Kiltrellig and its residents: Quealy, Pilkington, Haier, &c.

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pwaldron
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Kiltrellig and its residents: Quealy, Pilkington, Haier, &c.

Post by pwaldron » Wed Dec 01, 2010 1:44 am

I found the family history reproduced below at http://www.angelfire.com/ne/PhyllisGene ... uealy.html while searching for information on the Quealys of Drumellihy (Westropp). As it names a couple who were having children in Clare by 1808, I thought it worth reposting here.

It was interesting to discover in follow-up research that Kiltrellig Town is listed as such in the 1851 Townland Index, but neither marked on the 1842 OS maps nor listed as a town in Griffith's Valuation. Where in this rural townland was there ever a settlement that merit the description of `town'?

The present-day village of Kilbaha seems to straddle the townlands of Kilbaha North, Kilbaha South and Kiltrellig. The settlement marked as Kilbaha on the 1842 map seems to lie somewhat to the west of the present-day village. I have come across an old reference to Haier's pub, now the Lighthouse Inn, as `Loop Head Hotel, Kiltrellig'. So my guess is that the village now known and signposted as Kilbaha is the `Kiltrellig T.' of the 1851 index. Can anyone confirm or refute this?

\pw
__________
Patrick J. Quealy

The founder of the town of Kemmerer, Wyoming, as well as one of its most prominent citizens and men of affairs, is a native of Ireland, himself and his ancestors for over 200 years back being native on County Clare of that emerald Isle. Patrick J. Quealy was born on March 17, 1857, the youngest of the eight children of John and Margaret (Fennell) Quealy. John Quealy was born in 1808. He learned the trade of carpenter but shortly after his marriage, he turned to farming in his native land purchasing the land adjoining the old homestead, then occupied by his eldest and only brother Michael. The old homestead was not only the most valuable, but also the most beautiful property in the village of Kiltrellig. This was the ancient home of the Quealys and all of Patrick J. Quealy's ancestors on that side of the house. Its occupants have been the agents and representatives of the Pilkington estate as far back as the family can be traced this estate being the largest and most valuable on in the west of Clare. The family was therefore the most prominent and influential family residing in that section. Being over generous during the famine of 1848 the pestilence and the hard times that followed, his estate became so reduced that he emigrated to America in 1863 and settled in Newtown, Conn., where he turned to the lines of his early trade for an occupation and was employed in the car building in various places in the Eastern States. In 1876 he came to Wyoming to join his three sons, Michael, Lawrence and Thomas, All of whom had emigrated to Wyoming in 1868 and who had become leading and influential citizens. He spent the remainder of his days in retirement at Carbon, where he died on June 3, 1883, his interment occurring at Laramie, Wyoming. He was an honest, loyal man and followed the faith of his ancestors, he was a devoted member of the Catholic Church. His parents were Michael and Margaret (Gorman) Quealy. Margaret (Fennell) Quealy the wife of John and the mother of Patrick J. Quealy was born in 1812. She was married in her native county of Clare and she died in Carbon, Wyoming in 1891, having survived her husband about eight years. She was also buried at Laramie, beside her husband and her son, Thomas, who was accidentally killed at Como, Colorado on June 11, 1866. She was a member of the Catholic Church to which and to her family she was most devoted. She was the daughter of Thomas and Nora (Keane) Fennell, of Fodera, Ireland, and where the old homestead of the Fennells and her father is still maintained and the home of her eldest brother John. This homestead had seceded to the eldest son of the family for over 300 years. She was herself the mother of eight children all of whom lived to do her homage, and to become themselves respected and some of them distinguished citizens. Michael Quealy, the eldest son, is a most progressive man and a distinguished citizen of Carbon County, Wyoming. He led the way for the younger boys who followed his example and his business inclinations by taking up coal mining in Missouri, thence came to Wyoming in 1868 and took charge of the Wardell mines at Almy, Wyoming near Evanston, then supplying the union Pacific Railroad. He remained with the Union Pacific Coal Co., which absorbed the Wardell properties, until he took up ranching and stock raising in Carbon County, where he now makes his home, having accumulated an ample fortune. Lawrence Quealy, the second son followed in the footsteps of Michael in the coal mines of Missouri and Wyoming, took to ranching and stock raising, distinguished himself as a member of the legislature of 1884, having therein championed several important measures which are now upon the statutes as laws. Thomas Quealy, the third son, followed Michael's footsteps in coal mining. He was a natural engineer and was considered one of the ablest men in his line in the state. Before he was twenty-years old he was given