The Irish Ancestral Research Association

121 Boston Post Road Sudbury, MA 01776

Spring 2019 Volume 36, Number 1

Ancestral Homes and Land in Ireland

INSIDE THIS ISSUE The President’s Message 2 Walking in the Footsteps/Early Irish Family 3 Homes of Our Ancestors in Rural Ireland 6 The O’Sullivan Shearig Family 9 Secrets in the Closet 11 Theme for Next Issue 14 The Great Famine Voices Roadshow 17 Blog Watch 18 TIARA Library Notes 19 Digging Deeper for Databases 19 Upcoming Events (Back Cover)

TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 36 Number 1 Spring 2019 TIARA The President’s Message Last Fall, on a trip to Ireland I was able to visit several of the island’s Heritage Sites. At Newgrange, after making our way down the low, narrow passageway to the burial chamber, we saw a demonstration of how the late December sunrise illuminates the interior of the passage tomb. Stone Age farmers built this 5000-year-old tomb aligning the The Irish Ancestral Research Association passage and chamber with the rising sun at the winter solstice. An- 121 Boston Post Road Sudbury, MA 01776 other Neolithic passage tomb, the Mound of the Hostages at the Hill www.tiara.ie of Tara was constructed so that the rising sun lights up the chamber at OFFICERS the Cross Quarter Day of Imbolc (Imbolg), the midpoint between the Co-Presidents Susan Steele Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. Virginia Wright Vice President Pam Holland Imbolc’s astronomically derived date can fall anywhere between the Co-recording Secretaries Joanne Delaney second and the seventh of February. Imbolc is the festival celebrated Anne Patriquin since ancient times to mark the beginning of spring. As I write this Corresponding Secretary Pat Deal message at the end of January, here in the Northeast and across the Financial Director Gary Sutherland US we are experiencing record setting frigid temperatures. Spring will COMMITTEE CHAIRS not arrive here in the next few days but it is something to look for- Membership Janis Duffy ward to. Webmaster Pat Landry Foresters Susan Steele Looking forward, not on an astronomical calendar but on the TIARA Library Barbara Brooker Volunteers Allison Doane spring calendar, there are several important items. In June, the execu- tive board members will complete their current two-year term. The DUES: Calendar year membership is (U.S.) $25 per individual & $35 per TIARA bylaws allow a member to serve two consecutive terms in any family for Newsletters sent as a PDF one office. Susan Steele will finish her second term as co-president file via email. An additional $5/yr is and I will not be seeking a second term. Consequently, the position of charged to mail paper copies of the president needs to be filled. newsletters. Canadian and overseas memberships are charged an additional Joanne Delaney is also finishing a second term as Co-recording secre- (US) $10/yr for paper copies of the tary. The executive board is in the process of appointing a three- newsletter. member nominating committee to prepare and submit to the Re- MEETINGS: TIARA meets monthly cording Secretary a slate of officers to be elected at the Annual Meet- except July & August at locations ing in June. At least 30 days before the annual meeting members will throughout the New England area. receive, via the notification format on file, a copy of the slate and the THE TIARA NEWSLETTER meeting notice. Watch for it in your email or postal mail in early May. The TIARA newsletter is published quarterly and distributed to members in There are also some appointed, not elected, committee positions that good standing. need to be filled. TIARA is looking for a website assistant. This job can Editor Mary Coyne be done from home and training will be provided. TIARA needs a Assistant Editors Marie Ahearn Ann Patriquin Book Committee Chairperson to order books and volunteers are Layout Editor Don Ahearn needed to help sell books at conferences. Training will be provided. Submit all correspondence to the above (See Page 5) address or email to [email protected]. President COPYRIGHT All material in this publication is protected by copyright. On the Cover Permission must be obtained for use of Maryann Farrell in front of the house of James and Julia Flynn Farrell, her great, any material and credit given, including great grandparents and their eight children, in Derrycahill, Co Roscommon. Note Title, Author, Volume, and Issue the height of the door, ceiling, size of windows and thickness of the walls. number.

2 TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 36 Number 1 Spring 2019 TIARA

Walking in the Footsteps of my Early Irish Family Janice Kenney Fortado #1095

The day I visited, I was told bility of material from the ceil- Kilcruaig, County that the ground was too wet for ing falling on us - I had to re- Although simply walking on driving through the fields, but I main in one room and look the land where some of my would be welcome to return through doorways where I ancestors were born has when the land was in better could see two tiny rooms with proven to be an occasion filled condition. When I arrived two a bed in each, a kitchen, and a with emotion, finding the years later - thanking the parlor. Although I knew the home itself, even if in ruins, weather gods that the fields house had been deteriorating has been a particularly moving were dry - I was finally able to for many years, it saddened me experience. One of my favorite see the house. to see the walls inside the discoveries was a home in Kil- house crumbling and to see cruaig, Kilflyn, Limerick. My plants growing in the nooks great-great-great-grandfather and crannies of the various Thomas Gallagher, born c1750 rooms. in Kildorrery, , had moved "next door" to This house that had once been Kilcruaig. home to at least seven children was now just a shell with Sometime in the 1800's the rusted bed frames and crum- stones from Thomas's house bling cupboards. As we headed were used to build another Home of Thomas Gallagher (born back to the truck, Liam pointed house and outbuildings nearer ca 1750) in Kilcruaig, Kilflyn, Co out the section of Gallagher to the river. Searching through Limerick land where a Mass path could estate records in the Manu- still be seen - a path that script Room of the National Liam Drake drove me in his stretched through farmers' Library in Dublin, I found in pickup truck over a few acres of fields and led to the local the Gascoigne sisters' estate very uneven terrain. He church, a name probably left records a map showing the stopped occasionally to pull over from the days when hid- exact location of the Gallagher stakes with wiring attached out den paths led to places where house in Kilcruaig. Using in- of the ground - wiring that was priests celebrated Mass se- formation from the map, on used as fencing to keep his cat- cretly. one of my visits to Ireland, I tle from wandering too far drove to Kilcruaig to search for away. He pointed out changes Ballynamongaree, the home. that had been made to the My paternal grandmother, An-

original house, the metal roof nie Gallagher, the great- After failing to find the exact that had replaced the thatched granddaughter of Thomas Gal- property, I inquired at various roof, the front section of the lagher of Kilcruaig, Limerick, homes until I was directed to a house, and a small shed at the was, on her maternal side, the family who owned a "really back of the house. granddaughter of Annie Galla- old home." As it turns out, the gher of Ballynamongaree, family in this old home had He pulled open the metal cov- , Cork. (DNA results been leasing land on the ering in the doorway of the indicate there is no genetic con- Gallagher property for their shed so we could go inside. For nection between these two Gal- cattle so they knew where the safety reasons - all sorts of de- lagher families). The Gallagher house was located. bris on the floor and the possi-

TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 36 Number 1 Spring 2019 3 TIARA house in Ballynamongaree, probably built in the 1700's, is no longer lived in, but it is still in use, most recently for stor- ing farm implements.

