Caffrey/Caffery and Clark

Thanks, Roger.

Trohanny it would be and, based on what Catherine has in her information (#2), possibly the address was "Maio and Trohanny" rather than as recorded: "Mayo and Trohenny".

Regards,

Paul Ryan

Thanks for that very comprehensive response, Catherine, much information to work through and mull over.

In my posting I had: "Patrick married Ann Clark (b 1834, Co Cavan, father Michael) in December 1855 in Teevurcher, Co Cavan (almost certainly in St Marys RC church)". As you pointed out, this should have been St Patricks not St Marys. For some reason, I manage to confuse St Patricks and St Marys constantly. I should learn to check, then write whenever using one of these names.

Regards,

Paul Ryan

To Paul Ryan:

(1) I'm very pleased to see that you have received good feedback on your questions re Caffrey/Caffery and Clark. It is much more than I could provide. I'm also very happy to see the extensive comments by Catherine McCormack who was most supportive for another local history project that I am endeavouring to promote. For more information on this project entitled: THESE OLD WALLS: THE HOMES OF OUR GREAT-GRANDPARENTS,  please visit:

http://www.donnellycanada.com/tierworker/heritage-tierworker.html

(2) For short articles on a small number of family names in Tierworker parish, please visit:

http://www.donnellycanada.com/families/names.html

(3) For article on family names in Old Moybolgue Parish, please visit:

http://www.donnellycanada.com/families/ancestors.html

(4) For articles on old Cormeen National School, by Catherine McCormack, and Edendugally National School by Philip Donnelly, please visit

http://www.donnellycanada.com/tierworker/schools.html

(5) For poem and videos on life of Annie Barber, please visit:

http://www.donnellycanada.com/philip-donnellys-blog.html

I'll be following your research with interest. Good luck.

Philip Donnelly

Thank you for all the interesting information, Philip. I have been able to have a quick flick through but will go back for a more thorough look when a bit more time comes my way. I like your "These Old Walls.." Project. Some time ago, I took a little road trip via Google down the R191 and, near the Barora River, went past the ruins of a cottage and farm buildings where a Michael Clarke - possibly a GGG grandfather - once farmed.

Regards,

Paul Ryan

To Paul Ryan

My daughter just sent me a link to this site which she found today while doing some family research.  I can fill you in on some of the information you are seeking.

My grandfather was Owen Caffery (Caffrey) brother of Patrick. He was born in 1852 in County Cavan and left for Australia with his mother Ann Farley on the ship Earl Russell arriving in Queensland in November 1865.  Owen was the youngest of the four brothers who immigrated. There are supposed to have been four other siblings. It could be that some died in infancy and some during the famine.  Patrick Caffrey according to my information was born at Allendara, Summerhill in County Meath in 1834.  His father Philip was apparently born in Nolagh, Cavan in 1810 and their mother Anne Farley was born in Moneynure, Cavan.  However I have this information from various sources and it needs some verification.

I have no further information about the Caffery (Caffrey) family in Ireland except that on the Australian marriage certificate of my grandfather Owen, it states that he was born in Bailieboro which is also stated in the case of my grandmother Mary Lynch, however her birth certificate states that she was born in Virginia near the border with Meath. On the marriage certificate it states the names of Owen’s parents as Phillip Caffrey and Anne Farrelly.

Which brings me to the subject of the Clarke family. My grandmother, Mary Lynch was the daughter of Bridget Clarke who was the sister of Anne Clarke who married Patrick Caffrey. My grandmother emigrated from Ireland together with her sister Anne on the ship “Duke of Sutherland” in January 1888.  She went first to live with her Aunt (Anne Clarke/Caffrey) at One Mile, Ipswich and then married Owen Caffrey in Ipswich in April 1888.  The two cannot have known each other in Ireland, so I presume it was an arranged marriage between Owen, the brother of Patrick, and Mary Lynch the niece of Ann Clarke.  My grandmother lived until the age of 102 and died in Sandgate, Qld.  

The Lynch family lived in a townland of Virginia close to the border with Meath. (It is called Stramaquerty and I have found the family living there in 2 of the later censuses. )  However after the third or fourth child was born to the Lynch family (there were 8 daughters) she was sent to live with her grandparents, Owen and Bridget Clarke who lived on the Kells Road closer to Bailieborough. She grew up there as did her cousin Owen Clarke who later as Monsignor Owen Clarke became parish priest in Narrabeen  N.S.W.  He kept in touch with my grandmother over the years.  After her death in 1967 he wrote two letters to my Aunt Catherine Caffery of which I have copies.  He mentions a brother Michael still living at that time in Ireland who was then 90 years of age.  He also mentions that ”my grandfather lived to be a great age and my father was well in the eighties”.  I visited the Clarke family on the Kells Road in Ireland on two occasions, first in 1972 and then later in 1982. Philip Clarke was living there with his family and he drew up a family chart as he knew it.  I knew immediately that I had found the right Clarke family because in the back parlour hung a picture of Monsignor Owen Clarke of Narabeen NSW - the exact same photograph which had been hanging in my grandmother’s house. I also visited Philip's brother Father Eugene Clarke who was parish priest in a nearby town (which I will have to find in an old address book) and living there with his sister Maureen.  I photographed the Clarke cottage where my grandmother grew up.  If you would like any further information here I will go further into my records which are in a bit of a mess at the moment.

