Hannon Family

Before my father passed away he worked on a Hannon family Genealogy web page. I have put that page up on this site to keep it available and in honor of his memory. You can also find a scanned PDF of some of my father's work here. http://www.ocrslc.net/family/Gus_hannon_genealogy_1991.pdf

 

 

 

For all developing their family genealogy I offer this page on the off chance that some one may find a relative.

 

This is my Father's Family

From left to right top: Uncle Harry, Aunt Bess, my father Maurice, Aunt Minnie

 

Seated Grandfather Hannon and Grandmother Hannon


 

Our Family on our 50th Wedding Anniversary
The children in the back row from left to right James Monica Mary George
Parents in the front Helen and Gus

 

 

 

My Personal Background

 

I attended Grade and High Schools in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Received a BA degree from the University of St. Louis in 1936. Masters Degree from University of Wisconsin in 1940. In the Military 1941-1945 with rank of Captain. The main companies and organizations for which I worked from 1946 to 1978 follow: Kenosha High; Electronics Department, Great Lakes; Continental Can Co; Television Associates of I Indiana; University of Indiana; Sheraton Corporation; The Federal Group in South Africa; the ILO a UN agency; Central Texas College. Now retired.(Now Deceased)

 

The List of Names in the Belgium Hannon Family since 1620

 

1620

 

Leonard Jossart

 

Marguerite A Deperry

 

1640

 

Jean Jossart

 

1680

 

Jean Jossart

 

1700

 

Martin Delvaux

 

1720

 

Anne Josephe Rouchaux

 

Joseph(Elder) Bourguignon

 

Louis Jossart

 

1740

 

Catherine Dufour

 

Eloi Detry

 

Patrick Hannon

 

1750

 

Jean Baptiste Delvaux

 

M. Francoise Flemal

 

1760

 

Joanna Marie Hingue

 

Joseph Bourguignon

 

Pascal Louis Jossart

 

Philippe Joseph Hannon

 

1770

 

Marie Magdalene Detry

 

1780

 

Constant Joseph Petiniot

 

1790

 

Anne Marie Bourguignon

 

Gregoire Delvaux

 

Louis Jossart

 

1800

 

John Joseph Hannon

 

Marie Therese Laurent

 

Marie Catherine Hannon

 

1810

 

Marie Antoinette Perra

 

1820

 

Emanuel Peickert

 

John M. Peickert

 

1830

 

Elizabeth Wiesen

 

Francois Constant Petiniot

 

John Baptiste Hannon

 

Marie Barbe Jossart

 

Marie Josephine Delvaux

 

1850

 

Albine Josephine Petiniot

 

Joseph Alexander Hannon

 

1880

 

Mary Elizabeth Peickert

 

Maurice Joseph Hannon

 

1910

 

Maurice August Hannon

 

1920

 

Helen Louise Weaver

 

1940

 

James Maurice Hannon

 

Mary Catherine Hannon

 

Michael J. Casey

 

Sharon Katherine Harrold

 

1950

 

Edward Lee Jacobe

 

George Phillip Hannon

 

Heidi Olga Minc

 

Monica Louise Hannon

 

Sally-Sue Donais

 

1970

 

Nora Ann Casey

 

1980

 

Alice Helen Casey

 

James August Hannon Jacobe

 

Marina Louise Hannon Jacobe

 

Paul Matthew Hannon

 

Talitha Ann Hannon

 

1990

 

Daniel Alexander Hannon

 

David Aaryn Hannon

 

Elizabeth Karina Hannon

 

Nina Forziati

 

Phillip Paul Hannon

 

Additional names of spouses and close relatives:

 

A. Neufeund

 

Adele Petiniot

 

Anne Catherine Thoma

 

C. Jossart

 

Catherine A Deperry

 

Catherine Falize

 

Catherine Bonus

 

David Forziati

 

Francoise Coppe

 

Francois Rouchaux

 

Francois Flamend

 

Georges Detri

 

Jeanne Marie Dehingue

 

Joanna Gilot

 

John W. Neufeund

 

Joseph Peickert

 

Marie M. Robert

 

Marie Josephine Thonon

 

Marie Anne Tonnoir

 

Marie De---ire

 

Michael Bourguignon

 

 

 

Are The Hannons Irish?

