A first draft transcription of the tithe applotment of Kilmeen is now online here.
Tithe Applotment of Kilmeen
An index for this transcription is here.
Kilmeen TA index
Please submit corrections/additional info here
Additions and corrections
More Skibbereen area TA transcriptions can be found here.
Skibbereen area TA transcriptions
Friday, September 30, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Kilcoe Tithe Applotment Transcription now online
A first draft transcription of the tithe applotment of Kilcoe is now online here.
Tithe Applotment of Kilcoe
An index for this transcription is here.
Kilcoe TA index
Please submit corrections/additional info here
Additions and corrections
More Skibbereen area TA transcriptions can be found here.
Skibbereen area TA transcriptions
Tithe Applotment of Kilcoe
An index for this transcription is here.
Kilcoe TA index
Please submit corrections/additional info here
Additions and corrections
More Skibbereen area TA transcriptions can be found here.
Skibbereen area TA transcriptions
Friday, August 26, 2011
Using Irish newspapers for inquest records
As some visitors may recall, I ran into an insurmountable brick wall in my family history work researching a girl who was possibly related to my great-great-grandmother Ellen Driscoll Collins. Noria Driscoll was staying with her in the 1901 census in Lower Lissane:
When I first started investigating the link between Noria Driscoll and Ellen Driscoll Collins, I was researching Ellen Driscoll and thought that Noria could have been a niece. Her relationship to Ellen Driscoll Collins was not as I originally thought. It turns out the census record is not entirely accurate. Noria is listed as a niece to the head of household when she was in fact a granddaughter. On this census record, her grandfather was Michael Collins, her grandmother was Ellen Driscoll Collins, her uncle was Michael Collins, and her aunt was Noria Collins.
Through a process of elimination using civil registration birth records from around 1890 plus the 1901 census, I developed a hypothesis that Noria was from Currabeg, a townland in Castlehaven parish. The brick wall exists because I have been unable to locate her parents' marriage record or the death record of her mother, whom apparently died prior to the 1901 census.
Subsequent research showed that Noria drowned in February 1903, with the place of death noted as Lissane. The death record only listed the cause of death, the coroner and the date of the inquest, but there was no further information.
Skibbereen Southern Star news archives are online. I was unable to find any further information about her tragic death. I sent an email to the National Archives inquiring about the availability of inquest records for County Cork and did not hear back.
On one genealogy forum I visit regularly, another researcher asked a similar question, and I told him of my brick wall and how I ran into a dead-end asking about inquest records at the National Library. "JB" as I shall call him, was in Louth, and was planning to travel to Dublin for some sleuthing. Wisely, he decided to hit the newspapers.
JB emailed me telling me of his plans to go to Dublin and asked for the details of the inquest record I was seeking, which I thought was really kind. I had reached a point that I was totally annoyed with researching this family, and I was annoyed with the Southern Star for not reporting the drowning (yes - not logical). The S.S. noted other drownings about the same time, therefore in my frustration I had rationalized that because she was a schoolgirl, her death didn't merit any newspaper's attention. To validate my conclusion I had also searched the papers at irishnewsarchives.com and even the Irish Times archives, and still did not come up with anything.
Because I really didn't think JB would find anything, it didn't even occur to me to mention the existence of the Skibbereen Eagle newspaper, which I already knew about. Had I told him of that paper beforehand, I might have saved him about an hour of time at the library. I really didn't want him to spend a lot of time looking for something which I knew "wasn't there."
But JB looked at the County Cork newspapers available and figured out which one to look at. Here is a list of some of the papers available at the National Archives:
Cork Papers at NLI
In addition, Cork City Library has a very good newspaper collection:
Cork City Library Newspaper Archives
When I saw a copy of the story of Noria's drowning sitting in my inbox a few days later I was nothing less than stunned. JB also found a story referencing the death of one his relatives who suddenly took ill and died while enroute by ship to Ireland.
