint experienced in the House of Commons. He lives liberally, is permitted to drink wine and plays considerably at billiards, but still talks wandering and acts erratically.'
His ghost is said to haunt the woods around his old estate of Fortrobert near Dunmanway, Cork.
Feargus O'Connor's sister, Margaret Matilda O'Connor, also the daughter of Roger O'Connor and Wilhelmina Bowen, married a baronet of Cork, Richard Emanuel Moore of Rosscarbery, whose brother, Herbert Gilman Moore, had married Mary Courtenay, the sister of our maternal 3 x greatgrandmother Emily Pennefather, née Courtenay, in Dublin in 1851.
Richard Emanuel Moore had earlier been married to another of the O'Connor family, Mary Anne O'Connor who was the daughter of an Arthur or Andrew Ryan O'Connor of Kilgobbin. Mary Anne O'Connor had a brother, the solicitor Thomas Forrest O'Connor. Called to the bar in 1838, Thomas Forrest O'Connor was named as the eldest son of A. Ryan O'Connor of Rockfort, Co. Cork. ('Dublin Morning Register', 12th January 1838.) It's unclear to me whether the family of Mary Anne O'Connor was related in any way to the O'Connors discussed in this post. The 'Dublin Evening Packet' of 24th June1828, noted that Thomas Forrest O'Connor of Tralee married Mary Anne Adelaide Thornton, daughter of attorney, Ralph D. Thornton of Williamstown. She died a widow at her residence in Talbot Street, Dublin, on 5th April 1870. Earlier in June 1841, Thomas Forrest O'Connor, formerly of both Gloucester Street and Rathmines, was declared insolvent.
3) Arthur O'Connor, (son of Roger Conner and Anne Longfield) later General Arthur O'Connor (1763 - 1852), a prominent member of the United Irishmen, who was sent into exile in France due to his involvement in the 1798 rebellion. A close association of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, he had tried to bring about a French invasion of England, which had led to his arrest and 18-month imprisonment in Fort George, Scotland. Arthur, being forbidden to set foot in Cork again, sold Connorville to his brother, Roger, and entrusted his property to his nephew, Feargus O'Connor, who subsequently embezzled much of it. Arthur settled in Paris where, in 1809, the First Consul gave him the rank of Lieutenant-General, then General of Division. He lived at the Rue de Tournon for 16 years, but bought the Chateau de Bignon near Nemours where he died in 1852.
In 1807 Arthur married Alexandrine Louise Sophie de Caritat de Concordat, known as the simpler Eliza, who was the daughter of Sophie de Grouchy and the philosopher, Nicholas de Condorcet. The Condorcets kept a salon which attracted the leading lights of the enlightenment, but, thanks to his opposition to the Jacobin administration, Nicholas de Condorcet lost his life during the Reign of Terror when Eliza was only five years old. His wife, Sophie, reknowned as an early feminist, managed to survive the revolutionary era and became a celebrated translator of enlightenment literature, as well as the custodian and publisher of her late husband's writing. Arthur O'Connor and Sophie's daughter, Eliza, would take over this work following Sophie's death in 1822.
Who was this? In October 1848, Adderly Bernard of Palaceanne married Mary Ann, only daughter of the late Arthur O'Connor of Fort Robert.
Connorville, the house built by William Connor in 1727, was later bought by James Lysaght Esq., and sold on again by him in 1858. James Lysaght was a relation of John Lysaght, 2nd Lord Lisle, whose wife was Mary Connor, the daughter of George Connor of Ballybricken - James Lysaght was the son of William Lysaght and Catherine Royse of Fort William and Mount North. He renamed Connorville as Carrigmore.
Catherine Connor married, in June 1804, Captain Frederick Maitland of the Bellepheron, the ship upon which Napoleon surrendered in 1815.
Her brother, Lieutenant William H. Connor, was also aboard the Bellepheron - Lieutenant William H. Connor married Jane Cassandra Eustace, daughter of Rev. Charles Eustace of Robertstown, Kildare, and had two children, William Eustace Connor (he died in London on 25th August 1860) and Cassandra Connor. Captain William H. Connor had joined the Navy on 9th December 1809 and served under his illustrious brother-in-law, Captain Maitland, for the duration of the Napoleonic wars, fighting at three of the major battles, the Glorious First of June, the Battle of the Nile, and Trafalgar, before witnessing Napoleon's eventual surrender aboard The Bellepheron in July 1815.