By Joe Hannon

    Everyone's a little bit Irish on Saint Patrick's day, but for the holiday I wanted to write a post about the question of an Irish origin for our family.

    We know that the Hannons came from Grez-Doiceau, Belgium to Wisconsin in 1853, part of a wave of Belgian immigration to Wisconsin, where they lived in a Walloon community in the Green Bay area and on Door Peninsula. The common parents to all of us in this Facebook group, Joseph Alexander Hannon and Albine Petiniot, were born in Wisconsin to Belgian immigrant parents. Joseph's father Jean Baptiste Hannon was part of the third wave to come over from Belgium, but there were also Hannons on the first boat, the Quinnebang, who were the uncles of Jean Baptiste. Additionally Albine's father Constant Petiniot was on the Quinnebang (which I like to think of as our own Belgian "Mayflower"). Indeed Constant Petiniot was apparently the man who kicked off the entire Belgian immigration, due to an advertisement he saw in a pub in Amsterdam.

    So the point is, we are the American descendants of a Belgian, not Irish, family. Some of us may of course also have Irish heritage, like many Americans. For example I am one eighth Irish on my paternal grandmother's side.

    But there is an old and widespread rumor in our extended family that the Hannon lineage itself actually originates in Ireland, though no one knows when, and there seems to be no documented proof. Could there be any truth to this rumor? I would like to lay out the case for and against.

    For:

    1. The rumor appears to be quite old. I first heard it from my father and aunts and uncles. Uncle Gus repeats the rumor in his family tree book. He attributes it to his father Maurice. So this rumor has been around at least since the time of my great grandfather. My third cousin Derrick Wagner also mentioned hearing that rumor in his family, so if the rumor has the same source, then it goes at least as far back as our common ancestors Joseph and Albine. In fact this rumor survives in even more distant branches of the family. I corresponded with Marge Pifer of Madison WI, who is descended from one of the "Mayflower Hannons". Our common ancestor with her is Jean Philippe Hannon, who died in 1844 before the immigration to the US. So it's possible this rumor goes back to before the 1840s. Another distant relative, Mike Lucas of Green Bay WI, also has the rumor in his family, and there is no documented common ancestry with his branch of the family, meaning our common ancestry is much older still.

    2. Hannon is a common Irish surname. Sometimes people assume I'm of Irish descent on that basis alone. JFK's maternal grandmother Josie Fitzgerald, who lived to see her grandson elected president and assassinated, was a Hannon. There slightly famous pop singer Neil Hannon. There is a Hannon Park here in Irish Boston. There is a website http://clanhannon.com/ for Clan Hannon which documents the history of this illustrious Irish clan. Presumably if the Belgian Hannon family originated in Ireland, then it belongs to this clan.

    3. According to at least one source, our earliest documented Hannon ancestor was Patrick Hannon, born 1740. Patrick is a common Irish first name, and would be unusual for a French or Walloon speaking Belgian.

    Against:

    1. At first I thought the prevalence of this rumor in distant branches of the family lent it credibility, since it implied that the rumor was very ancient. But at some point, it seems too old. The documented lof Hannons living in Belgium goes back to 1629. It's harder to believe that the family immigrated from Ireland to Belgium in the 1500s, and repeated this fact as a family legend for 500 years. The version that our distant cousin Marge Pifer told me was that our Irish Hannon ancestor fought with the Irish against Napolean and settled in the area of Waterloo after the war. But the Battle of Waterloo was in 1815, whereas we have direct Hannon ancestors living in Belgium as far back as 1700. Waterloo is too late in history to be consistent with our documented Belgian history, and the latest dates which are consistent with the records are much too far back to be believable.

