User:Windyjarhead/Corcoran

Corcoran Birthplace Dispute

Background

I have been engaged in a revert war with an IP user over the issue of in which Irish county Michael Corcoran was born.

Carrowkeel

[1] [2] These sites that our IP contributor attempted to reference list Corcoran's place of birth as "Carrowkeel, County Donegal"

[3] [4] [5] These sites list Corcoran's birth place as "Carrowkeel, County Sligo."

• There are at least six places called "Carrowkeel" in Ireland, one in County Donegal[6], one in County Fermanagh[7], one in County Galway[8], two in County Roscommon[9] and one in County Sligo[10]. One source [11] puts the number of Carrowkeels at 61. This is undoubtedly the source of our confusion.

• "Carrowkeel" is an anglicization of the Irish An Cheathrú Chaol meaning "the narrow quarter." It is a description of terrain features and therefore a completely unexceptional placename.

So, it seems that there are reputable published sources in support of a Sligo birth and a Donegal birth, we can safely rule out the Carrowkeels in Fermanagh, Galway and Roscommon.

So, the question remains: From which Carrowkeel did our General Corcoran hail?

• It seems significant that Corcoran served in the constabulary in Donegal.[12]

It is easy to see how the fact that Carrowkeel is a common Irish placename, coupled with the fact that Corcoran served in the constabulary in Donegal could lead someone to assume that Corcoran was from the Carrowkeel in Donegal and never give the matter a second thought. One might even enshrine this confusion in a published history book.

• It also seems significant the the Mayor of New York dedicated a memorial to Corcoran in Sligo[13] and the local newspaper in Sligo calls Corcoran a " . . . Carrowkeel native . . . who left Sligo for America . . . "[14]

• No such contemporary sources link Corcoran to Donegal, only Civil War History books and websites that reference them.

Conclusions

It seems probable that an early historian of the Civil War mistakenly assumed Corcoran was from Donegal for the reason discussed above and that numerous other historians cited his/her mistaken assumption in their own histories.

I cannot prove my hypothesis through internet research alone. However, I would venture that an unbiased and reasonable reading of the evidence I have provided will lead the reader into agreement that Corcoran was from Sligo.

If you still don't agree, take a look at his tombstone.