MARTIN FAMILY TREE

THE FAMILY TREE OF:

JOHN O’DONNELL – Born approx.1808 – Died July 21,

1870 at 62.

MARGARET GALLAHUE O’DONNELL Born approx. 1822

– Died April 21, 1878 at 56

(Interred in the middle of the stone abbey (from the 8th century) at Brigoon Cemetery, Mitchelstown, Ireland)
Margaret Gallahue (O’Donnell) was one of the “Lodge Gallahues” of Anglesboro, County Limerick, Ireland. Margaret’s father was Daniel Gallahue, date of birth unknown but either late 1700’s or early 1800’s. He was one of ten brothers born at the Lodge homeplace. Margaret’s mother was Bridget Mullins Gallahue. Daniel Gallahue’s father, Margaret’s grandfather, was Edmond Gallahue born in the 1770’s.  The name Edmond (Edmund), originally was a French Norman name.

Nearby the “Lodge Homeplace” is the original Gallahue homestead in Anglesboro, County Limerick, Ireland built about 1740, per Arthur McGrath, a Gallahue/Martin/Molan descendant. Arthur McGrath is the current owner and he inherited the property from his uncle, Mick Gallahue. The “Lodge Gallahue Homeplace” is now owned by one of Daniel’s descendants. Family lore from the older Gallahue/O’Donnell/Martin descendants in Ireland Ivisited in 1984 and 1998, and from my grandfather, Joseph A. Martin (1881-1973), and in Ireland, from Josie Fraser Martin, (1907-2002 ) indicated there were two Gallahue brothers who had come from France to fight against the British. One returned and one remained in Ireland and married. The Gallahue information was provided by my own research and Gallahue family members in Ireland and the U.S., principally the late John Tomek-USA, the late Rev. William Gallahue-lreland and the late Josie Fraser Martin-Ireland.

John O’Donnell’s parents names are unknown to me at this time though they may be obtainable  in other church  records in Spain or the Vatican.  In the early 1900’s their daughter, Margaret, (later, Mother Angela Marie of the St. Joseph of Cluny French Missionary Order) wrote a letter to her sister, Johanna O’Donnell Fraser, requesting copies of their parents birth records. These may still exist at the convent in Granolliers, Spain or the Vatican where she was residing at the time. Per family  lore, the O’Donnell’s,  and the Martin’s, came down to fight  against the  British from  Galway.  When they saw  how fertile the land was  compared to Galway,  some  of the returning party settled there.  John,  and his siblings, were  born at the original  O’Donnell family  homestead  at Spiddall,  Ballylanders,  County  Limerick, per Henry  Fraser of Ardrahan,  Galbally, County  Limerick.  (At one time in the  1600’s and  1700’s much of the Galway area was  called the “Martin  Estate” and indeed many O’Donnell’s still reside there. There is a town, Spiddal, just west of Galway city and the local church was built by a Martin, per its plaque.

In Ireland, in 1984, Josie Fraser Martin (1907-2002 ) provided the additional information on Edmond O’Donnell, her great-uncle, and his marriage to Mary Gallahue, her great-aunt. The above John O’Donnell and two of his brothers married three Gallahue sisters, per Josie Fraser Martin. These would have been Josie’s great-uncles and great-aunts. The descendants of these three, ourselves, would be doubly related to one another.

John O’Donnell and Margaret lived at the O’Donnell Spiddal homestead where they had their first five children, per church records: Mary, Bridget, Kate, James and Ellen. They then moved to a farm at Ardrahan, Galbally, County Limerick and the next seven were born there and baptized in Galbally as well: John, Cornelius, Edmond (later Edward), Daniel, Margaret, Jeremiah and Johanna, per the records I researched.  Margaret had her first child at about 18 and her last at about 45, 27 years later. Her youngest, Johanna, was 11 when she died. The farm at Ardrahan went to John and Margaret’s son, James, and is owned by James’s grandson, James O’Donnell, and his wife, Helen Burke, also an O’Donnell descendant. The “Homeplace” indicates the particular farm land area a specific family was living on. This was used to differentiate where various family members resided.

