McInerney & Myres

Do you have approx birth years for Johanna and Margaret?

I found the following baptismal record at rootsireland.ie, but I don't know if the time frame is correct.

Name: Margaret Riordan

Date of Baptism: 30-Oct-1845

Address: ? Parish/District: KILFINNANE

County Co. Limerick

Denomination: Roman Catholic

Father: John Riordan

Mother: Johanna Riordan

Sponsor 2: Kate Roche

Thank you Patricia for your prompt repl,y and baptismal searching. I have previously entered all the details I have on Margaret on the XO website from NSW birth and death certificates and the orphan shipping indent for orphans to Australia from Irish workhouses. As Margaret was shipped to Sydney in 1850 as a 17 year old orphan native place Croom while her mother was in Rathkeale Union & I have scoured parish records for both places, I'm fairly confident I have her "Bapt. 6th Jun 1832 Margarita Myres illegitimate fil Johannis Myres et Johannes McEnery de Janellen [Canellen?] spon Catherine Casey" in Ganonre, Croom. As I have found no marriage for Johanna and John Myres, in my opinion Johanna McInerney later merely lived with John Reardon and that both took his name. I have seen various land records with Caseys and Riordans being near to each other and some legal reports on John Myres.

So I'm mainly interested in going to see the actual workhouses. I think Johanna was sent to the new Croom workhouse after it opened and died there 23 Feb 1867 as Johanna Riordan.

Croom Workhouse is now the Mid-Western General Orthopaedic Hospital.

Info about Croom workhouse here: https://www.workhouses.org.uk/Croom/

Info about Rathkeale workhouse: https://www.workhouses.org.uk/Rathkeale/

It was burned down by the IRA, and today a meat-processing plant occupies the site.

Thank you very much for all that information Patricia. I was looking at some workhouse information a couple of years ago. During lockdowns I wasn't intending to visit Ireland soon & couldn't anyway. New information has prompted me to travel. John Colhoun married Margaret Reardon/Myres in Sydney in 1853. I have known for 40 years that both Ann/e Murray and her son John Colhoun/Colburn/Colquhoun were sentenced to 7 years transportation for poultry stealing and were held initially in Lifford Gaol. As Anne was a servant and John was a labourer I had a simple image of her stealing from her employer. But there is a big contingent of Colquhoun men who've tested their YDNA & are working together. Late last year one man finally found 3 newspaper reports of their trial. This has prompted me to actually visit Ireland. Apparently Anne Murray had a horse and cart with her full name emblazoned on the side. She and her son were caught travelling the countryside near Clonleigh robbing goose coops of their flocks, slitting their throats and travelling on to the neighbouring coops! Police claimed they and a gang leader Gallagher, a "maimed " man, who got away had been doing this in several locations during the winter months of 18378/! It was titled stealing on an industrial scale. Newspapers claimed that mother and son would take their booty to Derry and ship it to Liverpool or Glasgow. Anne was more enterprising than I ever thought, but it wasn't smart to travel with a cart marking her name. The modern day equivalent of committing a crime using your own car with your own numbered registration plates! Son John was found with a loaded detonating pistol, so was lucky he wasn't hanged.

Hello Dee,

In your reply to Patricia on Monday 14 April, you had mentioned the baptism of Margarita Myres: "Bapt. 6th Jun 1832 Margarita Myres illegitimate fil Johannis Myres et Johannes McEnery de Janellen [Canellen?] spon Catherine Casey."

The name of the townland where Margarita and her parents were living is difficult to understand because of the handwriting.

I accessed a copy of the original baptism record at the National Library of Ireland website, which I've attached for quick viewing. In going over the baptism record several times, the baptism shows that Margarita and her parents were living in the townland of Tullovin, County Limerick.

According to the IreAtlas Townland Data Base, Tullovin was located in two civil parishes. See https://tinyurl.com/bdfw44cc

The largest portion of Tullovin, 601 acres, was in the civil parish of Croom. The smaller section of the townland, at 100 acres, was in the civil parish of Anhid, according to the IreAtlas.

Attached to this reply is an Ordnance Survey Map of Tullovin from the year 1840. In the center of the map is the 601 acres of Tullovin in the civil parish of Croom. Toward the upper left of the map is the 100 acres portion of the townland. The map can be enlarged for better viewing. The map is from the Tailte Eireann website.

The Google Map at the following link, shows that Tullovin is just southeast of Croom. The distance between Croom and Tullovin is about 3 miles: https://tinyurl.com/yrar5hfb

Here is a Google Street View of Tullovin: https://tinyurl.com/3tcb45x2

An Ordnance Survey Map of Croom from 1840 is also attached to this reply. The body of water running through Croom is the River Maigue. I didn't notice a Union Workhouse in this Croom Ordnance Survey Map, which indicates it had not been constructed when this map was produced.

I've also attached an Ordnance Survey Map of Rathkeale, but this map does show the existence of the Union Work House in the top center portion of the map. Rathkeale Town is located to the south east.

Dee, in your message posted on 13 April you had mentioned you were going to Ireland on the 5th of April. Did you mean the 5th of April in 2026, or another month later this year?

If you are going to Ireland later in the year, you'll have the opportunity to fill out a Meet and Greet form at Ireland Reaching Out. Under Meet and Greet, you state the dates you will be in a particular area of Limerick, say Tullovin, Croom, and Rathkeale, for example.

If a volunteer or volunteers are available for the time period you are there, they can meet you and show around the area. This is a free service. Local volunteers are very knowledgeable about the areas where they live and may provide you with experiences you may not otherwise have had without them. You can access the Meet and Greet form at:

https://www.irelandxo.com/meet-and-greet

With Best Wishes,

Dave Boylan

SOURCES

National Library of Ireland

IreAtlas Townland Data Base

Tailte Eireann: Ordnance Survey Maps

Google Map

Google Street View

Meet and Greet: Ireland Reaching Out

Dear Dave,

Thank you so much for your help! You have gone to a lot of trouble both to send all the links and to try and decipher the baptismal writing. I had tried to transcribe the original and looked at transcriptions on other sites - like Family Search, but not knowing place names, I was unsure of what the places really were.

I am actually coming this April. I am behind on my planning as I got COVID after a family history cruise conference in December. Then I spent February in hospitals with a different unexpected condition.

I have already entered my times and places in the Meet and Greet section. I'll upload the newspaper files for Anne Murray and John Colhoun/quhoun.

Best Wishes

Hello Dee,

Thank you very much for your reply. I can understand how the COVID could delay your plans, as I've had the COVID three times and it is not a very pleasant experience as you can attest to.

Glad to hear you have already submitted the Meet and Greet form. Hopefully someone will be available for the dates you are there.

Have a safe and enjoyable trip to Ireland Dee, and again, thank you for your reply.

Dave