Mahon Deffier Farm

Mahon – Deffier Farms

John Mahon was born c.1807 in the Kiltubrid area of Drumshanbo.    The family lore says they had come to this area of South Leitrim some generations earlier when they lost their lands in Co. Monaghan.  John Joe Mahon (son of Thomas & Maggie) wrote of the connection with the McMahons of Monaghan and their forced move to Kiltubrid.  Mahon family ancestors are buried in Kiltubrid old graveyard.  He gives details of the coat of arms of the McMahons of Monaghan that was carved on a tombstone in this graveyard.  John Joe gives the location of the family home in early 1820s as Drumineigh Glebe.  They had to leave there because the land was taken for the building of the Church of Ireland Glebe House Rectory.  This was built in 1825 and is still standing 

Deffier:  The first land records I can find for this area are the Tithe Applotment records of 1836.  There are no Mahons listed as landholders/tenant farmers in Deffier at that time.  From this I’m taking it that John became a landholder/tenant farmer in Deffier, 46 acre farm plus around 12 acres (mainly shared bog) in the adjoining townland of Drumherriff, sometime between late 1830’s and 1845.  He married Ann Meehan in Ardcarne Church in February 1845.  We know that he lived in Deffier at the time of his marriage. The adjoining holding of 24 acres was acquired by another Mahon – Owen Mahon – probably at the same time.  I do not know the connection, if any, between Owen and John.  My father (Tom Mahon- grandson of John) and Owen’s grandson (John Francis Mahon) lived on the Deffier farms and Dad always said their relationship was ‘gone out’ – I think they would only use that term when it was gone past third cousin level.  

A detailed land/house survey and mapping was carried out in the mid-1850s - Griffiths Valuation Survey. The name Mahon then appears on the land records in Deffier.  John Mahon is occupier of 45 acres 3 roods and 27 perches (Mapped as Plot 18).  Owen Mahon is on Plot 17.   All the occupiers in the townland were tenants of William R La Touche.   La Touche was the owner of thousands of acres with most of that land leased out to tenant farmers.   As a result of a series of Land Acts in late 1800s and early 1900s this situation changed and tenant farmers got opportunities to buy out their farm lands from the landlords.   

John divided his farm holding between two of his sons, Thomas and Joseph.    Thomas married in 1880 and his name was registered in half of that holding around that time.   Joseph’s name was registered as occupier of the other half in 1888.   John had died in December 1887.  

We only know of one other son of John.  He was also called John and became a landholder of 26 acres in Deffier, but not adjoining his father’s farm.  He married in 1886 so probably got the farm around then.  He died in April 1891 at age 34.  His youngest child, Helena, was then two months old.  His wife, Margaret, died in 1907 and their three children Joseph, Lucy and Helena went to NY bringing an end to that Deffier Mahon homestead.  This farm was sold by auction in 1913.  In the auction notice it says that the land was purchased under the Ashbourne Act (1885) at a yearly annuity of £4.15s.  The Government had advanced £5million in loans to allow tenants to buy out the lands with a 49 yr. repayment plan.  Later Land Acts encouraged more buy out from landlords.   

The 1901 and 1911 census returns give a good overview of house type and farming at that time.  All the 24 houses listed 1911 in the townland of Deffier had thatched roofs.  The Joseph/Eliza farm had a stable (for a horse), a cow house, dairy, piggery and a barn.  In addition to this list the farm of Thomas/Maggie had a calf house, a fowl house and a shed.  I know most farm households kept hens at that time so was surprised to see only three farms had fowl houses listed.  The hens must have shared accommodation with other animals.   Most of the 23 acres of Joseph/Eliza farm land was seen as poor soil and we heard that Joseph wasn’t a dedicated farmer.  Then he took off to NY for 10 years from 1905 to 1915, leaving his wife Eliza and eight children to look after the home and farm.    

Seven of the eight siblings had already emigrated to NY when Grandmother Eliza died in 1928. The farm was inherited by my father who had stayed on in Deffier, looking after his father till he died at home in 1944. He had been almost blind in the later years of his life. 

 Tom married Margaret (Peggy) Flynn at age 51 in 1946.  All the farming was still done manually and my father or mother never drove or owned a car.  They travelled by pony and trap or bike.  He worked two mornings per week in Carrick.  My mother always said she liked Deffier and I know the plan to leave came from my father.   In 1953 he sold the house and farm to next door neighbour McGirl/McManus family and we moved to live in Carrick-on-Shannon.  A son from this family, Tom Joe McManus, still lives on the farm.   The house was thatched until the 1930s when it was reconstructed into the two-storey, slated roof house that stands there now.   

The ‘Thomas/Maggie’ farm was inherited by their son Michael, who married Mary Farrell in 1932.   His children were Eugene d. 2001 (Boston), Nuala d. 2009 in Carrick-on-Shannon, Michael is a Catholic Priest in Perth, Australia.  That generation were last of that branch of Mahon family to live on the farm.   

The great-grandson of Owen (Plot 17), Pauric Mahon, still lives on his Deffier farm. 

Rose Kearney – updated April 2025