The following record of the O’Donnell/Gallahue Family had originally been compiled in 1978 by the late Mary Martin of Ballylanders, County Limerick, Ireland, daughter of John (Smiling Jack) Martin (1876-1938), of Knockadea, County Limerick, Ireland. The American branch was provided by Mary’s American first cousin, Mrs. Frances Martin Polk of Chicago, Illinois, daughter of Ben Martin, (1886-1982) formerly of Knockadea, and he was an emigrant to Chicago. Ben was a younger brother of Smiling Jack Martin. Mary Martin had the assistance of two other Ireland cousins at the time. There were quite a few names missing and no dates at all and in 1984 Ellen Martin Heeney, daughter of Joseph Martin, (1881-1973), also a brother of Jack and Ben Martin, and also an emigrant to America, and I, Ellen’s son, visited our cousins in Ireland. I began to amass the missing names and obtained many dates.

Many missing names were filled in by Josie Fraser Martin (1907-2002) and a great amount of the bibliographic information was  provided by Josie  Fraser Martin.  I cannot stress strongly  enough  how  invaluable the information was from Josie Fraser Martin and how it always matched up with any church documentation I located, or with information from other relatives. Iobtained dates from church, cemetery, mass cards and archival records. The above Mary Martin, Frances Martin Polk and Ellen Martin Heeney are granddaughters of Ellen O’Donnell Martin and great-granddaughters’ of John O’Donnell and Margaret Gallahue O’Donnell. I obtained all the Gallahue research from  both archival  records, church and cemetery  records and numerous Gallahue  relatives. Terrence  Martin Heeney  February 05,    2009.

Josie Fraser Martin was born in 1907 and recently died August 18, 2002. She was the daughter of Johanna O’Donnell and Harry Fraser and was the last surviving grandchild of the above John O’Donnell and Margaret Gallahue O’Donnell. Josie’s mother, Johanna O’Donnell Fraser, was the youngest child of John O’Donnell and Margaret Gallahue O’Donnell. When just over two, Josie’s father, Harry Fraser, died in a fall and her mother, Johanna, gave Josie to her sister, Ellen O’Donnell Martin, my great-grandmother to raise. Ellen used to take Josie with her, in Josie’s youth, to visit all the O’Donnell, Martin and Gallahue relatives in “a horse and trap.” Josie retained all these family connection visitations and oral histories in her head which she remembered vividly during my 1984 visit. I visited her again in 1998 but her memory was not quite as good at that time. Josie also had the advantage of her Aunt Ellen living until Ellen was 80 in 1932. In those days of pre-auto, pre-telephone, pre-TV and internet, the entertainment was visiting family and friends. A very gracious and dignified person, Josie, thus became a family encyclopedia.

Other family members also contributed additional information over the ensuing years: Henry Fraser of Galbally, County Limerick, Ireland, the late John Gallahue of Main Street, Ballylanders, County Limerick, Ireland; the late Joseph A. Martin and his late daughters Ellen Martin Heeney, and Mary Pat Martin Peterson and myself, Most commentary in *’s is information obtained from Josie Fraser Martin in 1984. – Terrence Martin Heeney

I am retyping on a computer the original format laid out by Frances Martin Polk of Chicago, II., and her late cousin, Mary Martin, of Knoackadea, Ballylanders, County Limerick in 1978 to include additional information and dates. The following account will indicate the above John and Margaret O’Donnell as the first generation. In the next generation, the 2nd, three of their O’Donnell daughters married three Martin brothers, thus, those descendants are doubly related to one another just as in the previous generation when three Gallahue sisters married three O’Donnell brothers. “Ellen, Mary and Bridget O’Donnell married Benjamin, Robert and Cornelius Martin. These three Martin families are listed in the O’Donnell Section and are not repeated in detail in the Martin section, the same as laid out by Frances Martin Polk in   1978.