According to family history, passed down orally by three Castleterry Roche Home completely separate Gallagher Ballynamongaree Gallagher family lines, the Gallaghers House Ellen Roche, Annie Gallagher's had come down from Co. mother, was born about 1820. Donegal to fight at the Battle the Sacred Heart still hanging

of in 1601. Because of on the wall in the kitchen. The houses I have shown above the devastating loss to the Brit- have all had a connection to my ish, all three Gallagher lines Annie Gallagher left Ballyna- paternal grandmother Annie did not return to Donegal. The mongaree when she married Gallagher. The house below be- Ballynamongaree Gallaghers, William Roche and settled in longed to Annie's husband's according to family informa- nearby Castleterry, Ballindan- family - Dennis Kenney's mater- tion, served as blacksmiths at gan, Co. Cork - the only land nal grandmother Margaret Ken- Glanworth Castle. Because belonging to my extended fam- nedy Carroll, born about 1785. there was a forge listed on ily that I have ever found in the Margaret's family home - now land records (from the time of Books of Survey and Distribu- in ruins - is in Ballyshonack, Griffith's Valuation until tion (compiled between the Farahy, Cork. It was the house the early 1900's) and because 1650's and 1680's), which list where a cousin who was ac- the present owner occasionally the names of the last Catholic tively involved as a Fenian, Ed- comes across tools used by a owner of land and the names of mond O'Brien Kennedy, was blacksmith poking through the the new Protestant owners. likely born in 1848. (A friend of ground, the story passed O'Donovan Rossa, and embit- down through the years seems I was able to view these records tered by his family's eviction, to have some validity. on microfilm at the National Edmond, who used the alias Library in Dublin and found Tim Featherstone, joined others As for visiting the Gallagher the last Catholic owner of the seeking to fight British oppres- home, although the inside of section of Ballindangan where sion and was caught and sen- the five-room house three my family had lived was Rich- tenced to life in prison in 1883 very large rooms and two ard Roche, "a Papist." for being part of the Fenian smaller ones off the kitchen That was another exciting Dynamite Campaign). The was filled with farm, garden, "find" for me as the information photo below shows the Ken- and household items, I was that had been passed down nedy home, now in ruins. impressed with the loft that orally now made sense - that (See Walking page 16) had two openings, the un- the ancestors of the present usual patterns in the wood Roche family were Richard ceiling, and the large fireplace Roche and Johanna Farrell. I in the kitchen with an antique was told that the building teapot still hanging from an shown in the photo below, one elaborate but rusted pot hook, that is now used for storage probably forged on the prop- and which had erty. Not surprisingly, there been used to house some of the was the traditional picture of farm animals previously, is where my great-grandmother, Kennedy House

4 TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 36 Number 1 Spring 2019 TIARA

(President’s Message continued) Please consider offering your time and talent version is available at http://www.nergc.org/ to help keep this all-volunteer organization wp-content/uploads/2018/12/NERGC- functioning. 2019.pdf.

On Saturday March 23, TIARA will hold an The Great Famine Voices Roadshow is returning Open Library afternoon from 1-4PM. Members to Massachusetts on March 22. This year it will can meet and chat with other, exchange research take place at the Irish Cultural Center of New tips and use TIARA book collection to conduct England in Canton Mass. The roadshow will also research. A one-day writing workshop is also visit Washington, DC and Hamden CT. The pur- being planned for late spring. More details to pose of the roadshow is for Irish immigrants and follow once a date is finalized. their descendants to share family memories of migration from Ireland during and after the fam- The Irish Ancestry Tour customized for TIARA ine. Last year, one of the events was held at Bos- by EF/Go Ahead Tours and Ancestry ProGene- ton College and several TIARA members partici- alogists will take place October 6-16, 2019. pated. You can listen to them at http:// Enough folks have signed on to make the trip a greatfaminevoices.ie/boston/. For more informa- go. If you missed the sign-up deadline but are tion on this year’s events, visit http:// now interested, contact EF/Go Ahead at 1-800- www.strokestownpark.ie/great-famine-voices- 438-7672 or email [email protected]. They roadshow/. may be able to accommodate you. A date to save on your 2020 calendar is July 31- NERGC’s 15th Conference, “A Link to the Past, a August 1, when the fourth biennial Celtic Con- Bridge to the Future” takes place on April 4-6 in nections Conference, co-sponsored by TIARA Manchester, NH with a Preconference day and IGSI will take place. The venue for this event rd on Wednesday April 3 that features six special is the Westin Chicago North Shore Hotel (601 N. interest tracks and 5 workshops. TIARA is one Milwaukee Ave, Wheeling, IL, 60090). of the participating societies of the conference and is the sponsor of member Pam Holland’s presentation Irish Genealogy Toolkit. If you [email protected] haven’t seen the 2019 Conference brochure, a pdf

TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 36 Number 1 Spring 2019 5 TIARA Homes of Our Ancestors in Rural Ireland Michael B. Melanson # 1015

