Browne (Brownville)

Description

James Valentine Browne, Professor of Surgery at Queen's College, Galway, 1849-1887, was uncovered as an imposter, pretended to be his dead cousin.

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Estate(s)

Name	Description
Browne (Brownville)	The Brownes of Brownville, near Galway city, were connected to the Brownes of Ardskea, parish of Kilmoylan, barony of Clare, county Galway and their descent is given in a family history in the archives of the James Hardiman Library, NUI, Galway. In 1789 James Valentine Browne married Jane Symmers of Aberdeen, Scotland and they had three sons. In 1819, their eldest son, James, married Catherine Elizabeth O'Flaherty of Renvyle and sister of Anthony O'Flaherty of Knockbane. At the time of Griffith's Valuation James Browne held the townlands of Gortatleva and Brownville in the parish of Rahoon, barony of Galway and three townlands in the parish and barony of Moycullen, county Galway. His estate was advertised for sale in the Encumbered Estates' Court in April 1854. 1300 acres was purchased by Isadore Lynch for £4000. Brownville House, Riverview and part of Gortatleva was advertised in June 1860. James Valentine Browne of Brownville, Professor of Surgery at Queen's College, Galway, 1849-1887, was eventually found out to be an imposter, pretending to be his cousin. [Valentine Browne of Harcourt St, Dublin, owned 801 acres in county Galway in the 1870s].
Browne (Ardskea & Cooloo)	In a Browne genealogy in the James Hardiman Library, NUI,Galway, the ancestry of this branch of the Browne family is traced back to Dominick Browne of Barna, Mayor of Galway in 1575. In 1677 Edward and James Browne were granted Ardskea and other lands in the parish of Kilmoylan, in the barony of Clare, county Galway, under the Acts of Settlement. Family members intermarried with the Brownes of Tuam, the Kirwans, O'Connors, O'Kellys and the Nolans. The Brownes were still resident on their Ardskea estate at the time of Griffith's Valuation. In 1890 James Browne sold over 800 acres of his Ardskea estate in the Land Judges' Court. The petitioner was Emmanuel Churcher. This Browne family also owned estates in the barony of Tiaquin, at Cooloo in the parish of Moylough, at Carrownacregg West in the parish of Killoscobe and in the parish and barony of Ross. By the 1870s Cooloo was in the possession of Michael O'Kelly.