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martin cunningham

CorkCloyne (Cork)

hi i ve been on here before and the things i was asking have now been sorted, but what im failing to find is birth info on martin cunningham, i did find a birth record on roots ireland for a martin cunningham born 20/7/1918 cork in fact it was the only one for a 20 year period, born to patrick cunningham and margaret brien ( both names of his children)

but is that enough ?? could there be more records not on line

i know he married margaret kenefick in 1856 at ladysbridge church and i have all their childrens birth info all baptised there, i also have margaret keneficks birth info as im in contact with family now who still live in ireland, one strain still live at house 2 monagoul where he lived, but they did nt know as much as i did so could nt help me get any further back

i was wondering as the house is still in the same family it would have belonged to his father also ?? and if so is there any way of finding out

i had read that farms were handed down to the son most capable of carrying it on rather than firstborn, and this also meant that sons tended not to marry young but stayed on the farm hoping that it would be them that it passed down to

james cunningham who took over the farm was not the oldest son, so this could be the case also this could explain why martin was older than margaret by 15 years as he d stayed on the family farm till his father died and passed it to him

one of my relatives did say that martin was surposed to be the first child baptised in st marys ladysbridge but im sure i read that that was nt built till 1832 so that would mean that the birth date i ve aready mentioned was nt him, but i can find no record for a martin cunningham for about 1832 ladysbridge ??

any help or thoughts most welcome, thanks cathie

IrelandXO member

6 replies

Cathie:

Welcome back to Ireland Reaching Out!

We do have a parish liaison in Cloyne parish so I will alert him about your message. Let me know if you have not heard back.

My own experience with who get the house varies. My McDonnell great-grandfather had seven children and the oldest six including three sons emigrated to Philadelphia. The youngest daughter stayed in Ireland married a local farmer and they inherited the farm. My Roddys were staightforward, the oldest son got the farm and the other five children emigrated to Philadelphia.  

I have also reviewed many census records over the years and have seen situations where a younger son was the head of household and older brother or brothers were farm labourers in the household. Clearly a younger son showed the leadership ability and got the farm. I've seen other situations where a son emigrated to America, married and had children and then went back to Ireland to take over the farm when the father died.

Generally, one you emigrate, you lose your right to the farm.

Regarding the 1818 record for Martin Cunningham, it is hard to say if you have the right records. Many churches do not have records back to 1818 although Cork parishes generally have records back pretty far. If the record was in the right parish and there are no gaps in the churches records, likely you have the correct Martin. Have you seen his death record. Does the age square with 1818?

Sorry for rambling.

Roger McDonnell

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

hi, thanks for the reply

i have martin cunningham dog licences going up to about 1894 somewhere, i m not very well organized lol, i think i ve got a death record, only a transcript for yougal about that time, it does say he s younger ,but through doing all this research i know that often ages are well out and census ones just dont add up, but its all the right people etc

i was told that before pensions came about people did nt really ever take much note of their age, so as the longer they lived the more forgetful they were of it, a bit like me now, i have to stop and think if asked lol

the reason i wrote on this parish is because the st mary s ladysbridge church where he married and children baptized was built in 1832 i think, so before that on records that i ve seen it says cloyne for that area

i was also wondering with the griffins evatuation whether house number 2 monagoul shows up anywhere, i know they own the land and house, but it was nt rented out as they lived there

im coming over again at the end of june and i d love to have a few more leads to look up, each year i go to the hill yop cemetery to try and find the grave he errected for his 3 children but its always so overgrown that i cant find it, though i have sean a photo of it, its against the little wall which is completely covered with brambles and nettles, i was cut to ribbons and stung all over trying to dig it out, i must have looked like a right loon, so i went in the sea at pilmore beach to sooth the pain lol ( i ve got relatives there also)

well thanks again and hope to hear from you or someone soon, cathie :)

IrelandXO member

Cathie:

You are right about the pension and the importance of age. The Old Age Pension Act was passed in 1908 and you had to be 70 to get the pension and there were also income limits. You will see in a good number of situations that a person's age increased 20 years between 1901 and 1911 due to the pesnion. They still had to have some proof of age. Many people said they remember the "Big Wind" of 1839 to show that they were at least 70.

I agree that Cloyne church was in place long before Ladysbridge so people baptized or married before 1835 when records are avalable likely were part of Cloyne. I assume there was a chapel in Ladysbridge prior to 1835 which was run by the Cloyne priest(s).

If you have not heard from the Cloyne parish liaison by May 17th or so, let me know and I will contact our HQ.Enjoy your trip and hope you have some success.

Roger

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

arr thanks so much for reply, i ll get in touch if i have nt heard anything, thanks again, cathie :)

IrelandXO member

hi, its me again, still no further on and still no reply from anyone, just letting you know as i ll be going over to ireland again early summer, thanks cathie :)

IrelandXO member

cathieee:

I just checked the Cloyne records and no Martin Cunningham baptismal record. Good luck with your research in Ireland.

Roger

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

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