Housing of the rural tenantry Drumiskabole, County Sligo, found. The thatched roof in Ireland before the Great December 1749 waged a losing battle with the Famine ran the gamut from billowing, dark plume. The one-room, mud-walled hovels Twilight came early as winter visual effect gave the Irish to three or four room stone wrapped its raw, steely grasp hovel its nickname – a smoke, cottages with glazed windows, on the dormant ground. Bone- or, the much less flattering the latter being much more the chilling rain was typical this analogy, that it resembled a exception than the rule. Most time of year, keeping outdoor reeking dunghill. homes had dirt floors – some activities to a minimum and well into the 20th century. In confining families to their cot- For the outsider, reeking may the 1841 census, dwellings tages. It was a time to prepare be aptly applied to the pungent were grouped into four classi- for Christmas and to look for- odor produced by the burning fications – the fourth and low- ward to the spring planting sods, which deeply penetrated est being “windowless mud season. It was a time for social all it embraced – the hair, the cabins of a single room,” calls, games, and dancing – a skin, and the clothes. For the which were occupied by celebration of the holiday sea- native Irish, the sweet smell nearly half the rural popula- son, the completion of a plenti- embodied home, warmth, and tion. These abominable huts ful harvest, and the anticipa- the security of family. The constituted three-fifths of the tion of a robust new year. woodlands were owned by the houses in western Ireland. Not landlords and using those for recorded were the abodes of Throughout Drumiskabole, as fuel was forbidden. Conse- the dispossessed or evicted in most communities across quently, they burned dried turf families living in ditches or Ireland, the potent odor of cut from the peat bogs of wa- bog holes with any refuge burning turf permeated the terlogged soil and decompos- available pulled over them for air. Each small cottage oozed ing vegetation. cover. thick, black smoke from its The dunghill moniker may Taken from my book Journey – eaves, and through the very have been more literal, refer- An Irish-American Odyssey, the thatch itself, as if internally ring to the actual manure heap follow excerpts describe the engulfed in flames. Inside, piled high in front of the cot- homes and living situations of there was no chimney, no tage. Little distance existed be- two Irish families in rural Ire- hearth, just a fire – burning tween it and the front door – land in the 18th and 19th centu- peat and potato stems – built an area littered with contribu- ries. Even among the rural upon the floor against a wall tions not flung as far as neces- Irish tenantry, there could be surrounded by flat stones, sary. Upon entering the hovel, vast differences in housing where the meals were pre- a chorus of clucks, quacks, and and lifestyle. pared and the family gathered honks – depending upon for warmth. The smoke rose to which fowl the family kept – the rafters escaping through trumpeted the arrival. Strewn any gap, breach, or crevice across the dirt floor, awaiting

6 TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 36 Number 1 Spring 2019 TIARA conveyance out of doors, were earthen floor. With a bowl of until adolescence, he was hid- their own donations to the salt in easy reach of everyone den in plain sight. The fairies heap. and each with a mug of butter- had little interest in lowly In the lowlands and bog coun- milk, supper began. girls, preferring to spirit away try, where stone was scarce, the precious sons. The children mud houses were most com- Each diner retrieved a potato taken to live with the fairies mon. The one-room cabins from the basket, gripping it were replaced by sickly were built with thick walls for firmly, enjoying the warmth it changelings, who would most stability, made from layers of radiated, and, with the skill of certainly thereafter die. sod, dirt, and clay mixed with a surgeon, divested the spud rushes. The door was a simple, of its jacket in seconds using Other than the fairies, the cares narrow cutout. The small win- the thumbnail, grown long of tenant farmers were few be- dow openings were positioned specifically for this purpose. yond their townland and, for directly under the thatched This type of meal was known some in the family, beyond roof to keep out the rain. A as “dip-at-the-stool.” As the their own haggard and fields. thick coat of lime wash was rest of the family ate, a wan- A good harvest and food in applied annually to the exte- dering toddler was entertained their bellies gave them reason rior to protect against the ele- by the family pig, each receiv- to sing and dance. An inher- ments. If constructed properly, ing small pieces and discarded ently social people, the holiday mud cabins could keep the oc- scraps as they made their way seasons, social gatherings, and cupants warm and dry. around the outside of the semi market days provided the ca- -circle. The pig was not for maraderie lacking in the some- In Drumiskabole, the one- family consumption, nor was times solitary, daily life led by room, stone cottage was most it a pet. It would be fattened a farmer and his family. The typical. Inside, miscellaneous for market when food was highly anticipated fair days flat-top stones and wood scarce in the lean summer drew the people of Dru- blocks, used as seating furni- months. The cow, which stood miskabole from their country- ture, were positioned in a semi quietly in the corner, had been side homes to the market -circle about the communal brought inside from the hag- towns of Sligo and Ballysadare. A fair gave the country people fire – the honored old man and gard for the winter. Since she an opportunity to celebrate and old woman seated closest to its was needed for her milk, she reconnect with family and warmth. The low seating ar- would not share the pig’s fate. friends who may have married rangement kept heads well outside their community. below the rising smoke. The As the toddler made his way large, black cauldron, the only from diner to diner, he For the old man, surrounded by pot in sight, was removed occasionally tripped on his his family in his warm, dry cot- from its position over the long dressing gown. His tage, he could sit back and enjoy flames and its contents of disguise as a girl was the fruits of his labors as the boiled, unpeeled potatoes, necessary to protect him from head of his household. The transferred to a basket which the malevolent fairies, who year’s final harvest had pro- sat in the center of the group, might spirit him away. In this duced enough potatoes to keep steaming on the hardened, costume, which he may wear them all fed throughout the

TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 36 Number 1 Spring 2019 7 TIARA

winter and spring months. mark the exterior wall loca- would break. All the while, the tions. A two-foot trench for the stone walls grew higher and Michael Mahoney Builds a House, foundation gave the house sta- higher. As evening stole the Meentolla, County Limerick, 1843 bility and permanence. The fin- light, the merriment continued ished dwelling may have taken at the father’s cottage into the Michael Mahoney and Johanna months to complete in their early morning hours. Once the O’Brien were married in Mur- spare time or, with enough as- stone walls were completed roe Parish on Tuesday, Febru- sistance, could have been con- and the roof timbers secured, ary 21, 1843, by Father Maher. structed in a matter of a days. Michael hired a thatcher to fin- It was a week before the start of When additional labor was re- ish his new home. the Lenten season and three quired, the future homeowner years before the Great Famine. hired a fiddler, which enticed While most stone dwellings of Their first child was probably the assistance of friends and any substance were rectangular taken from them by the dis- neighbors. Having spent the and comprised of two or three eases which ravaged the coun- better part of the previous few rooms, with two or three win- try during those dark years – months indoors, building the dows in the front, Michael and although, the fairies may have cottage in the early spring was Johanna’s cottage had four been suspected. At a time when a welcomed social activity for rooms and four windows in the the family farm was settled on the community. front. Each window was rather one son and the others either small and consisted of four emigrated or did not marry, the The gathering moved stone, panes of glass – two upper and option to raise a family near the sawn timber, and cut thatch, two lower – flanking the only home place was a rarity. The while tapping their toes to the door. This half-door, which Mahoneys of Meentolla were fiddler’s tune, until they could was most common, could be the exception. Denis Mahoney, control the urge to dance no left open at the top, to allow Michael’s father, leased 125 longer. Music made the Irish light and air into the otherwise acres, which allowed him the dance. It was not a proper or dark and stuffy interior, while opportunity to settle three of staid dance by conventional the bottom remained closed, to his sons on the farm. The land standards. It was free keep stray farm animals out. In was subdivided for rental value and lively, a language some houses, there was a back- purposes. However, the prop- frenetic scene of joy and laugh- door opposite the front, which erty appears to have been man- ter. To a stranger from afar, it was rarely used – except “for aged more as an overall family could be mistaken for a pagan days when the wind blows collective than individual celebration with limbs flying, contrary.” farms. Michael was the first to bodies jumping, and arms marry and receive his share. wrapped in arms – a choreogra- Melanson, Michael B. Journey – phy as none had ever before An Irish-American Odyssey. Michael and Johanna built their seen. Above the hurly-burly Dracut, MA: Lanesville Pub- new home near the geographic laughter and chatter, the fid- lishing, 2016. center of Meentolla. Construc- dler’s fingers plucked and the tion plans began with site selec- bow passed wildly across the tion and an outline in the dirt to overheated strings – surely, one

8 TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 36 Number 1 Spring 2019 TIARA

The O’Sullivan Shearig Family from the Townland of Reentrisk, West Cork Mary L. Tyrrell #2678

My great-grandparents, Eliza- Parish, County Cork, Ireland”. I are a treasure. The books, list- beth and Jeremiah O’Sullivan bought it on faith and that ing all the tenants on every plot Shearig lived on the Beara Pen- night, back in the B&B in Killar- of land (starting with the first insula in a townland called Re- ney, started to go through it. Griffith’s Valuation) were up- entrisk in Allihies Parish (civil Luckily, on page 23 (out of dated every 5 years or so, mark- parish of Kilnamanach). 296!), there was our family. ing changes by crossing out the Shearig is the clan name of my name of the former tenant and ancestors – there were so many The first entry was Darby writing in the new one. All the O’Sullivans on Beara that each O’Sullivan (Shearig) of Eskan- updates are color coded, red family group had a clan name, inane, Reentrisk. He was my pencil one time, blue pencil the or nickname. My mother’s great-great-great grandfather. It next, etc. cousin Elizabeth Evans knew is said that his son, Michael, set- about the clan name and it’s a tled down on the home place Each entry includes the name of good thing because most of the and married Honora Hanley. It the occupier, the immediate parish records for Allihies only went on to list Michael and lessors, a description of the list the clan name. Honora’s children. Their son property (land, house, etc.) and

Jeremiah settled in the home the valuation. The lessor for I found the townland as well as Reentrisk was the Earl of Ban- the name of the small place farm and married Elizabeth try, who had owned most of the within Reentrisk, the clochán1, O’Sullivan of Glenera, a land on Beara since the 17th cen- from the work of the eminent townland on the other side of tury. Within each townland, Beara genealogist Riobard the parish near Dursey. O’Dwyer. On my first visit to each entry has a number which I have since looked at all the Beara, with my parents and corresponds to the numbers on cousin, my mother and I were parish records in the National the corresponding townland in a small shop in Castletown- Library in Dublin-which is a joy map. I was then able to look at bere, called The Shell, a won- – to do the work myself even the old map and purchase a derful place full of local history though I had seen O’Dwyer’s copy. books, jewelry, and other Irish book. There I found my great- crafts. Sadly it’s closed now grandparents’ marriage record, In 1859 there were seven fami- lies in Eskaninane and I was and Castletownbere no longer baptism records for their sib- able to see the location of my has a bookstore. lings and their children. family place on the map. From I happened to mention to Ger- I have been to Reentrisk, which here on it was a bit of guess- tie O’Sullivan, who ran the is at the very end of the Beara work, but I’m satisfied I have shop, that my mother’s father’s Peninsula, and am pretty sure I very likely located the house as family came from Allihies. She have found the place where the first one on the right com- said “Then they must be in the they lived, an old ruin like so ing up the road from Allihies. book” and I said “What book?” many across the landscape of From the Tithe Applotment She disappeared upstairs and western Ireland. On a research book of 1827 on microfilm at came back with a book by O’D- trip with TIARA in 2005, I vis- the Irish National Archives I wyer, “Who Were My Ances- ited the Valuation Office in learned that the family had 3 tors? Genealogy (Family Trees) Dublin. At that time, research- arable acres, 2 acres of pasture of the Allihies (Copper Mines) ers were allowed to look at the and 2 acres of mountain land. valuation revision books, which

TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 36 Number 1 Spring 2019 9 TIARA There was a house (19’ x 16’ x the Puxleys owned the Allihies 6’) and an “office” (17’ x 16’ x copper mines. Tithes were 6’), which was probably an due to the Reverend Henry outbuilding. The house was Harris, of the Church of Ire- classified as “class 3C+”, ac- land. (As an aside, while re- cording to the information in searching in the Bantry Estate the House Books (based on records at the University Col- Griffith’s Valuation, also on lege Cork library, I was rather microfilm at the Archives). proud to see my ancestor The 1861 census abstracts (at Darby Shearig on the list of the National Library) give a scofflaws who had not paid Ocean view from O’Sullivan their tithes.) description of the classes of Shearig family home in

houses. A class 3 was a cot- Eskaninane, , tage, with 2-4 rooms and The townland of Reentrisk is County Cork, Ireland windows. mostly mountain. It’s also cluster of houses at the end of a mountain road. The first structure on the right is an old ruin, which I believe was the home of my ancestors. It is a starkly beautiful place, with spectacular views of the ocean.

