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Catherine "Fitzpatrick" Maher and Richard Maher

I am searching for information on the parents of my "great grandmother" Catherine Fitzpatrick Maher and my "great grandfather" Richard Maherfrom Kilkenny, Ireland. In 2003, the Kilkenny Archaelogical Society did a search for me to find the parents and family of my grandmother: Bridget Maher, born on June 2, 1880 in Freshford, Kilkenny. They provided a great deal of information about the immediate family including the marriage date of Richard Maher and Catherine Fitzpatrick and also the several siblings of my grandmother Bridget Maher. They did apologized for the delay in responding saying that both the surnames of "Maher" and "Fitzpatrick" wer extremely numerous in nineteenth century Kilkenny. The society did not know if they emigrated or not. Most of the family emigrated to Springfield, Massachusetts from apx. 1887-8 as far as I can determine. Details to follow:

Catherine Fitzpatrick: born 1840 in Freshford, Kilkenny; married Richard Maher on November 3rd, 1861. Catherine died in Springfield, MA on 1914. They emigrated to Springfield, MA around 1888

Richard Maher:born in 1837 in Ballylarkin, Kilkenny. Died in Springfield, MA in 1902

Children included: Bridget Maher, 1880; Mary Maher, 1863; Johanna Maher, 1864; Michael Maher, 1866; Ellen Maher, 1868; Edward Maher, 1873; William Maher, 1870; Richard Maher, 1872. I have been able to find information on most of the children/siblings in public documents in Springfield, MA.

Several names of sponsors for the births included: Thomas Cahill & Honor Shortall, Ballylarkin; James Hall & Maary Brennan, Ballylarkin; John Cormick & Elizabeth Cormick, Ballylarkin; John Hall & Johanna Hall, Ballylarkin; Edmund hickey & Ellen Hall, Ballylarkin; Martin Travers & Bridget Clifford, Freshford; John Crosby & Mary Laharte, Freshford.

Thanks for any help you can lend.

Sincerely, Patty Porcaro

PattyP

6 replies

Patty:

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

I searched on the subscription site Roots Ireland in the Freshford RC records. No 1840 Catherine Fitzpatrick baptismal record. The closest was one in 1834. See transcription below.

Ballylarkin civil parish is right next to Freshford civil parish. The RC parish would either be Freshford or Urlingford. I searched on Roots Ireland and found an 1832 record in Freshford. See below. No records in Urlingford.

I would treat both of these records as leads. I know the birth years are  six and five years earlier than your records.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Roger McDonnell

Name:Catherine FitzpatrickDate of Birth:
Date of Baptism:23-Apr-1834Address:TrencherstownParish/District:FRESHFORDGender:FemaleCountyCo. Kilkenny
Denomination:Roman Catholic
Father:William FitzpatrickMother:Bridget FitzpatrickOccupation:
Sponsor 1 /
Informant 1:Anastatia FitzpatrickSponsor 2 /
Informant 2:Not Recorded Not Recorded

Name:Richard MaherDate of Birth:
Date of Baptism:03-Jan-1832Address:TullowParish/District:FRESHFORDGender:MaleCountyCo. Kilkenny
Denomination:Roman Catholic
Father:Joseph MaherMother:Ally KeoughOccupation:
Sponsor 1 /
Informant 1:John MaherSponsor 2 /
Informant 2:Mary Muldowney

 

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Dear Roger McDonnell:

The record for my great grandmother Catherine Fitzpatrick sounds very possible.  I forgot to mention that the only other information that I had about her was a death certificate filled out by her son, Michael Maher.  It said that the father was William but mother unknown.  William is a first name repeated in our family.  Bridie had a son who died at 4 years and his name was William.  She also had a daughter who lived less than a year and was called Catherine.  Also, I found in my great grandmother's Springfield, MA 1914 obituary that she had a sister, "Bridget Fitzpatrick Marshall."  Bridget being my grandmother's name as well.  I was able to trace her to Connecticut and did quite an extensive search in ancestry on her U.S. family and got a gravestone birth date of 1835 Ireland which was probably pretty accurate and closer to Catherine's date of birth.  When searching for our Irish ancestors, it is suggested that we note the repetition of names.  

While the birth date of Richard Maher sounds sensible (2 years older that Catherine) and living in the same general district, there are no Josephs or Johns in the children's names--not that it is necessary.  Oh, in a "FindMyPast" search of Richard Maher, I found a marriage record which was the correct date of November 3, 1861.  There was an address of "Benparke NH" Freshford parish and said spouses address was the same.  I couldn't find any corresponding place of Benparke NH?  I h!!ave some leads as you say

I want to thank you so much for your quick reply and for this useful information.  The game is on!!

Many thanks,

Patty Porcaro

PattyP

Patty:

I looked at the parish register and tried to interpret the handwriting and came up with Deerpark as a possibility. There are Deerpark townlands in Co. Kilkenny but none in Freshford or Ballylarkin parishes. I looked at the 1866 civil birth record for Michael Maher (last record on page) and they were living in Ballylarkin. https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1866/03528/2298435.pdf

By the way, Ballylarkin civil parish is very small. Only four townlands and 1400 acres in total.

Roger

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Roger:

Thanks again!!  That is definitely my great uncle Michael Maher--who I never knew.  However, there is a great deal of public information about him that I was able to gather from his life in Springfield, Massachusetts.  Actually, I did not know anything about my grandmother's seven siblings until the Kilkenny Archaeological Society did the search for me.  Fortunately, most of them settled in the Springfield, MA  area.  I have not been able to find out what happened to Mary Maher, born January 23, 1963 before the commencement of civil registration.  As the last of my line so to speak, I'm trying to write brief bios on these ancestors so their life will not go unrecorded.

Sincerely,

Patty

PattyP

Patty:

The free Irish government site www.irishgenealogy.ie has civil birth, marriage and death records. For death records from 1864-1877, only index records are available. We expect that in the near future the actual images will be added to the site. From 1878-1969 the actual death record images are available. Your ancestors lived within the Kilkenny registration district. I searched for marriage records but did not see one that could be your Mary Maher. For death records, I compared the age at death to someone born in 1862. I found two possible leads. The first is a 12 year old Mary Maher who died in 1874 and the second is a 19 year old Mary Maher who died in 1881. If you hit the link and scroll down to the last record, you will see the details. The informant was Catherine Maher from Freshford. It does not show mother. So possibly this is for your Mary but at this point no way to be sure.

Roger

NameMARY MAHERDate of Death1874Group Registration IDN/RSR District/Reg AreaKilkennyDeceased Age at Death12Returns Year1874Returns Quarter3Returns Volume No13Returns Page No370

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1881/06421/4844513.pdf

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Dear Roger:

This may well be her.  As mentioned earlier, I found most of the children (and parents) in the Springfield Mass area through public records like the census and newspapers.  Most all showed up in the records living together at one time or another except for Mary.    It seems like Johanna Maher (Barlow) sheltered many of her siblings at some point.  Also, most married and seemed to live relatively good lives.  I always wish I knew more but that is the genealogist's lament.

Thanks so much again!!  I have some searching to do :)

PattyP

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