I hope that this has been of help to you in your research. I have found a few Caffreys buried in the catholic graveyard in Kells and one Philip Caffrey in the graveyard in Trim.  (Was he confined in Trim Castle?).  

I may go to Ireland in the summer for a short holiday.  I am presently living in Germany so I am talking about August/September and would be grateful if you have any further information which I can check out.  I come from Brisbane and won’t be back there until some time next year but my daughter is living there. If you need further information I will be only to glad to be of help.

Best wishes

Bernice (Caffery) Klein

Hello, Bernice

Thank you for the very interesting and informative material on the Clarke family. I had thought they were going to be just too difficult to track down but you’ve opened up a whole new vista. Catherine McCormack has done quite a bit of additional digging and sent me a heap of stuff also, so there’s a huge amount to try to take in. As yet, I’ve also done little more than dip into the wealth of material on Philip Donnelly’s site.

A couple of points. (For simplicity, I’ll use the Caffery form of the name, I get myself too tangled up trying to keep track of the different spellings used in various documents official and unofficial).

Patrick Caffery’s birth place has been ascribed to Allendara, Summerhill (occasionally Meath, frequently in Galway) in most of the Caffery trees I have seen. However, I have never seen a primary source in support and suspect that it has been copied through various on-line trees. I have been unable to find a reference to Allendara in any place name databases for Ireland though Google Maps shows a current day Allen Dara (a house name?) in Summerhill Co Meath. Patrick Caffery’s death certificate records his birth place as being “Newcastle near Kells”. There are four potential places fitting this description but I think the townland at 53.787974°N, 6.8837°W is the most probable in that it best fits geographically with other places where there are Caffrey footprints (Teevurcher where he and Anne Clarke were married, Bailieborough, Tullynaskeagh, Trohanny…). I have Philip Caffery listed as being born Nolagh, Cavan also, but don’t have a source recorded. I suspect I copied that from an on-line tree and failed to add a warning flag. Similarly, Ann/e Far*y has Cavanagh Co Cavan recorded as her birth place on her death certificate rather than Moneynure, though there is only about 10km between the two.

Ann/e’s maiden name is interesting. It is recorded as Farley on the death certificate of her son, Patrick; Farly on her death certificate for which Owen provided the information and Farrelly on Owen’s marriage certificate. Both Farley and Farrelly were most common in mid nineteenth century Cavan and Meath according to The Irish Times Irish Ancestors. Farly was not recorded in Griffith Valuation but is recorded in other documents.

You raise an interesting point re the possibility that the marriage of Mary Lynch and Owen Caffery was arranged. It would seem to have been either that or a whirlwind romance. I haven’t come across any mention of marriages being arranged in my somewhat limited reading of Irish social history and it would be interesting to hear from those knowledgeable in this area.

Could you clarify a point for me. In para four you said that Mary was the daughter of Bridget Clarke but in the next para say “she was sent to live with her grandparents, Owen and Bridget Clarke”. Is this a typo or have I got things badly wrong? I thought her grandparents were Michael Clarke and Ellen (last name unknown) and her parents were Owen Lynch and Bridget Clarke.

Your description of where the old Clarke farm was fits where I had thought was quite probable (Folio 2 in Tullynaskeagh, abt 3.2km from Bailieborough. I even have a photo of the ruins of what I took to be the old cottage courtesy of Google street view!). Catherine McCormack has dug information out of archives in Dublin which adds support. It would appear that the Cafferys occupied a cottage quite close by (Folio 1c in Tullynaskeagh, couple of hundred metres) but had no land tenancy. Catherine found that the Caffery entry for Folio 1c was struck off in the 1860s which coincides with Anne and Owen leaving for Australia.

I am still trying to work through all the information and connections – genealogical, geographical and historical, but would greatly appreciate any information you may have. I am, of course, happy to reciprocate. For a while now, I’ve been hunting up anything published in newspapers to 1954 about the Caffreys (or Caf*y as I’ve come to think of them) and have a list - Caffery – on the National Library of Australia’s Trove website - http://trove.nla.gov.au/list?id=10453.