But a terrible rocky piece of

land to try and grow food, and

it must be a dreary windy place in the winter. The old house across the road is about the same footprint, so I could get a sense of what it might have looked like with walls Ruins of O’Sullivan Shearig family home in Eskan- inane, Beara Peninsula, County Cork, Ireland and a roof.

In 1877, the year my great- called Cod’s Head because of grandparents left for America, its shape, which looks a bit like there were probably 8 people a fish head as it juts out into living in the house. It was the Atlantic. It is about 5 km May, the crops were planted, from Allihies village. There but the mines were in decline are 6 clusters, or clocháns, be- and there was no work. So, tween 4 and 8 houses each. In they emigrated to Fall River, 1871 there were 35 houses with Massachusetts where my great grandmother’s aunt and sisters View of Cod’s Head in the a population of 233 (1871 cen- were living. Background, Beara Penin- sus abstract). sula, County Cork, Ireland On my next visit to Allihies, (See O’Sullivan page 16) with the help of local people, I In 1827, Darby Shearig leased located Eskaninane, a small the land from Edward Puxley -

10 TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 36 Number 1 Spring 2019 TIARA Secrets in the Closet Maryann Flaherty #592

Some of my vivid childhood tions answered. I realized that in law’s. She was clearly dis- memories are of my grand- if I were to learn, I would have tancing herself from the bible mother’s conversations be- to do it on my own. I knew that and told me all she thought I tween her and her sisters. They I would start my search with needed to know. The writing were a constant presence in my my grandfather Bernard on the first page indicated that home. When they were talking McCormick and his family be- the bible was a gift. It reads: about someone, they whis- cause of the strong family re- ‘TO Miss Mary Farrell BY Her pered. When one of us would semblance. brother Bernard Farrell’. It was enter the room, they would stop talking. I really wanted to know who all those people were that they were talking about. When I got my grand- mother alone and asked, she said it was none of my busi- ness. When I asked a simple and seemingly innocuous ques- tion like what her father’s name was or where he was born, the answer was abrupt. She didn’t welcome any more questions.

My grandmother was Mary O’Donnell. Her husband, my grandfather was Bernard McCormick. My grandfather died before I was born and it was clearly painful for my grandmother to talk about him. I had seen his picture but there Front page of family bible belonging to Mary Farrell, great grand- was that aura of mystery sur- mother to author, Maryann Flaherty. rounding him because of the My grandmother had pictures dated September 1886. So my silence. My mother and broth- and documents and a bible in great grandmother was Mary ers strongly resembled him and her closet. I waited until no one Farrell and she had a brother, I always wanted to know more was looking and went through Bernard Farrell. Was my grand- about him. I knew that my them all. I wanted to know who father Bernard named after grandparents were born in Bos- all those people were. The bible him? Was the bible a wedding ton but that was all I knew and in her closet was very big, obvi- gift? I would have to learn as far as my mother and grand- ously very old and falling when my great grandparents mother were concerned, that apart. It was full of prayer cards married to figure that out. I was all I needed to know. I and dried flowers and recipes. I would need to know my great never sensed a deep dark secret asked her whose bible it was. grandfather’s name for that. I --I just wanted my simple ques- She told me it was her mother wasn’t going to get any more

TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 36 Number 1 Spring 2019 11 TIARA

from my grandmother and re- of where to go next and added in 11 minutes. Aunt Esther was solved that some day I would those repositories to my list. far more talkative about these find out about Mary, Bernard things than my mother or and all of the people on all of As I found more dates and grandmother. Esther knew the those prayer cards. The secrets places and ancestors and added areas in Roscommon and Gal- were getting to me. them to my notes, I asked my way where her mother and fa- mother and father about them. ther might have been born. My One of the pictures in the closet It was the utter disinterest that great grandfather finally had a was a wedding picture of amazed me. I had found infor- name. It was Michael McCor- Cousin Mary. The groom in the mation on my father’s family mick. Aunt Esther even had picture wasn’t her ever present and when I shared it with him, exact birth dates. It was pre- husband Johnny. I showed the he looked at me with a blank email days so I mailed a letter picture to my grandmother and stare. I was boring him. to the Roscommon Heritage asked about it. She grabbed it Center and a genealogy center from me and told me to mind After I got creative with the in Galway for birth certificates. my own business. In those spelling of McCormick and Both centers sent me the days, it was so much easier not tried McCormack, I found my certificates. to talk about a situation than to then widowed Mary Farrell in have to explain and use the D the 1940 census with her son Now I knew the place where word. Divorce was not an ac- Charles. I asked my mother Mary Farrell and Michael ceptable topic for my grand- about her Uncle Charles. In- McCormick were born and mother’s generation. It was stead of an answer, I got some- their parents’ names. Mary was those kinds of secrets that thing like, ‘Charles? Where did born in Derrycahill Roscom- piqued my curiosity. I always you dig him up?’ That was her mon and Michael was born in wonder if they had just told me way of telling me that she was- Derreen Galway. Jackpot. My about all the people that I asked n’t going to tell me. After my jackpot euphoria passed be- about, would I have such an mother died, I learned that her cause I was immediately over- interest in genealogy. Uncle Charles McCormick died come with the need to get on a in a state hospital. My mother’s plane and head to Derrycahill About 30 years ago I decided to father Bernard McCormick had and Derreen. That certainly start the search for all those elu- a brother and my mother had wasn’t going to happen any- sive people in my grand- never mentioned him. The past time soon though with three mother’s closet and all the peo- was the past and it should stay little ones. ple who were being discussed that way. Oh how they loved in hushed tones. I started my those secrets. For the time being, I did what search with three small children research I could. By that time I and no computer. I had to take After an afternoon of prying, had a computer and posted a advantage of babysitters when I my mother did tell me that she few queries online to the very could and grab a few hours at a had an Aunt Esther who she early stage message boards. time-- one afternoon at the state thought was still alive and liv- One of the many queries was archives, another a month later ing in Michigan. Really? Her about my Farrells and McCor- at the federal archives, and an- father had a sister and my micks. I suspected there were other months later at NEGHS mother never mentioned her? more Farrell and McCormick or the Boston Public Library. I How many more siblings were descendants out there and I would come home many days there? I found a phone number wanted to hear from them. I with nothing to show for it or for Esther McCormick never received any replies from maybe just a morsel. When the Scherfner in about 10 minutes the queries; life got busy and I kids were in bed, I made notes and was on the phone with her put my notes in a box for a later

