Embedded Files
History of the Brennan Name
If your name is Brennan, or if you are of Brennan ancestry, you are very likely to be descended from the Brennan’s of Idough. In the ninth century one of your ancestors was king of the Vikings in Ireland. The Brennan’s were the leading clan in the Laois and Kilkenny areas and consisted of several thousand members who ruled over the area that became known as O’Brennan Country. They had to constantly defend the region from outside raiders, mainly the British, whose Government eventually confiscated the Brennan lands in 1640 and gave them to their own supporters. That led to the break up of the clan and as result of this the Brennan’s scattered to far and wide and helped to colonise the United States, Canada and Australia. Others stayed at home and became tenant farmers or farm labourers. Those that fell on hard times turned to crime, becoming the most famous of outlaws, of which we are reminded in the words of the ballad “Brennan on the Moor”.
The distinguished Irish name of Brennan emerged in Kilkenny. The Brennans were descended from Braonan, an Irish prince, and brother of Ceallach, 17th King of Ossory. Braonan later became the King of Ossory, and also King of the Danes of Dublin, and was known as the Prince of Idough. The Brennans came into conflict with Brian Boru in 1014, and most historians believe that the Brennans were on the wrong side as allies of the Danish King. After Clontarf, they retained only the principality of Idough. The Brennans were favoured by the invading Angles with a “Patent of English Liberty” and the Chiefs from that time were all English knights, starting with Sir Geoffrey O’Brennan in 1395. His descendent, in 1520, Sir Art, possessed Castlecomer Castle in Ossory. The line descends to Gerald Brennan of Eden Hall, Ossory (1832), still chief of his name, and from this point the family name began to disintegrate as the effects of the Famine took hold.
In North America some of the first immigrants which could be considered kinsmen of the sept Brennan settled in Newfoundland. There are several places there called after the Brennans, i.e. Brennan Point, Brennans Hill. The Brennans also settled in the United States in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Maryland, California. Some remained loyal to the Crown during the American War of Independence and moved north into Canada, becoming known as the United Empire Loyalists.
The family name Brennan produced many prominent people, including Louis Brennan (successful Irish inventor of a gyro-directed torpedo and a mono-rail locomotive based on the gyroscopic principle), Joseph Brennan (Irish Banker), Edward Brennan (author), William and Michael Brennan (U.S. judges) and Christopher John Brennan (Australian poet).
Robert Brennan, revolutionary loyal son of Wexford and first Irish Minister to Washington 1838 - 1947. Together with his wife Una Bolger of Oylegate were Officers commanding the Irish Volunteers and The Cumann Na MBan in the Athenaeum in Enniscorthy in 1916. A Monument to them is situated directly in front of The Clayton White's Hotel in Wexford Town.
Our Own Story
Our story begins in Wexford when James Brennan was born on the 15th of August 1817 to John and Mary (Walsh). Nothing more is known of John and Mary except that they were born about 1790. James grew up in an area known as Ballyboggan, which was situated close to the boundary of the two parishes of Crossabeg and Castlebridge. The family records for births, marriages and deaths are to be found in Crossabeg and the family burial plot is in Crossabeg Cemetary. Because the village of Castlebridge was nearer to their home they attended Church and also went to school there.
James was a gardener, probably on the estate of the La Hunte family at Artramon.
This estate, which comprised hundreds of acres, was taken from the Roche family, who had owned it since 1180, and given by Oliver Cromwell to one of his soldiers named Richard La Hunte. This estate, like others all over the country leased portions of land to local people who became known as tenant farmers. They worked the land for all it was worth to enable them to pay a rent to the estate, tithes to the Protestant Church, and rates to the state authorities to help maintain the poor.
On the 2nd of May 1848 James married Mary Anne Leary, who was born on the 21nd of December 1824 to James and Anne (Keefe). We are showing her name as Mary Anne because different records have referred to her as either Mary or Anne. James Leary was a tenant farmer with a holding of around ten acres in Ballyboggan. He gave a small plot of about half an acre to his son in law James Brennan and this was shown on land registry forms to contain a house and garden. For this he had to pay a yearly rent to the estate of one pound and five shillings.
As fate would have it, and to the benefit of a future generation, marrying Mary Anne was a sound decision for James because it eventually led to his eldest son John becoming the owner of the Leary land. This had been enlarged by about an acre that was added to Leary’s holding on the departure or death of a neighbour named William Stafford. This acre figures again later in the story, as we shall see.
