Peyton/Payton/Patton

Corrina,

Could the John who died in the 1870s be your GREAT-grandfather? This marriage for a John Peyton/Mary Kirrane took place in 1896.

Marriage on 13-Mar-1896                            

RC Parish:            Killasse, Mayo                  

Name:   John      Peyton                 Mary     Kirrane

Both RC                             

Husband's Father                            

Name:                  Naeton(probably Peyton?)                                         

Wife's Father   Kirrane                   

Witnesses: John Sheeran,Sara      Kirrane

Source: rootsireland.ie.

My grandmother grew up in the townland of Callow, which adjoins Culdoo/Culduff to the west.  Her father was a McNulty and her mother was a McDonnell, and both surnames were also common in Culdoo/Culduff, and in other nearby townlands in the parish.  There were many intermarriages among the McNulty’s, McDonnell’s, and other local families, including the Kirrane/Kerrane family and the Peyton family.  I don’t know of a specific connection to the ancestors you named, but they were undoubtedly distantly related to my grandmother, and I can provide some background information which might be of interest.

Culdoo and Culduff are two anglicized forms of the Irish name Cúl Dubh, which were often used interchangeably.  Cúl Dubh can mean several things, such as “black hill” or “black nook [in a hill]”.  The word dubh in Irish can be pronounced as either “doo” or “duff”, depending on the dialect of Irish being spoken.  Northeastern Mayo was located in a dialectical boundary area, so it can be pronounced either way there.

Like Callow, Culdoo is located in the Catholic parish of Killasser.  There was a history book published in 2011 in Ireland, entitled “Killasser:  Heritage of a Mayo Parish”, which has lots of information about the area.  The author was Bernard O’Hara, who was apparently working with the Killasser/Callow Historical Society.  I was able to find a copy on Amazon a few years ago.  The ISBN is 978-0-9850753-1-6, in case you want to look for it there or elsewhere.  It is also available for downloading on Kindle readers, at a very reasonable price.

In Irish, Killasser is Cill Lasrach, meaning “Lasair’s church”.  Lasair (from the Old Irish lasar, meaning “flame” or “fire”) was not an uncommon name in medieval Ireland, but Cill Lasrach is believed to be named for a particular saint who was born in County Fermanagh and came to the Killasser area, where she is believed to be buried.

Killasser is also the name of a “civil parish”.  Civil parishes were once church-related, but evolved into administrative districts, and their boundaries (and often their names) are not always the same as those of the local Catholic parish.  You can read more about the civil parish of Killasser at this link:  https://www.townlands.ie/mayo/killasser/

That link sometimes stops working, but eventually it comes back into operation.  The Killasser page includes an interactive map, and you’ll also see further links to information about each specific townland, once again including a map.

You can search the parish register of baptisms and marriages for the Catholic parish of Killasser at this link, where you can download pages from the register and enlarge them on your computer for easier reading:

https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0134

The surnames Peyton, Payton, and Patton, when not of English origin, are all anglicizations of the Irish surname Ó Peatáin, which is based on a diminutive form of the name Patrick.  The surname originated in Ulster, and is most common there, especially in Donegal.  Like many Ulster names, however, it is also found in Mayo, where many people migrated after the Plantation of Ulster in the 1600’s.

The surnames Keerane and Kirrane are found principally in Mayo, where they are both anglicizations of the Irish surname Ó Cearáin, which is based on the Irish word ciar, meaning dark brown or black (probably referring to the dark hair of a real or legendary ancestor).  They may be related to the surnames Ó Ciaráin and Ó Céirin, which are found in Ulster, and are usually anglicized as Kerrin, Kerin, Kieran, or Kearns.

The McDonnell surname in Mayo is ultimately of Scottish origin.  There was a gallowglass (in Irish, gallóglach, or “foreign fighter” = mercenary) family living in the Glens of Antrim (many people in Ireland have ancestry in such gallowglass families), and the McDonnell's in Antrim were related to the Scottish MacDonald clan, having come from Scotland to settle in the Glens of Antrim in the 13th century.  By the 15th century, they controlled all of North Antrim.  A large number of those McDonnell's were brought from Antrim to what is now Mayo in the late 14th century, to assist the ruling family of that area, the Anglo-Norman Burke family.  Some now also live across the border in neighboring counties (the county boundaries were a later creation).

The surname in Irish is Mac Domhnaill, which means “son/descendant of Donal”, but it is spelled MacDhòmhnaill in Scottish Gaelic (with the same meaning).  The “d” at the end of MacDonald is a later addition to the anglicized version of the name.  MacDonald is more common in Scotland (and among Scots settlers in Ireland, especially in Ulster), but McDonnell and McDonald were both used in Ireland as anglicized forms of the surname, sometimes within the same family in various records.

The link I gave you above to the townlands.ie site is working again today.  I looked at the page for Culdoo, which you can find at this link (note that they use yet another form of the name:  Cuildoo):

https://www.townlands.ie/mayo/gallen/killasser/cuildoo/cuildoo/

There are links at that page to various types of information, and you can see in one place that Callow adjoins Culdoo to the west.  There is also a link at that page to the records for the townland of Culdoo from Griffith's Valuation (mid-1800's), and there is a John Peyton listed as a tenant in Culdoo, as you can see at this link (go to the second page once you get there): 

https://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=doNa…

There are also links to the 1901 and 1911 census records for the townland.  Here is a direct link to the 1901 census record:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/results.jsp?census_year=19…

where you can see a large Peyton family still living there (their listings start on page one), and an 80-year-old Bridget McDonnell listed on page 11 (presumably a widow, and possibly the daughter you mentioned who stayed behind and married a McDonnell).

Here's a direct link to the 1911 census record, where you can see that the Peyton's are still there:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/results.jsp?census_year=19…

One other thing I forgot to mention is that the PBS tv show "Finding Your Roots" had an episode this last season involving the comedian Jane Lynch (who was in the tv series Glee), and they revealed that her maternal side comes from Culdoo.  The surname was Lynskey, which is a very common name in the area, and you'll see a number of Lynskey's at the links which I've given you above.  Her paternal side, with the surname Lynch, is also from not far away (towards Charleestown) and, although they didn't mention it on the show, Lynskey and Lynch are two variant anglicizations of the same Irish surname.

Thank you Patricia and kevin.  The Peyton and Kirrane married in 1896 would be too young to be my direct line, but going to look into them as well.  Thanks for all you sent, great information to help with my search.  If you come across anymore please share. 

Such a coincidence that I came across your photo of Mary Peyton and her husband Michael, presumably with one of their sons. Mary and Michael would have been my great-grandparents, as their youngest son James McDonnell (born in 1903, died in Chicago about 1990) was my grandfather. My grandfather related that he was the youngest of 21 children born to Mary, although most died in infancy. James' daughter Patsy (Patricia) was my Mom. 

Kevin