12 TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 36 Number 1 Spring 2019 TIARA time. By then, that bible was Armed with Aunt Esther’s in- She asked me what my great mine. I did get it restored at a formation and the letter from grandmother’s name was. book binder but that too went the Roscommon Heritage Cen- When I told her Mary Farrell, into the back of my closet. ter, I headed for Ireland. I she said that her mother was a picked up my daughter at the Farrell. She put down her About 10 years later, my phone college in Galway and and broom and got in the back seat. rang. It was a woman who had drove to Derrycahill, Roscom- She took us there. I never read my very old Farrell query mon. As detailed as my map would have found Derrycahill and thought there might be a was, I couldn’t find Derrycahill. without her. connection. She recognized the townland Derrycahill and the We stopped and asked a We talked about the Farrells on Farrell name. She is a fellow woman who was sweeping her the ride—who my grandfather sleuth and had no trouble driveway for directions to Der- and great grandmother were, tracking me down. I dug out rycahill. She asked me, who her grandfather and great my notes in the closet and we ‘Derrycaaal’? What do you grandfather were. My new compared names. My caller, want to go there for?’ I wasn’t guide, Goreti Fallon was my Anne, was the great grand- sure if she was correcting my third cousin! Her great grandfa- daughter of Bernard Farrell— pronunciation or if she really ther was John Farrell, brother to the brother who gave the bible wanted to know why anyone my great grandmother, Mary to my Mary Farrell. We were would want to go there. I told Farrell. She showed me the Far- third cousins. her that my great grandmother rell house. was from Derrycahill. It was very exciting to make that connection. Not long after our conversation, Anne and her sister Jeanne came to Boston to do research. We met and shared family stories. I brought the bible to make our connec- tion official. It was the first of several visits.

Their visit rejuvenated my research. Ancestry and Familysearch were available online and I dug in again. I learned more in one night on Ancestry than I did in the 5-6 years of writing letters and cranking out rolls of microfilm on my rare research days. I started thinking again of that trip to Ireland. My daughter was now in college and was Maryann Farrell in front of the house of James and Julia Flynn talking about a semester over- Farrell, her great, great grandparents and their eight children, in seas. She asked me if she went Derrycahill, Co Roscommon to Ireland, would I like to visit? She already knew the answer.

TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 36 Number 1 Spring 2019 13 TIARA It was now in ruins but she had The Kelly girls played softball who married a ‘dirty Protes-

wonderful stories about going with my daughters and one of tant’ and whose name couldn’t there when she was much them was my son’s classmate ever be mentioned. My grand- younger and visiting with the for 8 years. The world was be- mother never uttered the word last person who lived in the coming smaller by the minute. protestant without putting the home, Bernie Farrell. Bernie word dirty in front of it. So was nephew to my Mary Farrell I couldn’t thank Goreti enough. much has changed. Grand- and great uncle to my new- She made my trip. When I mothers fortunately aren’t con- found cousin Goreti. Goreti thanked her and hugged her for cerned about those kinds of brought me to the family bog, such a wonderful afternoon, things now. I also learned who the Church and across the river she couldn’t understand my the other family members were into Galway to my great grand- tears of joy. I felt like I should whom she talked about so dis- father Michael McCormick’s be in an ad for Visit Ireland. I gustedly. They died young by house in Derreen. Goreti wasn’t wished there was a camera their own doing and my grand- a McCormick cousin but she crew for the ad right there-- mother and others had to take knew of the McCormicks. taping the ultimate trip to in their children; grandmothers Ireland. still have to concern themselves She was a true ‘townie’. She with those kinds of things. So knew everyone in every house When I had showed the Farrell much has changed and so much on the road from DerryCahill to bible to my Wisconsin cousins, is still the same. Derreen, just over the river in Anne and Jeanne, on their trip Galway. Although Derrycahill to Boston, I thought I had made is in Roscommon and Derreen the final Farrell connection with Theme for June Issue is in Galway, they are part of them. Then I got my ancestry Ancestral Homes and Land the same parish. That would DNA results. They were there in Ireland confirm what Aunt Esther had again, making my Farrell con-

told me about her parents hav- nection even more official. This topic was very popular so we ing known each other in Ireland Seeking that connection isn’t are continuing it for the next issue and marrying here in Boston. final; it’s ongoing. Every time I as well. New stories always welcome. think my research has reached [email protected] I couldn’t have been more ex- an end, something new ap- cited. Goreti talked about her pears. What I thought would be Have you been able to find the brother Peter Kelly who had a finite project has turned into a townland and possibly the home moved to the US and lived in lifelong hobby with new adven- where your family lived before Milton—the next town over tures every year. emigrating. Is there a story about from my family. My children how you found it? Where was it went to grammar school in Mil- With every new find in my Far- situated? ton. My daughter told us that rell and McCormick lines, I go she knew Kellys in Milton. I back to those secretive conver- Have you visited the home or didn’t pay much attention to sations that I overheard as a townland? Were there out build- her because everyone knows a curious child. I learned who my ings? What was the view? Was it Kelly in Milton. When Goreti grandmother-in-law was who what you expected? Can you told me Peter’s daughters’ ‘married an Italian’ and there- describe what it might have been like before they left? Were family names, my daughter and I both fore had to be in the mafia. I still on the land or perhaps using realized that we really did learned who her nephew was the house. Do you have a photo? know them. How was the land used? How

many people lived in the house?

