Griffin Family
Origins
In Ireland, the Gaelic surname O Griobhta or O’Griffy has been virtually replaced by the anglicised version Griffin. It is a relatively common name in Ireland today, with the highest concentration of Griffins being found in Counties Clare, Cork, Kerry and Limerick. A few Irish Griffins, however, descend from a Welsh family which settled there shortly after the Anglo-Norman invasion.
First generation
First generation
John Griffin
The starting point of our Griffin line at present is John Griffin, a farmer, who married Mary McCann in Kilmovee, Mayo on 2 March 1840.
The couple had one known child:
1.
(1847-1923)
m. Mary Ann Caulfield, 1872
After his first wife's death, John married Bridget Kerins in Kilmovee on 13 February 1859 and had at least six more children:
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Mary Griffin
Bridget Grifffin
James Griffin
Mich Griffin
Martin Griffin
Thomas Griffin
(1864-?)
(1865-?)
(1867-?)
(1870-?)
(1874-?)
(1878-?)
m. Mary Ann Caulfield, 1872
Second generation
Michael Griffin
Michael Griffin, only known son of John Griffin and Mary McCann, was born in Leveelick, Kilmovee in 1847 and married Mary Ann Caulfield in the Roman Catholic chapel there on 18 February 1872. Mary Ann was born in Rusheens, Kilmovee on 20 December 1849 and was the daughter of John Caulfield and Honor Horan.
Michael and Mary Ann had nine children:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Thomas Griffin
Patrick Griffin
Ellen Griffin
John Griffin
Michael Griffin
Mary Griffin
Catherine Griffin
John Griffin
Michael Griffin
(1873-1937)
(1875-?)
(1877-?)
(1880-?)
(1881-?)
(1885-?)
(1887-?)
(1888-?)
(1890-?)
m. Mary Ann Gregory, 1898
(died young)
(died young)
During the Great Famine of 1845-1850 in Ireland, when the potato crop on which a third of the population depended for survival was ravaged by disease, the Irish started to leave the country in large numbers. The majority flocked to England and the United States, and in the decades following the famine, many of their compatriots followed them, including - according to family tradition - the entire generation of Kilmovee Griffins.
The 1901 census of Ireland shows Michael and Mary in Kilmovee with just two of their children: Catherine and John, as well as Michael's step-mother Bridget. Their oldest son Thomas had left Ireland as a teenager and was working in England by 1891; all the other surviving children are reputed to have emigrated to the United States.
Michael died in Kilmovee on 11 April 1923 and Mary Ann on 31 August 1928.