There were two valuable lessons we learned from this. JB noted that email to a repository body typically doesn't yield much, but when you go in person and talk to humans the outcome is often very different. Second, if there was a newspaper covering an area you are interested in at at the right time, then it indeed may give inquest details. So it can really pay off to wade through the newspapers.
In addition to my extreme gratitude to JB, I also felt vindicated when I read the story of Noria's drowning. The article confirmed her suspected origins. The article contained one error, naming her uncle as Michael Driscoll when in fact he was Michael Collins. (Her father was Michael Driscoll of Currabeg.) This is why it is so important that when you work on your family tree, you don't stop researching just because a name fills a slot. All records, whether from newspaper stories, from church records, or from civil registration, are vulnerable to errors, and so you must continue collecting evidence and see where the weight of that evidence falls.
This is probably about where Noria fell in the river. Even in *good* weather, that water looks terribly busy... map
When I first started investigating the link between Noria Driscoll and Ellen Driscoll Collins, I was researching Ellen Driscoll and thought that Noria could have been a niece. Her relationship to Ellen Driscoll Collins was not as I originally thought. It turns out the census record is not entirely accurate. Noria is listed as a niece to the head of household when she was in fact a granddaughter. On this census record, her grandfather was Michael Collins, her grandmother was Ellen Driscoll Collins, her uncle was Michael Collins, and her aunt was Noria Collins.
Through a process of elimination using civil registration birth records from around 1890 plus the 1901 census, I developed a hypothesis that Noria was from Currabeg, a townland in Castlehaven parish. The brick wall exists because I have been unable to locate her parents' marriage record or the death record of her mother, whom apparently died prior to the 1901 census.
Subsequent research showed that Noria drowned in February 1903, with the place of death noted as Lissane. The death record only listed the cause of death, the coroner and the date of the inquest, but there was no further information.
Skibbereen Southern Star news archives are online. I was unable to find any further information about her tragic death. I sent an email to the National Archives inquiring about the availability of inquest records for County Cork and did not hear back.
On one genealogy forum I visit regularly, another researcher asked a similar question, and I told him of my brick wall and how I ran into a dead-end asking about inquest records at the National Library. "JB" as I shall call him, was in Louth, and was planning to travel to Dublin for some sleuthing. Wisely, he decided to hit the newspapers.
JB emailed me telling me of his plans to go to Dublin and asked for the details of the inquest record I was seeking, which I thought was really kind. I had reached a point that I was totally annoyed with researching this family, and I was annoyed with the Southern Star for not reporting the drowning (yes - not logical). The S.S. noted other drownings about the same time, therefore in my frustration I had rationalized that because she was a schoolgirl, her death didn't merit any newspaper's attention. To validate my conclusion I had also searched the papers at irishnewsarchives.com and even the Irish Times archives, and still did not come up with anything.
Because I really didn't think JB would find anything, it didn't even occur to me to mention the existence of the Skibbereen Eagle newspaper, which I already knew about. Had I told him of that paper beforehand, I might have saved him about an hour of time at the library. I really didn't want him to spend a lot of time looking for something which I knew "wasn't there."
But JB looked at the County Cork newspapers available and figured out which one to look at. Here is a list of some of the papers available at the National Archives:
Cork Papers at NLI
In addition, Cork City Library has a very good newspaper collection:
Cork City Library Newspaper Archives
When I saw a copy of the story of Noria's drowning sitting in my inbox a few days later I was nothing less than stunned. JB also found a story referencing the death of one his relatives who suddenly took ill and died while enroute by ship to Ireland.
There were two valuable lessons we learned from this. JB noted that email to a repository body typically doesn't yield much, but when you go in person and talk to humans the outcome is often very different. Second, if there was a newspaper covering an area you are interested in at at the right time, then it indeed may give inquest details. So it can really pay off to wade through the newspapers.
In addition to my extreme gratitude to JB, I also felt vindicated when I read the story of Noria's drowning. The article confirmed her suspected origins. The article contained one error, naming her uncle as Michael Driscoll when in fact he was Michael Collins. (Her father was Michael Driscoll of Currabeg.) This is why it is so important that when you work on your family tree, you don't stop researching just because a name fills a slot. All records, whether from newspaper stories, from church records, or from civil registration, are vulnerable to errors, and so you must continue collecting evidence and see where the weight of that evidence falls.
