Conroy Ancestry
& Family Tree
​Our Story
There are 3 main areas of Ireland with Conroys, they are:
1. Galway/Mayo
2. Roscommon
3. Laois/Offaly
The Conroy clan from counties Laois and Offaly is supposed to have originated when a fellow by the name Conn O'Duinn, ran to warn the O'Moores that the English were invading. He was thereafter given the name 'Conn na ratha' - Conn the runner - that evolved over time into Conroy. If this legend is correct, then Laois/Offaly Conroys are thus related to the O'Duinn family, which is usually anglicized as Dunne or Dunn - older variants are Doyen and Doyne.
The Conroy Clan from county Roscommon include one of the famous writers of the Annals of the Four Masters. A variation of Conroy in this area is Conry. Many Conroys from this area were renowned scholars of literature in the Middle Ages. Another famous Conroy from here is Sir John Conroy - who was part of the royal court of Queen Victoria, and some even suspect could have been Queen Victoria's biological father?!
Sir John Conroy
The Conroy clan from counties Galway and Mayo include the poet Padraig O'Conaire - whose statue stands, or rather sits, in Eyre Square in Galway City. In this area the name was originally MacConraoi and evolved into MacConroy or McConroy and later Conroy. Many Conroy families from this group have anglicized their names to King. The reason for this is that MacConraoi could be translated as "Mac Conraoi" - son of Conraoi, or the phrase "Mac an Ri" - "Son of the King", in Irish Gaelic. "Mac an Ri" is sometimes anglicized as McHenry, McKendrie or even Henry, Conrey and Connery. Of course everyone know Sean Connery (aka James Bond)! Lastly, another famous Conroy is American novelist Pat Conroy - not sure which Conroy family he is related to.
Delbhna TÃr Dhá Locha ("The Delbhna of the Two Lakes") was a tuath of Gaelic Ireland, located in the west of Ireland in what is now Co. Galway.
The Delbhna TÃr Dhá Locha were one branch of a much larger population group called the Delbhna.[1]
The two lochs to which the name of the territory refers are Loch nOirbsean, and Loch Lurgain.
The territory occupied nearly all the land between the two lakes and the River Corrib.
It was roughly coextensive with the later barony of Moycullen, which took in the civil parishes of Moycullen, Kilcummin, Killanin, and Rahoon.
The kings of the Delbhna TÃr Dhá Locha eventually took the surname Mac Con Raoi (anglicised as Conroy and King).
Mac Con Raoi directly ruled Gnó Mhór, which was later the civil parishes of Kilcummin and Killannin. Gnó Beag';s king was later surnamed Ó hÉanaà (anglacised as Heaney and Heeney).
Gnó Beag made up of the civil parishes of Rahoon and Moycullen.
Loch Lonáin north of the village of Maigh Cuilin (Moycullen) and the Aille River between the villages of An Spidéal (Spiddal) and Indreabháin (Inverin) are the principal features which mark the divide between Gnó Mór and Gnó Beag.
All four parishes were combined into the barony of Moycullen (distinct from the parish) soon after the Cambro-Norman invasion.
Both families evicted and forced west by the Ó Flaithbertaigh family, who took over their lands.
The Meic Con Raoi resettled at Ballymaconry (sometimes known as Kingstown Glebe) in Connemara along Streamstown Bay near Clifden, and they had another, Ballyconry in Co. Clare in the barony of Ballyvaghan.
By the 19th century, almost all members of the family had Anglicized their name to King and Ballymaconry became Kingstown.
In the early 20th century, styles changed and the family used the Anglicization "Conroy".
The Meic Con Raoi were counted among the sea-kings of Connacht, the others being the O'Malleys, the O'Dowds, and the O'Flahertys