“The headings Pre-First Generation and First Generation are used as that is as far back as it was possible to trace on the O’Donnell side, and a bit later on the Gallahue sides. The first page is an outline of the first generation. The following pages, starting with the heading Second Generation, are an account in detail of the family descendants of John and Margaret Gallahue O’Donnell in the First Section. The Second Section are the descendants of William and Mary Lewis Martin and are as laid out by Frances Martin Polk 1978. In this Second Section the three Martin men married to the three O’Donnell sisters are not repeated as they all appear in the First O’Donnell Section.

Terrence Heeney Nashville, Tennessee

FIRST GENERATION – GALLAHUE’S

The first recorded Gallahue I have found is Daniel Gallahue to America in 1678 and Patrick Gallahue to America in 1690 right after the Battle of the Boyne.

Margaret Gallahue (O’Donnell’s) (my great-great grandmother) grandfather was – Edmond Gallahue, Born in the 1700’s and his children are:

1).Daniel Gallahue known as the “Massey Lodge Gallahues” as their home was at the foot of the Massey Estate in the “Gatehouse. “Married. Bridget Mullins*  This is Margaret Gallahue (O’Donnell’s) father and mother.

2).Edmund Gallahue

3).Michael Gallahue, known as the Burke Gallahues, Michael inherited the original Gallahue homestead in Anglesboro in his generation.

4).Patrick Gallahue, known as the Kiely Gallahues due to marriage into the Kiely family.

5).John Gallahue, known as the Kilbeheney Gallahues as he settled in the farmland at Kilbeheney, County Limerick.

6).Dennis Gallahue

7).Peter Gallahue, B. March 16, 1834, D. April 26, 1898. Known as the Gall Gallahues.

(He emigrated in 1848 with wife Julia Ahern, B. May 28, 1828, D. June 15, 1911, of County Limerick to the U.S.A. and established a farm near Piper City, Illinois, in 1848. The farm is now owned and run by his great-grandson, John Gallahue, consisting of 1,000 acres).

8).William Gallahue

9).Jeremiah Gallahue

10).Thomas Gallahue

11).Margaret Gallahue (Married Walshe), settled in Kilbeheney, County Limerick.

A good portion of the Gallahue descendancy has been completed by the late Gallahue descendants, John Tomek of Nebraska, U.S.A, Leo Gannon of Maryland, U.S.  Also, the late Margaret Gallahue Lenihan of New York and John Gallahue of Main Street, Ballylanders, County Limerick and myself, Terrence Heeney, formerly of Oak Park and Glen Ellyn, Illinois and now of Nashville, Tennessee.

The names above of Josie Fraser Martin’s great-uncles and great-aunt were supplied by Josie. Many of them would have been born in 1700’s and some possibly in the early 1800’s.

THE ABOVE ARE DANIEL GALLAHUE AND HIS SIBLINGS;

HIS DAUGHTER, MARGARET GALLAHUE O’DONNELL & SIBLINGS FOLLOW:

Three Gallahue Sisters:- Margaret, Mary and Bridget, married three O’Donnell Brothers.

of Spiddal, Ballylanders, Co. Limerick

a). Margaret Gallahue B. C 1821/22 – D. April 21st 1878 aged 56yrs

married John O’Donnell (Born approx. 1808, Died July 21, 1870 at 62.)

Her sibblings were:-

1). Denis Gallahue

2). Edmund Gallahue

3). Daniel Gallahue B. 1830. D. 1900 – Married, M. J. Carey

5). Mary Gallahue

Married Edmond O’Donnell (John O’Donnell’s brother)

6). Ellen Gallahue

7). Johanna Gallahue

8). Bridget Gallahue

Married  Daniel? O’Donnell (Also a brother of John O’Donnell)

9. Possibly a daughter

10). John Gallahue Born 1844

The above Gallahue siblings are not in chronological order as so many dates of their birth dates are unknown.

Church records in the Galbally, Ballylanders and Anglesboro area did not begin until the 1830’s.  There may have been additional children but these are the ones verified by Josie Fraser Martin in 1984.

RETURN TO INTRODUCTION