Lughana/Subhana???

[wotty]

I am having a terrible time trying to trace my Meehans in Ireland. My great grandfather may have been from County Mayo but that only appears in the 1901 British census - the 1891 just says Ireland. Prior to 1884 (when he married in England) I don't know where he was.

I have noticed a cluster of Meehans living where to my great grandfather lived in England and one of them came from a place which has been transcribed as Lughana, Ireland. I have been told that it might be something like Subhana - but I can't find anything like either of those names.

Does anyone have any ideas of where this place might be? I'm hoping that he might have moved close to relatives in England and that finding out where this place is might help find where he came from.

Many thanks

Wotty

[heywood]

I've briefly tried looking on sites which list Townlands but cannot find anything similar.
However if you go to Leitrim Roscommon 1901 census site
http://www.leitrim-roscommon.com
which has some (only some to date ) Mayo parishes transcriptions there are quite a few Meehans.
That might help you by looking where they are- or for family names etc.
Good luck
heywood

[JAP]

Hi Wotty,

Looking at the image, and comparing 'L' and 'S' as written by the enumerator, I believe there is no doubt that the word as written starts with 'L'.  In fact, I see it very clearly as 'Lugbana'.

But that doesn't help, unfortunately.

You might like to have a search on:
http://www.thecore.com/seanruad/
This is a fantastic site - though there's nothing obvious.
But remember, the person completing the schedule might not have known how to spell the place, the enumerator might have transcribed it incorrectly, or the enumerator might have written what he heard said in an accent he didn't understand ...
Perhaps it even started with 'Lough ...'.

JAP

[wotty]

Hi Heywood, Hi JAP,

Thanks very much for the ideas. I will certainly have a look at the sites you recommend. I'm hoping to go out to Ireland in the autumn (I like rain!!) so I'm going all out on this branch of the family to try to holiday in the right sort of area!!

Wotty.

[JAP]

Hi Wotty,

If you go to Co Mayo, give a nod in the direction of my lot at Farmhill - that's Farmhill near Claremorris (Crossboyne), not Farmhill in the north of the county!

Of course, many many years ago, when I was in that region, I knew NOTHING about genealogy ...

And, naturally, I wondered whether the place you were looking for might be Lughnasa of the famous play ...

Cheers,

JAP

[PrueM]

Hi Wotty,
I thought this website might be useful, it's a gazetteer of Irish placenames - I put in "Lough" on JAP's suggestion that the enumerator might have written it as he heard it, and it came up with quite a few places that might conceivably be heard or misheard as "Lughana":
http://scripts.ireland.com/ancestor/placenames/index.cfm
Hope it helps,
Cheers
Prue

[magsbutler]

Hi
This may help too!

http://www.irishgenealogy.ie/frame_1024.cfm

Mags

[Pat Reid]

Wotty:
Try Loughbawn. 

Pat

[MikeW]

I've looked through the 'postal towns' of Ireland, in Irish, and can't see anything  to match your mysterious location, so far. It's quite likely that it's  just a "townland" name -- very localised, and therefore much harder to pin down.     I see that  someone  even  suggested 'Lughnasa as in the play'  .......  I'm afraid that would be a waste of time :  'Lúnasa' is not a place  -  it's the Irish name for August.  If you're sure of the county, it might be worth  checking  for something in the county/local  libraries.
                                              Mike W.