Our Doran story
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Páirc an Dobhrain
Doran Park was not named after us, but we are happy to know there is a park named after our Clan. Maryann Barnes took this photo while visiting Ireland in 2011. |
Origins
From Y-DNA evidence, our male Doran line (which emigrated to the US in the early 1900s) matches with a Doran line that arrived in America from Belfast in the 1700s. That family's Doran immigrant, James (latin church records the name Jacob is used for James) was forced to leave Belfast, Ireland or go to jail (probably for some minor infraction as an excuse to rid Ulster of the Irish). Fortunately someone in the British government wanted to know what happened to this group of expunged-Irish and voilá James Doran was thankfully mentioned in the official government report. James (aka Jacob) Doran was a Patriot in the American Revolution. James Doran emigrated to Pennsylvania but soon moved to the province of Virginia and married Catherine Shadow. The Doran family settled in the western part of what was the Virginia Colony and is now the state of West Virginia. James Doran and his new family prospered in old Virginia. James Doran served valiantly in the Virginia militia during the Revolutionary War. We do not intend to write further about this James Doran or his descendants except to say along with the YDNA test results, we also match with James Doran's descendants on autosomal DNA tests. |
West of Ireland to Belfast
Our DNA results indicate that our family's origins were in the West of Ireland. This is consistent with the story we heard that the family left County Clare to live in Belfast in the 1700s due to the job opportunities to be had in the linen and cotton industries. The Doran men in our line were linen hacklers in Belfast Northern Ireland and at times worked in Renfrewshire Scotland. The Doran men were described as good-looking, rough but affectionate. I think they all loved to sing and probably had good voices. Interest in music has certainly continued down through the current generations. Our story starts with Bernard Doran and his wife Ann “Nancy” Smyth. His father was possibly a John Doran assuming they followed the usual Irish naming pattern. Bernard and Ann's first son was named John. Bernard Doran and Ann "Nancy" Smyth lived in Armagh and Belfast at various times. A daughter, Maria Doran, was baptized in the Roman Catholic Church in Dromore Parish, Argmah in 1823. The rest of their children were baptized in Belfast. Their story continues here. 
County Clare. Photo courtesy of Maryann Barnes.
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