Captain Richard Connor, also the son of Daniel Connor and Mary Pennefather of Ballybricken, married Elizabeth Perrot, the daughter of Samuel Perrot of Cleve Hill. (Richard Connor, of Monkstown, Co. Cork, a captain in the Royal Navy, died on 6th August 1862, and his will was administered by John Walter Perrot of Clevehill, Co. Cork.) Richard Connor joined the Royal Navy aged 22 on 2nd November 1803, serving under his brother-in-law, Captain Maitland.
Captain Richard Connor and Elizabeth Perrot had Daniel Connor (1835 - 1899) who married, in 1866, Emily, the daughter of Henry Steigen Berger of Hyde Park, London; they also had Dr. William Connor who married Emily Lawrence Dundas, Colonel George Connor of the 28th Regiment and Elizabeth Mary Connor who married Samuel Willy Perrot in 1870. Dr William Connor, born March 25th 1845, practiced medicine in England before returning home to Cork in 1890, where he lived at Cooleen, Rushbrooke, with his wife, Ellen Laurence Dundas, the daughter of William Colbourne of Cork.
The children of Daniel Connor and Emily Berger were Major Richard Connor of Ballybricken (1868-1915), the lawyer Daniel Henry Connor (1867-1941), Samuel Connor (1872-1934), Kathleen Louise Connor (born 1877), Henry Connor (1872-1942) and Emily Connor (1870-1937).
Another Ballybricken marriage took place on April 30th 1807, when Elizabeth, the daughter of the late Daniel Connorof Ballybricken, married Captain Thomas Burke of the 4th Regiment of Foot in Carrigaline Church, Cork. Given the date of the marriage, Elizabeth was the daughter of Daniel Connor and Mary Pennefather, and therefore the sister of Daniel Connor, Catherine Maitland, William H.Connor Captain Richard Connor, Elizabeth Connor and Anna Connor.
On 15th November 1861, at Prospect Villa, Elizabeth, wife of General Burke, died.
Daniel Connor, J.P. of Ballybricken, son of Daniel Connor and Mary Pennefather, married Anna or JANE Pennefather, the daughter of William Pennefather and Frances Nisbett, in 1824. Daniel Connor Junior was therefore the first cousin of Anna/Jane Pennefather, their mother and father being brother and sister, ie: Mary Pennefather and William Pennefather, both the children of Kingsmill Pennefather and Mary Lysaght.
Jane Conner, otherwise Pennefather, the widow of Daniel Conner of Ballybricken, made her will on 5th December 1866. In it she makes no mention of any children, but names her siblings as Richard Daniel Pennefather, Mrs. Margaret Warren, Elizabeth Bury, and two nieces as Laida Stepney and Fanny Conner. Jane's family are documented in the following link:
http://alison-stewart.blogspot.com/2012/04/siblings-of-rev-john-pennefather-of.html
Anna Connor, the 4th daughter of Daniel Connor and Mary Pennefather of Ballybricken, married her cousin Mathew Pennefather of New Park, Tipperary (1784 - 1858) - he was the son of Richard Pennefather and grandson of Kingsmill Pennefather and Mary Lysaght. The children of Mathew Pennefather and Anna Connor were named Daniel Francis Pennefather, Richard Pennefather, Mary Lavina Pennefather and Anna Pennefather.
http://alison-stewart.blogspot.ie/2012/06/family-of-mary-lavina-pennefather-and.html
3) Jane Conner (daughter of Daniel Connor and Margaret Sloane) who married John Lapp, merchant of Cork, in 1720 - their son was William Lapp, a lawyer of Dublin, who acted on behalf of his relative, John Lysaght 2nd Baron Lisle, who was married to Mary Anne Connor.
4)Mary Conner (daughter of Daniel Connor and Margaret Sloane) who married Rev. Bartholomew Thomas of Everton, Carlow, in about 1750. Their son, Rev. Dr.William Bartholomew Thomas (1751-1826) married Anna Jocelyn Davidson. They had two sons, both of whom emigrated to Van Diemen's Land - Jocelyn Henry Connor Thomas (1780 - 1862) and Bartholomew Boyle Thomas (1785 - 1831).
4)Hannah Connor (daughter of Daniel Connor and Margaret Sloane) who married Mr. Delahoyde.