Incidentally, I found a number of references to Cafferys in Sandgate and Deagon. I spent the first three years of my life at Flinders Parade, Sandgate and from then until I left home at Brackenridge. For a number of years, I worked as a mailman during the Christmas school holidays. There were no Cafferys on my run (which took in Deagon) but I think all may have left by then.

With best wishes,

Paul Ryan

Hello Paul

Just checking in on your progress today (July 7, 2014), and I'm very impressed with the feedback you are getting. For my part, I'm actually making some progress on one of my projects "These Old Walls - The Homes of Our Great-Grandparents" and I will send Catherine McCormack a separate email on that.

Best regards,

Phil Donnelly

I am 4 years down the track of this conversation, but am finding it so informative. Patrick Caffery (1834-1921) is my Great Grandfather. (My Grandparents were Michael Ryan (jr) and Bridget Caffery). I have yet to process all of the comments in this thread. I am searching for information about Patrick's father, Phillip who did not emigrate to Australia with his wife Anne Farley and their sons. Many thanks for any input. Carmel

Hi Catherine,

Thank you so much for your reply. I really appreciate the sharing of your information.Yes, I agree it seems that Phillip died about 1861-about 4 years before Ann and Owen emigrated to Australia.

Interesting information about the Clarkes still living in the area. I am thinking that you are referring to the family of Ann Clarke, my Great Grandmother who married Patrick Caffery in 1855.

My records show that her father was Michael Clarke and an Ellen.....wondering if anyone knows what Ellen's last name was.

Once again thank you.

Regards

Carmel

Hello, Carmel and many greetings, Catherine.

I've trawled through a host of on-line material and I'm afraid I haven't been able to find anything providing any information related to Philip Caffery's death or burial nor have I been able to find any reference to Ellen Clarke's maiden name. There may be some clues in archives that aren't on line (eg, the Valuation Revision Books). Philip (and his sons) were farm labourers and without land of their own at the time of Griffith Valuation (1855-56 in Cavan). If Philip had ever had a lease of land, it is probable that he had lost it some time before then. As farm labourers, they would have been ear the bottom of the social and economicn scale and one could speculate that they may have been itinerant to a greater or lesser extent. It is possible then that their records are are few or geographically scattered.

There are several changes in order since my first posting: 1. I believe Anne's family name may have been Farrelly not Farly/Farley. 2. Philip may have been born in Kells, Co Meath not Nolagh, Co Cavan (foolishly, I did not record the source for Nolagh as PoB). There may be others also but I'm away from home at the moment and won't be able to check for a few days.

I had posted, or thought I had, a wee dit on Patrick Caffery in Chronicles but it's not there. I should have a copy and will repost.

Do you live in Queensland, Carmel? I live outside Gympie. I have met up with a number of Caffery descendants, mostly descendants of the first Australian Philip but also of Patrick's brother, Owen.

Regards,

Paul Ryan

Hi Paul

I was hoping that you would reply. (One of my cousins,Bernadette,made contact with you a few years ago.)

I am on the G.C. But, was born and raised in Gympie. I am very grateful for this thread and would love to continue the conversation. My (quirky) email address is caramellobear98@yahoo.com

Warm Regards

Carmel

Hello, 

I am a Great, great Grandaughter of Patrick Caffery and Anne Clarke as discussed on this thread.  Their son Patrick 1864-1921 was my Great Grandfather. Just to clarify, there was an earlier son Patrick born in Australia who had died in Infancy.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the Thread.  It has been most helpful.

I am uncertain whether there are other copies about, but I have a grainy image of a portrait of Patrick Caffery (Snr) and another image of Anne Clarke.  Both portraits would have been taken in later life.

For those who don't know, there was an article published in The Queensland Times newspaper on October 25th , 1918 from an interview between a journalist and Patrick Caffery of One Mile.  It is rare in family History research to come across the a printing of a conversation verbatim from an ancestor.  The  article was published 3 years prior to Mr Cafferys death.

My Mother (who is 86 years) told me that it was believed that an ancestor in the family (I think she was referring to the Caffery family) used to "be a Footman up at the Castle".  They also had something to do with the coaches.

I could do with some local knowledge about whether there was a Castle in the County, or at least nearby and whether there would be any remaining records of the staff.  This does seem to be a very specific thing that was said.

Looking forward to a continued revelations on the Thread.  Thanks again to all involved.

Pam

Hi Pam and a very warm welcome.

Patrick Caffery and Ann Clarke are my Great Grandparents. My Grandmother was Bridget Caffery (1866-1944) who married Michael Ryan (1858-1939)

I believe your Great Grandfather, Patrick (1864-1921) and my Grandmother, Bridget were brother and sister.