This is probably about where Noria fell in the river. Even in *good* weather, that water looks terribly busy... map
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Castlehaven and Myross Tithe Applotment transcriptions are available
Tithe applotment transcriptions for Castlehaven and for Myross are now available online. These are first drafts only, they have not been processed with corrections yet.
You can access the Skibbereen area transcriptions here:
Skibbereen tithe applotment transcriptions
Please submit a correction here: fixit
You can access the Skibbereen area transcriptions here:
Skibbereen tithe applotment transcriptions
Please submit a correction here: fixit
Monday, May 23, 2011
Tithe Applotment Transcription of Ballymoney civil parish now online
I wasn't planning on doing more transcriptions until I redesigned the indexing of existing TA transcriptions for Cork. Ballymoney was a bit of a rush job for Dunmanway Historical Society so they will have the data for the summer tourist season.
One problem that I have not resolved - I can't figure out where the enumerations are for Ballineen and for Ballynacarriga.
Ballymoney TA
http://www.corkgen.org/publicgenealogy/cork/titheapplot/ballymoney/
Skibbereen area TA links
http://www.corkgen.org/publicgenealogy/cork/titheapplot/corkgentithes.html
Please submit corrections here
http://www.corkgen.org/publicgenealogy/cork/titheapplot/fixit.php
General Cork County TA links
http://www.corkgen.org/publicgenealogy/cork/titheapplot/
One problem that I have not resolved - I can't figure out where the enumerations are for Ballineen and for Ballynacarriga.
Ballymoney TA
http://www.corkgen.org/publicgenealogy/cork/titheapplot/ballymoney/
Skibbereen area TA links
http://www.corkgen.org/publicgenealogy/cork/titheapplot/corkgentithes.html
Please submit corrections here
http://www.corkgen.org/publicgenealogy/cork/titheapplot/fixit.php
General Cork County TA links
http://www.corkgen.org/publicgenealogy/cork/titheapplot/
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Mahony battle plan
Grandmom's Mahony ancestry is proving to be the most challenging to pin down, as no relatives know anything about them. The only clue I have is that the same Mahony names showing up on marriage and baptism records for Grandmom's family in Cullomane East also show up on marriage and baptism records for a branch of Granddad's family in Lissane. That, and that both the Margaret Mahony = Denis Collins marriage out of Lissane and the Mary Mahony = Daniel Collins marriage out of Cullomane actually took place in Drimoleague & Drinagh R.C. parish, possibly the home parish of the brides. From these coincidences I think Mary and Margaret were likely sisters.
Drimoleague & Drinagh, though, is so intertwined with Caheragh, that I am starting to think I cannot rule Caheragh out. It isn't outside the realm of possibility that a bride was living with somebody besides her immediate family, for instance, an uncle's family.
Skibbereen Heritage has done some preliminary searches for me. From what they have done I have managed to eliminate some possibilities. A family with names Cain, Denis, Daniel, Timothy, Mary, Margaret, and Catherine simply doesn't look like a family with names William and Ann. So I've done some elimination just based on name resemblance. The non-familiar names also tended to be further away (Lettergorman).
The family out of Bredagh remains the best contender, though a new plot element landed in my lap this morning. A family in Drimoleague I have not considered, Michael Mahony = Mary Henning of Drimoleague, had a son named Daniel. Ordinarily I would not pay attention to this record, except that one of my Family Finder DNA matches has the mother's surname as his own surname.
As I have accumulated Mahony data over the two years I have been doing research, I have constructed data chains from baptismal records (if I have them); tithe applotment; griffiths; and then civil registration, 1901 and 1911 censuses.
I am interested in marriages in the early years of registration, as these records are of events for people whose births were outside the reach of civil registration but whose parent may have been recorded in tithe applotment or Griffiths. The marriage records will list the groom's father's name, which is helpful. The problem with residence on a marriage record, though, is that the residence listed is not necessarily where somebody was born and grew up or subsequently ended up living. Farm laborers could have moved around to different farms.
