Hession

Article summary

Hession (pronounced "hesh + in") is an old Connacht Irish surname. It is an Anglicized form of the Irish Ó hOissín. In Irish, it is pronounced "O + hush + een". It appears to originate in County Galway and in County Mayo. The Hession surname is predominantly found in these counties in the Census of Ireland, 1911. It denotes descent from a person named Oisín, a personal name meaning "little deer", and the name of the poet and warrior of the fianna in Irish mythology. Áed Ua hOissín was the name of two Irish clerics in the 11th and 12th centuries - the coarb of St. Jarlath (1050) and the first Archbishop of Tuam (1152) respectively. George Petrie who unearthed the High cross at Tuam which bears an inscription Áed Ua hOissín wrote that he was assisted by a gentleman of the name O'Heshin who little realised he was digging up the relic of an ancestor. Darby O'Hession (spelt O'Hoysshynne) is the name of a Galway Cleric in the 16th, a vicar choral recorded in that churches first charter of St. Nicholas' Collegiate Church in Galway in 1551. Hession has occasionally been spelt Hessian in Galway and is sometimes falsely assumed to be of German origin - See Hessian. MacLysaght suggests a connection with the surname Ussher - which is probably the name of a separate and distinct family of English Origin based in Dublin and later in Galway.…

Key claims

1. date of birth: 1908 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
2. date of birth: 1983 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
3. date of death: 1161 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
2. The record states that the date of birth is "1908". What evidence would count against this claim?
3. The record states that the date of birth is "1983". What evidence would count against this claim?
4. The record states that the date of death is "1161". What evidence would count against this claim?
5. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
6. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1328367507