Jeremiah SWEENEY [Parents] died Mar 1931 and was buried in the Abbey, Mourneabbey, Co. Cork. He married Mary 'UNKNOWN' in USA.

Mary 'UNKNOWN' was born about 1859. She died 1943 and was buried in the Abbey, Mourneabbey, Co. Cork. Mary married Jeremiah SWEENEY in USA.

John (Jack) O'HANLON died 21 May 1994 in Kilquane, Mourneabbey, Co. Cork and was buried in Burnfort Cemetery, Mourneabbey. He married Maura O'SULLIVAN.

Seamus O'SULLIVAN [Parents] was born 3 Jul 1927 in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford. He died 1 Nov 2004. Seamus married Edna O'BRIEN.

Michael O'SULLIVAN [Parents] was born 8 Oct 1933 in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford. He died 15 Mar 2001 in Kingston upon Thames, England. Michael married Sarah QUINN. The marriage ended in divorce.

Michael lived in Kingston-upon-Thames.

Patrick O'CONNOR / CONNORS was born in prob. Dirreen Lower, Athea, Co. Limerick. He died in prob Kilbaha, Newtownsandes (Moyvane), Co. Kerry. Patrick married Maria DALTON (Caution: not verified) in Athea, Co. Limerick.

MANY THANKS GO JER KENNELLY FROM KNOCKANURE, CO. KERRY AND DENIS COLLINS FROM MALLOW, CO. CORK FOR THEIR HELP IN TRACING THE CO. LIMERICK ORIGINS OF MY O'CONNOR FAMILY.

It's thought Patrick may have been born in the townland of Dirreen Lower in Athea, Co. Limerick and later moved just across the county border to Kilbaha South, Newtownsandes, Co. Kerry. Note that Newtownsandes is now called Moyvane and that Dirreen is sometimes spelled Derreen, Direen or Dereen.

There are two entries in Griffith's Valuation (with a printing date of 1 July 1852) for a Patrick Connors occupying land in Dirreen. One or both of these could refer to our Patrick above. One entry shows that a Patrick Connors was renting a house from a Timothy Sullivan and the other shows a Patrick Connors renting a house and land from a John Connors. There's also an entry for a Johanna Connors in Dirreen who was renting a house and garden from a Daniel Liston.

However there's an entry in Griffith's Valuation (with a printing date of 15 December 1851) for a Patrick Connors in Kilbaha South. There are no other entries for Connors or Connor or O'Connor for the entire parish of Murher (name of civil parish, equivalent to Catholic parish name of Newtownsandes), so it's also a possibility that this Patrick Connors is our Patrick.  It's also a possibility that our Patrick may have farmed in both Dirreen and Kilbaha. The Patrick listed in Griffith's for Kilbaha was the lessee of a "Herd's ho.", presumably a herdsman's house, along with about 28 acres of land. The lessor was a Rev. Samuel B. Leonard. Nowadays there are a number of O'Connor families established in Moyvane, such as the "Slate Connors" (so named because at one time a member of this family had the only house in the parish with a slate roof) in Clounbrane, and the O'Connor family of Keylod, but there appears to be no connection at all between these families and our O'Connors.

Diane Kern in the US has sent me information an another O'Connor family from Newtownsandes who are probably not related to our O'Connors but for the benefit of other O'Connor researchers, here is Diane's information on the family of Bryan O'Connor, her great-great-grandfather: Bryan was born in Newtownsandes (name of townland is unknown), one of the 15 children of Michael O'Connor and Catherine whose surname was believed to have been Flaherty. He left Newtownsandes for the US (possibly via Canada) in the late 1840s / early 1850s and later married Margaret O'Keeffe from Duagh, Co. Kerry (with whose family he may have travelled to Canada). Family lore has it that Bryan had to leave Ireland because he was to be hung for stealing a sheep to feed his starving family. If you would like to get in touch with Diane regarding this family, please send an e-mail to dock9@adelphia.net.

The O'Connor surname is very common in all areas of Ireland, especially in counties Kerry, Limerick and Cork. The name is derived from the Irish 'O Conchubhair' from the first name, 'Conchubhair', meaning, perhaps, 'lover of hounds'. There were five septs: in Connaught (O'Connor Don), Offaly, north Clare, Keenaght in Co. Derry, and Kerry. In Kerry, the O'Connors were chiefs of a large territory in the north of the county. The Norman invasions displaced them further north to the Limerick border where they retained much of their power until the seventeenth century. Today the descendants of these O'Connors are by far the most numerous of all the descendants of the original septs.

