O'Conor Don
The O'Conor Don ancestral lands were in County Roscommon centred on Clonalis House near Castlerea. Alexander O'Conor Don died in 1820 without male heirs and the title was inherited by the O'Conors of Bellanagare. Some members of the O'Conor family of Bellanagare were distinguished antiquarians, see the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. In 1828 O'Conor Don of Belanagar was a member of the Grand Panel of county Roscommon. At the time of Griffith's Valuation, Charles Owen O'Conor was one of the principal lessors in the parishes of Kilcorkey and Kilkeevin, barony of Castlereagh. In the 1870s the O'Conor of Clonalis estate amounted to over 12,000 acres in county Roscommon with another 1000+ acres in county Sligo. At the same time Dennis O'Connor of Kingstown, county Dublin, brother of the O'Conor Don held 751 acres in county Roscommon and 287 in county Meath. In 1879 Charles Owen O'Conor offered for sale lands at Drimina, barony of Lyney, county Sligo. By March 1916 a final offer from the Congested Districts' Board for 1,368 acres belonging to Charles W. O'Conor, nephew of Charles Owen O'Conor Don had been accepted. A similar acreage (1,382) the estate of his mother Ellen I. O'Conor was vested in the Congested Districts' Board on 10 Feb 1916. The estate and family records are still held at Clonalis House. See www.clonalis.com for more information.
Associated Families
Houses
| Name | Townland | Civil Parish | PLU | DED | Barony | County | Map Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clonalis House | Cloonalis | Kilkeevin | Castlerea | Cloonfower 66 | Castlereagh | Roscommon |
OSI Ref: M660808
OS Sheet: 26 Discovery map: 32 |
|
| Hermitage | Ballaghcullia | Kilcorkey | Castlerea | Bellenagare 70 | Castlereagh | Roscommon |
OSI Ref: M752892
OS Sheet: 15 Discovery map: 33 |
|
| Bellanagare Castle | Bellanagare | Kilcorkey | Castlereagh | Bellanagare 70 | Castlereagh | Roscommon |
OSI Ref: M750 877
OS Sheet: 15 Discovery map: 33 |
|
| Mount Allen House/Lough Allen Cottage | Mountallen | Kilronan | Boyle | Lough Allen 44 | Boyle | Roscommon |
OSI Ref: G948134
OS Sheet: 2 Discovery map: 26 |
Archival sources
- Pedigree of O'Conor, kings of Connacht and O'Conor Don, 364-1824. GO Ms.169, 254-61. ; National Library of Ireland
- Domestic & farm accounts & personal memoranda, kept largely in Irish, of Charles O'Conor, Belnagare, 1742-45. [Casey Manuscripts], Microfilm copies at NLI, p.2935. ; National Library of Ireland
- Pedigree of O'Conor Don of Belnagare &Clonalis, Lucan House, county Dublin & Lake Park, Roundwood, county Wicklow. 1800-1946. GO Ms.182, 583-4. ; National Library of Ireland
- O'Conor Papers, dating from 1580. Contact Pyers O'Conor-Nash, Clonalis House, Castlerea, Co Roscommon; Private Possession
- Cuttings & notes compiled by R.D. Walshe re Co Roscommon, including the O'Conors of Bellangare and the O'Conor Don, c 1915. MS 14,033; National Library of Ireland
- Local History Files - Clonalis & O'Connor; Roscommon County Library
- Land Judges' Court Rentals (O'Brien), O’Conor Don, 14 February 1879, Vol 135, MRGS 39/060, (microfilm copy in NUIG); National Archives of Ireland
Contemporary printed sources
- HUSSEY DE BURGH, U. H. ''The Landowners of Ireland. An alphabetical list of the owners of estates of 500 acres or £500 valuation and upwards in Ireland''. Dublin: Hodges, Foster and Figgis, 1878. [available online at www.askaboutireland.ie] : 346-347
- PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. ''Return of owners of land of one acre and upwards, in the several counties .... in Ireland''. HC 1876, LXXX: 318 (Roscommon), 322 (Sligo)
- ''GRIFFITH'S VALUATION OF IRELAND'[Primary Valuation of Tenements]', 1850-1858. : Castlerea Union, 28 (Hermitage), 47 (Clonalis).