14 TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 36 Number 1 Spring 2019 TIARA

Odds and Ends

Problems Logging In to tiara.ie? Try This.

Your User Name is your email address that you provided to TIARA. The TIARA website sent a pass- word to that email address when the members-only section was added to the website. If you are a new member of TIARA, the website will send an e-mail to the e-mail address you gave us once the TIARA volunteer adds your name to the website member list. If you have more than one email, you must use the same email address where your password was sent. If you join online your membership will not be activated immediately. There will be a delay of a few days for processing.

If you were not successful logging in or do not have the password that was sent, try the following:

 On the TIARA website, select MEMBERS ONLY tab then select "Log In"  Under EXISTING USER LOGIN, click on "Forgot Password"  A "password reset" message should show up in your e-mail with a new password.  Check that the email did not end up as "spam" if you do not receive it.

Log in with your User Name and new password. Make sure you type the password correctly or if you cut and paste it, make sure no extra spaces are selected. The password is case sensitive and no extra spaces before or after the password can be entered. (Note: You will need to enter your email address in both the User Name field and in the Email Address field.)

Once you successfully log in to the site, select the My Account tab under Members Only and you will be able to change your password to something you choose. We cannot access your password, so make a note of it.

If you are not successful logging in, please contact [email protected] and let the webmaster know what error message you received.

What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life? By T. M. Toohey #2705

The dead, they’re dead a very long time. While we recline and play with rhyme The living, they frolic as their days unwind. And scatter notes on ragtime The dead below are still after death Our best use now of days unwound While those above waste every breath. Records past lives where’er they’re found.

But a day is lost if we don’t post So as we leave this mortal ball A gift for those we love the most. All wrapped up in a funeral shawl An artful rhyme, a music note, Let’s leave a text for those adored A line or two a parent spoke. The story of those who came before.

TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 36 Number 1 Spring 2019 15 TIARA

(O’Sullivan continued) (Walking continued)

I am ever grateful for that Irishgenealogy.ie Dennis Kenney, husband of wonderful TIARA trip to announces an update Annie Gallagher and my Dublin in 2005, where I grandfather, was born in a cot- learned the ins and outs of January 11, 2019 tage in Knockadea, Ballyland- research in the repositories, ers, Limerick. Unfortunately, libraries and archives. I’ve “We are pleased to advise there is only a depression in been many times since and that in early 2019, an the ground where the home can confidently plow into my additional 2 years of records once stood. There was, though, research because of the help of births marriages and another home on the property and inspiration from the ge- deaths will be added to the that had an interesting nealogists of TIARA and the www.irishgenealogy.ie story attached to it. In the 1870's the government National Library of Ireland. website. The marriage index data along with had a program where homes 1According to Wikipedia, were built for families who additional images will also A clachan (Irish: clochán, pro‐ were poor. Apparently, it could be updated for the years nounced [ kl ˠoxanˠ], or clachan, take years before a house was 1864-1869 inclusive. The pronounced [klˠaxənˠ]; is actually completed so by the a small settlement or hamlet years covered by the release time the Kenney house was in Ireland, the Isle of Man of the historic records of built, James and Ann had and Scotland. It is likely Births, Marriages and left Knockadea to join their that many date to medieval Deaths after this update will children in America. A 1939 times or earlier – a cluster of be: entry in my small single-story cottages of uncle's diary that mentioned farmers and/or fishermen, Births: 1864 to 1918 meeting the Widow Guiry, invariably found on poorer Marriages: 1864* to 1943 who had been the first one to land. live in the Kenney house, now Deaths: 1878* to 1968 made sense. The house had Editor's note: The Valuation been built for the Kenneys, but Office in Dublin is in the process *The General Register office because they had emigrated of scanning the revision books. will continue to work on before it was finished, Mrs. Once a county's books have been updating further records of Guiry was the first one to live scanned, researchers may look at Marriages dating back to there. the scanned version of the books 1845 and Deaths dating on computers at the Valuation back to 1864. These will be Office and the original books for included in future updates The journey to find an ances- that county are no longer avail- to the records available on tral home is one that words able to the public. As of Decem- the website. “ cannot adequately describe. It is my wish that every member ber, 2018, 17 counties had been of TIARA has the opportunity scanned. There is no plan to to take such a journey. place scanned books on line at this time.

16 TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 36 Number 1 Spring 2019 TIARA The Great Famine Voices Roadshow Returns to Canton

Come share your family memories and stories about their emigration from Ireland to Boston. The Great Famine Voices Roadshow 2019 is coming to the Irish Cultural Centre of New England in Canton, MA on March 22nd, 2019.

The Irish National Famine Museum at Stroketown Park and Irish Heritage Trust are working in partner- ship with the Irish Cultural Centre of New England to bring the Great Famine Voices Roadshow to Can- ton from 6:30pm on March 22nd. The purpose of the Roadshow is to bring together Irish emigrants, their descendants, and members of their communities to share family memories and stories of migration from Ireland to the United States, especially during the period of the Great Hunger and afterwards. They will be gathered for the Great Famine Voices online archive. The Great Famine Voices Roadshow is funded by the Government of Ireland Emigrant Support Programme.

Last year four members of TIARA recorded their family emigration stories for the Roadshow and they are now available on the Great Famine Voices Website. http://greatfaminevoices.ie/boston/ Sign up and pass your story on to friends and family.