James Leary died around 1878 and he left the lease on the land to his daughter Mary Anne. She was now a widow, as her husband had died in about 1872. She moved her family into the farmhouse in Ballyboggan and her own small plot was added to the holding bringing the total up to 11 acres. Her old house was then let to a tenant named Anne Synnott. Mary Anne died on the 16th of February 1881 and the still leased farm passed to her son John. The record tells us that she died of a liver disease, that she had no medical attention and that her son John was with her when she died.
Just at this precise time in history the agitation between landlords and tenants had reached such a state that it developed into what became known as the Land War. An average of 3,000 families per year were being evicted from their homes in the period 1879 – 1883. On August 16th 1879 Michael Davitt founded the Land League of Mayo and by October 21st a National Land League, with Charles Stewart Parnell as president was founded in Dublin. Huge sums of money flowed in from America to fund the League and were used in part to provide evicted families with shelter and food.
Important concessions were contained in the British Prime Minister Gladstone’s Land Act of August 22nd 1881. It set up land courts to fix fair rents, protected tenants from eviction provided they paid their rent, and allowed tenants to sell their interests in the land, as well as the improvements they made, to an incoming tenant.
So it was an exciting time for John Brennan to inherit his mother’s farm, as the 1881 Land Act was a significant event in the transformation of Irish Agriculture. Tenant farmers had established their right to a secure stake in the land they worked, and the shift from landlordism to widespread occupier ownership of small and medium-size farms was clearly signalled. The Ashbourne Act of 1885 allowed tenants to borrow the entire amount needed to buy their farms, to be paid back over 49 years at 4% interest. Successive Acts, culminating in the Wyndham Land Act of 1903, gave even easier terms of repayment.
To complete the story of James and Mary Anne Brennan we will detail all we know about their family of four boys and two girls all of whom were born in the house on the Leary land in Ballyboggan.
You have seen John mentioned in relation to inheriting the farm when his mother died and we will continue now with his story and return then to the others. John was born on the 6th of October 1855 and he was the second child. Nothing at all is known about his earlier life. The 1901 Census records him as a Malster and in 1911 he is shown as a general labourer. So that makes one wonder after so many years in possession of the farm, how highly he regarded his status as a farmer and landlord to his one tenant. There was a very good reason for masking your identity in those days, whether you were looking for work or expecting a handout of some kind, it would be prudent to play down the fact that you were a property owner.
Well we might ask what then did John inherit from his mother. The 11 acres of land certainly, and the two bedroom thatched farmhouse with a variety of outhouses. Perhaps a horse or pony, an ass and cart, a few cattle, maybe a pig or two, several geese, ducks and hens. Farm implements and a good pony trap, the family automobile of those times and very essential if you lived in a country area
The land itself was greatly affected by a river that ran through it. If it was the Horse River that caused flooding in Wexford Town, then the Sow River did the same here. This river was tidal and high winter tides would back up and cause a big portion of land in the area to become flooded. Part of the Brennan land was so affected and every year this would occur and stay that way for six months. When it dried out in Summer time it became partly arable and farm animals would graze it in the normal way.
There is no doubt at all that this size of holding would not be able to support a family and hence we see John’s description in the census returns. Being a Malster would indicate that he worked, possibly full time, in one of the local Malt Houses where grain was processed before dispatching to the Flour Mills or the Breweries. Malt Houses and Flour Mills provided work for the local population and were to be found in several locations throughout the county. Wexford was a substantial corn producing area and at harvest time many additional workers would be employed and these would be small holders and others who valued the seasonal work to boost their meagre earnings.
When John married Elizabeth Stephens on the 25th of July 1889 he was well settled in his new home. They were married in Crossabeg Church by Father Martin Ryan CC. Best man was Thomas Bennet and the bridesmaid was Mary Anne Quirke. John was aged 35 and Elizabeth was aged 30.
He had seen off the rest of his family, two sisters, Anne and Mary, married to neighbours and living nearby. Brother James married and immigrated to America. Brother Thomas lived with his sister Anne and brother William emigrated in 1891.
Elizabeth Stephens was born on the 11th of March 1857, she was the eldest child of John and Annie (Lacey), and she had two brothers and two sisters. Eleanor was born on the 29th June 1863, Anastasia on the 13th June 1866, Edward on the 3rd June 1869, and Daniel on the 15th May 1872. John Stephens was a non-Catholic and on marrying Anne he converted to the Catholic religion and by so doing he had to forfeit his inheritance. In the 1901 census he was described as a farm servant, aged 65 and could read and write. His wife Anne was then aged 63. He died on the 7th of February 1908.
