Brannan - Desperately Trying to Discover

Hi, Firstly I was directed to this site by 'Discover Ireland' on Twitter....and that was on the back of  TV & radio personality in England applying for an Irish passport over Brexit!!

Anyhow, my married name is Brannan and in early spring, my husband and I will be driving from our home in Glasgow to the island of Ireland. We've not planned our route yet, as it will be dependent on me, hopefully, finding where my husband's Great Grandpa was born.

My husband and I took very early retirement 3 years ago when he was diagnosed with incurable cancer (non-cirrhotic HCC). This type of cancer has a life expectancy of 2-3 years, so we started travelling some of the world immediately. We're very fortunate that we have the best family and friends who were able to support us as we travelled for a few weeks, before coming home to recharge our batteries, spend time with our family, then head off again. This was crucial as, apart from my husband's devastating diagnosis, both our young adult son and daughter are learning disabled. They both have Fragile X Syndrome (& autism).

Anyhow, when we returned after our last overseas trip, the doctors finally put a halt to us travelling so far away. We were fine with this. We've just been travelling around in our homeland of Scotland instead!

And, then my husband announced that he'd love to go to the island of Ireland, to visit the place where his ancestors are from. So, that's exactly what I'd dearly love to organise on his behalf. He's unaware that I'm doing this.......

I'm sorry if I've lost you along the way, but here's what I have and what I need to know.:

Patrick Brannan was born in Ireland in 1857 (This shows on the Scottish Census, 1891 under the "Where Born" column. He married in Glasgow and his parents are listed on the marriage cert. as James Brannan and Isabella McLuskey.
I have both James and Isabella's death certs. and on these, I have each set of their parents' names:

James Brannan died 1878 in Glasgow, aged 55, born Ireland, parents - James Brannan (farmer) & Margaret Meechan.
Isabella McLuskey died 1897 in Glasgow, aged 57, parents - Patrick McLuskey & Catherine Kearney

I'm going to continue my searching, but if anyone finds anything related to these Brannans, I would be overwhelming grateful.

Finally, thank you for reading this. 😊🇮🇪👍

Hello Pauline,

We are so sorry to hear about your husband's condition and wish him and the rest of your family all the best.

As you may have already found out, before 1864 records were kept in the form of church and parish records and all the surviving records have been sorted into county-based genealogical centres. Would any of the information you have confirm the county or town as this will be important?

If you could post images of the information you have already, this may also be of help.

I'm sure our Industry partners and fellow members will have some advice also.

We hope this helps you carry on with your search as it would indeed be lovely for you to visit your husband's home place area. :)

Hi Pauline

Your family history sums up the joys and frustration of Irish family history research! With the records you have accessed in Scotland, we wish ours were as comprehensive, you have built up a very detailed family tree going back 3 generations. You know, for example, that Patrick Brannan was born in Ireland c. 1857 to parents James Brannan and Isabella McLuskey

Your Irish roots are in no doubt, your problem being that at present you hold no clues as to county or parish of origin of Patrick Brannan. Furthermore, Brannan as an Irish surname originated in a number of different localities within Ireland; in Roscommon as Gaelic Mac Branáin and in Fermanagh as Gaelic Ó Branáin. Also, the name has been anglicised as Brennan which strictly speaking is derived from Gaelic Ó Braonáin which originated in 4 different localities in Ireland in Galway, Kerry, Kilkenny and Westmeath.

Hence Brannan is a surname that is found throughout Ireland, and it is also possible that in a baptism register Patrick’s family name may have been recorded as either Brannan or Brennan.

Prior to 1864 and introduction of civil registration of births in Ireland you will have to rely on church baptismal registers, organised by parish, to confirm the birth place of Patrick Brannan. As you hold no clues as to where in Ireland Patrick was born you will have to rely either on someone in the wider genealogical community knowing more information as to the place of origin of Patrick or to identifying a baptismal record in a database of church registers in the ‘big’ 2 databases of Irish church registers, namely http://www.irishgenealogy.ie and http://www.rootsireland.ie.

I did a quick check of RootsIreland and it records no baptismal entries of a Patrick Brannan with father James in the time period 1852-1862. However, it records 33 baptismal records of a Patrick Brennan with father James in time period 1852-1862 but none with a mother’s first name of Isabella.

At time of mid-19th century Griffith’s Valuation it would be reasonable to assume that Patrick’s father, i.e. James Brannan may have been recorded as a head of household. However, the index to Griffith’s Valuation at RootsIreland records 8 households headed by James Brannan and 390 by James Brennan!

Hence it would appear that you need to find a source, whether it is a record or a person with knowledge of the family, that locates the county and, in the ideal world, parish of origin of your Brannan ancestors.

Hi Brian and Martin

Thank you for your very detailed and considered reply.

I think it's unlikely that I'll find any further information on Patrick Brannan, or his father James, as I had also done checks on RootsIreland and Griffith's Valuation. 

However, on a positive and uplifting note, at least I know that I've not left any stone unturned in the search. This clarity wouldn't have been possible without the help of the wonderful people here. 

The only additional information I have is that James Brannan's father was also James Brannan, as this is listed on his death certificate in Glasgow.

I've attached James Brannan's death certificate.

Also, I've attached Patrick Brannan's marriage certificate. Patrick Brannan is listed on the Glasgow Census. This shows his birthplace as Ireland. The rest of the family tree is very easy to trace from Patrick.

Thank you, everyone.

Pauline

Hi Pauline,

Many thanks as always to Brian for his wonderful depth of knowledge on the subject of ancestry!

Father's and sons often carried the same first name and then went by the second name for day to day life. The photos of the documents are a lovely record but as you say do not mention the location in Ireland which is a real pity. It's also a shame that they had such wonderful writing styles, makes reading a little tricky nowadays! :)

As you do, we live in hope that someone has some extra detail.

Martin