Cormac GORDON [Parents] was born 26 Feb 1870 in Kilgarriff, Fairymount, Co. Roscommon. He died 13 Sep 1939 in Kilgarriff, Fairymount, Co. Roscommon and was buried 15 Sep 1939 in Fairymount Cemetery. Cormac married Mary MORAHAN on 7 Feb 1906 in Jamestown, Co. Leitrim.

Cormac ran the Gordon family farm in Kilgarriff.

Mary MORAHAN [Parents] was born Aug 1877 in Cloonfeacle, Kiltoghert, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim and was christened 7 Aug 1877 in Kiltoghert, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim. She died 20 Jan 1932 in Dublin and was buried in Fairymount Cemetery, Co. Roscommon. Mary married Cormac GORDON on 7 Feb 1906 in Jamestown, Co. Leitrim.

Sponsors at Mary's baptism were John Morahan and Jane Murray.

Witnesses to Mary's marriage to Cormac Gordon were John Gordon and Belinda Morahan. Presumably Belinda was Mary's sister, Linda.  

Mary died in hospital in Dublin following complications from an operation carried out at either a Dublin hospital or the hospital in Castlerea, Co. Roscommon.

George Patrick BUTLER [Parents] was born 1834 in St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London. He died 18 Apr 1911 in 59 Rowan Road, Hammersmith, London. George married Jane LYNCH about 1862.

George was a musical instrument maker in the family business. According to census information, George was born in the St. Martin-in-the-Fields registration district (now incorporated into the City of Westminster), although it's not known exactly where.  The Butlers' London shops as listed below would eventually be located in this area.

William Waterhouse's "The New Langwill Index: A Dictionary of Musical Wind-Instrument Makers and Inventors" gives the following dates and addresses for the Butler business (my notes are in parentheses):

1859: 17 Brydges St., Covent Garden, London
1860-1865: 57 Greek St., London
1865-1898: 29 Haymarket, London (now the address of the 'Tiger Tiger' club)  
1898-1913: 29 Haymarket (under the name 'George Butler & Sons')
1868-1882: 11 Ellis Quay, Dublin
1882-1926: 34 Bachelor's Walk, Dublin (in Monument House)  
1926-1927: 2 Lower Abbey St., Dublin  

[Notes on the above dates: (i) According to the 1871 census of England, George was employing at that time five men and four boys (in the Haymarket premises), and (ii) The business actually moved from Bachelor's Walk to Lower Abbey St. in 1917 although the family seems to have retained the Bachelor's Walk premises]

George and his wife, Jane, seem to have moved around a lot after their marriage: in 1863 they were living at 29a Haymarket (next door to their future shop?); their daughter Mary was born in the Richmond area in 1865, suggesting they were living there at the time; in 1871, according to the census of that year, their home was 6 Brompton Square, Kensington; by the time of the 1881 census, they were living at 32 St. Mary Abbot's Terrace, Kensington; in 1891, the census shows they were living at 9 Gunterstone Road in West Kensington; and by the time of the 1901 census, they had moved to 23 Rowan Road in nearby Hammersmith.

Interestingly, at the time of the 1891 census, the family of Thomas Hussey, whose sons married George's daughters, Mary and Jane, lived at 23 St. Mary Abbot's Terrace (having moved there between 1884 and 1991), the same street where George and Jane were living in 1881. Perhaps the two families had been close neighbours at some point and perhaps that's how Mary and Jane first met the Hussey boys. Another possibility is that the Butlers and the Husseys met through their connection with St. Edmund's College in Hertfordshire: Mary's and Jane's younger brother, William, may have attended the college at the same time as some of Thomas Hussey senior's sons.

George died in 1911 at the home of his son Thomas at 59 Rowan Road in Hammersmith. The cause of death was "cerebral haemorrhage, 4 months; hemiplegia; congestion of lungs".

Jane LYNCH [Parents] was born Mar 1836 in prob. parish of SS Michael and John (near Christchurch), Dublin and was christened 15 Mar 1836 in SS Michael & John. She died 22 Jul 1902 in 23 Rowan Road, Hammersmith, London. Jane married George Patrick BUTLER about 1862.

Our source for Jane's birthplace is the 1891 British census which gives her place of birth is given as "Dublin, St. Michael". The only "St. Michael" parish in the city of Dublin at that time was "SS Michael and John" near Christchurch Cathedral. Based on this and the year of birth provided by the family (1836), the baptism register for that parish was checked in the National Library in Dublin. The only record for a Lynch baby baptised in 1836 was for a Jane Lynch born to William and Anne Lynch (Anne's maiden name is not given). It's therefore most likely that the record relates to "our" Jane. Sponsors were Joseph Boulger and Jane Heyfron.

According to her death certificate Jane died from "malignant disease of bladder".

George James BUTLER was born about 1795 in Dublin. He died 8 Apr 1870 in 29½ Haymarket, London. George married Margaret Lucy NEAD on prob. abt 1825 in prob Dublin.