Similarly, death records of those born before civil registration can be especially useful. I focus more on the older people, who obviously had time to marry and produce a family. The death records help me narrow down the point in time I might find that person in a baptismal record. Sometimes you get lucky on a death record, if the informant was a relative and stated where he or she lived. I've also gotten lucky even on infant death records, when the informant identified himself as an uncle.
Birth records help me reconstruct families I see in the censuses.
In my Mahony Excel workbook, my death spreadsheet has 33 references from the online civil registration index, with only 13 references resolved. The marriage spreadsheet has 28 index references on it with only four of them resolved. I even have 21 indexes references on a birth spreadsheet for 1864-1870 that would be worth looking at to eliminate them.
It is worth looking at the Ireland special collections at Family Search online to see if I can eliminate anybody on the worksheets, but those special collections are not exhaustive. However if I can eliminate a record before ordering the film for it or resorting to ordering it from GRO, all the better. It saves both time AND money. For my purposes I will not order any birth records from GRO before 1881, as 1864-1880 films are in the permanent collection at my local Family History Library and are available to me. Films are available to order for both marriages and deaths 1864-1870.
Drimoleague & Drinagh, though, is so intertwined with Caheragh, that I am starting to think I cannot rule Caheragh out. It isn't outside the realm of possibility that a bride was living with somebody besides her immediate family, for instance, an uncle's family.
Skibbereen Heritage has done some preliminary searches for me. From what they have done I have managed to eliminate some possibilities. A family with names Cain, Denis, Daniel, Timothy, Mary, Margaret, and Catherine simply doesn't look like a family with names William and Ann. So I've done some elimination just based on name resemblance. The non-familiar names also tended to be further away (Lettergorman).
The family out of Bredagh remains the best contender, though a new plot element landed in my lap this morning. A family in Drimoleague I have not considered, Michael Mahony = Mary Henning of Drimoleague, had a son named Daniel. Ordinarily I would not pay attention to this record, except that one of my Family Finder DNA matches has the mother's surname as his own surname.
As I have accumulated Mahony data over the two years I have been doing research, I have constructed data chains from baptismal records (if I have them); tithe applotment; griffiths; and then civil registration, 1901 and 1911 censuses.
I am interested in marriages in the early years of registration, as these records are of events for people whose births were outside the reach of civil registration but whose parent may have been recorded in tithe applotment or Griffiths. The marriage records will list the groom's father's name, which is helpful. The problem with residence on a marriage record, though, is that the residence listed is not necessarily where somebody was born and grew up or subsequently ended up living. Farm laborers could have moved around to different farms.
Similarly, death records of those born before civil registration can be especially useful. I focus more on the older people, who obviously had time to marry and produce a family. The death records help me narrow down the point in time I might find that person in a baptismal record. Sometimes you get lucky on a death record, if the informant was a relative and stated where he or she lived. I've also gotten lucky even on infant death records, when the informant identified himself as an uncle.
Birth records help me reconstruct families I see in the censuses.
In my Mahony Excel workbook, my death spreadsheet has 33 references from the online civil registration index, with only 13 references resolved. The marriage spreadsheet has 28 index references on it with only four of them resolved. I even have 21 indexes references on a birth spreadsheet for 1864-1870 that would be worth looking at to eliminate them.
It is worth looking at the Ireland special collections at Family Search online to see if I can eliminate anybody on the worksheets, but those special collections are not exhaustive. However if I can eliminate a record before ordering the film for it or resorting to ordering it from GRO, all the better. It saves both time AND money. For my purposes I will not order any birth records from GRO before 1881, as 1864-1880 films are in the permanent collection at my local Family History Library and are available to me. Films are available to order for both marriages and deaths 1864-1870.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Collins family tree, version 1.0
Skibbereen Heritage has done a great deal of research for me over the past two months that has answered many questions about my Grandmom's and Granddad's families.
