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[ Ayrshire ] [
Introduction ] [ CONNACHT ] [
Cormac
Mac Airt
] [ The Seven Kingdoms ] [The
First Irish Connection] [
The
Scottish Connection ]
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The History of the Conn Family
The GREAT WAR 1914 - 1918.
John Middleton CONN, born 17th September, 1894, He served with the Lincolnshire Yeomanry in Palestine. This Regiment suffered heavy casualties. I understand he was wounded. He survived the war. His brother Robert CONN born 17th October, 1898, served in the army. Enlisting into the 11th Bn. Manchester Regiment, at the age of 16 years. He saw service at Gallipoli, where he had his 17th birthday. With his Battalion he returned to take part in the First Battle of the Somme on the Western Front. He survived the war. A distant relative was William Gowland CONN who had migrated from Ardrossan, Ayrshire, to Australia about 1912, served in the 7th Australian Light Horse and was killed in action on 12th July, l915, at Gallipoli. Another distant relative who survived was Francis John CONN, born 20th August, 1895, who served in the Royal Scots Fusiliers. He served on the Western Front and was severely wounded, losing his right arm. A George CONN, of l, Gregson Terrace, Seaham Colliery, Co. Durham, not in my direct line, served in the army, the 27th Northumberland Fusiliers, [4th Tyneside Irish, [‘B’ Company] no.27/145. He was killed in action on the First day of the Battle of the Somme, 1st July, 1916, and is buried at Bapaume Post Military Cemetery, Plot 3, Row B, Grave 12. This Battalion took 539 casualities that morning. [See The Tyneside Irish by John Sheen and British Battalions on the Somme by Ray Westlake] Edward Thomas CONN, son of Edward and Ellen CONN, of 1, Victoria Terrace, Pershore, Worcester, served at the Western Front with the 8th Bn. Worcestershire Regent. He was severely wounded and brought to England to receive hospital treatment. His brother Harold Victor CONN, 19 years, who served with the 1st Bn. Royal Fusiliers, served on the Western Front, and was killed in action on 29th December, 1916. For other CONNs killed in action in this war see my file “Debt of Honour”
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| The GREAT WORLD WAR - 1939 - 1945
Arthur CONN, born 21st October, 1908, served in the army, the Royal Army Service Corps, in North Africa and Italy and Austria. The troopship he went out on “The Cameronian” was torpedoed off the North African coast. He survived the war. His brother, Alexander CONN, born 2nd September, 1919, served in the army, 4th Bn. Coldstream Guards, in North-west Europe. He was wounded. He survived the war. For CONNs killed in this war see my file “Debt of Honour”
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THE
HISTORICAL
SCENE.
SOCIAL
AND RELIGIOUS
The family of WILLIAM a Donald, who brought back the name of CONN, were Roman Catholic. They remained throughout adhering to the Roman Catholic faith which became alien to the Scottish Crown at the time of the Reformation in the middle of the sixthteenth century. This became the prime reason for their expatriation. However, during their time in the AUCHRY area they had made their mark. There was no doubt that they were a fighting family, involved in battles under the banner of the Gordon and Hay families. Had they renounced their Roman Catholic faith and embraced the Protestant faith I do not think that there is any doubt they would have been remembered by historians and got the honours they deserved and also their own Clan status. But if one does not go with the wind then one will get blown away and this is what happened to them. Mary Queen of Scots had abdicated on the 24th July, 1567 .Her son, who was James V1 of Scotland, was then just over a year old and Scotland was ruled over by various regents until he came of age. When he did so he found that he had inherited a kingdom whose coffers were virtually empty and he was forced to introduce stringent fiscal measures to counter this. The resulting inflation found many landowners in financial difficulties and there being no banks at that time people had to borrow from others. Landowners could borrow much larger sums of money by wadsetting parts of their lands as security until they could redeem them. At this time in history a merk was a silver coin valued at 13 shillings and fourpence Scots (67p in present decimal value). In English of the time it was equivalent to one shilling and one and a half pence. (7p in present decimal value). James V1 also inherited a kingdom wracked with blood feuds. More often than not these feuds involved land, as land meant wealth and power and small landowners like the Cons of Auchry and their neighbours were always wanting to extend their land-holding to increase their annual income and status in the local community. To acquire more land was difficult, given the financial circumstances at that time and so very aggressive methods were used to try and force others to give up there lands. Finally it should be remembered that the Reformation had taken place in 1560 and that many families in the North-East of Scotland still adhered to the Roman Catholic faith. While the power of the Earl of Erroll and the Marquis of Huntly, both Catholic lords, had been curtailed in 1594 by the King, they still continued to flaunt their adherence to the old faith. Their children were baptized by Roman Catholic priests and sent to Jesuit schools in France. For a while this was tolerated but as time went on various actions were taken against them as against Patrick and James Con. Many of the Clan chiefs converted or paid lip service to retain their positions and further their own ends. During the fractious reign of James 11 - [1685—88], hundreds of families fled from Ulster, and many did not return until the early part of the Eighteenth century. It is interesting to note that no-one of the name of Conn appears on the returns of Attainted Protestants, 1688-99, i.e. those who refused to support James 11 in his enterprise.. Many of these returns have survived for Co. Derry. The Ulster Scots, particularly in the early