Search

17 Sept 2025

Are there any Gallaghers and McGlynn descendants to join in the family reunion?

The descendants of four of the 13 children of Michael Gallagher (1818-1877) and Mary McGlynn (1824-1873) of Galwolie, Glenfin, met in Tralee for a dinner of fellowship and sharing of information and stories in July

Are there any Gallaghers and McGlynn descendants to join in the family reunion?

The Gallaghers and McGlynn descendants in Kerry in July

The descendants of four of the 13 children of Michael Gallagher (1818-1877) and Mary McGlynn (1824-1873) of Galwolie, Glenfin, met in Tralee for a dinner of fellowship and sharing of information and stories in July.   

What started out a year in advance as a dinner of about 12 people grew to 30 people. Eleven great-great-grandchildren of Michael Gallagher and Mary McGlynn were in attendance, as well as 11 great-great-great-grandchildren and five great-great-great-great-grandchildren.  

The eleven great-great-grandchildren came from four of Michael and Mary’s 13 children:  Margaret Gallagher (1850-1926), Sir William Gallagher (1851-1933), Peter Gallagher (1858-1909) and Catherine Gallagher (1859-1936).  The gathering was termed the 4GAL Summit, a gathering of Four Gallagher Ancestral Lines. 

READ NEXTDonegal Town gardaí to hold coffee morning in memory of Garda Charlie Gallagher

Most of the cousins were meeting for the first time.  One of the great-great-great-grandchildren was at a birthday celebration in Dungloe and spotted one of her fourth cousins, whom she had just met the week prior at the Gallagher Summit.  

Had it not been for the gathering in Tralee, these two fourth cousins would not have known they were related.   

Michael Gallagher was the son of Daniel Gallagher (1774-1862) of Galwolie and Margaret Mary Gallagher (1785-1826) of Cronadun.  

That’s right - Gallaghers from two different clans from opposite sides of The River Finn married and produced more Gallaghers!  Margaret Mary Gallagher was the daughter of Tully Gallagher and Grace Coyle.

The Gallaghers and McGlynn descendants will meet again in July 2027 in County Donegal for a second gathering.  Interested and/or potential Gallagher descendants - as well as descendants of Mary McGlynn - should reach out to Eileen Carmody (0871946540 or eileenucarmody@gmail.com) or Mary Shovlin (0876650522) for more information.

To continue reading this article,
please subscribe and support local journalism!


Subscribing will allow you access to all of our premium content and archived articles.

Subscribe

To continue reading this article for FREE,
please kindly register and/or log in.


Registration is absolutely 100% FREE and will help us personalise your experience on our sites. You can also sign up to our carefully curated newsletter(s) to keep up to date with your latest local news!

Register / Login

Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.

Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.