Starting with Granddad, we researched "Part 2" of the Lissane Collinses, with the first part done last year. In the interim, I again hit the census records and civil registration films, and created three key family group sheets out of Lissane. I had these families partially carved out so I was then able to approach Skibbereen Heritage and ask to complete the families. We did - easily - and I have a flood of new information. John Collins (1824-1882) who was married to Ellen McCarthy and whom I thought was my great-great grandfather's brother now made a case for himself when we found his oldest known son was named Humphrey.
This family is lucky to have had the beacon name "Humphrey Collins", so I went to the Mormon Family Search website and started searching more globally for any Humphrey Collins out of Ireland. I found quite a bit. Some of these Humphreys have yet to be linked definitively to Lissane.
However, there is an amazing story of one Humphrey Collins who emigrated and settled in Newport, Rhode Island. His oldest son was named Dennis. There was a younger son named Humphrey. As I continued to trawl through Family Search, it looked like Humphrey Junior joined the US Navy and was stationed in San Diego. I then found an entry in the Social Security death record index and it turns out Humphrey Junior died in 1977 in the same town I now live in! He was in all likelihood Granddad's third cousin. And my Mom nor anybody else never knew.
I will be spending the coming years filling in more details about this Newport R.I. branch, of course. Apparently emigrant Humphrey came with a number of siblings, who all settled there.
Now for McCarthys. For a long time, it was clear that the Tooreen McCarthys were somehow related to McCarthys in Lissane. We didn't know precisely how. I again made family group sheets out of census, civil registration data, news archives, consulted Griffiths Valuation, tithe applotments for Caheragh and Drimoleague, the 1842 petition to Parliament contesting an election in County Cork, notes from my conversations with my aunt, and correspondence on the Lissane and Tooreen McCarthys. I hypothesized that the known patriarch in Lissane, Cornelius, was the son of an Andrew since the oldest son was called Andrew. My great-great grandfather Cornelius had seven daughters and no sons, so I didn't have that kind of hint. However, I went back to my aunt, and the first name that popped into her head was a "Charlie C. McCarthy" who was apparently Granddad's cousin. My hypothesis was then that the two patriarch Corneliuses were cousins, the Lissane one was the son of an Andrew, and born a few years earlier than my great-great grandfather, who might have been the son of a Charles. I went to Skibbereen Heritage with that information and we batted 1000. Right on all counts. At least, so far. I added that caveat because there are other McCarthy families in Lissane whom I don't know about. There could have been another Andrew, or another Charles.
Coincidentally, around the time Skibb Heritage was researching these McCarthys, the name "Tessie Young" popped into my aunt's head. Now in all this time that I have discussed family history with her, the name Young has never come up. But Tessie Young was a chemist (pharmacist) in Skibbereen town. Mom and all the children used to go into her shop regularly. Granddad, who walked around with all this family tree information in his head! declared that she was "a cousin." As it turns out, the mother of my great-great grandfather was one Margaret Young. In addition there was a Mary Young who was a baptismal sponsor of Bridget McCarthy, Granddad's aunt. The appearance of these names strengthens the case that we have found the right Charles.
Now for Driscolls. I ran into a solid dead end looking for the family of Noria Driscoll, the girl who drowned. So I had to go to Plan B. And what a great Plan B it turned out to be! The baptismal sponsors of the children of Michael Collins = Ellen Driscoll included an Andrew Maguire and a Johanna Maguire. Around the mid-1800's, the name Maguire was practically non-existent in Skibbereen. But Andrew and Johanna show up in Griffiths Valuation in Garrane, a townland in the extreme southwest corner of Caheragh parish. I don't know how the Maguires got there, as the name wasn't there in the Tithe Applotment. But it practically jumps out of Griffiths. Skibbereen Heritage started looking for Driscolls near Maguires and found some. Daniel Driscoll and Mary Looney had a daughter, Ellen, born 1830, who was probably my great-great-grandmother. That's what I was looking for. It's not an absolutely perfect match, there are some questions. The problem we have is that neither Ellen, nor her sister Mary, who married Andrew Maguire, were known to have a son Daniel, named after their father. But until more information comes to light, that's all I have to go on.
