Library Forum

Hello from Brisbane, Australia.

My brother-in-law's greatgrandmother MARY WALSH was born in Kilkee circa 1859.

Her parents were CATHERINE FITZPATRICK and PATRICK WALSH. I believe Patrick was a Farmer as this was given on MARY's marriage certificate in 1882. I have no further info on them, apart from being told they drowned in a whirlpool, in Ireland. I don't know if this was meant to be the Corryvreckan as i've found this to be in Scotland.

MARY emigrated to Australia and i think she arrived in Maryborough in 1882 on the Scottish Wizard; she was said to be 20 yoa. I'm assuming that she did this after her parents died. Nothing is known of any siblings apart from a brother who absconded with her dowry. So i don't know if she was an 'assisted' passenger or not.

MARY had a demanding life having married Eduard McGrath and raising 11 children in outback Roma, Queensland. She died in Brisbane in 1943.

Is it possible to find something on Mary's origins, her parents and siblings?

Thank you very much for whatever you do find.
Kind regards
Julie

Hello Mary,

My great-grandmother was born in Kilkee in 1869. I contacted the local church and they were able to give me a copy of my g-grandmothers baptismal certificate. Also you can search by last name on this website, the county clare library, and if there are historical notices you can obtain copies of them. I did that with my McGreen relatives and the newspaper articles included information about other relatives.
Good luck.

Diahann

A few approaches here, Julie:

Firstly, fire up the Clare County Library website search facility at http://www.clarelibrary.ie/search.html and, using the Search For field rather than the Google engine, enter "walsh and kilkee and tithes" and take a look at the list of people who were "tithe applotted" in 1827. There's one John Walsh in Kilkee and other Walshes in nearby townlands in the parish of Kilfearagh.

Then do the same thing with "fitzpatrick and kilkee and tithes" and you'll find, among other relevant entries, a Catherine Fitzpatrick in Kilkee (the mother or grandmother of Mary ?).

Then search for "walsh and kilkee and griffiths" and "fitzpatrick and kilkee and Griffiths" for Walshes and Fitzpatricks listed in the 1855 Griffiths valuation. There are 4 Walshs and a Catherine Fitzpatrick in Kilkee in 1855.

The scent is strong, right ?

Then take a scale map of the area which shows all the townlands (an OS Discovery map is best), stick a compass in the town of Kilkee, draw a circle with a radius of five miles around the town, make a list of the townlands within the circle, and search the Library site for all mentions of Fitzpatricks and Walshs in those townlands. This is based on the genealogical rule of thumb that in rural communities in that part of the world 95% those without horse-and-carriage tended to marry within 5 miles of their homes because that was the distance they could comfortably walk to court in the evening and get back home in time for work in the morning (there were other reasons related to farm deals surrounding marriages but that's another subject).

Then fire up the Eircom residential phone directory at http://www.eircom.ie and look for Walshes in Kilkee. The place is crawling with them. It is well possible that one of these present-day Walsh families is related to your ancestors and knows something about them. Emigrés sometimes wrote home and their letters were sometimes kept on mantlepieces and in kitchen drawers to the present day. Try phoning some of the Walshes in Kilkee and see whether they can help you. If you have the luck to get an elderly person on the phone you may be overwhelmed by the things you are told. If you get a young person on the phone and they haven't a clue about their family history ask them for the name and telephone number of the oldest Kilkee Walsh inhabitant they know. Then take it from there. Don't hesitate to cold-call in this manner. No-one will object if you have good phone skills and take a gentle approach. You may be staggered by the results. I speak from experience.

Best of luck. Let us know how it goes.

Paddy

Hi Paddy,

That was a really terrific post! Thanks very much.
Warm regards,

Julie

Hello Paddy,

I tried but couldn't seem to work the website to explore your suggestions?!!

I couldn't find 'search for field'.

What am i missing?

Help!
Julie

Hi Julie,

The Clare County Library servers are being reorganised at the moment (see http://www.clarelibrary.ie/opac_temp.htm ) and from time to time during the last few days the website has been out of service for short periods. As I write, it is up and running. So if you go to http://www.clarelibrary.ie/search.html and enter those search arguments into the box next to Search for: and then click on the Search button (not the Google search - that is not quite so powerful on the Library site) you should get to your data.

Paddy