Collinses in Rearahinagh

My 3g-grandfather Larr Collins lived, by his own words, in Adrigole starting about 1803. If he wasn't pulling the leg of the loan officer to whom he made that statement in 1853, he would have been about 20 when he settled there. So far, I have been unable to conclusively link him to other Collins lines, though I do have a fishing line out there dangling (in the form of a Y-DNA test) and it could be a matter of waiting until enough Collinses with ancestry from west Cork step up to the plate (for such a common surname, the project has very few participants overall let alone participants with known Cork or Ireland ancestry).

Larr was by no means the only Collins around during the 1825 Tithe Applotment of Castlehaven parish. Also in Adrigole, which is the extreme north end of the parish, were Jerry (on the same lot), John, and Daniel. Unless his death record is grossly wrong and he was much older when he died, this Daniel was not my gg-grandfather Daniel, whom we think was born in 1814. So the questions are, did Larr have a brother Jeremiah, a brother Daniel, a brother John?

If it is the same Laurence in neighboring Coornishal during the 1829 Kilmacabea TA, there were a John and a Timothy Collins there also. The same surname and the close proximity to each other do not necessarily mean they were relatives, of course.

Later during Griffiths Valuation, there were a Timothy and a Patrick on Adrigole lots 2a and 3a while Laurence occupied 7b and 8a. I suspect it was this Patrick on the 1849 baptism record of Laurence Collins, my great-granduncle. Was Patrick this child's uncle?  And what happened to Patrick, who disappeared after Griffiths Valuation?

Such is research - it leads to more questions than answers.

I have been aware of the presence of Collinses in Rearahinagh almost since I've started my research.  Rearahinagh is a townland that does double duty between the parishes of Caheragh and of Drimoleague. I have had this Rearahinagh clue in my hand for a while, and today I may have finally added some substance to it.

There is a baptism record of a Laurence Collins in Drimoleague & Drinagh RC Parish.  The parents - Darby Collins and Margaret Neill, resided in Killaveenoge, part of the parish of Drinagh.  The baptism record is here:

10-Jul-1825 Laurence, Killaveenoge

Searching for other children of Darby (Jeremiah) Collins and Margaret Neill yields 0 results. However, there may be a clue in the Drinagh Tithe Applotment of 1833.

Looking in the TA under "Keelovinoge" there is nobody named Collins, and there is no Jeremiah or Darby Collins anywhere in the parish; however, there is a listing for a Darby Shinough Neill right there in Killaveenoge. The name Shinnick is a common name around the Dunmanway area. Could Shinnick have been an agnomen for O'Neill in these parts?

Repeating my search for children of Darby or Jeremiah Collins, only this time indicating the mother as Margaret Shin* Neil, yields the following additional results.  Note that the record above, for Laurence in 1825, is the only baptism record in which the mother Margaret is recorded as Neil:

In Dunmanway RC Parish:

30-Sep-1821 Michael, Derrynacaheragh

1-Feb-1824 Daniel, Lacka, godparents Jeremiah McCarthy, Catherine Collins

20-Aug-1826 James, Coom, godparents Pat Leary, Honora Collins

Now comes a possible Rearahinagh connection.

13-Jan-1832 John Collins, Rearahinagh, Caheragh RC parish
parents Timothy Collins and Margaret Roe (Donovan?),
Godparents were Jeremiah Collins and Margaret Neil

Then back to Dunmanway:

13-Apr-1832 Julia, Inchanadreen, godfather Daniel Collins

6-Jan-1835 Dennis, Inchanadreen, Dunmanway RC Parish,

I am unable to find any marriage records for a Jeremiah Collins and a Margaret Neil or Shinnick in what is available online.

Where are these locations?  Coom, Derrynacaharagh, and Inchanadreen are in Fanlobbus parish. Lacka was probably Lacka Wood, a woodland in Coom. These locations lie sharply northwest of the town of Dunmanway, encircling a lake at a location called Rockmount.

What do the tithe applotments tell me?

Location	Parish	Year	Names
Coom	Fanlobbus	1827	Denis, Timothy Collins
Derrynacaheragh	Fanlobbus	1827	no Collinses
Inchanadreen	Fanlobbus	1827	no Collinses
Rearahinagh	Caheragh	1827	Jeremiah Collins

What does Griffiths Valuation tell me?

Location	Parish	Year	Names
Coom	Fanlobbus	1852	Michael, John, Timothy Collins
Derrynacaheragh	Fanlobbus	1852	no Collinses
Inchanadreen	Fanlobbus	1852	no Collinses
Rearahinagh	Caheragh	1853	Margaret Collins
Rearahinagh	Drimoleague	1853	John, Timothy, Jeremiah Collins

The Michael listed in Coom certainly could have been the one born in 1821. However, I have not found a John or Timothy up around Coom, born to this couple.

If I am wrong and the couple in Dunmanway and the couple in Drimoleague were two different couples, there is still a good chance that the Drimoleague couple whose son Laurence was baptized in 1825 were the godparents of a Collins child baptized 1832 in Rearahinagh, adjacent to Adrigole.

So far there is no conflicting data showing these MUST have been two separate couples. If I am correct that this is the same couple in all these records, they were apparently laborers and moved around where the work was. Maybe their time around Dunmanway is a clue to where the family originally came from. However, much more investigation needs to happen before I can make any case that the Dunmanway and Drimoleague families were the same family, much less claim that they may have been relatives of Larr. I am going to have to trace back a few families in the Adrigole area, not as easy as it sounds, since baptism records for the area from the early 1800's are so sparse. Rearahinagh is tough to research. So far, I have not seen it in the Tenure Book for Caheragh or for Drimoleague so I may have to dig elsewhere.