generations, maintained close ties to Scotland in matters of intermarriage, there being a steady outward and inward stream of such people between Ireland and Scotland well into the nineteenth century. Children of the same family being born in Scotland and in Ireland. The Conns of the Monquidder, Auchry, Forglen etc., were part of this system, and are so recorded in the names of :- On 28th July, 1646, at St. Nicholas, Aberdeen, Thomas Conn and Marjorie Chalmers were married. She was direct link to the Gilbert Chalmers who married Christian CON, daughter of Patrick Con the last CONN in the lairdship of Auchy. It is believed they moved to Magilligan about 1661 where she died about 1669. This confirms a direct link with the Conns of Auchry, Scotland, and the Conns of Ulster. They had four children, the first three christened in St. Nicholas:- 1. George CONN, 24 March, 1650, [there is a record of George Conn or a namesake, Protestant Householder, 1740 townland of Ned, Tamlaught, Finligan] 2, James CONN, 27 April, 1652. He must have moved with his parents to Magilligan about 1661. In Forglen, Scotland, on 29th May, 1686, he married Agnas Baxter. During the period 1686-1706 he is recorded as being in Forglen, Banffshire, a parish long associated with the family of his grandmother, Isabel Irving, a family which had declined considerably in influence and affluence under the Protector. He christened in Forglen, the following children. [a] Isabel Conn, 18th May, 1690, who married a John Legat on 19 June, 1713, Forglen. [b] James Conn, 18th May,1693. [c] Mary Conn, 29 March, 1693, who married John Hughes on 2nd June, 1720 in Downpatrick, Co. Down, Ireland. [d] William Conn, 14 April, 1700. He christened his children daughter Mary Conn on 7 October, 1736, in Co. Waterford, Ireland, and a son John Conn, likewise on 5 December,1739. He is believed, by Burke, to have gone to Mt. Ida, nr. Waterford, and suggests that he was from an Ulster family, and where he married in 1774 Mary Underwood. [e] Elspet Conn, 14 June, 1703. As Elspet Cone she married a James Barber, at Forglen, Scotland, in 1728. [f] George Conn, 29 Nov 1706. Capt. George Conn, a Royal Merchant Marine married Isabella Chartres in Portugal, and died testate in Prince George’s Co. Maryland, America.in 1774 apparently a widower and infeft of an estate named Scotland. 3. Margaret Conn, 21 August, 1656. She was interred St. Nicholas, 9 July, 1661. 4. Hugh Conn, born probably in Magilligan in or before 1669. He was Protestant Householder, townland of Drumavally, Magilligan, 1740, and Magilligan Vestryman, 1744. A Thomas Conne and Marjori George were married on the 2 December, 1669, at St. Nicholas, Aberdeen, and had one son John Conn, christened on 3 August, 1670 and who was buried at St. Nicholas on 9th August, 1670, having died from ‘lack of mother’s milk’. She had died on 7th August, 167 0 and was interred at St. Nicholas. He quickly re-married to Marioire Roberston on 1st December, 1670, at Aberdeen. They had two children:- [a] Edward Conn, born in Magilligan, and who died there in 1768, his Index Record survied the Rebellion of 1922 and subsequent fire at P.R.O.I.. which at that time contained most of the ancient records relating to Northern Ireland; a Thomas Conn, who may have been the son of this Edward , was born in Magilligan and was a vestryman in 1792. [b] John Conn, presumeably born in Magilligan, 1683. He emigrated to Massachusetts in America, in or before 1747. Burke also suggests that several Conns of Ireland had distinguished themselves as officers in the Royal Navy and one Capt John Conn commanded the Dreadnought of 98 guns at Trafalgar.
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Conclusion
of Investigations
Con
- Conn
Family
Name
It was unlikely that further research in Northern Ireland, at the present time and, without further information, would take the family line back there further than 1788. It was, therefore, going to be very, very difficult to chronicle the 100 years required to complete the circle with Scotland, mainly due to the fact that the registering of births, baptisms and the like were not compulsory prior to 1827. There is documentry proof that there is a direct link with a branch of the Conns of Auchry moving to the County Down area of Ireland in the 1600’s. Further research and enquiries in Scotland had proved fruitful regarding the name. However, for the present it appears that the search must leave the Auchry and Aberdeenshire areas and continue in Ayrshire. In order to make further enquiries in Ayrshire I made contact with the Largs Family History Society and the East Ayrshire Family History Society, becoming a member and thus enabling me to have use of their resources. I made enquiries myself of the Dick Institute, East Ayrshire Council, Kilmarnock, with a negative result I have hit the red brick wall. An obstacle from which I cannot go either backwards or forwards. However, being a member of the Aberdeen and North-East Scotland Family History Society brought results in June, 1999 when due to a family history chart comparison being made at this Society I made contact with David Conn of Kemnay, Aberdeenshire. We found that we were both carrying out similar investigations into our family name and have been able to help each other considerably. But up to the moment I still have not been able to fill in that little arc of the circle . David, on the other hand and on a personal note, has found a very good direct line back to Auchry. The odds were greater against me than for me. I had two missing links to find:- [I] when and why did my branch of the family leave Scotland to go to Ireland and [ii] did my branch leave direct from the Auchry area and what is the Ayrshire link.
Sheer luck is what I now needed.
This came when I was contacted by Graham Wilson of Saltcoats, Ayrshire, in April, 2000, and Conn family history was exchanged between us. From this information I was able to sort out the Ayrshire family of Robert Conn born in 1788. This resulted in the completion of my broken circle. I now had a direct line going back to 1640.
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