Hey Dynan/Dinan team,
I'm currently also searching the same lines as kiwichick45. My mother's mothers line goes back to Edward Monaghan who married Jane Dinan (poss mis-spelt per prior comments).
Family bible records show similar info to what kiwichick45 has, and I have copies of the NZ death cert for Jane Dinan (surname noted as Mills on cert) (D: 1908 aged 82, est birth in Ireland c.1826), who at that stage was widowed to her second husband John Mills who died in 1895). She died in Auckland, NZ. Place of birth not noted except "Ireland".
She married her first husband, noted as Edward Monaghan (who I'm also trying to trace) in Ireland and they had 3 children. Married John Mills in Auckland, and had 2 sons, John and James.
Jane's parents are noted as: Denis Dinan, Labourer, and Ellen Dinan (Nee Denitt).
There is a story about Edward's family not approving of Jane, and I understand she may have been a seamstress (or similar, though earlier we thought she might be a maid, but the seamstress thing fits in with the other Dinan details I found here). Edward apparently descended somehow from a Lord Monaghan, of Monaghan county, Ireland (my tracing back for this area seems to note Lord (House of Lords) Monaghan as being possibly Westenra/Rossmore families) and County Cork. I am left wondering if the Edward and Jane adopted the surname Monaghan, rather than keeping his surname (apparently his family disowned him? Not sure about that, but if so, this could be why I'm stuck trying to get earlier records for him).
My research mentions that people sometimes say they "come from County Cork" when it means they actually travelled from the port there, with no real family base in the County. I'm not sure, but suspect this might be the case for my family, given the links to Monaghan, but still researching Cork anyway.
I've not been able to confirm details from Ireland for Denis and Ellen Dinan or birth/baptism records for Jane, as yet. I'm aware that the names could be "alternative/second names" and are very common, so the search is fairly exhaustive.
I do have from family bible the deaths of Denis Dinan (9 June 1866) and Ellen Dinan (4 July 1882).
Children of Edward Monaghan and Jane Dinan are noted on the family bible as surname "Monahan Mills" but birth/marriage/death info has a variety of spellings of this.
Children of Edward and Jane:
Edward Monaghan (b.Dec 26 1853 possibly in Bendigo, Vic, Australia) (went on to marry a Mary Anne McMurra Wilson, then an Ellen Collett);
Ellen Monaghan (b. 3 June 1856 possibly in Australia) (went on to marry a Thomas Edward Evans with name recorded as Minihan); and
Cecil Denis Diner Monaghan (b.27 Nov 1860 in Auckland NZ, parents noted as Jane and Edward) (have not been able to track down a marriage/death info for him, but family bible says he died on 18 August 1902)
I have a information about the descendants from this family, but not the ancestors. If anyone has any matches to these details, I would be extremely grateful for any gaps being filled in, as I would love to be able to verify the many, many stories I've heard about Edward leaving his family to go to California (goldmines) then to Australia/NZ. Also tracing back to check the veracity of the "Lord Monaghan" story would be interesting to me.
Thanks all for your help.