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Drew Family in Ballingaddy

LimerickBallingaddy (Limerick)

I live in Australia and have a problem that I hope someone can assist with. What I know so far is this;   My wife’s ancestor 3x Gr. Grandfather Michael Drew arrived on the 21 August 1841 aboard the vessel “Eleanor” with his wife Ellen (nee Condon). Their immigration documents shown that they were natives of Ballingaddy, Limerick and were 24 & 21 respectively. He was a farm Labourer and she was a farm servant. Michael’s parents were shown as John & Ann and both alive. Ellen’s parents were shown at James & Ellen (nee Mulqueen), but both deceased. My problem is those ages mean they were born around 1817 and 1820.
However, the only Michael Drew with parents John & Anne found in Limerick from the rootsireland.ie site were from Patrickswell and was born in about 1806. I am looking to see if there are any other Michael Drew's with parents John & Anne born in the 1814-1820's, as I am not convinced that that Patrickswell is where he was born.. I could not find any birth details for Ellen. I have a copy of their marriage record at Kilmallock on 3 August 1840. No ages or parents' names were shown other than Drew & Condon, but the witnesses were a Michael and Catherine Condon. Also, when their daughter Johanna was baptised on 3 September 1840, her sponsor's were an Edward Condon and Kate Condon

My dilema now relates to Michael's Australian Death cert. that I have just received which shows that when he died in 1880, he was shown as aged 75 by the informant, James Drew, who was his son and my wife's gr.gr.grandfather. This indicates he was born in 1805 and not 1817. Many questions are going through my head, so what is correct? Did Michael falsify his age on his immigrant document?, unlikely, or did his son get it wrong? I know about the penal conditions for Catholics at that time, but not sure what affect that had on his birth records. I have been in contact with a descendant of a Drew family tree in Iowa, USA, who have our Michael as being part of their family and they show he was born in Patrickswell, Limerick in 1806 with parents John Drew and Anne McNamara, but they are unable to confirm the source. According to them, all of the other children in that family were born in Patrickswell and most moved to Iowa, USA, so if our Michael is from that family, why did he come to Australia and not with the rest of the family and why was he born in Ballingaddy. My belief is that our Michael is from another family that lived in Ballingaddy with the parents names of John & Anne. I think it unlikely that Michael would have falsified his immigration document. Not sure how far apart Ballingaddy in Kilmallock is away from Patrickswell. My last point is that family information here indicates that Michael's son James (informant) was unable to read or write and may have been confused about Michael's age. 

to top it all off, when Michael's wife Ellen died in 1876, Michael was the Informant and he stated that she was 60 years old, which means she was born about 1816, and confirms her mother's maiden name was Mulqueen. So I have Michael with possible birth dates of about 1806 & 1817, and Ellen with dates on 1816 & 1821.

I know some would say that I should be happy to have as much information that I have, however, all of that does not help if I link to the wrong line.

Hope you can help. Regards, Wildcats13

wildcats13

4 replies

Patrickswell is in a different parish (Knockany) to Ballingaddy. I would say that Michael Drew knew well enough where he was born and would therefore discount his being born in Patrickswell, if he said he came from Ballingaddy.

I would also rely more on his age as he gave it (1st hand) to that given by the informant at his death. However people in Ireland didn?t celebrate birthdays in the 1800s and often had little accurate idea of exactly when they were born. Michael could well have been out by a year or two himself, when he gave his age. Errors over ages and other information on death certificates are very common. The age is just the informant?s best guess, and can often be out by up to 10 years, for someone in their 70s. I don?t think the penal laws would have had anything to do with age discrepancies (and in any event they had been repealed by that time anyway). Human error seems a more likely explanation.

I think your problem is that the RC parish records for Ballingaddy simply don?t go back far enough. They only start in 1837. That?s why you can?t find Michael (or his wife?s) baptisms. The records for the years you need were either never kept, or have been lost. The records for Knockany happen to start in 1808, so that?s why you are getting a match on rootsireland for someone born in Patrickswell, but none for Ballingaddy. But I feel sure that, being a different parish, the Patrickswell Michael is just someone else of the same name. Drew is a common enough name in Co Limerick. There were 94 of them in the 1901 census for the county, so there were clearly a number of  separate families across the county.

Ahoghill AntrimIrelandXO Volunteer

i am a desendent of the condon family would like to get in contact

rmenzies4@bigp…

I would like to get in contact with descendant 'tmenzies' regarding the Condon family. Maybe best via my email address pcmkr@bigpond.com

Regards, Wildcats13

wildcats13

Further to my previous post re Michael Drew & Ellen Condon, I have been trying to find details of both their parents that would confirm what we have so far. As they said that they were both from Ballingaddy, in the Primary Valuation of Tenements for Ballingaddy.In Ballingaddy North I have found an Edmund Condon was both a Occupier and Lessor of land, and from reading the 'Echoes of Ballingaddy' it appears he was also a tenant of the land on which the Kilmallock Church was built in about 1838, and was appointed a Warden of Kilmallock Union (Workhouse) in 1841.                                               Is he a brother or uncle of Ellen?.

There was also a Michael Condon a Lessor of property in Gotoon in Parish of Ballingaddy in 1851 I think.                            Is he the same as Michael Condon who was a Sponsor for Michael &Ellen's daughter's baptism in 1840 in Kilmallock Church?.

In Kilmihil, I found where the only Drew's in the area were listed as 'The Misses Drew' and were both Occupiers & Lessors. Are they connected?.

Finally, I found in Nick Reddan's Newspaper Extracts that a James Drew died on 27 April 1830 in Milmount, near Kilmallock, Co. Limerick.                                                                                                                                                               Is he the deceased father, James Condon that was shown on Ellen's Immigration Papers, and are the Michael, Kate (probably Catherine) & Edward Condon shown on the Church Marriage & Baptism Record Ellen's brothers & sister?.

By the way, I have tracked the Catherine Condon, (witness at Michael & Ellen's marriage), and she must have followed them to Australia, as I found her married to a John Sullivan in Sydney in 1842, and seemed to follow to the same areas in NSW, that Michael & Ellen  went and they all are buried in the same Church in Breadalbane, NSW.

Hope someone can shed some light on the problem.

Regards, Wildcats 13

 

wildcats13

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