The Geraghty - Mumby Family History Project.

 

The Vikings:

The name Mumby is of Viking origin. The by part of the name is a variant of the Danish byr meaning an encampment, vllage or farm. (The word bylaw is an example of how the original byr has survived the centuries). It was the Danish Viking Mund who established the village of Mumby, located a few miles inland on the east coast of Lincolnshire. Later, when the Normans colonized England and surnames began to be used, residents of the village were identified as being from Mumby. The Norman custom of identifying the individual with his/her place of residence resulted in names like Alicia de Mumby, Alan de Mumby, etc. For more about Vikings check out Vikings Part 1.

Halfdan's page of Viking and Rune links

The Normans:

The Normans conquered England in 1066, (The Battle of Hastings 1066) and a century or so later, they turned their attention on Ireland, ( Ulster history - Normans). Their military superiority was due to their organization, the chain mail they wore in battle and their archers with their long bows. In both countries, the Normans confiscated land and awarded it to various Dukes and Barons. Mund's byr was granted to Alan the Red, Count or Brittany. The Saxons were, however no push over. For many years they resented the iron rule of the Normans and resisted as best they could. 

Conquest & Resistance 1066 TO 1088

Norman Conquest of England History Internet Sites

The Irish:

In Ireland, O'Conor lost 30 cantreds of land, (approximately the size of County Roscommon) to the Burkes, descendents of the original Norman de Burgh's. Burke kept 25 cantreds and King Henry II kept the remaining 5 for himself. In old maps of this time period, the territory which O'Conor, McGeraghty and the other clans occupied were shown as the Kings Cantreds. As noted elsewhere,  O'Conor leased the land from the king. The diminished territory resulted in a split between O'Conor Don and O'Conor Roe. These events lead up to the eventual loss of the McGeraghty clan ancestral land. There is an interesting commentary of how the English viewed the Irish at A View of the Present State of Ireland. It was published in Elizabethan times at around the time when the McGeraghty clan were about to lose their last land holdings.

Until the Norman invasion of Ireland, there were many individual clans which were ruled by chieftains as underlords to provincial kings. Over all these, there ruled the Ard Ri, (high king).

Connacht, Connaught - Kings, Rulers and Earls

Ireland History in Maps   

The History Of Ireland

A (much) smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland 

Medieval Sourcebook Gerald of Wales The Norman Conquest of Ireland (12th Century)

A (much) smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland - Chapter VI - The Brehon Laws

The Baronies of Ireland - Family History

Gael Agus Gall Home Page

Vital Records

Coats of Arms from Ireland and around the world by Eddie Geoghegan

 Irish Links

The English:

British History

Royal Genealogies 

Heralds and Heraldry

Heraldry on the Internet, Coats of Arms, Family Crests

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Internet Library of Early Journals

Lincolnshire Genealogy Research:

Lincolnshire Family History Society

Grasby 1999

Lincolnshire Gazetteer

Ron Taylor's UK Census Finding Aids and Indexes

Lincolnshire Genealogy Mailing List

Ontario, Canada genealogy research:

Eastern Ontario Genealogical Information

Canada's Post 1901 Census Records, Home Page- The Global Gazette

Mageraghty Connected Sites:

Inishmurray

Innish Murray http://www.rossespoint.com/inishmur.htm

Crough Patrick (Ireland's Holy Mountain) http://www.anu.ie/reek/

Newspapers:

Mayo News: http://www.mayonews.ie/

Irish Newspapers On-Line

Irish Tourist Board - Ireland of the Welcomes Magazine

Credits: 

  • I am thankful to Nicholas Geraghty for the wealth of information and documentation he provided about Castlecoote House, his personal pet project, which he features at on his web site at http://mypage.goplay.com/BallyG/
  • My thanks to James E. Garretty for his suggestion of adding an historical note about O'Conor and Mageraghty's conquest and destruction of Trim Castle.
  • Many of the Irish coats of arms are from Eddie Gehogan's Internet site at Coats of Arms from Ireland and around the world by Eddie Geoghegan. My thanks to Eddie for allowing me to use them.
  • I am indebted to the staff of the Kitchener and Waterloo Public Libraries for arranging the inter-library loans of the various books I needed to complete my research. A special thanks to Margaret Hendly for the books she allowed me to loan from the University of Waterloo.