Hello everyone. I am from Australia and over a number of years, have researched my Tulla ancestors (Looney and Dwyer) and in the course of that came across what I have set out below. Cornelius Looney married Catherine Grady/O'Grady in St Mary's Church Feakle in 1825. They followed their 2 daughters to Australia in 1857 and died here. Sadly, they were each buried in unmarked graves which I have now found. Here is what I know from my research:
CATHERINE GRADY was born in Feakle in County Clare in 1805. It is more likely that she was born in her home area of Annagh some 2 kilometres away. Her father was described on her death certificate as “JOHN O’GRADY farmer” and her mother as “MARY MCMAHON”.
There is another John Grady named at Rossanure which is also in the Feakle parish but I have been unable to trace whether or not it is the same family or indeed the same man leasing two farms. The parish of Feakle was broken down into smaller areas and John was a tenant of Edward Gore in Annagh.
John had a relative named James who also farmed land as a tenant of Edward Gore. John’s acreage was 57 acres and James had a slightly smaller property. Their farms were near each other. Unless there were two men named James Grady (and that is possible), James also tenanted some land at Rush Pullagh at Kilbarron. But in 1829 from that land he was evicted by the owner Edmond McGrath. That property is only 2 kilometres away from the Annagh area. It is conceivable that he leased the Gore property after 1829. There is no suggestion in the records of any eviction of either brother from their Annagh farms.
No records I can find indicate what happened to the two farmers after 1845 but there is a “J Grady” metal cross in the Feakle Cemetery.
Paul Cronin