The only information available on our Finucane family is that they may have come from an area called Ardmore in the townland of Carhoonakineely (not to be confused with the nearby townlands of Carhoona and Carhoonakilla) near Tarbert, Co. Kerry. Research has been done on a Finucane family from Carhoonakinella (presumably a variant of Carhoonakineely), to which Margaret was probably connected, by Brian Sheehan from Dublin, whose great-great-grandfather was a John Finucane, born about 1754 in Carhoonakinella. Although no definite link can be established between Brian's family and ours, it's likely they were related given the Carhoonakineely connection and the fact that we know that Margaret was somehow related to the Finucanes of Kilcolgan, near Tarbert, to whom Brian's Finucanes are also related (John Finucane's grandson Patsy having bought the farm in Kilcolgan). Information on Brian's Finucane family is available on his family tree website www.sheehanfamilytree.ie. The site also provided information on the O'Connor family of Gortdromasillihy in Moyvane and the Hill, also in Moyvane (Jackie O'Connor having divided his farm in the late 19th century between two sons, Cornelius receiving land in Gortfromasillihy and Jackie getting the farm at the Hill).
Getting back to Margaret, she and her husband, Richard, seemed to have moved around quite a bit after their marriage. It's probable they lived in Duagh around 1830 because their daughter, Johanna, was baptised there in that year. It's also believed they lived for a time in Ballyeagh, near Ballybunion, and at another point they seem to have moved to Tralee where it's thought their youngest child, Patrick Robert, was born in 1838 (although there's no documentation to support this) and where it's known their daughter, Johanna, was married in 1847. By 1850 it seems they had left Tralee and settled in Kilbaha where thry had connections through Edward Hudson, a relative of Richard's from Tralee who owned more than 400 acres in Kilbaha at the time. Information on the Hudson family of Tralee is available in William Hudson's volume "The Hudsons of Tralee", a copy of which may be studied in Tralee and Listowel libraries. Unfortunately, when I visited Tralee library in 2005, I ran out of time before I had a chance to take a look at this particular book.
An indication of what life was like for Margaret and Richard back then comes from stories told by family members. For example, Richard and Margaret's son, William, once told a relative that he remembered that while a mass was being said at the house when he was a child, people were put on guard duty outside to see to it that no British police would bother those inside. He also remembered there being firearms in the house at the time. And William's brother, Patrick, told his own son, William, that his (Patrick's) mother, Margaret Hudson, was often "beaten up" by local Whiteboys, agrarian agitators who operated in Ireland at the time.
It's thought Richard and Margaret may have had a second daughter, but no further information is available.
The Finucane surname is numerous in counties Limerick, Kerry and Clare. An Irish form is Mac Fionnmhacáin meaning "fair son".