There are other McCarthys through Granddad. The origins of his maternal grandmother, Mary McCarthy, are somewhat more difficult to come by. We know she had some kind of relationship to Daniel McCarthy, the well-known Drinagh schoolteacher, probably aunt-nephew. We searched for Daniel's father Cornelius and found him. Cornelius's parents were Daniel McCarthy Knock and Ellen Connolly. Unfortunately, we could not find Mary's baptismal record. She would have been the youngest child, born 1836 or so.
However, an Ellen Connolly was the baptismal sponsor of Margaret McCarthy (1860) of Tooreen. Margaret was Mary's oldest daughter. That is the only "paper" thread I have linking the two families.
This all gets horribly confusing, as Mary McCarthy had both a brother named Cornelius and a husband Cornelius, and they were both born in 1824.
Skibbereen Heritage is currently looking into the Mahonys on Grandmom's side. This is a tough one. However, there is a rather interesting coincidence that has popped up, and it might lead us to the right Mahonys. The Mahony name recorded as a witness of the wedding of Daniel Collins = Mary Mahony (m. 1845) plus the Mahony names of the baptismal sponsors of the Cullomane Collins children are the same names as Mahonys who show up in one branch of Granddad's Lissane Collinses, that of the family of Denis Collins = Margaret Mahony. It gets even more interesting. There is something screwy about the way the Caheragh records are computerized. Lissane Collinses show up on the computer when looking for Cullomane Collinses, and vice versa. I am trying to guess what could be causing that error. Did the Caheragh priest get confused seeing the same crowd of Mahonys showing up for all the baptisms?
I am hoping something leaps out, but if not, I'll hit the civil registration films and census records again until I can define more families in the area, then try the search again.
Family trees are data models, which can change. They are not irrefutable laws of science. My job is now to continue studying whatever data is available, and continue comparing what I find with my data models. My second job is to figure out how to properly cite everything I have found
Starting with Granddad, we researched "Part 2" of the Lissane Collinses, with the first part done last year. In the interim, I again hit the census records and civil registration films, and created three key family group sheets out of Lissane. I had these families partially carved out so I was then able to approach Skibbereen Heritage and ask to complete the families. We did - easily - and I have a flood of new information. John Collins (1824-1882) who was married to Ellen McCarthy and whom I thought was my great-great grandfather's brother now made a case for himself when we found his oldest known son was named Humphrey.
This family is lucky to have had the beacon name "Humphrey Collins", so I went to the Mormon Family Search website and started searching more globally for any Humphrey Collins out of Ireland. I found quite a bit. Some of these Humphreys have yet to be linked definitively to Lissane.
However, there is an amazing story of one Humphrey Collins who emigrated and settled in Newport, Rhode Island. His oldest son was named Dennis. There was a younger son named Humphrey. As I continued to trawl through Family Search, it looked like Humphrey Junior joined the US Navy and was stationed in San Diego. I then found an entry in the Social Security death record index and it turns out Humphrey Junior died in 1977 in the same town I now live in! He was in all likelihood Granddad's third cousin. And my Mom nor anybody else never knew.
I will be spending the coming years filling in more details about this Newport R.I. branch, of course. Apparently emigrant Humphrey came with a number of siblings, who all settled there.
Now for McCarthys. For a long time, it was clear that the Tooreen McCarthys were somehow related to McCarthys in Lissane. We didn't know precisely how. I again made family group sheets out of census, civil registration data, news archives, consulted Griffiths Valuation, tithe applotments for Caheragh and Drimoleague, the 1842 petition to Parliament contesting an election in County Cork, notes from my conversations with my aunt, and correspondence on the Lissane and Tooreen McCarthys. I hypothesized that the known patriarch in Lissane, Cornelius, was the son of an Andrew since the oldest son was called Andrew. My great-great grandfather Cornelius had seven daughters and no sons, so I didn't have that kind of hint. However, I went back to my aunt, and the first name that popped into her head was a "Charlie C. McCarthy" who was apparently Granddad's cousin. My hypothesis was then that the two patriarch Corneliuses were cousins, the Lissane one was the son of an Andrew, and born a few years earlier than my great-great grandfather, who might have been the son of a Charles. I went to Skibbereen Heritage with that information and we batted 1000. Right on all counts. At least, so far. I added that caveat because there are other McCarthy families in Lissane whom I don't know about. There could have been another Andrew, or another Charles.
