Joanna Slattery (born Murphy)

Hi Lyn,  

As you are probably aware, Christian names passed down from one generation to the next in Ireland in bygone daysand obviously, James was an important name in your Slattery ancestry.  I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings but the name James does not appear anywhere in my ancestry according to the limited records that are available here.

There were two prominent Slattery families in this area; the first one is my own, which I can trace back to the beginning of the nineteenth century in the Ballylooby/ Duhill Parish.  There was no James in any generation since then.

The other was a Merchant/Farmer family in Clogheen/ Burncourt/Ballyporeen areas. The prominent names there were David, Jeremiah and Timothy but again, no James that I can find.

When I was a child, there was a Jim Slattery living in the Burncourt Parish who was not related to either of the above families.  He appears in the Census of 1901 with his sister Ellen and two brothers, William and Andrew at Kilroe, Burncourt, which is just outside the Ballylooby Parish boundary.  He is still there in 1911 with just his sister Ellen and he died a bachelor in the 1950s.

Apart from my grand-father, John Slattery, most of my Slattery ancestors emigrated to the USA, mainly to NY, NY. They are now scattered all over the United States.

I am related to the other Slattery merchant/farmer family but through a Margaret Tobin, my dad's cousin who married a David Francis Slattery in 1944 in Ballylooby Parish - her parish, not his. Sadly, I am not aware of any Murphys in my ancestry either.

Lyn, I will gladly meet you when you visit in May and see if I can be of any more help to you. Just give me a couple of days notice.  I'm sorry I can't be more helpful at present but let me know if you think the names Ellen, William or Andrew are common to your family.

Best Regards,

David.

 

Hello David,

Oh, I am disappointed. I had thought I was on the right path with the Slattery connection. I checked the "Entitlement certificates" for my great great grandma and her sisters. All certificates showed that the person who verified the name and character of the young woman was Thomas Slattery. Since Joanna Murphy had married a James Slattery I conclude that Thomas Slattery was also a family connection, perhaps James's brother or father. 

However, as you say, Thomas Slattery AND James Slattery are not family names in your Slattery family.

Next thing I'll do is search the other people of the same ship to Australia and see if I can find other connections. Alice Murphy is a likely one with the person who verified her name and character as James Slattery (presumably Joanna Murphy's husband and thus he is the girls' uncle).   

The other thing I'll do is again search the Catholic marriage and birth registers for the Slattery family and see if James and Joanna stayed in Cahir and find the names of their children.

It's all like a detective story. I hope to meet up with you David as I'm sure there will be things to discuss, an if not then we can have a cup of coffee together. Thanks so much for answering my message.

Best wishes. Lyn Stewart

Hi Tom,

Thanks so much for following up the Slattery connection. I think Scart townland is not far from the Murphy family connections in the Clonoulty area. It would make sense if Joanna and James Slattery went to live in that area. I will check how it all looks in relation to those I know about in the Cashel-Clonoulty area. I look forward to meeting you when I get to Tipperary 11th June. Is that at all possible? I will be staying in Dundrum in a holiday house for 4 weeks beginning 11th June. Plenty of time to visit Cahir a number of times.

Many thanks Tom. I'll be in touch again in the next few weeks.

Regards

Lyn Stewart