The Blennerhassett problem
There has been one
epic problem in all of my family tree research
- the Blennerhassett problem.
This is the problem of how our
ancestor
George Cashel (born 1807)
descends from the Blennerhassett family.
I first became aware of our possible Blennerhassett descent in 1985.
After 35 years, a basic proof
After
35 years of research, and many dead ends,
in 2020 DNA testing finally proved that we descend somehow from the
Blennerhassett Baronets branch.
See
Proof of our descent from Blennerhassett.
I call it as proved that our ancestor
George Cashel (born 1807)
descends somehow from
Robert Blennerhassett (died 1765)
and his wife
Frances Yielding.
Nothing else explains the DNA plus other evidence.
Most likely George Cashel is the natural son of one of
six Blennerhassett men.
After 40 years, a theory for the mother's family, and a theory of adoption
In 2025, I started to construct from clues the
Theory of O'Connell descent.
This constructs evidence (but not yet proof)
that:
- George Cashel's mother is someone in the
O'Connell/Tuohy family,
closely related to
Mary O'Connell who married Daniel O'Connell.
- George Cashel is not a Cashel
but got his surname
when he was adopted
by the
Stephen Cashel family of Tralee.
These ideas are in progress and not yet proved.
The quest continues,
but we may be nearing
the home stretch.
I am trying to prove a story from 1807.
George Cashel's RIC record.
Showing that he was recommended by "A. Blennerhasset, J.P."
when he joined the County Constabulary in 1828.
George Cashel is written
"George Blennerhassett Cashel"
on the marriage cert of his son
Blennerhassett Cashel in 1869.
See full size.
Detail from grave of George Cashel's son
Blennerhassett Cashel.
The parents of George Cashel are not that far back.
They are
Ahnentafel number
88 and 89
(if I am number 1).
There are 64 people in that generation, numbered 64 to 127.
The Blennerhassett descent
in the notes of my grand-aunt Pat Lavelle.
Pat died in 1966, before I was born.
I discovered her notes in 1985, and set off to prove the Blennerhassett descent.
It took me until 2020 to prove it.
This brief note
in the BLENNERHASSETT entry in
[Burkes Irish, 1976]
by Brian Fitzelle
first made me realise in 1985
that my Blennerhassett line might connect to the World family tree.
U2 at
Live Aid
in 1985 -
the summer when my lifelong quest for Blennerhassett began.
Me at
New Ballyseedy
in 1985, at the start of the life-long hunt for Blennerhassett.
It later turned out that my ancestors never lived in this building.
Me at the rear
of
Blennerville House
in 2022.
This is probably my actual ancestral home.
Due to my friendship with the cartoonist and artist
John Chambers,
a mythical version of
our supposed ancestor
"Letitia Blennerhassett"
has entered popular culture.
John has followed the Letitia Blennerhassett story since the 1980s,
and, loving her name, has included her in various of his creations.
Post, 23 Jan 2013,
by
Granny Samurai
on Facebook.
"Granny Samurai in her Sunday Bonnet. She took First Prize on ladies day at Ascot. Just grabbed it right out of Laetitia Blenner-Hasset's lobster-like grip. Megawocka!"
John writes a joke letter to the Financial Times in 2008.
"How the Emerald Isle was turned blue"
(and here),
Financial Times, 22/23 Mar 2008.
"During his years in Japan (1891-1904), Lafcadio Hearn
corresponded with a scholarly neighbour of his back in Ireland, one Letitia Blennerhassett.
Though largely forgotten today, she was in her time a formidable scholar of the Irish language,
collecting and translating a great deal of folk tales that would otherwise have been forgotten."
This letter was published, but the data is entirely made up.
For many years, I searched for
George Cashel's baptism around 1807,
and I could not find it.
Of course I suspected it was burnt in 1922.
He could be baptised CoI, and
the
majority of Co.Kerry CoI parish records from the 1807 period
were burnt in 1922,
including records of a fairly likely church, Killarney CoI church
(near Churchtown House).
However, I have come round to suspect that
I have been looking at his baptism all along, but could not recognise it.
That he is George Cashell,
baptised in 1808 in Tralee RC church,
the adopted son of the
Stephen Cashel family of Tralee.
His baptism was always there, but it could not tell me who he was.
Baptism of George Cashell, 24 July 1808, Tralee RC church.
What we suspect is George Cashel's baptism
on my website in
Jan 2004.
It seems
I had already discovered it by 2004,
but I could not see it.
It did not make sense.
For many years, I bemoaned
the destruction of
the 1821 census.
Almost all of the 1821 census was burnt in 1922, including the whole census for Kerry.
George Cashel was age 14 in 1821, so I thought the 1821 census might
explain who his parents were,
or maybe just who his mother was.
But if George is the adopted son of the
Stephen Cashel family of Tralee,
then even if the census had survived, it could not tell me who he was.
This is what could have survived:
The 1821 census entry for a 15 year old
"George Reilly"
and his family in Co.Cavan.
The Public Record Office, Dublin, before it was burnt by Irish "patriots" in 1922.
They burnt the (highly incomplete) 1813 census, the 1821 census, 1831 census, 1841 census and 1851 census.
(The 1861 and 1871 and 1881 and 1891 censuses were also destroyed separately,
for various stupid reasons.)
See
larger
and
full size.
From
here.
-
For many years I thought the 1922 fire probably burnt forever who
George Cashel
was.
The fire burnt the 1821 census
which I thought
would probably have solved the Blennerhassett problem immediately.
I also thought it likely burnt his baptism record.
-
However, if George was adopted, the 1821 census would have explained nothing.
And it looks like his baptism survives,
and does not solve the problem either.
- The 1922 fire destroyed things that might have solved
the Blennerhassett problem, notably wills on the
father's side
and
mother's side.
But there is no guarantee George would be mentioned in any of them.
The 1922 fire was a tragedy,
and lots of historical information relating to
George Cashel's life was lost,
but
I am not aware of anything that could definitely solve the problem being lost.
-
Contrary to what I thought, the 1922 fire apparently did not break my link
to pre-1700 Ireland and England.
That was broken by George being adopted, so I could not find his parents
until DNA technology showed where to look.
The 1922 fire may
not have destroyed the documents I need after all.
They may not exist.
Or if they do, it will be DNA that leads me there,
if
neither parent is called Cashel.
If George was adopted, and the names have changed,
how will I ever find the parents without DNA?
DNA was the new thing that moved the problem forward,
disproving the Letitia theory, and proving the Baronets theory.
And its work is not yet done.
Hopefully it can lead me to the mother's identity.
My
DNA match with
Eileen Owen.
My own DNA, in every cell of my body,
carries evidence of my Blennerhassett ancestry.
