bl_connell

Introduction
The Connell family was one of the families that belonged to the nomadic contingent among the Pern colonists. They were members of the group of Irish traveling folk. Other nomad groups were the Tuaregs, Jensche and Gypsies. The nomadic families formed a select group, the different groups counting only a total of 721 persons of the total amount of colonists of over 6000.
The Connell's were part of a gypsy-like group that was nicknamed "tinkers". The nomads were organized in clans and because of their preferred lifestyle they were on the top of the list of people who were going to receive the first horses bred on Pern. For a short number of years they indeed lived a traveling life with their horse drawn wagons and carts. After the start of Threadfall the clans settled in cave systems until they, too, had to "move north to shield". It seems likely that many of these originally nomadic/traveling families are the ancestors of the trader clans that operated on Pern in later centuries, although the most famous one (Lilcamp) did not have its ancestors among them (see Lilcamp-Lilienkamp Bloodline).
It is known that Sean Connell's family produced at least three Weyrleaders (Sean himself, his son M'hall, who was co-founder and first Weyrleader of Benden Weyr and S'nan, who was Weyrleader of Fort Weyr during the First Interval and Second Pass). Although it is unknown if there were more (Fort and/or Benden) Weyrleaders from this line in the intermediate period, it seems reasonable to assume there were. The same goes for the period after the Second Pass. Although absolutely not a rule or necessity we can assume that the line of Fort and Benden Weyrleaders might have reverted to this "family" group now and then. So T'ron (or T'ton, as he is named only in Dragonflight), might well have been a descendant of Sean Connell. It seems far fetched, but the name T'ron could be seen as a bastardization from the name Torene (M'hall's weyrmate and Benden's first Weyrwoman), which could have been passed down the generations in various forms. Because a Connell Bloodline membership for T'ron of Fort is highly speculative he has not been added to the Bloodline given underneath. That dragonrider families kept their names, or variations for centuries, can be illustrated by the fact that even in the Ninth Pass there was still a rider by the name C'tarel at Benden [H1], who must be a direct descendant of the bronze rider David (Dave) Caterel, one of the original first eighteen dragonriders and co-founder of Benden Weyr [CoP-SW].

	First Pass
A-1	Porrig Connell, born Ireland (Terra) (probably in Galway County), lived there in Ballinasloe. Married: Bridey, born Ireland (Terra) (probably in Galway County), possibly a member of the Moorhouse family. It is supposed that a lot of the families in the original nomad contingent were rather closely related. The Porrig Connell clan lived in a cave system. Porrig Connell was a self centered man, who cared only for himself and his clan. His character is also reflected in the young Sean, who remarked about his father - when the man sent his wife and daughter to help at landing after the first Threadfall - that it was the first time Porrig Connell did anything for anyone else [UK-DD/156]. The name of Porrig Connell’s wife is only given in the UK edition on Dragonsdawn [UK-DD/270], her family name is unknown but in Dragonsdawn the following information can be found about the Moorhouse family: Lally Moorhouse was the girl that was chosen by Sean's mother to be his wife. Lally's father was Sean's mother's first cousin and Sean told his mother that he wouldn’t "breed so close" [US-DD/201; UK-DD/270-271]. Bridey Connell came to Landing after the first Threadfall (with her oldest daughter) to help care for the wounded [US-DD/156]. In Dragonsdawn there is a reference about an unknown number of babies in the Connell clan Sean Connell had to bunk with to prove that his fire lizards scared away the snakes. In the same volume a baby of a certain Sinead is mentioned that was bitten by a blue mottled snake [DD]. It seems reasonable to assume that this Sinead might be a close relative of Porrig Connell, maybe even one of his daughters.