The Roadshow is an open house event that will feature short talks about the Irish National Famine Mu- seum in Strokestown Park and the Great Hunger as well as a lecture by Frank Costello. It will also pro- vide a forum for Irish-Americans to share their family memories and stories of migration, and to strengthen their sense of ancestry and historical and current Irish connections. http://www.strokestownpark.ie/great-famine-voices-roadshow/

For more information and to rsvp, please contact Maudy Dooher [email protected]

TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 36 Number 1 Spring 2019 17 TIARA Blog Watch Kathy Sullivan #3009 Culture, Context & Background Thomas Lester, archivist for the Archdiocese of Boston, writes about The House of the Angel Guardian, an early home for homeless boys: https://thebostonpilot.com/Opinion/article.asp?ID=184043

More about the Great Molasses Flood from Susan Donnelly on NEHGS’ Vita Brevis blog: https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2019/01/the-great-molasses-flood/

Remembering our WWI veterans by Pamela Athearn Filbert on NEHGS’s Vita Brevis blog: https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2019/01/they-shall-not-grow-old/

Amy Whorf McGuiggan writes about finding her Protestant grandfather in the Home for Destitute Catholic Children on Vita Brevis: https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2018/11/divine-intervention/

Family History Media Gail Devers shares a source for Royalty-free background music to use for your genealogy videos: http://genealogyalacarte.ca/?p=26914

Upcoming Exhibits & Publications Enda O’Flaherty is launching is new book, The Deserted School Houses of Ireland on March 8. He has documented many of these schoolhouses in his blog: https://endaoflaherty.com/2019/01/07/the-deserted-school-houses-of-ireland-official-book-launch/

Did your Irish immigrant to Massachusetts start a business? The State Library of Massachusetts invites you to their first exhibit of 2019: “From Common to Uncommon: Advertisements in Massachusetts City Directories”; the exhibit is being hosted at the State House: http://mastatelibrary.blogspot.com/2019/01/new-exhibition-from-common-to-uncommon.html

Records and Databases Dick Eastman let us know that Death Certificates for the victims of the Great Molasses Flood are now available online at the Massachusetts Archives Digital Repository: https://blog.eogn.com/2019/01/18/molasses-flood-victims-death-certificates-now-online/

From Claire Santry’s Irish Genealogy News, My Heritage adds an exclusive collection of historical Massachusetts newspapers: https://www.irishgenealogynews.com/2019/01/myheritage-adds-exclusive-collection-of.html

Lorine McGinnis Schultze has indexed Irish travelers to Canada from Boston College’s Missing Friends collection: http://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/01/ads-for-irish-immigrants-in-boston-globe.html

Dick Eastman shares a source for records, if your ancestor worked for Guinness: https://blog.eogn.com/2019/01/03/did-your-irish-ancestor-work-for-guinness-if-so-check-this-out/

Research Tools Linda Stufflebean shares 10 Ways to Use Telephone Books for Genealogy Research: https://emptybranchesonthefamilytree.com/2019/01/10-ways-to-use-telephone-books-for- genealogy-research/

18 TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 36 Number 1 Winter 2019 TIARA TIARA Library Notes Barbara Brooker #3807 Research sources for finding your Irish ances- Books. O'Neill Library, Boston College: tral home. See places of access2. Microfiche HD629.I7 1978. Guides: The Index of Surnames is a county-by-county Michael F. McGraw, “Finding the Ancestral listing of the surnames in the Griffith's Valua- Cottage” tion reports. http://mcgrathsearch.com/Ancestral_Cottages.html https://libguides.bc.edu/c.php?g=44002&p=279494 PDF: http://mcgrathsearch.com/files/Finding%20the% 20Old%20Homestead%20in%20Ireland%2012-23-16.pdf The Spinning Wheel Index Editor’s Note: well worth reading All-Ireland Heritage Microfiche Series Edition of the Alphabetical Index to the Names Contained Books: in the Premium Entitlement Lists of the Trus- Frances McGee, The Archives of the Valua- tees of the Linen and Hempen Manufactures of tion of Ireland 1830-65 (Dublin: Four Courts Ireland: Also known as 1796 Spinning Wheel Press, 2018). 226 pgs. Survey of Ireland. Vienna, VA: All-Ireland Heri- [TL, BC, NEHGS] tage, Inc. [and] D.H.R. Associates, c1986. O'Neill Library, BC Microforms: Microfiche James R. Reilly, Richard Griffith and His CS480.A58 1986) Valuations of Ireland (Baltimore: Genealogi- https://libguides.bc.edu/c.php?g=44002&p=279496 cal Pub. Co. 2000). 108 pgs.

[TL, BC, BPL, NEHGS] 2TL = TIARA Library*

BPL = Boston Public Library Local Resources: BC = Boston College Library (open to public) Index of Surnames of Householders in Grif- NEHGS = NE Historic Genealogical Society* fith's Valuation and Tithe Applotment *membership required

Digging Deeper for Databases Eileen Curley Pironti #2788

Estate Commissioners Offices, Applications from better understanding of the area where his or her Evicted Tenants, 1907 ancestor resided. https://www.archaeology.ie/archaeological- Available at Findmypast.ie is the database Estate survey-ireland/historic-environment-viewer- Commissioners Offices, Applications from Evicted application Tenants, 1907. It contains details from the applica- tions of approximately 2,500 evicted tenants re- questing relief as outlined in the Evicted Tenants Wrixon-Becher Estate Tenant Database (Ireland) Act of 1907. The information provided in this database includes the applicant’s name and For those researching ancestors from Creagh and address, amount of rent paid, and the name of the Tullagh Parishes in County Cork, the Wrixon- estate from which he or she was evicted. Becher Estate Tenant database is an interesting source It contains information from tenant records Historic Environment Viewer dated between 1803 and 1919. Details include the tenant’s name and townland, as well as the The Department of Culture, Heritage and the amount of rent paid and tenancy dates. In addi- Gaeltacht developed an interactive map contain- tion to a name search, this database may be ing data and photographs of historic sites and searched by townland name. homes, for both the and https://skibbheritage.com/genealogy/tenant-records- Northern Ireland. It allows the user to gain a database/

TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 36 Number 1 Winter 2019 19 TIARA

Non Profit Organization US Postage PAID Boston MA Permit No 300

The Irish Ancestral Research Association 121 Boston Post Road Sudbury, MA 01776

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

DATED MATERIAL

Upcoming Conferences, Workshops, and Events

TIARA Meeting New England Regional March 9, 2019 Genealogical Conference New England Historical Genealogical Society Radisson Hotel, Manchester, NH 99-101 Newbury St, Boston, MA April 3-6, 2019 Morning Lectures: 9:00 am – 12:00 noon Free research time in afternoon for TIARA members

Great Famine Voices Roadshow Irish Cultural Centre of New England March 22, 2019, 6:30 pm

20 TIARA NEWSLETTER Volume 36 Number 1 Spring 2019