Maria DALTON (Caution: not verified) was born in prob. Athea, Co. Limerick. She married Patrick O'CONNOR / CONNORS in Athea, Co. Limerick.

It's believed Maria was from the Athea area. Perhaps she was from the same townland as her husband which was Dirreen Lower. In case this is so, here's a little information we've acquired on a Dalton family from Dirreen to which it's possible Maria may have been connected:

Dalton is and was a common surname in the parish of Athea but at the time of Griffith's Valuation of that area (1852) there was only one Dalton family occupying land in Dirreen, that of Thomas Dalton who was renting a house, office and land from an H. de Masey. It's known that this Thomas married a Maria Sheahan. There doesn't seem to be any record of the marriage in Athea so it's possible Maria Sheehan was not from there since marriages usually took place in the bride's parish. Their farm was occupied after their deaths by their son Michael. Michael married a Mary Dillane but they had no family so the farm was given to Michael’s niece and Mary’s nephew, John Sheehy from Templeathea East and Elizabeth Scanlan from Glenagragra in Glin, who were married to each other. Descendants of  the Sheehys still live on this farm.

There is however absolutely no proof that Maria Dalton was related to this family in Dirreen.

The Dalton surname is common throughout Ireland. Its early spelling was D'Alton and it arrived in Ireland with an Anglo-Norman family of this name that settled in Meath in the 13th century and became completely hibernicised.

Bryan CUNNINGHAM [Parents] was born in Kilbaha, Newtownsandes (Moyvane), Co. Kerry. He died in prob Kilbaha, Moyvane, Co. Kerry. Bryan married Johanna HUDSON on 1847 in Gortmore House, Strand St., Tralee, Co. Kerry.

One would have expected that the name Myles would have been given to Bryan's first-born son, following the tradition at the time of naming the eldest son after the child's paternal grandfather. Perhaps Bryan did have a first-born son called Myles who may have died young.

Johanna HUDSON [Parents] was born about 1822 in prob. Trieneragh, Duagh, Co. Kerry. She died 1 Dec 1897 in Kilbaha, Moyvane, Co. Kerry and was buried in Murher Cemetery, Moyvane, Co. Kerry. Johanna married Bryan CUNNINGHAM on 1847 in Gortmore House, Strand St., Tralee, Co. Kerry.

It's possible Johanna and her family were living in Gortmore House (the old Hudson family home and now the Bon Secours Hospital) on Strand Street in Tralee at the time of her marriage in 1847 as she and Bryan were married there. It was common practice at the time to marry in the bride's home; after 1850 it became mandatory to marry in a church.

According to Tom Sheehan of Kilbaha, one of her great-grandnephews, Johanna was remembered as "a very tall and strong lady who could carry a heavy sack of meal up a hill". She and Bryan may have had more children than those listed below.

Edmond (Eddie or Ned) O'CONNOR [Parents] was born 24 May 1877 in Kilbaha, Moyvane, Co. Kerry. He died 25 Mar 1960 in prob. Sallowglen, Tarbert, Co. Kerry and was buried in Old Cemetery, Knockanure, Co. Kerry. Edmond married Mary FLAVIN.

Mary FLAVIN died 18 Jan 1942 in prob. Sallowglen, Tarbert, Co. Kerry and was buried in Old Cemetery, Knockanure, Co. Kerry. She married Edmond (Eddie or Ned) O'CONNOR.

Ned and Mary lived in Sallowglen, near Tarbert.

Patrick (Paddy Otter) O'CONNOR [Parents] was born 20 Nov 1871 in Kilbaha, Moyvane, Co. Kerry. He died 9 Nov 1963 in Beenbrack, Lisaniskea, Knockanure, Co. Kerry and was buried in Old Cemetery, Knockanure, Co. Kerry. Patrick married Hannah AHERN.

Paddy was known as "Otter" because he had a passion for fishing. He lived into his early 90s and was still cycling up to shortly before his death.

Hannah AHERN was born in Moyvane, Co. Kerry. She died in prob Beenbrack or Lisaniskea, Knockanure, Co. Kerry and was buried in Old Cemetery, Knockanure, Co. Kerry. Hannah married Patrick (Paddy Otter) O'CONNOR.

Paddy and Hannah lived in Beenbrack in Lisaniskea, Knockanure. They had no children. The farm passed to a relative of Hannah's (perhaps a niece?) named Margaret Ahern who was married to a Joe Collins.