Why Patrick Dargan / Dorgan Matters

Patrick Dargan / Dorgan matters because he provides one of the clearest links between family tradition, parish-register evidence, land records, and later Dorgan family branches.

In Griffith’s Valuation, Patrick Dargan is recorded in Carrigkilter, Ballintemple Parish, Barony of Imokilly, County Cork. This places him in a specific East Cork townland during the mid-nineteenth century and connects the family to a landholding that can be studied through valuation records and maps.

Patrick is also important because later records connect his family to two major branches. One branch leads through Michael Dorgan and Johanna Garde to Cloyne and Rock Street records. Another branch leads through Patrick Dorgan and Mary Catherine Hartnett to emigration, Providence, Rhode Island, and later American records.

Because the surname appears as both Dargan and Dorgan, Patrick’s records also help explain how spelling varied across Irish land, church, civil, and family records.

The Dargan / Dorgan Name in the Records.

Patrick appears in key land records under the spelling Dargan, while later family records often use the spelling Dorgan. This variation is important, but it is not unusual. Irish surnames were often written down by clerks, priests, civil officials, and valuers who used the spelling they heard or expected.

For this reason, Dargan and Dorgan should be studied together in East Cork records. The spelling difference should not be treated as proof of separate families unless other evidence shows they are separate.

In this archive, the spelling Patrick Dargan is used when referring to the land-record form of the name, especially in Griffith’s Valuation and valuation-office records. The spelling Dorgan is used for later family branches and records where that form appears.

For a fuller explanation of the surname history, see Dorgan Surname Origins / Ó Deargáin.

Carrigkilter Land Evidence

The strongest evidence placing Patrick Dargan / Dorgan in Carrigkilter comes from mid-nineteenth-century land and valuation records.

In the 1847 Valuation Office Books, Patrick Dargan appears in Carrigkilter in records connected to land, house, offices, and related valuation notes. These records are important because they place Patrick in Carrigkilter before the printed Griffith’s Valuation.

In Griffith’s Valuation, Patrick Dargan is recorded as a tenant of Thomas G. Durdin in Carrigkilter, Ballintemple Parish, Barony of Imokilly, Union of Midleton, County Cork. The Griffith’s Valuation details identify the record as page 2, printing date 1853, Act 15&16, sheet 89, map reference 8.

Together, the Valuation Office Books, Griffith’s Valuation, and map reference evidence help anchor Patrick Dargan / Dorgan to a specific townland and holding in Carrigkilter. This land evidence forms the backbone of the Carrigkilter family study.

Family Connections: Anne / Johanna Flynn and the Children

Patrick Dargan / Dorgan is connected in family records to Anne / Johanna Flynn. Parish-register evidence and later family records help build a working family group for Patrick and Anne / Johanna.

Known or proposed children connected to this family group include Daniel, Mary, Elizabeth, Timothy, Michael, and Patrick. The baptism records for Daniel, Mary, Elizabeth, and Timothy are especially important because they provide early parish-register evidence for the family. The later marriage records of Michael Dorgan to Johanna Garde and Patrick Dorgan to Mary Catherine Hartnett help connect the Carrigkilter family to later Cloyne and Rhode Island branches.

These relationships should continue to be studied carefully by comparing baptism sponsors, marriage witnesses, residences, spelling variants, land records, census records, and family documents.

For more about Johanna / Anne Flynn Dorgan, see Johanna / Anne Flynn Dorgan of East Cork

The Cloyne Branch:

Michael Dorgan and Johanna Garde

One later branch connected to Patrick Dargan / Dorgan and Anne / Johanna Flynn leads through Michael Dorgan. Michael married Johanna Garde in Cloyne in 1869.

This marriage record is important because it helps connect the earlier Carrigkilter family to later Cloyne records. Michael and Johanna Garde were the parents of Patrick Dorgan, born 19 Nov 1870 and died 9 Mar 1931. This younger Patrick appears in the 1901 Census of Ireland at House #17, Rock Street, Cloyne, in the household of his widowed mother, Johanna Garde Dorgan.

This branch should be kept separate from the earlier Patrick Dargan / Dorgan of Carrigkilter. The repeated use of the name Patrick makes the records easy to confuse, so dates, residences, spouses, and parents must be compared carefully.

The Rhode Island Branch:

Patrick Dorgan and Mary Catherine Hartnett

Another major branch connected to Patrick Dargan / Dorgan and Anne / Johanna Flynn leads through their son Patrick Dorgan, who married Mary Catherine Hartnett in Cloyne in 1886.

This marriage record is especially important because it helps distinguish the younger Patrick Dorgan from his father, Patrick Dargan / Dorgan of Carrigkilter. The family later left Ireland for the United States. Patrick Dorgan emigrated in 1896, and Mary Catherine Hartnett Dorgan followed with the children in 1897.

This branch connects the Carrigkilter family story to Providence, Rhode Island, and later American records. The emigration records, U.S. census records, Rhode Island state census records, and the 1917 marriage of William J. Dorgan to Jessie Greig help show how the East Cork family line continued in America.

The Carrigkilter Farm Sale and Emigration Story

The later history of the Carrigkilter family is closely connected to the sale of the Dorgan farm and the family’s move to the United States.

In August 1896, the Cork Examiner reported the sale of Patrick Dorgan’s farm at Carrigkilter. The holding was described as 27 acres, 1 rood, and 30 perches, held in fee simple and subject to payments connected with the Irish Land Commissioners and the Commissioners of Public Works. The farm was sold to Mrs. Margaret Curtin of Glanturkin.

This sale helps explain the family’s emigration story. Patrick Dorgan left Ireland for the United States later in 1896, and Mary Catherine Hartnett Dorgan followed with the children in 1897. The Carrigkilter land story therefore connects directly to the Rhode Island branch of the family.

The farm sale is important because it shows the transition from East Cork landholding to American migration. It also helps explain why Patrick Dorgan and Mary Catherine Hartnett Dorgan do not appear in the 1901 Census of Ireland.

Research Cautions and Open Questions

This page should be read as a working research narrative rather than a finished conclusion. Some records clearly place Patrick Dargan / Dorgan in Carrigkilter, while other records suggest possible connections that still need further comparison.

The strongest evidence is the land-record evidence: the 1847 Valuation Office Books, the 1853 Griffith’s Valuation entry, and the Carrigkilter map reference. Parish-register records and later family records help connect Patrick to Anne / Johanna Flynn, their children, and later Dorgan branches, but each relationship should continue to be checked against sponsors, witnesses, residences, spelling variants, and related family names.

Open questions remain about how Patrick Dargan / Dorgan connects to other East Cork Dargan / Dorgan households, including families in Ballymacoda, Cloyne, Ballycotton, Garryvoe, Churchtown South, Kilmacahill, and nearby townlands. Related surnames such as Flynn, Barry, Motherway, Savage / Lavage, Millerick, Boozane, Hartnett, Garde, Healy, Shinnick, O’Keeffe, Coleman, and Duhig / Doohig may provide important clues.

As more records are transcribed and compared, this page can be updated. For now, Patrick Dargan / Dorgan of Carrigkilter remains the key figure connecting the East Cork land records, parish-register evidence, and later Dorgan family branches in Cloyne and Rhode Island.