	Children:
1	N.N. Connell (a daughter), born Ireland (Terra) (probably in Galway County), came to Landing after the first Threadfall (with her mother) to help care for the wounded [US-DD/156]. This daughter is possibly identical with Sinead, who must have been significantly older than Sean to already have babies while Sean was still a boy [DD].
2	N.N. Connell (a daughter), born Ireland (Terra) (probably in Galway County) [DD].
3	N.N. Connell (a daughter), born Ireland (Terra) (probably in Galway County) [DD].
4	Sean Connell, follows A-11.

A-11	Sean Connell, born Ireland (Terra) (probably in Galway County in the Ballinasloe area) 29 or 30 BL, came to Pern at the age of 14, apprentice veterinarian, owner of two brown fire lizards and a queen Blazer (menta), owner of the horse Cricket, rider of bronze Carenath, member and leader of the first group of dragonriders and (first) Weyrleader of Fort Weyr Married (started living together in Turn 7): at Landing Sorka Hanrahan, born Clonmel, Waterford County, Ireland (Terra) 27 or 28 BL, came to Pern at the age of 12 [DD/130], apprentice veterinarian, owner of bronze fire lizards Duke and Emmett and the mare Doove, rider of gold Faranth, member of the first group of dragonriders and (first) Weyrwoman of Fort Weyr, daughter of Peter Oliver Plunkett (Red) Hanrahan, veterinarian, and Mairi. (For further information: see Ruatha-Hanrahan Bloodline) Sean and Sorka were planning to stake in the Eastern Barrier Range (Southern Continent) on a stake with the proposed name Killarney. Late in the First Interval/at the start of the Second Pass Sean was sometimes referred to as "the Connell". This could mean that later generations (from M'hall onwards) retained the use of the original family name Connell (or changed it into a first name), thus making it more or less necessary to refer to Sean as the (first) Connell. By the time of the Second Pass however the family name as such wasn't used anymore since Weyrleader S'nan of Fort, a direct descendant of Sean, apparently did not use it. If one assumes that on Pern there were about the same amount of generations (about three) per century as there was on old Terra (old meaning roughly the period from the 18th to the 20th century) this would mean that since Landing and the start of the Second Pass, counting from Sean, S'nan would have been approximately a seventh, or maybe even sixth, generation Connell family member (since the first generation was well under way when the Connell's came to Pern).

	Children (at the time of the founding of Ruatha Hold, during the First Pass, children numbers 1 to 5 were fostered with their Hanrahan grandparents) [CoP-FoRH]:
1	M'hall (Michael/Mihall) Connell / M'hall of Benden, born 10, follows A-111.
2	N.N.
3	N.N.
4	N.N.
5	N.N.
6	Ezremil Connell [a son; UK-CoP-FoRH/123, 130], named after both Ezra Keroon and Emily Boll.

A-111	M'hall (Michael/Mihall) Connell / M'hall of Benden, born 10, rider of bronze Brianath (Impressed in 22), co-founder and (first) Weyrleader of Benden Weyr. Mate: Torene Ostrovsky, born 6, rider of gold Alaranth (Impressed in 25), co-founder and (first) Weyrwoman of Benden Weyr, daughter of Volodya Ostrovsky, mining engineer, and Sonja, mining engineer.

	Children:
-	Unknown.
>GAP
	First Interval/Second Pass
B-1	S'nan of Fort Weyr, born probably Fort Weyr c. 210, rider of bronze Magrith, Weyrleader of Fort Weyr, died probably during the Second Pass. Mate: Sarai of Fort Weyr, born c. 215, rider of gold Lanath, Weyrwoman of Fort Weyr. S'nan seemed to have inherited the conservative and unbending character of his many times great-grandfather Porrig Connell. He was a very strict and conservative Weyrleader and did not easily adapt to new ideas. As a descendant of Sean Connell and Weyrleader of Fort he thought himself the foremost among his peers, a role T'ron of Fort also assumed many Turns and Passes later. S'nan was not the oldest Weyrleader at the start of the Second Pass, G'don of High Reaches Weyr was, but I have estimated he was one of the older ones, at least aged around fifty and thus born around 210.

	Children:
-	Unknown.

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