- LEWIS, Samuel. ''A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland''. London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837: Vol. II, 102.
- WELD, Isaac. ''Statistical Survey of the county of Roscommon''. Dublin: Royal Dublin Society, 1832. : 484, 651
- LEGG, Marie Louise (ed). ''Census of Elphin 1749''. Dublin: Irish Manuscripts Commission, 2004: Denis O'Connor of Ballinagare, 32 & Daniel O'Connor of Clonalis, 342
- PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. ''24th Annual Report of the Congested Districts' Board for Ireland'', [Cd 8356], HC 1916, vi, 564-586. Appendix VIII: 57
- TAYLOR, George & SKINNER, Andrew. ''Maps of the Roads of Ireland, surveyed in 1777 and corrected down to 1783''. Facsimile of 2nd edition. Shannon: Irish University Press, 1969: 69 (Bellanagare)
- O'CONOR, Roderic. ''Memoir of a controversy respecting the name borne by the O’Connors of Ballintobber, the title of Don and the legal representatives of the family''. Dublin 1857: All
- SLATER, Isaac. ''Royal National Directory of Ireland: List of the principal seats''. (Manchester: 1894) : xxv & 63
- WILSON, William. ''The Post-Chaise Companion or Travellers Directory Through Ireland''. The author: Dublin, 1786 : 108 (Belanagar), 115 (Clonalis)
- ''GRIFFITH'S VALUATION OF IRELAND'[Primary Valuation of Tenements]', 1850-1858. : Boyle Union, p.82 [Mount Allen]
Modern printed sources
- MONTGOMERY-MASSINGBERD, Hugh (ed). ''Burke's Irish Family Records''. London: Burke's Peerage, 1976: 900-903.
- BENCE-JONES, Mark. ''A Guide to Irish Country Houses''. Revised ed. London: Constable, 1988. : 85-86 (Clonalis)
- GLIN, Knight of, GRIFFIN, D. J. & ROBINSON, N.K (eds).'' Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland''. Dublin: Irish Architectural Archive/Irish Georgian Society, 1989. : 125 (Ballanagare & Clonalis)
- MATTHEW, H.C.G. and HARRISON, Brian (eds). ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. Oxford: University Press, 2004: O'Conor entries. XLI, 471-475
- GORMLEY, Mary (ed). ''Tulsk parish in historic Maígh Aí''. Tulsk, county Roscommon: [the author], 1989. : 20-21
- WARD, Robert E., WRYNN, John F., WARD, Catherine Coogan. ''Letters of Charles O’Conor of Belanagare''. Washington D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1988: All
- ''Jnl. of the Roscommon Archaeological and Historical Society''.: MARTIN, Elaine. Ballinagare. IV (1992), 18-19
- ''Jnl. of the Roscommon Archaeological and Historical Society''.: Hermitage House, Ballinagare. IV (1992), 23
- ''Jnl. of the Roscommon Archaeological and Historical Society''.: O’CONOR NASH, Richard. The Life and Times of Charles Owen O’Conor Don MP, 1838-1905. V (1994), 19-22
- ''Jnl. of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society'': DE LACY STAUNTON, E. The O’Maolconaire Family. A Note. XX (1942-1943), 82-88
- ''Jnl. of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society'': Nĺ CHINNÉIDE, Síle. A Frenchman’s Tour of Connacht in 1791. XXXV1 (1977), 30-42
- DUNLEAVY, Gareth W. and DUNLEAVY, Janet E. ''The O'Conor Papers. A Descriptive Catalog and Surname Register of the Materials at Clonalis House''. London: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1977: All
- ''Jnl. of the Royal Society of Antiquaries Ireland'': Ó CATHÁIN, Diarmaid. Charles O'Conor of Belanagare: antiquary and Irish scholar. CXIX (1989), 136-63.
- ''Irish Ancestor'': DE BREFFNY, Brian. Letters from Connaught to a Wild Goose. X (1978), 81-98
- ''The Irish Genealogist'': CHAMNEY, Anne R. Extracts from Father Clare’s Annotations to the Conformity Rolls, include reference to this family. X (2001), 427-454