In the middle of the 17th century Cromwell's army took a lot of land off the Irish people. The English gave a lot of the land that Cromwell had captured as payment to English people. They gave Maurice Stake 543 acres at Gortnamona but he sold it for five pounds and a horse and went back to England. By the end of the 17th century there were new settlers in Gortnamona. Biddulphs lived in Rathrobin, Malones lived in Pallas and O'Connors lived in Mountpleasant. Maurice O'Connor, who was a son of a soldier from the Jacobite army, borrowed £100 and went to England to seek his fortune. He made a lot of money and he returned to Ireland in 1720 and he bought Cappangarron which was the old home of the O'Molloys.

He renamed it Mountpleasant after a property he owned in England. He had a son named John. Then John had a son named Maurice Nugent O'Connor. Maurice built a new mansion and he had 'heir to the Offaly princes' written over the door. He had four daughters and one son but the son died. Maurice's daughter, Elizabeth, married a man named Benjamin Morris and that was how the name O'Connor Morris came about. They had to buy Elizabeth's three sisters out so they ended up in a lot of debt. Benjamin died in 1846 and their son William O'Connor Morris succeeded him. William studied in Oxford and he became a judge. He renamed Mountpleasant, Gortnamona. He was also an author. His best known book was "Memories and Thoughts of A Life." The O'Connor Morris' were good, kind and generous landlords. They were well liked. They built a school for the children of the area.

Mountpleasant House was burnt down by the I.R.A. in 1922 during the Troubles, only the ruins can be seen today.