It's not known where John was born but it seems he wasn't a native of the townland of Cloonfeacle (in the parish of Kiltoghert) where he eventually ran his farm. The Tithe Applotment Books, compiled for Co. Leitrim in 1833, don't list any Morahan householders in Cloonfeacle, but by 1856 when Griffiths Valuation was carried out for Kiltoghert, John was farming in Cloonfeacle. He may well have come from the parish of Kiltoghert as there's an entry in the Irish Linen Board's 1796 list of flax growers for a James Moraghan (Moraghan is synonymous with Morahan) who grew flax in Kiltoghert. Could James have been related to John? And according to Griffiths Valuation, carried out for Co. Leitrim in 1856 and 1857, there were a number of other Morahans in Co. Leitrim at that time, all of them living in Kiltoghert, John being the only Morahan in the townland of Cloonfeacle.
It has been suggested that John may have been born in Co. Roscommon or had connections with Co. Roscommon. Although John had died by the time of the 1901 census, if one looks at the returns of the six Morahan households in Co. Leitrim at the time of the census, it can be seen that five of the six heads of household give their place of birth as Co. Roscommon (John's son, Owen, being the exception), and five of the six heads of household, including Owen, had wives who were born in Co. Roscommon. Furthermore I'm told that many Morahan and Moraghan families in the area have roots in the Boyle/Cootehall region of Co. Roscommon.
In case there's a connection between John's family and the other five Morahan families from the Co. Leitrim census returns, here are their details (with county of birth being Leitrim unless otherwise specified):
TOWNLAND / PARISH / HEAD / OCCUPATION / OTHER OCCUPANTS (family members only; servants, etc. not included)
Drumod town / Annaduff / Peter (35) / publican/widower (b. Co. Roscommon) / Francis (7), Peter (6), Margaret (sister, 21, b. Co. Roscommon)
Sranadarragh / Drumreilly / Owen (32) / tea dealer (b. Co. Roscommon) / Maryann (32), Charles (9), Mary Agnes (8), Lily (6), Annie (5), Caroline (4),
May (2), Eugene (1 month)
Carrick-on-Shannon town / Kiltoghert / Thomas (50) / coach builder (b. Co. Roscommon) / Nora (44, b. Co. Roscommon), Mary Elizabeth (20), Delia (18),
Nora (16), Kathleen (13), Bernard (11), Anna(9), Thomas (6),
Bridget McDonough (70, mother-in-law, b. Co. Roscommon)
Carrick-on-Shannon town / Kiltoghert / Patrick (27) / printer (unmarried, b. Co. Roscommon) / Owen (20, b. Co. Roscommon, brother perhaps?)
Carrick-on-Shannon town / Kiltoghert / Timothy (58) / RIC pensioner (b. Co. Roscommon) / Thomas (23, b. Co. Mayo), Edward (19), Timothy (15),
Joseph (13, b. Co. Roscommon), Patrick (11, b. Co. Cavan),
Bertram (8 months)
Getting back to the life of John above, it appears he was involved in an abduction in his youth. On 8 April 1836, eight men, including a John Morahan (whom we are assuming to be our John above) and Robert and William Bertridge (our John's brothers-in-law) forced their way into the house of a Mrs. Hanley who was a widow and lived a few miles from Carrick-on-Shannon, in Co. Roscommon, and took away Mrs. Hanley's young daughter Catherine. The police were contacted, Catherine was rescued, and John and the Bertridges were arrested and sentenced to death but were subsequently granted a 'free pardon'. For information on the practice of abduction in Ireland at that time please refer to the notes for Robert Bertridge.
According to John's death certificate, he was 72 years old when he died in 1896 (his son, Owen, was present at his death), which means he was born about 1824, which can't be the case as he married in 1836. The age of the John Morahan who was tried for the abduction was 23 in 1836 so it's more likely our John was born about 1813.
We have details of two other Morahan families from the Carrick-on-Shannon area. I'm unable to make a connection between them and our Morahans, but just in case there is a link, here are their details:
Brothers Joseph and Thomas Morahan, whose father's name was Bernard, were born around the middle of the 19th century and both worked as coach builders in Carrick-on-Shannon. Joseph married Mary Rutledge in 1879 and later settled in Co. Sligo, and Thomas married Nora McDonough in 1880. It's known that Thomas and Nora had nine children: Mary Elizabeth, Delia, Norella, Kathleen, Bernard (Sonny), Anna, Thomas, Addy and Gertie.
The other Morahan family was that of Charles Moraghan, a tenant farmer from Cloonmaan, Co. Leitrim, who married Elizabeth Corrighan (also spelled Currigan). They had 10 children:
John, baptised 17 August 1838
Catherine, baptised 9 July 1840
Mary, baptised 22 August 1841
Bernard (Barney), baptised 15 September 1843
Margaret, baptised 2 November 1845
Cornelius, baptised 27 November 1847
Patrick, baptised 6 February 1850
Michael, baptised 5 November 1851
Elizabeth, baptised 26 May 1853
Peter, baptised 17 February 1856
It's thought some of the sons of Charles and Elizabeth, including Barney, may at some point have served with the Metropolitan Police in London. Barney married Mary Clancy from Curries, Co. Roscommon on 18 February 1878 in Cloonfad in the parish of Aughrim, Co. Roscommon. They had one son, Joseph Patrick. Mary died on 21 December 1885 aged only 34. In 1882, when Joseph was eight, he and his father emigrated to New Zealand and settled in Christchurch. Barney remarried, and it's believed his second wife, who may have been related to his first wife, emigrated to New Zealand at the same same time as Barney. There were no children from the second marriage. Thanks go to Peter Morahan in New Zealand, a great-grandson of Barney for providing all the above information on the descendants of Charles Moraghan and Elizabeth Corrighan. Other details on this family are available on Peter's website, www.morahan.co.nz
Note: The Morahan surname is quite common in Connaught. It comes from the Irish 'Ó Murcháin' of which there were two septs, one in Offaly and one in Leitrim. The name is sometimes spelled 'Moraghan', or shortened to 'Moran'.