The farthest back we can trace our Butler family is to George Butler, a musical instrument maker, who, according to William Waterhouse's "The New Langwill Index: A Dictionary of Musical Wind-Instrument Makers and Inventors" (London, T. Bingham, 1993), "flourished in Dublin from 1826 as a successor to a Mr. Dollard, maker of flute, Kent-bugle, serpent and bass-horn".

It appears George moved to London probably in the late 1820s or early 1930s while still maintaining the business in Dublin. It seems he worked for others in London for a number of years (the 1851 census of England shows that George, along with his son George, was working as a "journeyman trumpet maker"), but in 1859 it's believed he set up his first London shop at 17 Brydge's St. in Covent Garden.

In Dublin it's possible George's workshop was located for a time on Capel St. because the only Griffiths Valuation entries for a George Butler in the entire city of Dublin are for (i) 155 and 156 Capel St (warehouse, house, warerooms and small yard) and (ii) an address on what seems to be a lane between 13 and 14 Strand St. Little (just off Capel St.) where an office was rented. Part of Strand St. Little runs behind shops on the river end of Capel St. where numbers 155 and 156 are located. Griffiths Valuation was undertaken for the Capel St. area in May of 1854.   

According to his death certificate, George died of "debility from age".

Further notes:

1. In "The New Langwill Index", Waterhouse lists Algernon Rose's "Talk with Bandsmen" (London, 1894; reprint ed., London: T. Bingham, 1996) as a secondary source for George Butler. I haven't yet had a chance to check out this work which, I'm hoping, might contain more information on George.

2. The Butler surname is Norman in origin and used to mean "wine steward". The name has the same root as the modern French "bouteille" meaning "bottle". The name was then extended to denote the chief servant of a household and, in the households of royalty and the most powerful nobility, a high-ranking officer concerned only nominally with the supply of wine. In Ireland most of the Butlers are descended from Theobald Fitzwalter, brother of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was created Chief Butler of Ireland by Henry II in 1177. The huge territories he was granted were mainly in counties Tipperary, Limerick and Wicklow.

Margaret Lucy NEAD was born about 1802 in Dublin. She died 19 Nov 1868 in 29 Haymarket, London. Margaret married George James BUTLER on prob. abt 1825 in prob Dublin.

Margaret and her husband, George Butler, moved from Dublin to London about 1830. According to both the 1841 and 1851 censuses of England, Margaret, George and their family were living at 1 Francis Court in the parish of St. Paul, Covent Garden in Westminster. By the time of the 1861 census, they were living at 57 Greek St. (where their musical instrument business was located) in the parish of St. Anne in Westminster and at the time of Margaret's death in 1868 they were living at 29 Haymarket (again, the address of their business). Margaret died from "dropsy", an old term for the "swelling of soft tissues due to the accumulation of excess water, often due to congestive heart failure").

We know that Margaret was born in Dublin from the 1851 census of England, and we know her surname from the birth certificates of her twins, Margaret and Thomas. It's rather difficult to decipher the surname on the certificate but it's almost certainly Nead, a very unusual but not unknown name in Ireland. I have tried to locate copies of birth certificates for Margaret's other children who were born from 1937 onwards (civil registration of births began in July 1837) in order to verify her surname but none, apart from those of the twins (therefore both in the same handwriting), were found by the General Register Office for England and Wales.

Searches made to determine the Irish county or counties with the highest concentration of Nead families didn't reveal anything very useful but records were located for the following Nead individuals:

VRI (Vital Records Index):
Dominicus (Dominic) Nead, born 23 October 1816 in Boyle registration district, Co. Roscommon to Dominicus Nead and Brigida (Bridget) Brennan
Martinus (Martin) Knead (sic), born 13 November 1819 in Boyle registration district, Co. Roscommon to Dyonisius (Denis) Knead and Brigida Brenan (sic). Denis and Dominic above may have been the same person.
Patricius (Patrick) Nead, born 20 December 1825 in Boyle registration district, Co. Roscommon to Demetrius (usually Dermot or Jeremiah) Nead and Brigida Brennan. Dermot/Jeremiah and Denis and Dominic above may have been the same person.
Anne Neade (sic), born 31 March 1872 in Delvin registration district, Co. Westmeath to Thomas Neade and Jane Carroll
Mary Nead, born 10 July 1874 in Delvin registration district, Co. Westmeath to Thomas Nead and Jane Carroll
Elizabeth Nead married David Bruce on 18 January 1853 in St. Thomas parish, Dublin. David's father's name was also David and Elizabeth's was Patrick.

Griffith's Valuation (1847-1864):  Michael Nead, occupier of land in the parish of Cloonygormican, Co. Mayo; Julia Nead, occupier in the parish of Killulagh in Co. Westmeath
Dublin City Census (1851): Pk. (Patrick?) Neade, 1 Hammond Lane in the parish of Michan's in Dublin; Jno. (John?), 17 Hammond Lane in St. Michan's