6)Elizabeth Conner (daughter of Daniel Connor and Margaret Sloane) who married Richard Gumbleton, Esq., of Castlerichard, Waterford, in 1743. (The same Richard Gumbleton, or perhaps his son, of Castlerichard featured in deed 548-195-362169, of 1802, which dealt with the administration of the will of Rt. Hon. Joseph Lysaght of Cork - he died in Buxton Wells on August 8th 1799; he had named as his executor, his nephew, Rev. John Pennefather of Newpark, who was the son of Kingsmill Pennefather and Mary Lysaght. Also named in this deed were William Gumbleton, Richard Edward Gumbleton, Richard Boyle who was the Earl of Shannon and his daughter, Juliana the Countess of Carrick and her husband, Somerset.) The children of Elizabeth Connor and Richard Gumbleton were - Richard Gumbleton of Castlerichard, William Gumbleton of Fort William, Robert Warren Gumbleton, George Gumbleton of Marston, Henry Gumbleton of Curriglass House, Jane Daunt, Mary Peard, Ann Rashleigh, Eliza Walton and Catherine Gumbleton. A Richard Gumbleton died at Castle Richard on 7th March 1793.
7) William Connor (son of Daniel Connor and Margaret Sloane) who was MP for Bandon in 1765, and who married, in 1721, Anne Bernard, the daughter of Roger Bernard of Palace Anne, Cork. Anne Bernard was of the family of the Earl of Bandon. William Connor founded Connorville in 1727. Further detail follows....
8) Sarah Connor (daughter of Daniel Connor and Margaret Sloane) who married a Mr. Wade.
9) Rev. Henry Connor (son of Daniel Connor and Margaret Sloane) of Killonan, Co. Limerick, and then of Williamstown, Co. Waterford. Rev. Henry Connor made a will on 24th October 1785, in which he named his wife as Ellen and his nephew as Henry, 2nd son of George Connor of Ballybricken. Henry's grandnephew was Daniel, the eldest son of ......Connor of Connorsville, and Roger Connor, the only son of William Connor of Lismore. Rev. Henry Connor's nephews were John Lapp of Cork, Rev. Bartholomew Thomas and Henry Gumbleton.
The children of William Connor and Anne Bernard of Connorville:
- Daniel, born 1723.
- Arthur born 1724.
- Cornelius born 1727.
- Roger Connor of Connorville born 1728 who married Anne Longfield, the sister of Lord Longueville and the daughter of Robert Longfield of Castlemany, Cork - they had, amongst others, Robert Longfield Connor of Fortrobert, and a son, Daniel Connor who married Mary Elizabeth Hyde; the family of Daniel Connor and Mary Elizabeth Hyde eventually settled at Manch House, near Dunmanway, Cork. Daniel Connor and Mary Elizabeth Hyde had Daniel Connor who married Elizabeth Longfield; Daniel Connor and Elizabeth Longfield had Daniel Connor, JP, who married Patience Longfield of Waterloo, Co. Cork, and who died in 1896; Daniel Connor and Patience Longfield had Elizabeth Jane Connor who married William Lysaght JP of Cork, and who had children - William Conner Lysaght born 8th March 1861 in Laurel Hill Avenue in Limerick and Edward Longfield Lysaght born in Limerick on 24th December 1862. Daniel Connor and Patience Longfield also had Henry Daniel Connor of Manch and of 16 Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin, in 1859, who would marry, in 1881, Anne Goodwin, the daughter of Daniel Goodwin. The son of Henry Daniel Connor and Anne Goodwin was Daniel Goodwin Connor born 1884. Roger Connor and Anne Longfield also had two staunchly nationalist and prominent sons, Roger and Arthur who adopted the older family name of O'Connor. See more on this family below...
- William born 1731 who married a Catherine and had a son William Connor.
William Connor, husband of Anne Bernard, made his will on 9th July 1761. His address was Mishells, Cork, rather than Connorville. His will named his son Roger of Connerville, and his brother as George Connor. His grandsons, the children of Roger of Connorville, were Daniel, William and Robert Longfield Conner. William also named his son William whose wife was named as Catherine.
Children of Roger Connor and Anne Longfield:
The Longfield family of Longueville family recur in this genealogy - Anne Longfield was the daughter of Robert Longfield and Margaret Geering; her brother was Richard, Baron Longueville of Longueville, Co.Cork. Anne's aunt, Mary Longfield, the wife of William Longfield, was accidentally buried alive; her butler decided to break into the Longfield family vault in St.Peter's, Cork, to steal her ring but, the moment he cut into her finger, she awoke, frightening the thief off. She then walked home to her home in Patrick Street and lived for many years afterwards.
