2015. Have TWO all 37 marker matches with Lehane/Lyhane, one definitely from James Lyhane from Derreenaling, Ballyvourney, likely married there ~1825 and had Daniel Lyhane~1843, had James W 1880 & Hannah 1882- both went to States ~1901; other one with a Stephen Lehane & wife Johannah, both b~1800, maybe[ not supported by baptisms!] married in adjacent parish of Kilnamartyra in 1823. This area must be where our branch of the Lehane/Lyons family originated around 1770-1800. But as no other DNA matches in Ireland, suspect that before that the family had come from Belgium: a 34 marker match existing there and that the family is descended from someone with William of Orange's army who invaded Ireland in 1690
Brief summary written 10/9/2016.
In maybe neighbouring townlands[ different parishes, Ballyvourney & Kilnamartyra] we have a James Lehane b. 1800-1823[ trying to prove - if only someone could come up with what the L in Patrick L Lehane 1877 stands for!!- closer to 1800] and a Stephen Lehane ~1800. They could have been brothers. And maybe they had a brother Timothy, father of our Stephen~1827 . If not, the common ancestor- for the 3 perfectly matched DNA families- must be back ~1770 .
Parish records, even with O'Kief!, can not help us at all
We know exactly where James and his son Daniel 1843 were living in 1852 and in 1901 & 1911
Have not placed exactly where the Stephen Lehane 1800 was before he left for America in 1850, but think it was in a western townland of Kilnamartyra, bordering, or almost, on Derreenaling, Ballyvourney.. He married Joana Healey of Ballyvourney- supporting this theory.
Have asked Jim- descendant of James- and about to ask Paul- descendant of Stephen- for photos of their male ancestors.
The London Censuses have established that Stephen Lyons was born 1827 (plus or minus a year), was married to Catherine Buckley. They are not in UK 1851 census, but have a child Timothy born in Bermondsey, London in November 1852. From this one can reasonably assume they left Ireland sometime between August 1851 and October 1852. There is no record of a marriage in UK, nor of any earlier births to them. They were married in Ireland: in what is now Cork Cathedral on 31/7/1851.
The following is now-2015- obsolete : I am now sure my Stephen Lehane/Lyhane originated from west of Ballyvourney- Derreenaling, Milleeny, Inchamore?
I have left all the research below in case it could help any other Lyons/Lehane researcher
The Mallow Heritage centre can only find one candidate in the whole of Cloyne Dioceses (they have all the Catholic records for this dioceses) (their letter to me is here) that matches this exactly, but another Stephen, born there in 1829 is a possible.
Buttevant Parish
| Child | Parents | Witnesses | |
| 8 Feb 1827 | Stephen Lyons | Patrick Lyons | John Kenelly |
| Ardprior | Mary Daly | Eliza Lyons |
The only other Stephen Lyons born between 1820 and 1830 in the Cloyne records is also in Buttevant. But he was born in 1829, and from UK census records, our man is more likely to be the 1827 birth.
| Child | Parents | Witnesses | |
| 23 Feb 1829 | Stephen Lyons | Edmond Lyons | Ths Conelly |
| Ardsckea | Mary Warren | Mgt Lyons |
However the UK census records show 2 Stephen Lyons, born 1827 in Cork. One is our Stephen Lyons and the other is living in Plymouth, Devon
Therefore there are at least 2 "Stephen Lyons" born in Cork in 1827. "Our's" and the Stephen Lyons picked up in the UK Censuses (1871 & 1881 married to Justina) and who lived in Plymouth, Devon. There appears to be no relationship as childrens names are different - Samuel, Thomas, Edward.
If this man born in Buttevant, Cork in 1827 is not "our" Stephen, then we have to search further. I discovered on the Internet some references to "Michael Lyons" and "Helen Buckley" having children "Michael Lyons baptised on 2 Sep 1850" "Timothy Lyons baptised on 5 Dec 1855" at Boherbue Parish, Co Cork. This parish is under Dioces of Kerry as can be seen on the map on this page. However there are no Stephen Lyons to be found in that parish.
There was a contemporaneous Lyons family at Millstreet. Although the parish of Millstreet is only a few miles from Boherbue, the Christian names of the Lyons family at Millstreet do not appear to match sufficiently well to link them to us.
Also there are Timothy Lyons at this Parish in Griffiths 1852 Dromtarriffe which is between Millstreet and Castlemagner
I have a useful map based guide to all the Cork Parishes and what I have on each here.
At present, my feeling is that "our" Stephen Lyons came from the Castlemagner and Ballyclogh area. However this is by elimination and conjecture. Basically there are very few "Stephen Lyons" in any of the Cork records. Interestingly ALL that I have found are in this very tight area just to the west of Mallow. The map below gives all Stephens in Cork up to 1852.
There is only one Stephen in Griffiths, and that is in our core area above. In addition, see map below, around half the Timothy Lyons in Griffiths come from this area. (each "T" on the map is one Timothy Lyons in Griffiths, and the "S" is the sole Stephen Lyons"
So, 2015, I think my Stephen Lehane/Lyhane originated from areas 20, 53 , 7.