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Where did the Irish O'Dignam family come from? When did the O'Dignam family first arrive in the United States? Where did the various branches of the family go? What is the O'Dignam family history? The spelling and overall form of Irish names often vary considerably. The original Gaelic form of the name O'Dignam is O Dunain. The name is thought to have originally been derived from the word "donn," which meant "brown."During the Middle Ages, a standardized literary language known by the general population of Ireland was a thing of fiction. When a person's name was recorded by one of the few literate scribes, it was up that particular scribe to decide how to spell an individual's name. So a person could have several spelling variations of his name recorded during a single lifetime. Research into the name O'Dignam revealed many variations, including Duignan, O'Duignan, Doonan, O'Doonan, Dignan, O'Dignan, Dignam, O'Donnan, Donnan, O'Dignam, Duigenan, O'Duigenan, Donan and many more. First found in Roscommon, where they held a family seat at Kilronan. One of the first on record was Ferrall Muinach o'Duignan who began the Church of Kilronan in 1337. This church, over looking Lake Meelagh, was of great national interest in that it is reportedly the burial place of Carolan. John Ballach O'Dugenan was chief of his Clan when they were dispossessed of their estates in Kilronan. They later were landed gentry in the parish of Dromleas, in the barony of Drumaheare, county of Leitrim, estates which they held until the Cromwellian confiscations in the 17th century. They were noted for their great contributions to history and literature. Manus O'Duigenan contributed to the Book of Ballymote, sometimes called the Book of Kilronan, or the Book of the O'Duigenans, which became one of the chronicles of the Four Masters. This web page shows only a small excerpt of our O'Dignam research. Another 198 words(14 lines of text) covering the years 1788 and 1797 are included under the topic Early O'Dignam History in all our PDF Extended History products. Another 23 words(2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early O'Dignam Notables in all our PDF Extended History products. Thousands of Irish left in their homeland in the 18th and 19th centuries to escape the religious and political discrimination they experienced primarily at the hands of the English, and in the search of a plot of land to call their own. These immigrants arrived at the eastern shores of North America, early on settling and breaking the land, and, later, building the bridges, canals, and railroads essential to the emerging nations of United States and Canada. Many others would toil for low wages in the dangerous factories of the day. Although there had been a steady migration of Irish to North America over these years, the greatest influx of Irish immigrants came to North America during the Great Potato Famine of the late 1840s. Early North American immigration records have revealed a number of people bearing the Irish name O'Dignam or a variant listed above: Thomas Donan, who arrived in Philadelphia in 1803; and Peter Donan, who settled in Mississippi in 1837.
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