Biographies of Our Forefathers

Biographies of Our Forefathers

Francis "Frank" Tinneny

Francis Tinneny was the son of Big John Tinneny and Margaret McAdam. He was born at the homeplace on Goladuff about 1845. He had no formal schooling and grew up helping his father work the farm. On June 1, 1876 Francis' younger brother Patrick "Yankee Pat" Tinneny married Margaret Malloy in Saint Mary's Church in Greenock, Scotland. Francis appears to have gone to Greenock for the occasion to be one of the two witnesses to the marriage. The marriage record of Patrick and Margaret listed the witnesses to the ceremony as Francis Tinneny and Margaret McAnally.

Note: Resent findings may indicate that the sponsor for Patrick’s wedding may have been his cousin Fank Tinneny of the hollow, the son of Hugh Tinneny, since Frank’s brother was found living with Patrick and his wife in Greenock in the Census of Scotland

There is also an entry in the registry at Saint Mary's Church in Newtownbutler showing that Francis was a witness in the wedding of John Johnson and Catherine Tummin on July 10, 1877. The other witness at that ceremony was Julia McDonagh.

On September 22, 1879 Francis married Catherine "Kate" McConnell. Kate was about 16 years younger than Francis and would have been born about 1861. The sponsors at their marriage were Laurance Donohue and Susan Reilly. It seems that Francis and Kate lived in Belturbet when they were first married since their first child Margaret was born at a house on Bridge Street in Belturbet on July 15, 1880. By June 1882, when their second child Bernard was born, they were living at Goladuff.

Photo: Remains of the home of Francis Tinneny (1994) by R.J. Tinneny

It was while living at Goladuff that Francis was arrested and landed in jail. It seems that the McIvenue family had 4 Irish acres of land that they were going to sell off and this land was directly in back of the Tinneny homeplace on Goladuff.

The story about this incident is that the Earl of Lanesborough wanted to buy this parcel of land to extend his influence across Quivvy Lough into County Fermanagh. At the time he controlled many acres of land in County Cavan, which he managed from his estate in Quivvy. The day of the auction Frank Tinneny is said to have gone to the sale and put a bid of 20 pounds on the land. Lanesborough's agent, Tom McGoohan, also bid on the land and Frank punched him and a big fight broke out at the land auction. The police came and surrounded the place and arrested Frank. He was taken to jail in Armagh where he was imprisoned for six months. As a result of the fight the sale was called off and the piece of land was not sold.

However, while Frank was in jail Mrs. McIvenue sold the parcel of land to Frank's mother, Margaret McAdam Tinneny, and she put it into her name instead of into Francis' name. As a result, there was trouble between Francis and his mother and subsequently some ill feelings between some of the descendants of Margaret's sons James and Francis over the years. Margaret's son Francis' sons Francis and Pat both told this story about the trouble over the land to Francis Tummin of Goladuff. The land on Goladuff that Frank went to jail over has been passed down and is still in possession of one of Francis Tinneny’s descendents.

Francis and his family were listed as living on Goladuff in the 1901 Census of Ireland. They lived in a house not far from the homeplace where Margaret his widowed mother was living with her son James and his family. When the census was taken, on March 31, 1901, Francis' age was shown as 55 and his wife Kate's as 39. Their children ranged from 5 to 20 years of age. Francis occupation was listed as farmer. The census report indicated that Francis was able to write but that he was unable to read. Kate was shown as being able to read and write. Three of their children Bernard, 18 years old, Alice 9 and Hugh, 5 were described as not being able to read. The rest of the children were described as being able to read and to write.

For many years Kate had an eatery on Bridge Street in the town of Belturbet, which was across the Quivvy lough from Goladuff. The people in Belturbet and those farmers and others who came into the town from surrounding areas for fair days or for other business brought their food to the eatery. Kate prepared the food and they would eat their meal there. Kate was known for gathering the food that was left over from the meals and taking them home and serving them to the family.

By the time his daughter Margaret had married in 1906 the marriage record listed Francis as being deceased. Francis was buried in the Tinneny burial plot in Drummully Cemetery. Kate is said to have died suddenly and unexpectedly under the ash tree near her home on Goladuff. She was also buried at Drummully in the Tinneny plot.

Note: Francis Tinnenys descendants include all of the descendants of Hugh Tinneny of Quivvy, Belturbet, County Cavan, Ireland, including: Fitzpatrick, Brady, Curran, Lavery, Tanners.