I did know about the infant Patrick, thank you and also have a copy of the newspaper article. Fantastic reading.

Paul (who started this thread) and I have been in recent communication. If you would like to keep in contact, my email address is caramellobear98@yahoo.com

I hope that someone can clarify the Footman story as it sounds very interesting.

Thank you for adding to this thread.

Kind Regards

Carmel

Hello, Pam.

Great to meet another in the Caffery line.

Nothing I have come across suggests there having been a footman among the Cafferys in Ireland, at least, among our lot. I'm also not aware of any establishments that would have been grand enough to warrant a footman in what I think of as "Caffery Country" - Parishes of Bailieborough, Moybolgue and Moynalty. That having been said, documentation on our Cafferys in Ireland seems to be close to non existent, one of more of them may well have travelled further afield,  and it is well worth investigating any oral accounts. Several of the Cafferys seemed to have been very comfortable around horses and were involved with organising race meetings around Mt Sylvia and Upper Tenthill, so...

The newspaper account by Patrick snr is enthralling. It is interesting that he makes scant mention of life in Ireland. I wonder if that was the journalist wanting to focus purely on his life since arriving in Australia or that, for Patrick, Ireland had become a land he wished to have no rememberance of. He and Anne were quite remarkable people. I would love, one day, to get a copy of the photos you have of the two of them.

From memory, the younger Patrick, your great grandfather and the younger brother of my great grandfather, Philip, was manager of the butter factory in Toowoomba?

I can add my email to that of Carmel's: prion505@iinet.net.au.

With best wishes,

Paul Ryan

Dear Paul, Carmel and all contributors to the Caffery/Clark thread,

Thanks for all comments.

I have another query that I think requires some local knowledge of local Irish customs in the 1800's. 

I have heard another piece of oral family history in relation to Anne Caffery (Nee Farley/Farrelly) who migrated to Gatton/Lockyer Valley area with younger son Owen, after she was widowed.  She lived to a great age and is buried in Gatton Cemetery.

The story goes that she used to smoke a long thin pipe.  It is uncertain whether she used it as a "party trick" to amuse people, or whether this was just a normal habit for her.  The pipe apparently was unusual, unlike Australian smoking pipes of the time.  It was considered unusual for a woman in the family to smoke at all (judging by later, Australian standards). What I am wondering, is whether Ann Caffery(Nee Farrelly/Farley) smoking behaviour was something that came out from Ireland with her, and that later in life, in another culture, it was considered very eccentric by those around.  I wonder if she saw it as just part of normal life (ie, she grew up with it). I also wondered what happened to the "unusual", long thin pipe.  Could it have come out from Ireland with them?

Would appreciate any comments, or local knowledge of smoking customs from Ireland. Has anyone else heard of this story as well?

Regards,

Pam

Hello, Catherine. Both email addresses are current; I added the prion505 mailbox for family history stuff.

Regarding Anne nee Farrelly smoking a pipe: I recall one of my uncles relating a similar tale. I will have to check with him again to get the story straight but I'm fairly sure it was just a normal part of her life. I haven't paid any attention to this aspect of Irish life of the mid 19th century but my impression is that it was not uncommon for women to smoke pipes. My memory from various drawings I have seen is that the pipes were long stemmed.

My curiosity was sufficiently piqued that I did a quick google search which yielded two interesting snippets (below) and an image which I have uploaded, successfully I hope.

Paul

Clay Pipes: A wake was seen as a time for eating well and enjoying special treats for people with an otherwise frugal way of life. Special ‘wake provisions’ were bought for the occasion from the local grocer and a feature of this long shopping list (which included alcohol and food) was the large number of clay pipes. Clay pipes were filled and left out for visitors to the ‘wake house’ to take. People would light the pipes and exclaim “lord have mercy!” and inhale the tobacco smoke, which was considered to have curative properties. Non-smokers were expected to partake of this ceremony to help mourn the deceased. Any clay pipes left over from the funeral were broken and buried outside the house.

https://drmarionmcgarry.weebly.com/irish-heritage-and-identity-blog/pre…

The Claypipe Visitor Centre Knockcroghery Village, Co. Roscommon, Ireland https://www.oghamwish.com/storepage2675925.aspx

Hello to all who are posting such valuable information to this thread.

I am another of the descendants of Patrick and Ann - 1st Cousin of Carmel Ryan who has already posted to the thread.

I visited Ireland in 2000 and took some photos in ancient graveyards around Tierworker.  I will attempt to attach some rather indistinct ones of Clarke graves, which I believe are from a Graveyard close to the Tierworker town name.

Great to see your post, Bernadette. How great that there are now four Caffery descendants on this site. Chat soon, Carmel