The Byrne Family History

(Family information provided courtesy of Mrs. Nellie Byrne in Loughanboy with additional information provided in 1995 by Mr. Frank ‘C.F.’ O’Byrne and his daughter Ita O’Byrne)

The Byrne Family came to Loughanboy, Bekan, Co. Mayo some time in the 16^th Century, perhaps during the time of the Cromwellian Plantation.

In September of 1653, Parliament issued the order for the commencement of an act the English Parliament passed for the re-settlement of Ireland, an act that would come to be known as the Cromwellian Plantation. Under penalty of death by hanging, no Irish man, woman or child was to be found east of the River Shannon, after 1 May 1654.

Cormac Byrne

We can trace our ancestry to Mr. Cormac Byrne. Born circa 1785. Five other Byrne families  came from Co. Wicklow. The Byrne families owned a few hundred acres of  land in Loughanboy. Together. they built six houses that formed a self-contained village with their own place of worship and their own cemetery. The remains of this cemetery lies at the bottom of Jim’s field by the Sycamore tree, a place where all children were warned ‘not to disturb’ and to avoid when they played in the fields. The families were very good farmers and developers of the land, they built stone walls around the fields and built dwellings and sheds for their cattle. They shared a great interest in pedigree cattle and developed skills in animal husbandry.

Only two of these five houses survived into the 1900’s.

The Byrnes were affiliated with the Church of Ireland but later converted to Roman Catholicism.

Cormac was very prosperous man and may have been considered one of the ‘upper class’ or ‘the elite’ of his time. He was a good horseman and hunted with the hounds.

Cormac Byrne married Anne Joyce, a Galway girl. Anne’s mother’s maiden name was Thompson. Anne’s father was a Hedge School Master and Anne was well educated and it was said that she was school teacher. The stories passed down through the generations tell us that she always dressed in the ‘height of fashion’ and was a very good looking woman. Cormac and Anne had four children:

Margaret ’Peggy’ Byrne (1), daughter of Cormac and Anne, married James C. Mannion from Ballyhaunis.

Mary Byrne (1), daughter of Cormac and Anne, married Frank Murray from Abbey Street, Ballyhaunis.

Bridget Byrne (1), daughter of Cormac and Anne, married Patrick Coyne from Lake Hill.

John Byrne (1), son of Cormac and Anne. Follow this line to arrive at the current family tree as described on this website.

John Byrne married Ellen Waldren and they had five children

James Byrne (2) son of John and Ellen Waldren

James immigrated to Scotland and worked as a farm manager on a big estate and worked with a veterinarian surgeon. This would about 1885 to 1890 and he remained in Scotland for about ten years. While managing the estate  James developed great skill in animal husbandry.  James came home when, at Aunt Ellen's urging, the farm at home was divided into two farms.

Frank O’Byrne writes “James was a tall, heavily built man, broad faced with very large eyes. He looked fierce but was very quiet and even tempered.”

James then married Kate Lyons from Spaddagh around 1904.

Frank O’Byrne writes “Kate Lyons was a very good looking woman, friendly, outgoing, kind and decent. Always helped the lame dog. She was a very good dancer and played the concertina. Sunday was a gala day as she always had shop assistants from Ballyhaunis out for the afternoon. James and Kate were a very united couple and James was crazy about her. James wrote a song for her and I think it was called ‘My lovely Spaddagh Lass’ “ 

Together they farmed the land and built the present family home. They had nine children, five daughters and four sons that form the core of the Byrne Family Tree that is tracked on this family website.

James died in 1920 after he was badly injured by a bull on the family farm. Kate died unexpectedly in Dublin in December 1942 when visiting her daughter Angela in Dun Laoghaire.

Patrick Byrne (2) son of John and Ellen Waldren

Patrick ‘Big Pat’ Byrne married Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Phillips from Lakehill, Cloonternane Village and went to live on her farm. They had eight children most of the men became policemen. The two daughters, Hannah and her sister Lena, entered the convent.

Frank became a priest in the Passionist Order and was well known as Father John Baptist. Father John died tragically in an automobile accident.

Charles Byrne (2) son of John and Ellen Waldren

Charles Byrne qualified as an Agricultural Instructor and got his first job (now known as A.B. AGG.)   in 1900 and was assigned to Kerry. The hotel he stayed in while in Castle Island Co. Kerry is still in business.  He was employed by the Department of Lands in Cork prior to taking over his farm. Charles remodeled the old farm in Bekan. He won first prize from the Royal Dublin farm Society in 1895 for being the best laid out and best kept in Connaught.

Charles married Kate Mannion from Abbey Quarter, also known as Fox Hill,  July 1902. They had six children, four sons and two daughters.

 >>> See 70 year old photos of May, Vincent and Kate Mannion on the C.F. O'Byrne page <<<

Jack inherited the farm.

Thomas Vincent died young in his twenties.

Theresa Mary died as a child.

John ‘Jack’ did not marry.

Kathleen ‘Kitty’ inherited her Aunt’s farm outside Ballyhaunis and worked in Ballyhaunis for a number of years. Kathleen did not marry.

Mae was a Matron in a London Hospital until she retired and came home to live with her sister Kathleen. Mae never married.

Charles Frank ‘C.F.’ O’Byrne son of Charles and Kate Mannion

Frank, known to one ‘n all as C.F. ,  was a policeman in Cork. Frank married Julia Mac Elligott in November 1936 from Tralee, Co. Kerry. Frank kept the O’ in front of the Byrne name. Together they had five children, two sons and three daughters:

Born December 1936. Lives in Dublin and never married

Born May 1939. Lived in Dublin and never married

Born December 1946 and died as an infant in October 1947.

Born May 1950 and died as a young boy in June 1953.

Ita was born January 1949. Lives and married Tadgh O’Keeffe (born in July 1939) and they live in Cloghroe Co. Cork, about three miles from the famous Blarney Castle.  Together they have three children and kept the O’Byrne name alive when naming their children. Ita and her father C.F have contributed a lot of colorful details and factual information to this family story.

Ellen Mary Byrne (2) daughter of John and Ellen Waldren

Ellen Byrne married Austin Lyons from Greenwood, Bekan and it is believed the Lyons family bought the farm for them. They had three children.

·        John Lyons

·        Timothy Lyons

·        Austin Lyons

Timothy and Austin both died very young