Another member of the Longfield family, the Rev. Mountiford Longfield, Vicar of Desertserges, Cork, married, firstly, Grace Lysaght, the daughter of William Lysaght of Fort William who was a relation of the Lysaghts of Mountnorth; he married, secondly, Mary Anne Conner, the daughter of Colonel William Conner.
The children of Roger Connor and Anne Longfield were:
1) Robert Longfield Connor of Fortrobert, a demesne adjacent to Connorville, both near Dunmanway, Cork. Robert Connor was a fierce Orangeman, loyal to the crown, who commanded his own corps of militia; he threatened to invade France and bring Napoleon back to Ireland to be displayed in a cage. Not surprisingly, Robert Connor was popular with the Ascendancy administration in Dublin Castle. Robert even attempted unsuccessfully to have his own brother, Roger O'Connor, arrested on charges of treason. Robert, known to his family as Bob, founded Fortrobert in 1788 and married in 1789 Anne-Eliza Madras, the daughter of Rev. John Madras of the French Church in Cork. Robert and Anne-Eliza Connor had three daughters, two of whom married Robert's nephews - Mary Conner married her cousin Arthur (son of Roger O'Connor and Wilhelmina Bowen), while Elizabeth Conner married her cousin Roger O'Conner (also son of Roger O'Conner). The 3rd daughter, Anne, never married, but left her portion of her father's estate to her bachelor cousin Feargus O'Connor (son of Roger O'Conner and Wilhelmina Bowen).
2) Roger O'Connor, was born on 8th March 1763, and entered Trinity in 1777. His first wife, who he eloped with on the day that he met her, was Louisa Anna Strachan, the eldest daughter of Colonel Strachan of the 32nd Regiment of Foot. He had one son by Louisa - Roderick O'Connor who lived for a time on his Dangan estate, before emigrating to Van Diemen's Land; there was also a daughter, Louisa. The older Louisa O'Connor, née Strachan, died young in 1787, and Roger supported her father financially until his death.
Roger O'Connor's second wife was Wilhelmina Bowen of Bowenscourt, Cork. They had several children, including two daughters; amongst their sons was the Nottingham MP, Feargus Edward O'Connor, and also Francis Burdett O'Connor of the Bolivian army. This son, Francis Burdett O'Connor, had been named after Roger's friend, Sir Francis Burdett.
Both Roger, and his younger brother, General Arthur O'Connor, assumed the earlier spelling of the family name, both men being ardent nationalists. Roger was put on trial in Trim, Co. Meath, on 5th August 1817, for the robbery of the Galway mail-coach at Annagh Hill on 2nd October 1812, the object of which was to accumulate arms. He was acquitted of this on the evidence of Sir Francis Burdett who hurried to Ireland to support his old friend - it was believed that the real purpose of the robbery was to seize love-letters belonging to Burdett and written to his lover, whose husband was on the verge of bringing charges against Sir Francis.
Strongly influenced by the French revolution, Roger O'Connor bought Dangan Castle in Meath with the intention of entertaining Napoleon there, following the expected French invasion of Ireland; this never happened and the castle subsequently burnt down which netted Roger £7000 in insurance.
Following the loss of Dangan Castle, three of Roger's sons, Arthur, Feargus and Roger, went to live with their Orange uncle Robert Connor at Fortrobert, where Arthur and Roger were later married to Robert's daughters - Arthur married his cousin, Mary Conner while Roger married his cousin Elizabeth Conner. Arthur, a fervent foxhunter, died of consumption in 1828.
Their father, Roger O'Connor of Dangan, died at The Ovens, Cork, in 1835. Of the three sons of Roger O'Connor of Dangan, the nationalist Feargus Edward O'Connor was the most prominent. He was educated by another of our maternal ancestors, our 4 x greatgrandfather, Thomas Willis, who ran a prominent school in Portarlington, and one of whose daughters - possibly Eliza Willis - Feargus attempted unsuccessfully to elope with. One of Feargus's schoolfriends was the nationalist doctor, Richard Grattan of Drummin, whose daughter, Frances Grattan, married William Willis, the son of the schoolmaster, Thomas Willis of Portarlington, in 1826.