Coincidentally, around the time Skibb Heritage was researching these McCarthys, the name "Tessie Young" popped into my aunt's head. Now in all this time that I have discussed family history with her, the name Young has never come up. But Tessie Young was a chemist (pharmacist) in Skibbereen town. Mom and all the children used to go into her shop regularly. Granddad, who walked around with all this family tree information in his head! declared that she was "a cousin." As it turns out, the mother of my great-great grandfather was one Margaret Young. In addition there was a Mary Young who was a baptismal sponsor of Bridget McCarthy, Granddad's aunt. The appearance of these names strengthens the case that we have found the right Charles.
Now for Driscolls. I ran into a solid dead end looking for the family of Noria Driscoll, the girl who drowned. So I had to go to Plan B. And what a great Plan B it turned out to be! The baptismal sponsors of the children of Michael Collins = Ellen Driscoll included an Andrew Maguire and a Johanna Maguire. Around the mid-1800's, the name Maguire was practically non-existent in Skibbereen. But Andrew and Johanna show up in Griffiths Valuation in Garrane, a townland in the extreme southwest corner of Caheragh parish. I don't know how the Maguires got there, as the name wasn't there in the Tithe Applotment. But it practically jumps out of Griffiths. Skibbereen Heritage started looking for Driscolls near Maguires and found some. Daniel Driscoll and Mary Looney had a daughter, Ellen, born 1830, who was probably my great-great-grandmother. That's what I was looking for. It's not an absolutely perfect match, there are some questions. The problem we have is that neither Ellen, nor her sister Mary, who married Andrew Maguire, were known to have a son Daniel, named after their father. But until more information comes to light, that's all I have to go on.
There are other McCarthys through Granddad. The origins of his maternal grandmother, Mary McCarthy, are somewhat more difficult to come by. We know she had some kind of relationship to Daniel McCarthy, the well-known Drinagh schoolteacher, probably aunt-nephew. We searched for Daniel's father Cornelius and found him. Cornelius's parents were Daniel McCarthy Knock and Ellen Connolly. Unfortunately, we could not find Mary's baptismal record. She would have been the youngest child, born 1836 or so.
However, an Ellen Connolly was the baptismal sponsor of Margaret McCarthy (1860) of Tooreen. Margaret was Mary's oldest daughter. That is the only "paper" thread I have linking the two families.
This all gets horribly confusing, as Mary McCarthy had both a brother named Cornelius and a husband Cornelius, and they were both born in 1824.
Skibbereen Heritage is currently looking into the Mahonys on Grandmom's side. This is a tough one. However, there is a rather interesting coincidence that has popped up, and it might lead us to the right Mahonys. The Mahony name recorded as a witness of the wedding of Daniel Collins = Mary Mahony (m. 1845) plus the Mahony names of the baptismal sponsors of the Cullomane Collins children are the same names as Mahonys who show up in one branch of Granddad's Lissane Collinses, that of the family of Denis Collins = Margaret Mahony. It gets even more interesting. There is something screwy about the way the Caheragh records are computerized. Lissane Collinses show up on the computer when looking for Cullomane Collinses, and vice versa. I am trying to guess what could be causing that error. Did the Caheragh priest get confused seeing the same crowd of Mahonys showing up for all the baptisms?
I am hoping something leaps out, but if not, I'll hit the civil registration films and census records again until I can define more families in the area, then try the search again.
Family trees are data models, which can change. They are not irrefutable laws of science. My job is now to continue studying whatever data is available, and continue comparing what I find with my data models. My second job is to figure out how to properly cite everything I have found
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