charge of mines in Missouri and continued to rapidly advance in his profession until his accidental death at Como, Colorado, which occurred while he was in charge as superintendent of the Union pacific Coal Co's interest in that state. His death took place on June 11, 1886, by falling accidentally from the roof of a boxcar, which he was dropping over the grade from his office in the mine dump. Thomas was the most talented and promising young man in the family as well as the most beloved and exemplary. Of the four daughters of the families two were married in Connecticut in good families. Margaret to Thomas Lynch, Catherine to Daniel Lynch. The Lynches were first cousins, and both of them died in Danbury, Connecticut, in 1903. Margaret (Quealy) Lynch died in 1873, leaving four children two boys and two girls. Catherine (Quealy) Lynch survives her husband, has five children, one of whom was recently ordained a priest of the Jesuit order. All of the other Lynch sons and daughters are good citizens of Connecticut and New York City; showing by their progress themselves to be worthy of their good old ancestral stock. The remaining two daughters of Mary (Quealy) Pyle, were married in the West. Mary in Missouri and Mrs. Pyle in this state. Mrs. Pyle now a widow resides very comfortably situated on her homestead near Silver Creek, Nebraska together with her only daughter, Margaret. Mrs. Sullivan is the mother of four children, three boys and one girl, all natives of Wyoming and living comfortably with their parents on their homestead in Carbon County, where the family is quire a prosperous one. Their only daughter, Margaret, was educated at St. Mary's Academy, Salt Lake City, Utah and became the principal of the schools at Rawlins, Wyoming, but yielding to the wishes of her parents, she now enjoys life at the parental home. Patrick J. Quealy received the first schooling in the national schools of Ireland, later he attended the public schools at Hannibal and Bevier, Missouri, and still later Johnson College, of Quincy, Illinois and finally in 1874, he was graduated from Gem City College of the same city. Immediately after his graduation he came to Evanston, Wyoming but to stop only a few months. Going from there to Carbon, he remained at that place until September 1875 when he went to Renton, Washington, where he spent two years in coal mining. Thereafter he went to British Columbia and passed one year, most of the time in the coal mines at Wellington and Nanaimo on Vancouver's Island from there going to Seattle, Washington, where he engaged in real-estate operations and in produce shipping. Here his attention again reverted to coal mining and he served two years from 1878 to 1880 as the general foreman of the Seattle Coal and Transportation Co's mines at New Castle after which he returned to Wyoming and accepted the position of superintendent of mines of the Union Pacific Railroad Co. at Grass Creek, Utah, Rock Springs and Carbon Wyoming. From December 1880 to May 1884, he was employed by the Union Pacific Coal Co. at intervals in examination of the coal measurers of Montana, Idaho, Utah and Dakotas. In 1884 he resigned this position to engage in coal mining on his own account, making his headquarters at Bozeman, Montana. After successful operations at Bozeman, Montana. After successful operations at Timberline, for a period of two years, he sold his interest to his partner, Hon. C. W. Hoffman of Bozeman having in previous years and while he was operating in Montana, became heavily interested in cattle and in ranching with his brothers in Carbon County, Wyoming. His brother Thomas, dying in 1886 the administration of his estate devoted on Patrick, who meanwhile had been appointed state inspector of coal mines, in which office he served one year, resigning after settling up the estate of his brother Thomas. In 1887, immediately after resigning as state inspector and upon the passage of the act of Congress creating the Interstate Commerce Commission and upon the assurance of Mr. Tom Potter, then the general manager of the Union pacific Railroad, that he would receive fair treatment he organized the Rock Springs Coal Co., but, unfortunately for him, Mr. Potter soon died and it was only by the exercise of the most heroic effort that he was able to continue with any fair degree of success, but he kept the mines in operation until the close of the year 1894, when he disposed of this valuable property for a satisfactory consideration. Upon the consummation of this deal Mr. Quealy immediately began to invest his capital in Uinta County, Wyoming coal lands and finding that more capital then he could personally control was necessary to develop the Uinta Enterprises, He went east and meeting Mr. M. S. Kemmerer in New York he induced him to join him in forming the co-partnership, this being the most important step of his life from a financial standpoint. Returning to Wyoming with ample financial backing he continued to acquire territory and upon the segregation of the Oregon Short Line from the Union Pacific, in the spring of 1897 he proceeded to Boston, and arranged with President Samuel Carr, of the Oregon Short Line to build the necessary tracks and upon his return to Wyoming, the development of the Kemmerer properties began. Ground