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Ireland (Historical Counties) => Ireland => Dublin => Topic started by: dermo on Monday 20 January 14 23:25 GMT (UK)
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A granduncle of mine lived at St Gerard's, Thormanby Road, Howth but I have seen correspondence in which he gives his address as St Gerard's,Upper Cliff Road, Howth and St Gerard's, Canon's Rock, Howth. Did he live in three different houses named St Gerard's or has Thormanby Road also been known as Upper Cliff Road and Canon's Rock. I would be grateful if someone familiar with Howth could unravel this for me.
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If you have a look at google maps you will see that at the junction of Thormanby Road and Upper Cliff Road are references to the area being called Cannon Rock (in fact there's even a house called Cannon Rock House), I imagine St. Gerards was one and the same house somewhere within that area.
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Many thanks for that Gaffy. I think you are probably right, looking at the map and the proximity of Thormanby Rd, Upper Cliff Road and Cannon Rock. The latter is still there, in the big field to the east of Cannon Rock House. I checked out the map on the OSI website and it identifies the rock. Thanks again.
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My great-grandfather, James O'Brien lived in Heather Cottage on Upper Cliff Road, Howth. Thormanby Road is a main street and you turn off it to get onto Upper Cliff Road. If you are looking for info on this O'Brien family, I have much I can share with you.
Lynn McGoldrick Franger
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Hi Lynn
Curiously enough, my granduncle was an O'Brien and must have been a near neighbour of your James. My man lived there from the 1930s until he died in the mid-1960s. I doubt our families are related, however. I have information on my O'Briens going back to the early-1800s and I haven't found any named James. My lot, including my Howth granduncle, were all born in the Harold's Cross/Rathmines/Ranelagh area of Dublin. Have you found any connections with those places?
Dermo
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Hi Dermo!
I am not very familiar with other areas of Dublin, as I only visited there for about a week, visiting relatives. My great-great grandparents are John O'Brien (1818-1894) and Mary Lowry (-1896). Their children were William b. 1847, Mary b. 1849, Patrick b. 1851, Margaret, John b. 1853, George (1855-1937) and James (1856-1926). Who was your Howth Grand-uncle?
Lynn
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Lynn
The granduncle in question was Eoghan O Briain (he insisted on the Gaelic version of his name).
Do you know what part of Dublin your g g grandparents lived in?
Dermo
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Hi Lynn,
Did your Quirks have Howth or Dublin connections?
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As far as I know, they were in Howth. Mary Lowry was born in Tonlegee, Coolock, County Dublin.
What would be the English version of Eoghan? As an American I am not very familiar with Gaelic.
I don't know where my Quirks came from. They were in Chicago by the 1850 census. They are a brick wall at the moment.
Lynn
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Hi again Lynn,
My Quirks were from Westmeath (Mullingar) in the early 1800s. However, most of the information I have is from Dublin 1860s onward but includes a later connection to Howth, including Thormanby Road, which was why I thought we might just have a match.
Sheila
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Hi Lynn
Eoghan is pronounced like Owen. My granduncle was actually baptised Eugene so I think he may have settled on Eoghan as the Gaelic version of his name because it has a similar look to Eugene. As far as I know, Eoghan/Owen is more correctly the equivalent of John.
If Howth is the only location you have for your O'Briens, I suspect they are not related to mine. Given that O'Brien is the sixth most numerous name in Ireland, however, that's not surprising. (Presumably, with a common surname, the two families have some connection in the dim and distant past - just not discoverable in the available record.)
Dermo
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the "Eugene" comes into play because the Latin version of Owen/Eoghan was considered to be Eugenius.
Our Owen McLoughlin's baptism record shows him as Eugenius, but his "legal" name was Owen.
Eoin/Eoghan can also stand for John, in which case the Latin would be Johannes or something similar. (just to make life more confusing!)
eadaoin
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Hi my name is suzanne I was born and reared in st Gerard's upper cliff road howth is that the address your looking for, I remember my parents telling us that a man called mr Breen sold them house,he was an irish speaker,
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Hi Suzanne
Great to hear from you. "Mr Breen" has to have been my grand uncle Eoghan O Briain. He was an Irish speaker (possibly fanatically so!). He was a "pioneer" member of the Gaelic League, according to an obituary, and he worked for the organisation for a number of years after 1917. He was in the GPO garrison during the 1916 Rising but dropped out of the Volunteers/IRA at the end of 1917 when no further action seemed to be in the offing. I've recently discovered that he ended his days in a nursing home and had sold St Gerard's (probably to finance his care). I think your post has answered my original question as to whether the house was on the Upper Cliff Road or on Thormanby Road. Can you confirm, however, that St Gerard's was/is near the junction with Thormanby Rd since that would make sense of the fact that Eoghan sometimes gave his address as St Gerard's, Canon's Rock?
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Hi Lynn
I was searching recently for information on James O'Brien who lived at Heather Cottage, Upper Cliff Road. I came across your posts on this site about your relationship to him. I would be very grateful if you could help me with information about him. I know he had a brother John who is said to have run a small dairy farm around 1920 at Baker's Lane, also in Howth. I came across mentions of John and James in a biography of Michael Collins, one of the top Irish revolutionary leaders in the 1919-21 War of Independence. He is said to have stayed with John, but most often at Heather Cottage with James, when he was running the underground political and military campaign against the British at the time. As a man from a farming background himself, he befriended the two brothers and they willingly made their houses available as "safe houses". I am currently researching the history of that period in the Howth-Baldoyle area. Can you help me with any further information about John and James?
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My great-grandfather, James O'Brien lived in Heather Cottage on Upper Cliff Road, Howth. Thormanby Road is a main street and you turn off it to get onto Upper Cliff Road. If you are looking for info on this O'Brien family, I have much I can share with you.
Lynn McGoldrick Franger
Lynn
I am currently doing research on the East Mountain area in Howth. I know Michael Collins had an association with this area, particularly with the O'Brien family some of whom lived in the original Heather Cottage. This house was subsequently demolished and rebuilt between 2002 and 2004. I would love to get some information about the O'Brien family their farming activities etc. If you can help I would appreciate it.