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Patrick Murphy (1770-1852) & Catherine Avery - Slieverue

Hello, and thanks for your service and your help!

I'm visiting Ireland soon (March 11-15, 2025), and I'm not sure where to travel to from Dublin: Kilkenny or Waterford to stay and research. Using ancestry.com and Roots Ireland for 2 years, I have traced my paternal Murphy side, but all may not be correct as I go further back. My 3x Great Grandfather William Murphy was married to Mary Ann Shannon; William was baptized on January 9, 1792 in Slieverue with the godparents listed as James Shortall and Eleanor Rosseter (No idea who they would be!!). I have a small scrap of info on a "Wm Murphy" residence 1830 Newton, Thomastown, Kilkenny Ireland from the Ireland, Tithe Applotment Books, 1805-1837. I am unsure about this. William may have been the one to emigrate - perhaps to Maryland or Virginia in the late 1830s but I can't be certain. I would love to be able to verify his emigration because I'm not sure how my family got here or how we ended up settling in West Virginia (Note that: My 2nd Great grandfather is James Murphy married to Hannorah Mullaedy and they lived in West Virginia, where my great grandfather Reginald Murphy lived before eventually relocating to Barberton, Ohio with my grandfather Edward Murphy; my dad is Robert Murphy of Massillon, Ohio).

William's parents I have as Patrick Murphy and Catherine Avery/Ivery. Patrick was born March 15, 1770 and died in 1852 in Enniscorthy at 82 years old. He was married to Catherine in 1791 in Slieverue with the witness "James Ivery" -- I think that source was "Roots Ireland". I think this means they got married, and had William baptized a year later in the same church. I mostly dead-end here. Patrick's father may have been James Murphy? married to an Ellenor Cody born around 1743? in co Kilkenny. I'm just not sure.

I would love to know where Patrick and Catherine and their son William (and perhaps other siblings) lived. Slieverue? Waterford? Newton? Enniscorthy?

Does Patrick have a grave in Enniscorthy I can find and visit? I wonder how he ended up here.

Based on a random source on the Internet, there may have been 4 potential churches in 1971 in Slieverue - all of which no longer stand -- is this true? Is there any way of knowing which church and where the grounds are located?

Would you recommend I book lodging around Waterford? Or is there a place I can do more research in Kilkenny?

I really have reached the dead end of my research, so any tiny clue might unlock a ton! I really hope to hear from someone and connect to someone in Co Kilkenny in what is now one month!!!

Laura.Murphy

2 replies

Laura,

Roots Ireland shows the following siblings for William: twins Catherine and Eleanor, 9 May 1794 & another Catherine, 29 Mar 1799. The first Catherine probably died young. Their mother's surname was written as Ivery, the residence is Portmore, RC parish of Slieverue, Kilkenny. So, that is perhaps where you should concentrate on in your travels. I could not find any brothers for William, so he probably emigrated. US immigration records for the late 1830s are not very informative, and since Murphy is the most common surname in Ireland, it's difficult to find the correct one. Ancestry trees show his wife was Mary Ann Shannon, but no record of where marriage took place, and I did not locate any record in Ireland. Regarding a grave marker for Patrick, you should probably search around Portmore, but unless they were wealthy, there might not be one as markers were expensive. Most were buried without one.

Regards,

Carolyn

Thank you, Carolyn. I deeply appreciate your time and expertise. This is all very helpful to me.

Laura.Murphy

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