Elizabeth was a tough disciplinarian and despite their simple lives, she ruled the roost with an iron fist. After her husband died, one of the Shiggins children, Eileen was sent to live with her. This was not unusual in those days because whereas it provided company and a helpmate for the Grannies it also helped to reduce overcrowding in the small houses of the day. Eileen would tell some stories about her days in Ballyboggan and recalled an incident when an apple missing off the tree had to be accounted for.
When farming in Ballyboggan became too much for Elizabeth, she left and went to live with her daughter Ellen in Drinagh, where she died on the 4th of February 1949 at the age of ninety-two. There will be another mention of this later in the story. Her husband John died on the 5th of September 1930 and they are buried in Crossabeg Cemetery. John and Elizabeth had five children and we will return to them later.
Now for the other children of James and Anne Brennan. Anne was born on the 20th of June 1852 and in 1885 she married James Reid and they had four children, John (1886), James (1887), Thomas (1891), Anne (1894). Her younger sister Mary was born on the 12th of February 1860. In 1885 Mary married Lawrence Butler who was the local postman. Because of his station in life he had an unfair advantage over any other suitors for Mary’s hand. Postmen always had fixed points of call on their route, the first port of call would be for the porridge, the next for the morning tea and perhaps the bit of dinner at the last round up. Lawrence would no doubt have had the Brennan house on his schedule and whether there was post or not, the stop off there would be inevitable. So at first hand he saw Mary’s talents around the house and being just about the same age, she made an ideal match. There is no doubt but that Lawrence found a ready partner for Anne when he introduced her to his near neighbour James Reid and they settled down side by side in the district of Tykillen, a few miles from Ballyboggan. They were probably small holders and a fine farm exists today on this spot owned by a grandson of Mary.
The family of Lawrence and Mary were as follows; James (1886), Anne (1888), Margaret (1892), Stephen (1893), Mary (1894), Elizabeth (1896), William (1897), Johanna (1900), Ellen (1904), Anastasia (1908).
Thomas was the youngest of the family and was born on the 24th of March 1866. He lived with his sister Anne until he died in 1901 at the age of 35.
In having a story to tell about the two sons who immigrated to America we are greatly indebted to one of James’s granddaughters, Milli Stansbury, from Maryland U.S.A. Milli came to Ireland in 1996 on an organised genealogy trip to try and establish where her ancestors came from and to learn something about them. This brought her to Wexford and eventually to Ballyboggan. The connection she made here, followed up by further research from her home in Maryland, inspired those of us that were interested to assist her and eventually enjoy the fruits of her work.
Milli’s grandfather James was born on the 18th of September 1857. Milli now tells us what happened to both of them after they arrived in the U.S.A.
JAMES BRENNAN, JR.
James married Elizabeth Murphy, daughter of Mogue and Catherine (nee Leary) Murphy, on the 3rd of March 1889 in the Church at Crossabeg. Within that same year, the two left Cobh for America. The exact date and the name of the passenger ship are as yet unknown. They arrived in Baltimore, Maryland at Locust Point, which is by sea just down from the Port of Baltimore and just across the basin from Canton. That is where they, his brother, one of his five children, and one of his grandchildren would live out their lives. The rest of the children and grandchildren did not live far from there. By land it was a different story. To reach this foreign sounding place they had to either swim across the basin, find a wagon, or walk the five miles to Canton.
James worked as a labourer, driver, teamster, and a chrome maker throughout those first years. The Chrome Manufacturing plant was just down the shoreline in Fells Point. Elizabeth gave birth to Annie in December 1890, but family lore and the fact of Annie’s not appearing on the 1900 census says that she died before her tenth birthday. That same census says that Elizabeth had had two other births besides the four on the census, so if not an error, it is possible that she had twin infants that died.
Their remaining four children were: Aidan, born 11th September, 1892; James Joseph, II, born 15th April, 1894; Katherine Agnes born 13th July, 1896; and Mary Elizabeth, born 17th December, 1898.
Elizabeth tragically fell down the steps while carrying her eighth child, and died eleven days later on 3 July 1900, when she was 29 or 33, depending on whether the baptism or death certificate is correct. Her youngest was only two years old. James found it necessary to relocate the children with friends and, probably his brother, William. In 1902 he married Mary Coffey, a fellow emigrant, but from Co. Clare, to raise his children.
