Madden Moments: Lonergan

The O'Lonrgans were the ancient cheifs and proprietors of Cahir, and the adjoining districts in Tipperary, till the fourteenth century when they were dispossessed by the Butlers, earls of Ormond. The O'Lonargans were in ancient times a powerful clans, and three of them are mentioned in Ware, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, as archbishops of Cashel. (errata Owen Connellan's translation of The Four Masters the Annals of Ireland p 201 mentions from O'Brien, Keating's History of Ireland, )

Before the Normans arrived, the O'Lonergan sept inhabited the area north-east of Thomond, the part of Tipperary situated on the east side of Lough Derg. The Anglo Norman Butler family forced the sept southward to the area around Cashel and Cahir. The sept is still found in that area in considerable numbers today.

The name in Irish O Longairgain "without a ships crew" is usually found in the form Lonergan, without the O. Other forms include Londrigan.

The Sept for the most part avoided the political scene although they did supply some well known ecclesiastical individuals.

Lough Derg - Top Left Corner
Golden between Cashel and Cahir bottom right

Our only known ancestor is Bridget Lonergan. Some records of her descendant give her name as Sarah, however, the christening records of the children all give the name Bridget. No records for Sarah herself have been found, all information is from her children's records as is the basis for the story Sarah Lonergan's Legacy.

Family tradition also states that Bridget became quite sick on the voyage from Ireland and died shortly thereafter. As the family arrived around 1842, her death may have occurred about that same time.

Lineage: