My maternal great great grandparents were Honora (Nora) Carroll and John Hounihan from
County Cork.
(There is some confusion about the proper spelling of the Hounihan name. Some records
indicate that it was spelled with a W, but there is no such letter in the Irish alphabet.
It appears that it was spelled by a scrivener that attempted to anglicize the name, but
then it also appears to have been spelled in later days as Hounihan. We have chosen to
spell it "correctly" as it would sound in Irish. The surname has been spelled
since the 1854 Griffith's Valuation as "Hounihan"; there were approximately
717 persons by that surname in Ireland in 1890, virtually all in County Cork.)
My great grandmother was Margaret HOUNIHAN (a variant could be Whonohan or Whonihan and is
shown as such in some records) was also born in County Cork and perhaps the townland of
Donaghmore (at least she resided in the civil Parish of Donaghmore). Michael GAGHAN
married her in 1854 or 1855 in County Cork, apparently on his way to the States to settle
first in the Connecticut/New York border area, moving on to Wisconsin
Margaret's father was John HOUNAHAN, b: in County Cork, Ireland. His residence in
Ireland included: 1835: Baracharing townland; in 1837, 1840: Derry townland, and in 1842
Droumduff, Co. Cork, Ireland. He married Honora "Nora" Carroll, who was also
born in County Cork, Ireland on November 27, 1824, in the civil parish of Coachford, Co.
Cork, Ireland, according to a letter from Martina Aherne, Mallow Heritage Centre, Mallow,
Co. Cork, Ireland. to Steven Dhuey (2000, May 16).
My paternal great grandfather, OWEN (or Eugene, and in the Irish and Gaelic forms Ewen or
Eoghan are used as a substitute) McCARROLL, came from the townland of Corkhill, in the
civil parish of Clogher, County Tyrone. He was baptised and buried in Eskra (Eskragh) R.C.
graveyard. He married CATHERINE McCUSKER (McCosker was a variant used, and we located her
father, Patrick, in that way) in Fintona's R.C. chapel in Donacavey.
OWEN McCARROLL was the son of Owen or Eugene and Catherine, who were farmers in Corkhill.
He was born about 1840 in Donacavey. Catherine may have lived to 90 when she died in 1894.
We have no record of Owen's death, but it appears that he lived in Corkhill and was
associated with the chapel and graveyard in Eskra. When Owen married my great grandmother
he was registered as Eugene, but he signed the register as Owen, and went by that name
throughout his life, and may have used the name to distinguish him from his father.
Regards,
Jim Carroll