Tracing religious ancestors - tipperary

Wow Christina thank you - How did you find her - will need to check to see if ist is her.  Thank you so much - had nearly given up on finding anything about her

1901 Census

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Tipperary/Ballingarry/…

P J

This discussion/information about family religious has been enlightening. Thank you for providing the Thurles Presentation Sisters contact email.                                                                                                                                                                    Just recently I have been able to trace my great great aunties (Barbara & Anna Morris baptized Ballingarry 1879 and 1881) who became Mercy Sisters in Yorkshire 1906-1946, making a family connection that had been lost over 140 years.                                                            Due to the death of their father Wm., in Thurles 1887, I am guessing their widowed mother emigrated to America with her two sons shortly after his death, sending her three daughters to live with their aunt Ellen Morris-Guy (hotel keeper) in Tuam, Co. Galway as per 1901 Census. They entered the Mercy Sisters.

 I have gaps in my research that I need to fill before writing the narrative about my Irish family. [Speculations welcome!]                                                            

At what age did children most likely enter school 1880s-1900?                                                                                                         Would the Presentation Sisters in Thurles have records for children attending school 1880s or only records for their Sisters? Where did boys attend school in Thurles?  Was there a cost for attending this school?                                                                                                                                                         

 I have tried to find my future Mercy Sisters attending school in Tuam to no avail (records tight?) Someone there found the youngest daughter Florence in the Tuam Mercy school but no evidence of Barbara and Anna attending school there.                         Also, there is a possibility one daughter was left at Thurles Workhouse due to ill health (I am guessing the girl I found there was from my family...however, Workhouse did not record names of relatives of this Morris girl who  entered Workhouse 1887 as per The Source & news articles of her death 1893)...I can't wrap my head around how a mother could leave her there....Please enlighten me.                                                                                                                                                                                               Finally....I am assuming their aunties Maria (baptized Ballingarry abt 1852) and Ellen Bourke Morris (bap. Ballingarry 1855) ---parents Wm and Mary, would have attended school in Slievardagh coal area. They lived Earlshill as their father was an engineer until about 1883 when they moved to Tuam, Co. Galway. Would they have boarded? There was a Presentation School near Ballingarry but I don't know if this was a Kilkenny Presentation Sisters connection (1860-1880)  or if they would have gone to school in Thurles. Would they have boarded in either case? I would also like to know if records exist.                                                  I have been blest to find so much already in not knowing where I was from in Ireland to what I've discovered in 5 year's time. As always, one answer leads to many more questions! I'm sure I've over-stepped my limit. I so wish I could come to you and sit around your table, absorbing your collective wisdom. Thank you for your consideration :)

A great book that will help you in your research

Records and Memories of One Hundred Years 1817-1917 - Presentation Convent Thurles 

available on AbeBooks

BtThank you dear Christina- very helpful!

 Just hoping to fill in the gaps in my Irish family history....your response has lightened my heart.

Is there any way to know if the Presentation school in Thurles has records of pupils attending there 1880s? (William Morris bap. Ballingarry 1873; Patrick b. 1875; Mary Ellen b 1877; Barbara b 1879; Anna b 1881). I am not sure when they moved from Earlshill to Thurles and eventually Tuam, but all baptized Ballingarry.

Could they have moved to Thurles early 1880s and still baptized their later children in their old parish of Ballingarry? Their father suffered from T.B. for abt. 3 yrs as per his death record (1887 Thurles). Their father had been a Colliery Manager, Earlshill and I imagine when he started becoming ill, they moved from Earlshill to Thurles/area until he died. Knowing the dates that some of the children entered school...even when they departed for Tuam would help me figure out when the girls went to Tuam to live with their aunt and at which time I think, their widowed mother and two sons emigrated.

I so hope the school records Thurles 1880s exist and would be made available to search for family.  

-Would a coal mining engineer 1840s-1880 have been wealthy?

-In my aunt Ellen Morris-Guy's Tuam obiturary, there was a long list of attendees at funeral in Tuam Cathedral 1939. I noticed the names of the Superior from the Presentation Convent in Kilkenny as well as other sisters. Because Ellen was actually 32 when she married (25 on her record) 1888 in Tuam, I'm wondering if she had early connection with the Presentation Sisters either as classmates or perhaps she spent time in the Convent. How would I find out? Would the Thurles Convent have information?

Blessings to all - Happy Thanksgiving from America!

Katy

Ladies

I am a great grandson of William and Mary Anne Morgan (nee McDonald).  Because I was a late addition (dad, Joseph Philip Morgan born 1901, was nearly 53 when I was born and died when I was 17) I have never really been confident as to who fitted exactly where into the family.  However, I have a certificate of baptism for my grandfather Francis Robert Morgan born Dec 1861 in the Quebec Garrison where William was then a sergeant.  My father spoke of 'Uncle Will' who I understood to be a Catholic Priest (although I thought in Liverpool rather than Wales) and I have a little information relating to Cecilia who I think ended up as Mother Superior at the Presentation Convent, Ballingarry.  Dad remained in touch with Emily for many years who ran, with another sister, a photography business in Hampstead I believe.  My grandmother died when my father was 12 or 13 and he went to live with his brother (another Francis) who was headmaster of Farnham Grammar School.  I never met that Francis but did meet his daughter Sylvia (now deceased) who told me of Laura, then struggling with dementia in a home in Truro.  I think that Francis Robert (who died in 1939), Cecilia, Emily, Will and Laura must have been siblings but I cannot be sure that I do not have one or more in the wrong generation!

Dad always said that up to that generation, all femail members of the family went into convents to preserve the purity of decent from, wait for it, Daniel O'Morgan 'last king of Connaught'.  In fact, I think D O'M (with a different spelling/pronounciation then) was what might loosely be called a courtier rather than the main man but I have always intended to explore further.

The family motto, from that time, seems to have been words to the effect of 'I neither seek nor fear the final day' which does, I find, pretty well sum up my own view of life!

Would be good to pick up any further info - or to be in touch with relatives as, on my father's side, I know of none now living.

Nigel

Brilliant to hear from you Nigel

Mary and William had sons and daughers - Laurence, William, Francis, Mary Josephine, James, Sarah and Joseph Peter

If I have this right - William and Mary's son Francis married Catherine Wood, who had a son (amongst others) Joseph William Morgan b 1901 - your dad

I'm still working on some branches of the family and your information is great - Father William was a Catholic priest in the Rhondda Valley in Wales, Mary Josephine - I had always been told ended up in a convent in Ireland but I just thought that was my mam's tall tales.  My Great grandfather was James who married Beatrice - one of their children my grandfather was William Richard Morgan who went to Canada and fought in the Canadian Expeditionary Force and then brought his Canadian bride back to this country.  He had two daughters - Winifred (my Mam) and Helen (nurse - deceased).  I have a sister (Ruth), brother (Stephen) and me

Joseph Peter was a Catholic Father in Liverpool and then Leeds where he died in 1944 so we had two priests as ancestors - he was a Obltae of Mary Immaculate and He died on 18 May 1944 at age of 69 years at Mount St. Mary's Presbytery in Leeds, Yorkshire, England.- I have searched high and low for information on Mary Josephine - last heard of living in Swansea in 1891 as a music teacher looking after William.

Don't want to overload you with too much information but would love to catch up more.

My email address is tracy.wales@hotmail.co.uk and currently live in Cumbria