The Early McCadden's

Among the very earliest records available in Ireland are the 1665 Hearth Rolls. The Hearth Rolls are a list of persons who were liable to pay the Hearth Tax. This was a tax levied on householders based on the number of hearths in their house. There is one McCadden listed in the parish of Drumhome. His name is Daniel McCadden. And he is listed as living in Tullygallen. It is tempting to speculate that Daniel is the original ancestor of the McCadden’s of Drumhome & Donegal, but there is probably no way to ever confirm this.

The next time we encounter McCadden’s in Donegal is in the 1796 Spinning Wheel Premium Entitlement List. In these records there is an Edward McCadden and Philip McCadden in the neighbouring parish of Killymard and Patrick McCadden in Drumhome. The spinning wheel list is by no means comprehensive as it only lists those which grow flax on their land, but the presence of a Patrick in Drumhome very likely points to an ancestor.

For most of us McCadden descendants, the definite starting point is a group of McCadden men on the border between Donegal and Drumhome parish. The 'Griffith' Valuation (1847 – 1864) lists three men, Patrick McCadden and Denis McCadden in Stranass and Owen McCadden in Aghlem.

The first question that comes to mind, is how are these men related? Unfortunately, there is no definitive evidence which ties these men together. In fact there is very little information of any kind to show anything about these elusive men. One of Denis McCadden’s grandchildren, Alice, seems to remember that her father and Patrick’s son, John were 2nd cousins. This would imply that Patrick and Denis were 1st cousins. Although, Austin Forde who is a great great grandson of Patrick, believes that the relationship may be closer, and that Patrick and Denis may be brothers. But what about Owen, how is he related to Patrick and Denis? In an attempt to dig deeper into the connections, you have to look deeper at each of the townlands.

The Griffith Valuation contains several weaknesses from a genealogical perspective. First, it only records the head of the household. Second it records quite little information about the person. The Cancellation Books are a useful addition to the original valuations in that they show the passing of head of household from 1850's onward. But they still have the same limitations as the original valuation.

The next civil records are the 1901 and 1911 census. They improve on Griffith in that the entire family is listed, not just the head of the house. Looking, at the church records we find additional information which complements the civil records. These include death records for the different parishes and headstone entries in Clar cemetery. These records allow us to advance past the 1901 – 1911 timeframe of the census returns.