“This surname, with spellings Dunn, Dunne, Donn, Donne, and Donnan, may be either Irish Gaelic or sometimes Anglo-Saxon and Norman in origin. It derives from the Old Gaelic word "donn", meaning brown, or the Old English pre 7th Century equivalent of "dunn", also brown. It was originally given as an ethnic distinguishing nickname to someone with dark hair or a swarthy complexion. In Ireland the name is generally found in County Down[1].”
James Donnan & Margaret Carey were
married in Northern Ireland. Daughter
Stella, on her marriage record said that her father Hugh was from Belfast. Hugh’s brother James, in the 1930 California census said that his parents were from Northern Ireland. Genealogical records in Ireland are sparse,
so we may never know more about their origins, but Belfast is a starting
point. The Donnan name itself is not
common and most references to the name are found in towns near Belfast.
Hugh and his sister Mary Ann were both born in
Ireland, brother James in Ontario. This
gives a window of time between 1846 and 1849, for the Donnan family to travel
to Canada. This, of course coincides
with the great migration from Ireland due to the potato famine. Hugh Donnan in the 1821 census, gives his
immigration year as 1848.
Were our Donnan’s famine refugees? Probably. Our Donnans joined the flood of Irish, both from
the south and the north heading for parts unknown, “be it Canada, the US or Australia,
fleeing the destruction and starvation brought about by the potato blight. The
famine years, 1845 to 1850 saw hundreds of thousands of people leave Ireland,
where 1/3rd of the population was entirely dependent on the potato”.
“The 1851
census reported that more than half the inhabitants of Toronto
were Irish, and in 1847 alone, 38,000 famine Irish flooded a city with fewer
than 20,000 citizens. Other Canadian
cities also received large numbers of famine Irish. They could get passage
cheaply (or free in the case of tenant evictions) in returning empty lumber
holds."[2]
James Donnan, with two young children in tow and his wife Margaret,
possibly pregnant with their third child, made the journey from Ireland to
start a new life in Blanshard Township, Perth County, Ontario. Why they took up a farm in Blanshard, I have
no idea, but often there were family members or friends from their hometown who
had already taken up residence in the same area. Ships passengers many times were members of the
same family or again residents of the same town.
A letter I received when I
placed an ad in the Belfast paper looking for Donnan information. Although not a known relative, the area he
describes where the surname Donnan is usually found:
Dear Miss Todhunter
I noticed your advert in my local
paper. I hope I can be of help to
you. There is not many people in Belfast
called Donnan, and back in 1850 I think there were very few. Most of the Donnans came from a little
fishing village in N. Ireland called Portavogie. They were all great sea faring men. My father and grandfather and uncle were all
fishermen. My father was called James
Donnan and my Great Grandfather was called George Donnan. Portavogie had always been close to Scotland
but all the Donnan’s I know are all nearly Portavogie people.
I myself am called James Donnan, and
the name Donnan is a very rare name, I have still some kith and in in
Portavogie called Willie and George Donnan.
I now live seven miles from Belfast.
I would like to say that it is quite possible that the James Donnan who
went to Canada could be a distant kith and kin, but it is too far back to 1850
to know if any of my relations went to Canada.
I have an aunt called Mary Jane Donnan and an aunt called Aggie. I would honestly think that the James Donnan
that went to Canada has come from around Portavogie…
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