    2. The records I have found for the Belgian Hannons do not show a Patrick Hannon. In fact the records I found show that the father of Philippe Hannon was Gilles Hannon (1735-1805), whose father was Denis Hannon (1700-1772). I don't know what Gus's source is for the Patrick Hannon ancestor. In his book he ascribes much of the Belgian genealogy history to his cousin Ian McMonagle, who took a trip to Belgium in the 1970s. I wonder whether Ian might have had some other source. A while ago Sue Rasmussen and Stephanie Witchy Barton told me that Ian's records were in Carol Rose Witchey's house in Green Bay. If I make it out there some day, I would like to see whether Ian left any evidence to resolve this mystery. But for the time being, the records I have been able to find do not show a Patrick Hannon ancestor.

    3. In the human genome there is one chromosome called the Y-chromosome that only males possess in their DNA, and every father passes to his son. Since surnames also pass from father to son, this chromosome tracks surnames (as long as there are no adoptions or other non-paternity father-son relationships in the line). There is therefore a Hannon Y-chromosome. So if a direct Hannon patrilineal descendant, i.e. a male with the last name Hannon, got his Y-DNA tested, it might be possible to see whether the Hannon Y-chromosome is a genetic match with the typical Irish or Belgian Y chromosome. In fact I have done the genealogical Y chromosome DNA test, and we learned that the Hannon Y-chromosome belongs to the I-M253 haplogroup ("haplogroup" just means branch of the genetic family tree). This is a subgroup of the larger I haplogroup.

    The Indo-European peoples who invaded Europe 5,000 years ago brought with them the R1b haplogroup. They are the ancestors of almost all European peoples (but not Basques or Hungarians or Finns). The R1b haplogroup is the most common Y-chromosome throughout Europe, but other haplogroups are not uncommon even among populations Indo-European descent. For example our I-M253 subgroup originated in Scandanavia 15,000 years ago in the Gravettian stone age cultures, so it predates the Indo-European invasion. It is found today throughout Europe, its spread associated with Viking invasions. So it's most highly concentrated in Denmark and Sweden, but it can be found in about 10% of the population in many parts of continental Europe, including both Ireland and Belgium. Therefore our membership in the I-M253 haplogroup does not prove or disprove either a Belgian or an Irish heritage.

    On the other hand, there are a few Irish Hannons who have also taken the Y-DNA test and reported their results. They belong to the haplogroup R1b1a2a1a1, a subgroup of the R1b Indo-European Y-chromosome. This means we do not share patrilineal ancestry with the Irish Hannons, which I consider a strong blow to the Irish origin theory. If the Belgian Hannons came from Ireland, then they are not directly related to the other Irish Hannons who have had their DNA tested with this service. It is possible that the Irish Clan Hannon has other non-matching Y-chromosomes who haven't shown up in DNA tests, so that they don't track the surname exactly (for example, if there was an adoption somewhere in the early history of the clan). It may be unlikely, but we can't rule it out, so the test is not conclusive. It is also possible that in the future, as the Y-DNA family tree gets mapped out more finely (they make discoveries of new branches every year), we may discover a definitive link to Belgium or Ireland. So today we'll count the DNA evidence as an inconclusive blow against the Irish Hannon origin theory, but we'll also watch for future developments to strengthen our results.

    4. I've corresponded with a few confirmed Hannon cousins living in Belgium today. They have no rumor of any Irish heritage. If we believe that this family rumor persisted for centuries, shouldn't it still be remembered by our Belgian cousins? Perhaps it is a product of our American infatuation with Irish culture.

    5. A Marcel Lacourt of the Brabant Walloon historical society suggested an etymology for our surname: Hannon is a shortening of "hanneton", which is the french word for a kind of bug called in English a may-bug or a cockchafer. There is a town in France near the border of Belgium called Hannonville because this insect is very common there.

    So to summarize: the rumor seems to be widespread, but the age suggested by its breadth is not credible, and it's only found in the US, not in Europe. The Irish-sounding Patrick Hannon progenitor is not corroborated in the vital records. The etymology of the surname admits a non-Irish alternative. And the genetic evidence does not support the Irish theory. In the end, I think the evidence does not support the Irish origin theory. However none of the evidence is conclusive, new developments could arise and we could still be surprised.

    So wear green this Saint Paddy's day, just in case!