Downey of Kilcatherine

Hi Roger, thank you so much for your help and links! That would definately fit, I estimated Margaret to be of that age. I will use this info to further my search. Thanks again, Barbara Marino

Hi Barbara,

I'll guarantee we are related.  My cousin, who I requested to do a DNA test, just sent me info from you tonight.

I have been to John and Margaret Downey's homestead, in Kilcatherine.  Only the foundation is left and a caravan is currently on the property.  The house was tiny, considering the size of the family.most of the relatives who stayed in Ireland are buried in Kilcatherine Cemetary, though thestones are weathered now.and most are unreadable.  The yellow church in Eyeries is where my great grandmother Catherine was baptised and her parents John and Margaret married.The sept name for our Downey's is Bawn.  About half of the family were baptised under thesurname Downing. 

It seems we share great great granparents.  To get details, since the info needed is prior to whenIreland had churches send it to the archives, you can do either of these;

• See if your library has a copy of Who Were My Ancesters?  Eyeries Parish, by Riobard O'Dwyer - I knew at one time, Fall River, New Bedford and Boston had them and the updated copy Annals of Beara !! went on sale in 2010 and still appears to be available here http://splashurl.com/o4mx2og.

or

• Contact the New England Historic Genealogy Society (NEHGS), in Boston.  Riobard sold all his research to them a couple of years ago.  It has information back to almost 1800, for our Downey relatives, in Kilcatherine.  Riobard nor only researched church marriage, death and baptism records, but also collected stories on family members, from people living in the area.  There were at least 12 pages of Downey/Leahey info. 

My paid research also included him making me a map to where they lived (and warning me not to knock on the caravan door as the occupant had a temper).  .

It cleared the mystery of Catherine's brother Patrick death.  I had heard it was a freak accident of falling off a curb, only to find he had fallen off a balcony, while with his children.  I can't remember whether it was in France or London.  I also heard about a brother John, who had lived in Medford.

I'll check with my aunts and uncles to see if they remember your great grandmother,  I remember meeting more then one May and Mary that my grandparents would visit as well as a Maude Watson, who was my grandmothers cousin.  There was also a Mamie Downey and another Mary who was blind in the 1950's.  When did they move from Fall River to Boston?

Catherine Downey married Cyrus Lewis, in Fall River, MA in 1888. 

I hope something here helps you.

Paula Murphy

Our gggrandmother Margaret is usually found under the full name Peig Leahey, in family trees and Riobard's books. 

Which of Mary' Downey Watson's children are you relatd to John Edward, Frederick, Agnes or Annie? 

Patrick and John Downey were both still in Kilcatherine, after several of the others came to the US.  John Jr, John's son, was the last Downey to live in the house.  His daughter died young and the others had already moved away.

If you get a chance, see the movie Falling for a Dancer.  It was one of Colin Farrell's first roles.  The setting is Eyeries, Kilcatherine and Ardgroom.  Though they painted the Eyeries Church and homes grey for the movie, those are places your ancestors would have gone to church and shopped.  You will also see the scene set in Kilcatherine Cemetary.  It will definitely give you a feeling for life in the area, in abt 1940's.  Just think how much more remote it felt in the 1870's.

I am trying to attach some pictures of Eyeries Church, Eyeries (a very colorful town) and Kilcatherine Cemetary.  The map shows how Kilcatherine sits on Kenmare Bay and looks over to the Ring of Kerry.  I choose the Kilcatherine pic that best represents Kilcatherine, where the homestead lies.  The bay in front, mountains to the side, small squares of green where their home was.  What's left of a  few stone houses, on small plots and right near them, a small dirt path with a few cows on one side, the stone foundation of the homestead and a trailer on the other.

The Ring of Beara is not as touristy as the Ring of Kerry, but is even more scenic.  You'd see bamboo, palm trees, mountains, beautiful beaches in Allihies, Bantry Bay (my favorite Bay), a cable car to Dursey Island, ogham stones, Kenmare and it's stone circle, Glengariff,  Hungry Hill (the copper mines written about in Daphne Du Maurier's novel) and the Healey Pass. 

 

 

 

Hi Paula,  I am so excited and happy to hear from you!!  I am going to try and email you directly through your personal email because I have so much to write, I don't want to clog up this message board, which I am so grateful for!  Barbara