Hennessy/Whelan/Phelan in Ballylooby?

Hello, Tom and thank you for the wealth of information you have provided. I am feeling more confident that this family is mine. I was going to ask about the residence of M Burgess shown on Ellen's baptism record because I didn't know if it was a person or a place. According to the information you provided, it appears to be both. On Google maps, I can see a place called Burgess just north of the Waterford line, about 20 km southwest of Ballylooby. Is it possible that this is the area where the family lived at the time of Ellen's birth? I am still trying to pinpoint the location of the birthplace of Ellen's husband William Crotty. From the information I have so far, it appears that William was born no farther than 50 km east of Burgess, just across the Waterford line.

With this information, I feel like I am forming a more personal connection to my great-grandparents and their parents. I hope to be able to visit Ireland again at some point to visit these places and to meet some of the local people.

Beverly Crawford (native of Memphis)

Hi Beverly, welcome to Ireland Reaching Out.

I agree wholeheartedly with Tom's analysis of the name Whelan/Phelan. It is common even in Ballylooby to have both spellings used but it was also very common to have the correct spelling used by emigrants to the USA. A good example of this is Sullivan, which appears in my own family tree up to the presesent generation who have changed it to O'Sullivan. Carthy was a common name that has been changed to McCarthy and many old Irish surnames have several vaiations.  I would use the name that is on microfilm records though these names sometimes vary also; they are written as they sound phonetically. The Parish boundaries did not change in the era to which these records apply but the southern part of Co. Tipperary has been part of the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore going back to Ancient times.                                                 I was born in Dundalk, Co. Louth and Dundalk is in the Diocese of Armagh, which is oficially part of the United Kingdom.    

 As regards the name Burgess, the Townslands of Burgess, New Burgess, Burgess Mansion and Burgess West are bordered by th Thonogue River that flows through the Village of Ballylooby. I would suggest that M Burgess is Middle Burgess, though I don't see such a townsland in the area - it may have existed in times past.  Burgess may not appear on small scale maps but is instantly visible on the Ordnance Survey of Ireland - Discovery Series, Sheet 74, 1:50,000.  - right next to the village. The OSI are very fast in sending orders to the USA and their maps are not expensive.

This map can be purchased online at http://shop.osi.ie/shop/ and it gives a very accurate and up to date image of the locality from the Galty Mountains to the Knocmealdown Mountains which are parish boundaries north and south.

 

 

  Beverly, Middle Burgess is still used as a postal address. I googled it and found that there are seveal references to Middle Burgess in death notices etc.  My personal knowledge of the deceased that are mentioned would place it in an area that is east of the village around the Scartana area on the map that I mentioned

 

Happy Christmas,

David Slattery.

Hello, David and thank you for confirming the information about the Whelan/Phelan variations. And an even bigger thank you for identifying the possible residence as Middle Burgess. I will certainly pursue the Ordnance Map of the area. Google maps is only taking me so far in this area.

Merry Christmas to you both.

Beverly