Two years later James and Mary bought a house in East Baltimore, just a little north of the centre of Canton, but still Canton. On 29th of June, 1905 they had a son, named Francis. James became a fireman in 1914, at the ripe old age of 57! He lived there, at 2517 Jefferson Street for 25 years, and remained a fireman until his death on 21st of April 1927. Mary lived there seventeen more years, with her son, Francis, his wife, Celia, and their children.
James and Elizabeth had twenty-eight grandchildren, 56 great grandchildren that we know of, and two great, great grandchildren. James and Mary had one child, two grandchildren, and seven great grandchildren.
WILLIAM BRENNAN
William was born on 26th of December 1863, in Ballyboggan. He followed his brother James to America, sailing on the Nova Scotian. It arrived in Baltimore, Maryland on May 1st, 1891. William was 27. He also followed his older brother around East Baltimore and Canton, living across the street, next door, etc., on his many moves.
The draw to be enmeshed with Leary’s must have carried on from Ballyboggan. On 28th of December 1896, he married Anna Leary in St. Andrew’s Church. She was probably a widow, as her maiden name was Cunningham, and she had had five children. Three were alive, and their names seemed to keep the pattern: Mary, James, and Agnes. By that time William had been living with James, and the new family continued to live with them for two years, when they moved across and four blocks up the street. Anna’s former father-in-law, James Leary, lived next door to them. James had emigrated from Ireland in 1853, as had his wife, Mary, in 1851. It is difficult to tell if, by happenstance James had come from Ballyboggan or nearby, because he would not have been on the available records (1901 or 1911 Censuses). It is more likely that it was just a coincidence.
From 1905 to 1912 William, Anna, and their daughter-in-law lived with James, whose wife had died. Anna was co-owner of the house with her father-in-law. They then moved to Baltimore County, which is now the crowded suburbs, but was then country. William was finally separated by distance from his older brother. William had worked as a labourer and then chrome mixer, again with James, at Baltimore Chrome Works in Fells Point. That Company, later known as Allied Chromium, is now very much in the news because developers want to build a multi million-dollar complex of upscale apartments on such prime waterfront property. The reputation of having been toxic and carcinogenic is complicating that process, even though it has been thoroughly cleaned up. Both James and William died of lung diseases.
Annie and William did not have children together, so we have no cousins from William. But it is probable that he had adopted Anna’s children, as they were listed as such on the censuses.
Despite the distance from the downtown port of Baltimore, William continued to work at the Chrome Works until his death on 8th October, 1921.
Children of John Brennan and Elizabeth Stephens
We come now to the children of John Brennan and Elizabeth Stephens who were all born in Ballyboggan.
Anne was born on June 4th 1891 and she married Moses (Aidan) Shiggins. They lived in an area that overlooked the Brennan home in Ballyboggan. Moses was a tailor by trade and cycled to his workplace in Wexford Town. They had eight children, William, Jack, Lawrence, Mary, Elizabeth, Eileen, Phyllis and Patricia. As both her grandmothers were named Anne, her name was a certainty.
James was born on July 7th 1893 and it appears he did not enjoy the best of health and he died aged thirty-eight. Being the eldest son he was called after his grandfather.
John Brennan was born on the 20th of October 1895. His story later.
Ellen was born on Oct. 16th 1898, and she married Paddy Devereaux and they lived in Drinagh Co. Wexford. Paddy was a farm manager and they had two children Jack and Mary.
Thomas was born on July 12th 1901, and he married Kathleen Quirke and they had seven children, John, Thomas, Joseph, Elizabeth, Anne, Kathleen, and James. They were married around the time his father died and they lived in Ballyboggan with his mother and some of their children were born there.
Around 1939 an acre of the land, now in his mother’s name, was purchased by the Wexford Co. Board of Health. They erected a Council House on this plot, which was in turn rented back to Thomas. He would later have vested the plot in his own name and made the repayments required to own the property. This acre was most likely the same one that his grandfather Leary got with the departure of his neighbour Stafford. Like his grandfather Brennan, Thomas was a gardener. He worked in various estates and convents and his expertise was clearly evident in the use he made of his own garden, which covered the entire area of his property. He cultivated all types of vegetables and had a wide variety of fruit trees and flowers of every description. He was a leading exhibitor at the local Castlebridge and other horticultural shows and the number of prizes he won in all categories is legendary.
John and Mary Brennan had 5 children and 19 grandchildren. As we go to print in this millennium year of 2000, there are 21 great-grandchildren and 1 great-great-grandchild. As we we wish to remind ourselves, we are all bi-products of our ancestors. As you read this story remember them with affection and be grateful to them for giving us all the opportunity to walk in their footsteps.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse