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John Leahy from Bohillane Cork

CorkBohillane (Cork)

Hi

My Grandfather John Leahy is known to have come from the Bohillane area according to his birth certificate (5.4.1902 to 5.9.1954)  His farther was also called John and his mother was Kate Leahy (nee Ahern).

He married Mary Birch in May 1924 in the city of Bradford England and had 2 daughters Kathleen and Margaret; Kathleen now deceased was my mum.

We are very interested to know the circumstances that made him leave Ireland and who he left behind!  If anyone can fill in the blanks, we would be very pleased to hear from you.

 

Thank you

Richard

richardsymonds

11 replies

Richard:

I was unable to locate a marriage record for John Leahy and Kate Ahern. Below are the 1901 and 1911 census records for the family. John Sr. died in 1904. See third record https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1904/05609/4577214.pdf

Your grandfather left Ireland like many others for a better opportunity.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Cork/Ightermurragh/Bohillane/1132472/

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Cork/Ightermurragh/Bohillane/432845/

Roger McDonnell

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Thank you Roger that information added a few more family members...  I was using the askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation to see if I could locate their house so I could use google maps/earth but I am failing to come up with an address for the household.  Can you help?

 

Regards

Richard

richardsymonds

Richard:

The Griffths for Co. Cork is from around 1850. I checked the household listing for Bohillane civil parish  https://www.failteromhat.com/griffiths/cork/bohillane.htm  and there are no Leahy records so there is no way to come up with a house location. FYI. The house numbers in the 1901 and 1911 censuses have no meaning. The RIC constable who picked up the census forms assigned House 1 to the first house visited, House 2 to the second house visited etc.

Roger

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

That makes it interesting.. thanks for your help..

richardsymonds

Richard, if you see the buildings return on the 1901 census above you can that John Leahys house was on the farm of William Forrest of Bohillane townland near Ladysbridge. A John Ahern was also living in another sub tenant house on the farm. They would probably have worked on the farm for William Forrest you can see from the return that these were small two roomed cabins with a thatch roof and two windows.. If you look back in Griffith a Michael Forrest was the farmer in occupation plot 7 with five cabins on the holding. Its unlikely any of these cabins exist today unless local knowledge may be able to Identify a location. you can see from the griffith map the cabins were erected by the side of the road. There is a good example of one of these cabins still to be seen by the graveyard in Ladysbridge. It was for sale earlier in the year must check if its still online in one of the property for sale sites. 

willmc

Thank you Will, that does put a pin on the map and one day we will make time to visit the area and especially the graveyard at ladysbridge.

It’s interesting that there was a John Ahern on the farm because John Leahy Senior married a Kate Ahern so she could have been John Ahern's daughter and maybe they met/worked on the farmstead got married had children one of which was my grandfather John Leahy.

 

Thanks again for your time and effort.

 

 

richardsymonds
I believe the forrest that are mentioned here are my grt grandfather William and grt uncle Michael my grandmother was Honora/Norah Forrest from Bollilane married John Mccarthy Ballyre Dangan I would if possible like to the name of William wife I have her as Johanna Callaghan if anybody could confirm this I would be grateful thanks Allison
Alimac
Also I was going through things of my late father's and mother's and people will know when anyone passed away , friends / Family would receive memorial cards especially Irish people, I came across this 1 not sure if she is any relation as surname spelt slightly different its for a Catherine Leahey Ballydaw Dungourny died 5th April 1955 Aged 75yrs
Alimac

Richard.   I think you are mistaken.  The John Leahy you are referring to is my grandfather.   His mother John and mother Kate from Bohillane.    He left Ireland for the us in mid 1920s and married my grandmother who was from nearby Moogely.  

Johnleahy

Hi, yes we have become to realise that we have been following the wrong trail. We now believe the John Leahy we are looking for is from Dublin, however it’s been a time of discovery and we loved our visit to Cork and meeting the dedicated team of volunteers.

Regards

Richard

richardsymonds

Ok. Good to know.  I know first hand that it is easy to go down the wrong path.  I wish I would’ve saw this post earlier but I just discovered this site.  Glad to hear your on the right trail now.  

Johnleahy

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