1841 Census of England: Mary Nead, Liverpool, born c.1791 Ireland; Michael, Croydon, born c.1821 Ireland
1851 Census of England: Catherine Nead, born c.1813 Co. Cork, married to English-born Thomas Nead; James Nead, born c.1824 Mayo and his wife, Elizabeth, born c.1811 Cork, living St. Pancras, London
1861 Census of England: No Irish-born Neads recorded
1871 Census of England: No Irish-born Neads recorded
1881 Census of England: Ann Nead, born c.1830 Ireland, married to English-born John Nead, living Wigan; Thomas Nead, born c.1824 Ireland; his wife, Eliza, born c.1819 Ireland; their son Michael, born St. Pancras, all living St. George, Bloomsbury; James Nead, born c.1857 Ireland, lodger in Cumberland; Thomas Nead, born c.1861 Ireland, lodger in Cumberland
1891 Census of England: Julia Nead, born c.1818 Co. Cork, living Shoreditch
1901 Census of England: Joseph Nead, born c.1864 Ireland and his wife, Mary, born c.1856, living Sale

Thomas GORDON [Parents] was born 1821 in prob Kilgarriff, Fairymount, Co. Roscommon and was christened 15 Nov 1821 in Loughglynn, Co. Roscommon. He died 23 Mar 1901 in prob Kilgarriff, Fairymount, Co. Roscommon. Thomas married Anne FOLEY about 1857.

Sponsors at Thomas's baptism were Patrick Gordon and Mary Hunt.

Anne FOLEY [Parents] was born 1839 in Breanamore, Castlerea, Co. Roscommon. She died 26 Feb 1885 in prob Kilgarriff, Fairymount, Co. Roscommon. Anne married Thomas GORDON about 1857.

It's believed Anne was an only daughter. She was possibly an only child because her father left the family farm to Anne and her husband, Thomas. However as a result of a government act of the time, the farm was distributed amongst others.

Owen MORAHAN [Parents] was born Dec 1842 in Kiltoghert, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim and was christened 12 Dec 1842 in Kiltoghert, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim. He died 3 Feb 1928 in Cloonfeacle, Kiltoghert, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim. Owen married Margaret O'HARA on 4 Feb 1975 in Cootehall, Co. Roscommon.

The only baptismal record found by the Leitrim Genealogy Centre for an Owen Morahan baptised in Kiltoghert gives a baptismal date of 12 December 1842 and parents' names of John Morahan and Mary RUTLEDGE (sponsors were Mathew Gaffney and Ann Jones). The genealogist from the Leitrim Genealogy Centre thinks that 'Rutledge' should actually read 'Bertridge' given the similarity between the names and the fact that there's no evidence of any more baptisms around that time in Kiltoghert where the mother was Mary Rutledge. Nor is there any record of a marriage in Kiltoghert between a John Morahan and a Mary Rutledge whereas a marriage did take place between John or James Morahan (it's unclear on the actual certificate) and Mary Bertridge on 24 March 1836 in Kiltoghert. Furthermore Owen's date of baptism doesn't conflict with the baptism dates of John Morahan's and Mary Bertridge's other children, or with their date of marriage.

Note: In some documents, Owen is listed as "Eugene" (these names are interchangeable in Irish families).

Margaret O'HARA [Parents] was born about 10 May 1851 in Cootehall, Co. Roscommon and was christened 10 May 1851. She died 28 May 1940 in Derrynargon, Keadue, Co. Roscommon and was buried in Jamestown Cemetery, Co. Leitrim. Margaret married Owen MORAHAN on 4 Feb 1975 in Cootehall, Co. Roscommon.

Witnesses to the marriage of Margaret and Owen were James Barrett and Bridget O'Hara, Bridget presumably being Margaret's sister.

Owen and Margaret farmed in the townland of Cloonfeacle near Carrick-on-Shannon.

Margaret died at the home of her daughter Linda Molloy.

Note: The O'Hara family is twice connected to another family being researched - the Gordons of Kilgarriff, Fairymount, Co. Roscommon. Margaret O'Hara's daughter, Mary Morahan, married Cormac Gordon whose older sister, Bridget Gordon, was married to Margaret's younger brother, Laurence O'Hara.

Gerald COLLEARY was born 1910 in Ballina, Co. Mayo. He died 11 Sep 1968 in Tuam, Co. Galway and was buried in New Cemetery, Tuam, Co. Galway. Gerald married Josephine (Jo) GORDON on 26 Jul 1939 in St. Andrew's Church, Westland Row, Dublin.

Gerald was headmaster of Tuam Vocational School.

Josephine (Jo) GORDON [Parents] was born 18 May 1908 in Kilgarriff, Fairymount, Co. Roscommon. She died Jun 1985 in Clonskeagh, Co. Dublin and was buried in New Cemetery, Tuam, Co. Galway. Josephine married Gerald COLLEARY on 26 Jul 1939 in St. Andrew's Church, Westland Row, Dublin.

Jo was a domestic science teacher.

James (Jim) B. RUANE was born about 1914 in Monivea, Athenry, Co. Galway. He died Sep 1976 in Dublin and was buried in Esker Cemetery, Lucan, Co. Dublin. James married Linda GORDON.

Jim was professor of agriculture in University College Dublin.

Linda GORDON [Parents] was born Jul 1912 in Kilgarriff, Fairymount, Co. Roscommon. She died 11 Aug 1986 in Mount Merrion, Dublin. Linda married James (Jim) B. RUANE.

Linda was a domestic science teacher.