Hi Kate,
The baptism record you and Dave have identified above is the records of best fit from a geographical perspective also. There was a Carpenter family based in Feagh lane during the 1800s era. They subsequently moved out to the main road Newcastle to Moynalty. O'Briens house was one of the last houses in Newcastle townland on the main road. Nothing remains of O'Briens house in my life time. Carpenters family in Feagh died out maybe 20 years ago. I've to check newspaper records. There were a few O'Briens in the immediate vicinity of your O’Briens house in the1800s . I was to ask a person in Moynalty who married a descendant of your O'Briens a few years ago, if he knew if and how they were connected, but alas I did not. He is now deceased.
I find the index on www.rootsireland.ie (subscription website) has a better index for identifying church records and was transcribed in Co Meath in the 1980s. Moynalty parish baptism records commence end of 1830 and marriages in1829. There are some church death records and civil death records for the Moynalty area also indexed here.
There is no Moynalty church marriage transcript for Patrick Brien to a Carpenter. Moynalty baptism transcripts list 1 child in 1841 to Patk Brien and Mary Carpenter and 8 children from 1843 to 1861 to Patk Brien and Anne Carpenter. I did not follow into the actual register entries onto the NLI website.
The Moynalty civil death transcripts list an Anne Brien, Newcastle, aged 45, died on 5th Sept 1866 of consumption, registered by Patrick, husband. There is a civil death cert for Patrick Brien of Newcastle, aged 76, died on 17th Oct 1886, stomach cancer, registered by his daughter Elizabeth Brien, viewable on www.irishgenealogy.ie , Kells district. There is no daughter Elizabeth on the baptisms to Patrick Brien and Mary/Anne Carpenter !! There is another Patrick Brien in Newcastle townland who had a daughter Elizabeth baptised in 1872. But he is alive on the 1901 and 1911 Newcastle census. I need to double check with a neighbour, but I think these are the same O'Briens as the family you are researching.
I have the cancellation books for Newcastle townland on an old computer. I'll look up the Brien property on it and come back to you with any additional useful information.
From looking at Carpenter baptism records, Thomas Carpenter and Catherine Kangly (Kangley) might be Anne Carpenter Briens parents. There is a daughter Mary Carpenter baptised in 1834 to them. There are a few Carpenter church deaths in a few other townlands near Newcastle. There is a Catherine Carpenter, aged 70, civil death cert in 1898 in Newcastle, spinster, register by a Julia Lynch. With limited church and civil death information recorded, I cannot tie them into any particular family.
Have you much research on your Mulvany line? Mary’s parents lived beside my grandmother Bridget Mulvany on the 1901 census in Skearke. My family moved to Druminisksin townland in 1902. I never could figure out where your Patrick Mulvany was born or which branch of the Mulvany family he is from. During the 1840s, Mulvany was a common name in the north west corner of the parish. Oral history was they came from Killeeter, Mullagh, Co Cavan (just across the Borora river) originally and are all related. Have you done a DNA test with any of the main American testing companies to see if we share any very old DNA?
Re Lynch names on baptism sponsors or witnesses – Lynch is a very common name in the area and still is today. I found from my own family records, neighbours were the baptism sponsors till the older sibling got confirmation and were eligible to be baptism sponsors then.
I don’t appear to be getting e-mail notifications for post to Moynalty message board. Apologies for my late reply. Glad Dave was monitoring it and able to help you..
Kind regards
Catherine McCormack
Moynalty parish liaison
On behalf of Ireland Xo
e-mail – Moynalty@irelandxo.com
