Joe consults with a Mr. Delaney at one of the two County Mayo genealogy centers about the fact that while there were once Canavans in Curraghadooey, there are none today. Delaney was of the view that the Canavans may have been mobile and not solely pursuing a farming life. He speculated they may have been shopkeepers or tradesmen of some sort. Joe Hart also learns that there also appear to be traces of Canavans in Ballyglass Townland, not far from Curraghadooey. As fate would have it, Joe Hart found multiple Ballyglass Townlands, confusing further this already speculative subject.
Joe’s uncle, Father John Hart, described a Ballyglass north of Curraghadooey. It’s not far from Mayo Abbey on map, where some of the earlier children of Anthony Canavan and Ann Hughes were baptized, but perhaps further away from Curraghadooey than another Ballyglass to the south of Curraghadooey, nearer the border with County Galway. The answer to which, if any, Ballyglass is pertinent to the Canavans remains for later enthusiasts of this subject to explore.
