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O'Conor (Toomona)
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The branch of the O'Conor family known as O'Conor Roe had extensive lands in county Roscommon which were confiscated in the 17th century and granted to Captain Nicholas Mahon, founder of the Strokestown family. Peter O'Conor was a descendent of the O'Conor Roe. He was the son of John O'Conor and his wife a Miss Dowell of Gort, near Athlone. John O'Conor was a grandson of Roger O'Conor of Castleruby, who was buried in the Abbey of Tulsk. Peter O'Conor's sister Bridget was the wife of Jeffrey Martin French of Rocksavage, county Roscommon. Peter appears to have died in the 1830s without any male heirs and Toomona was inherited by his sister.
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Mahon/Pakenham-Mahon
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In February 1666 Captain Nicholas Mahon was granted over 2,700 acres in the barony of Roscommon and in July 1678 he was granted over 3,000 acres in the baronies of Roscommon and Ballintober county Roscommon. The latter became the Manor of Ballynamully or Strokestown, 500 acres to be held as demesne. Thomas Mahon represented the borough of Roscommon 1739-1763 and the county from 1763-1782. His son and heir, Maurice Mahon, was created Baron Hartland of Strokestown in July 1800. The Honourable S. Mahon was a member of the Grand Panel of county Roscommon in 1828. The Ordnance Survey Name Books record Thomas Conry as agent to Lord Hartland. The title died out with the death in 1845 of Maurice, 3rd Baron Hartland. He was succeeded by his cousin, Major Denis Mahon, who was murdered in 1847. Grace Catherine Mahon, the heiress, married Henry Sandford Pakenham, eldest son of the Honourable and Reverend Henry Pakenham and they took the additional name of Mahon. Their only son Henry had one child, a daughter Olive. The estate of the Rev Henry Pakenham, Dean of St Patrick’s, Dublin, was partly in the parish of Killare, county Westmeath. In the mid-1870s Henry Pakenham of Strokestown, county Roscommon owned 632 acres in county Westmeath. In the 1850s Henry Sandford Pakenham-Mahon held land in the county Roscommon parishes of Dysart, barony of Athlone, Kilglass and Kilmore, barony of Ballintober North, Kilbride, Kilgefin, barony of Ballintober South, Cloonfinlough, Bumlin, Aughrim, Elphin, Kilbride, Kiltrustan, Lissonuffy, barony of Roscommon. In the 1870s the Pakenham Mahon estate amounted to almost 27,000 acres in county Roscommon. Over 8,600 acres of the Mahon estate was vested in the Congested Districts' Board in March 1911 and July 1912. The Strokestown House archive is now located at the OPW-NUI Maynooth Archive and Research Centre at Castletown, county Kildare.
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Crofton (Mote Park)
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The senior branch of the Crofton family settled at Ballymurray, county Roscommon in the 16th century. In the 17th century they resided at Mote Castle and in 1661 Edward Crofton was created a baronet. Other branches of the family settled at Lissadurn, county Roscommon, Temple House, county Sligo and Mohill, county Leitrim. In August 1677 Gerald Dillon of Feamore was granted land in the barony of Athlone in trust for Sir Edward Crofton and his heirs. Dillon was married to the mother of Sir Edward Crofton. The Westport Estate Papers contain documents relating to the Croftons and Gerald Dillon in the late 17th century. In the mid 19th century the Croftons owned lands in the barony of Athlone in the parishes of Killinvoy and Kilmeane and in the parishes of Kilteevan and Roscommon, barony of Ballintober South, Aughrim and Ogulla, barony of Roscommon. Admiral George Alfred Crofton, 3rd son of Sir Edward Crofton, held land in the parish of Kilteevan, barony of Ballintober South, county Roscommon in the 1850s. In the 1870s the Crofton estate was comprised of 10,509 acres in county Roscommon.
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French (Frenchlawn & Frenchbrook)
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Martin J. Blake writes that the ancestor of this branch of the French family was Simon A. Hyacinth French of Frenchbrook near Elphin, county Roscommon, second son of Arthur French of Tyrone, county Galway and his wife, Sarah Farrell. Arthur French succeeded his father and married Arabella O'Rourke in 1765. In 1774 his sister Jane married Captain Joseph Burke of London and Auberries, great uncle of Sir Bernard Burke, Ulster King of Arms and author of Burke's Peerage and Landed Gentry. Arthur and Arabella French are stated to have had six sons, including Robert Henry French of Innfield and later of Kiltullagh, Arthur French of Carney Castle, Jeffrey Martin French of Rocksavage and Toomona and William French of Frenchlawn. Martin J. Blake writes that Jeffrey M. French married a sister of Peter O'Connor of Toomona and succeeded his brother-in-law at Toomona. He had a daughter, Maria French of Larchgrove, who in the 1870s is recorded as owning 665 acres in county Roscommon. HIs son Arthur succeeded his uncle at Carney Castle, parish of Cloghprior, county Tipperary. In the mid 19th century Eliza French held three townlands in the parish of Cloghprior, barony of Lower Ormond, a total of 1,062 acres according to Daniel Grace. Following her death in 1873 Carney Castle was sold to George Arthur Waller of Prior Park. It would appear from the sale rental of June 1873 that Carney Castle was advertised for sale by her daughters, Maria Falkiner, Adelaide Kelly and Louisa Metcalfe and her son-inlaw, John George Malone. Previously the estate of Stephen Metcalfe and his wife Louisa, at Carneywoodlands and Carneybrack, barony of Lower Ormond, was advertised for sale. In 1788 Robert Henry French married a Miss Donnellan and had a son, Robert French of Larchgrove. Other descendants intermarried with the Brownes of Mount Browne, Strokestown and Clonfad and Martin J. Blake states that some family members were living at Dangan in the early 20th century. The Frenchlawn branch of the family occupied their estate up to the early 19th century. Papers in the National Archives seem to indicate financial difficulties after this as a receiver was appointed. By the time of Griffith's Valuation, Frenchlawn was part of the Sandford estate and was being leased by the Glancey family.
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