Denis Hernan was my great great grandfather.

He was born in Inishowen, Co. Donegal in 1819, the son of Charles and Bridget Hernan. Denis had two brothers, Charles and James.

He married Mary Cavanagh, who also came from Inishowen, in Moville in 1847. They had thirteen children: Charles, Anne (my great grandmother), Mary, Michael, Hugh, Joseph, Margaret, Denis, James, Kate, Patrick, John and Bridget.

In the Primary Valuation of Tenements in Donegal ("Griffith's Valuation") which was undertaken in 1857 he is recorded as renting a 60 acre farm. The farm straddled two townlands, with 35 acres in Stroove, and a further 25 acres in the adjacent townland of Carrowtrasna. The farm appears to have been rented jointly with his father Charles. At the time, in post famine Ireland, this was quite a substantial farm. The family kept cattle, and raised various crops.

Denis died in 1889 and is buried in St Marys, Ballybrack.

 

Stroove lighthouse