At the height of the Tithe Wars in 1832, Feargus O'Connor was elected for Cork, carried into office by a wave of anti-union sentiment. A fabulous orator, although obviously unhinged, he gained the support of the Catholic population but eventually lost it when he attempted to usurp O'Connell as the head of the Irish nationalists. Falling out of favour at home, he moved to England and involved himself in the Chartist movement there, founding their newspaper ' The Northern Star' ; Feargus O'Connor died insane in Dr. Tuke's Asylum near Chiswick in 1855.
From The Dublin Evening Mail of 23rd June 1852: 'Mr. Feargus O'Connor - No perceptibel change for the better was up to yesterday reported by Dr. Tuke to have taken place in the state of the unfortunate gentleman since his removal to Chiswick, where he is not placed under anything like the restraint experienced in the House of Commons. He lives liberally, is permitted to drink wine and plays considerably at billiards, but still talks wandering and acts erratically.'
His ghost is said to haunt the woods around his old estate of Fortrobert near Dunmanway, Cork.
Feargus O'Connor's sister, Margaret Matilda O'Connor, also the daughter of Roger O'Connor and Wilhelmina Bowen, married a baronet of Cork, Richard Emanuel Moore of Rosscarbery, whose brother, Herbert Gilman Moore, had married Mary Courtenay, the sister of our maternal 3 x greatgrandmother Emily Pennefather, née Courtenay, in Dublin in 1851.
Richard Emanuel Moore had earlier been married to another of the O'Connor family, Mary Anne O'Connor who was the daughter of an Arthur or Andrew Ryan O'Connor of Kilgobbin. Mary Anne O'Connor had a brother, the solicitor Thomas Forrest O'Connor. Called to the bar in 1838, Thomas Forrest O'Connor was named as the eldest son of A. Ryan O'Connor of Rockfort, Co. Cork. ('Dublin Morning Register', 12th January 1838.) It's unclear to me whether the family of Mary Anne O'Connor was related in any way to the O'Connors discussed in this post. The 'Dublin Evening Packet' of 24th June1828, noted that Thomas Forrest O'Connor of Tralee married Mary Anne Adelaide Thornton, daughter of attorney, Ralph D. Thornton of Williamstown. She died a widow at her residence in Talbot Street, Dublin, on 5th April 1870. Earlier in June 1841, Thomas Forrest O'Connor, formerly of both Gloucester Street and Rathmines, was declared insolvent.
3) Arthur O'Connor, (son of Roger Conner and Anne Longfield) later General Arthur O'Connor (1763 - 1852), a prominent member of the United Irishmen, who was sent into exile in France due to his involvement in the 1798 rebellion. A close association of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, he had tried to bring about a French invasion of England, which had led to his arrest and 18-month imprisonment in Fort George, Scotland. Arthur, being forbidden to set foot in Cork again, sold Connorville to his brother, Roger, and entrusted his property to his nephew, Feargus O'Connor, who subsequently embezzled much of it. Arthur settled in Paris where, in 1809, the First Consul gave him the rank of Lieutenant-General, then General of Division. He lived at the Rue de Tournon for 16 years, but bought the Chateau de Bignon near Nemours where he died in 1852.
In 1807 Arthur married Alexandrine Louise Sophie de Caritat de Concordat, known as the simpler Eliza, who was the daughter of Sophie de Grouchy and the philosopher, Nicholas de Condorcet. The Condorcets kept a salon which attracted the leading lights of the enlightenment, but, thanks to his opposition to the Jacobin administration, Nicholas de Condorcet lost his life during the Reign of Terror when Eliza was only five years old. His wife, Sophie, reknowned as an early feminist, managed to survive the revolutionary era and became a celebrated translator of enlightenment literature, as well as the custodian and publisher of her late husband's writing. Arthur O'Connor and Sophie's daughter, Eliza, would take over this work following Sophie's death in 1822.
Who was this? In October 1848, Adderly Bernard of Palaceanne married Mary Ann, only daughter of the late Arthur O'Connor of Fort Robert.
Connorville, the house built by William Connor in 1727, was later bought by James Lysaght Esq., and sold on again by him in 1858. James Lysaght was a relation of John Lysaght, 2nd Lord Lisle, whose wife was Mary Connor, the daughter of George Connor of Ballybricken - James Lysaght was the son of William Lysaght and Catherine Royse of Fort William and Mount North. He renamed Connorville as Carrigmore.
