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John Walsh,owned land, possibly Ballyroan

LaoisBallyroan (Laois)

Hello-

I am grasping at my last straws to find the townland of my great great grandfather. A very common name, but I have some clues. I have a story written about 50 years ago by my great-aunt, that tells their story. The JOHN WALSH family emigrated to NY in about 1866-1868.  The story went that they were well-off. Landowners who had tenant farmers, and an estate. The story went that the coachman, Jim, ran off with one of the daughters and fled to the US. The mom was heartbroken. The daughter (Ann) sent back how wonderful it was, and apparently the whole bunch picked up and came here to Troy, NY. They must have sold everything, or left it to a relative. It is also possible they were fleeing some rebellion, which was mentioned in the story. I have found them living with the coachman here, his name was James Lawler. (or Lalor).  They were far from wealthy over here, as far as I can see. They are in unmarked graves.

The story says they came from KILKENNY in Queens County. That has vexed me for years, as it doesn't exist. However, I have to remember that Irish names were "Americanized" phonetically, and it could have been CULLENAGH. I see a John Walsh in the townland of Cullenagh, in Ballyroan parish in the Griffiths Valuations.  I think that is my most likely place to find their home. 

Family members : JOHN WALSH born a. 1816  wife Mary (McDonnell or McDonald) sons Edward, William, Richard, John; Daughters, Ann, Maggie, Katy.  Children born in 1840s-1850s.

If anyone can give me information on the Catholic Church records of Ballyroan, or can find any info on this family, or knows if a map of the area of that time would list landowners, I would be ecstatic.  I will be relatively nearby in Nenagh, Tipperary on July 31, 2013, and would love to squeeze in a trip to Ballyroan, if that's the place.

Any help at all is very much appreciated. This is such a great service! 

Regards!  

Barry Considine Troy NY USA

IrelandXO member

7 replies

Barry:

The church in Ballyroan is St. Patrick's. http://www.kandle.ie/parishes/abbeyleix/ Looks like you would contact them through the parent parish, Most Holy Rosary in Abbeyleix.

Your conclustion that the Walshes were from Cullenagh in Ballyroan may be right on target, however, I did look at www.seanruad.com  and found four townlands (and a civiil parish) with the name Killenny which is close to Kilkenny. Just wanted to make you aware.

Roger McDonnell

 

 

townland                                                                                    Civil parish

Killenny   112 Queen's Co. Slievemargy Killabban Carlow Leinster
Killenny   288 Queen's Co. Stradbally Killenny Mountmellick Leinster
Killenny Beg Knocknagrally 130 Queen's Co. Clarmallagh Aghmacart Abbeyleix Leinster
Killenny More Toberboe 621 Queen's Co. Clarmallagh Aghmacart Abbeyleix Leinster
Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Barry,

If you go to www.askaboutireland.ie and search Griffith Valuation you will find JOhn Walsh of Ballyroan in Queens County (laois).  You will have to scroll down many pages to get to the Q's.

If you look along that entry you can click on a number of icons.  First icon gives you a print of John, who he rented land from etc.

The second icon lets you see the original ledger entry and gives his name and the amount of land etc.  It also gives you all his neighbour's names.  It also gives you the number of the plot 19 b if I recall. 

Then the last icon shows you the map of the area and where 19 b is exactly.

Hope this helps,

Regards,

Anne Dennehy

IrelandXO member

Thanks for your very swift replies: I am floored at the help you folks are giving out here, it is an invaluable service. As one who volunteers to help people find their ancestry from this side of the ocean, I am hoping for some karmic revelation. I hope for you to receive the same some day.

As for JOHN WALSH,

Roger,

 Yes, excellent thinking. In fact the first place I checked was Killenny, but found no John Walsh family. I have also found that Clonenagh Parish had John Walsh families, FOUR in fact. Can you tell me how Clonenagh is pronounced? If it's Cluh NEN ee, then it's a possibility. Cullenagh, Clonenagh, Killenny, oy.

Anne-

Wow you found this family in Ballyroan so fast, and right on the heels of looking for my Considines in Tipperary. Amazed. 

What tantalizes me about what you found was that right next door was the McDonald family, and John's wife is reported to be Mary McDonald.  What bothers me is that Ballyroan John was a renter. The story, which a lot of has proven true already, says they were landed gentry and had tenant farmers. In any event, it's a fantastic bit of info that I now have. Maybe Clonenagh will turn up something, I will post there.

Thanks again Roger and Anne,

Barry

IrelandXO member

Barry:

I would say that Clonenagh would be pronounced  Clon- short e -nah but I will defer to Anne since she lives in Ireland.

Roger

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Have a look at www.familysearch.org

That has John Walsh Ballyroan

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Jack Mc Donald

IrelandXO member

The 'local' graveyard would have been Kilvahan, now very over grown and never visited.

A local person only started keeping burials from 1933, but has no record of any Walsh buried there.

Tullore would also be a 'local' graveyard, and again, no official records, but headstone records do not show any Walsh,  the older stones are in a very poor shape and cannot be read.

It's possible that any relarives could be buried in Abbeyleix Old graveyard.

IrelandXO member

Perhaps the below could be relatives, but cannot prove it.

Kilvahan burial records;

Mc Donald Nore; Cullenagh-13/5/1933

Mc Donald Patrick; Cullenagh-1/2/1937

Mc Donald William; Cullenagh-9/10/1945

Mc Donald Winifred; Cremorgan-9/5/1963

Mc Donald Edward; Cremorgan-7/3/1965

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Jack Mc Donald

http://www.genealogylaois.com

 

IrelandXO member

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