was broken in grading for tracks in the latter part of June and on October 5, of the same year, the first coal was shipped to the extent of 4,000 tons for that month. The output was increased at the rare of 4,000 tons per month from No 1 mine, until an output of 57,000 tons for one month was reached, with a total for the year ending April 30, 1901, of 513,329 tons, which is the largest output ever produced in any one year from any one mine in either Wyoming or Utah. In the organization of the Uinta County enterprise it became necessary to organize The Kemmerer Coal Co. The Uinta Improvement Co., and The Frontier Supply Co., ad the town of Kemmerer, together with the co-partnership of Quealy & Kemmerer, while the combined assets of these corporations aggregate over $1,000.000. Mr. Quealy, as is shown in this sketch is essentially a man of affairs, possessed of boundless activity; but his grasp seems equal to his ambition broad as this is. In 1900 he saw the necessity of a bank in Kemmerer to accommodate the rapid growth in population and expanding commerce which was then attracting the trade of the territory covering 200 miles north to the National Park. With Mr. Kemmerer he constructed a beautiful two-story stone structure to accommodate this institution and invited the businessmen of the town and surrounding country to join them in subscribing to the capital stock of the First Nation Bank of Kemmerer. Upon its reorganization he was made its president, which position he still occupies, while the bank is one of the most prosperous financial institutions of the state. Mr. Quealy is also President and manager of the Frontier Supply Co., the Vice-president and manager of the Kemmerer Coal Co. the vice-president and manager of the Uinta Improvement Co., the vice-president and secretary of the Short Line Land and Improvement Co. But these positions do not measure all of Mr. Quealy's interests. He owns one of the largest ranches in Carbon County, having over 34,000acres all well stocked with cattle and horses. He is interested in the Uinta County oil fields, being president of two of the important companies. He is the president of the Oregon King Mining Co. one of the best mining properties in the state of Oregon. Politically Mr. Quealy is a Democrat. His name was on the electoral ticket in both the Cleveland and Bryan campaigns and he was president of the Electoral College at Cheyenne. He has many times been offered nominations for high political office but has steadfastly refused to accept, his business affairs requiring his entire time and attention. Mr. Quealy was married in 1900 with Miss Susie Quealy, a daughter of P. J. and Delia (O'Connor) Quealy, of Omaha, Nebraska where Susie was born on January 17, 1870 of parents who were natives of Ireland, and her father was for ten years a soldier in the English Army, serving with such efficiency as to be many times rewarded and decorated with medals for his bravery and being also wounded in the service. He was the son of John Quealy, of County Clare, Ireland and came to the United States after his army service. He located first in Boston, thence traveled west until he finally settled in Omaha, Nebraska where he has now retired with an ample supply of this world's means to provide for himself and family. He is a prominent church man a Republican in politics and he is actively interested in school affairs. Mr. & Mrs. Patrick J. Quealy have been blessed with four children, all sons, only two of whom survive. Jay Ambrose and Mahlon Kemmerer, Thomas Adilis died at the age of five years in November 1898 and John Handy, in May 1895, aged only thirty days. They passed away from earth in their early innocence.
Last edited by pwaldron on Sat Jan 07, 2012 11:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Paddy Casey
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Re: Quealy of Kiltrellig and USA.

Post by Paddy Casey » Wed Dec 01, 2010 8:20 am

pwaldron wrote:Where in this rural townland was there ever a settlement that merit the description of `town'?
Paddy,

I wonder if this word 'town' was simply an English clerk's translation of 'baile'.

"My" Caseys come from a now-deserted group of 6-15* houses in the townland of Shanballysallagh in Tubber called Moyrhee/Myrhee/Moyree etc. The habitations are scattered over an oval of roughly 150 x 400 yards. The people who lived there and who are still alive refer to it as 'the village of Moyrhee'. It does not appear on any of the old maps under this or any other name. A long time ago (probably 150-200 years; dixit cousin Gerry Brohan) the village was known locally as 'baile na gaibhne' or 'the village/town of the smiths' because a number of O'Connors there were smiths (and, to add credence to this, a few years ago when another cousin was digging around the reputed site of the smithies in the village with a JCB he unearthed a large lode of charcoal).

So it seems that it didn't need many houses or hovels to merit the name 'baile'.

Paddy eile

* A vague number because there are 6 houses or cabhals there now but there are also a number of heaps of stone which could have been houses or simply rocky outcrops.

katrina
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Re: Quealy of Kiltrellig and USA.

Post by katrina » Sat Apr 09, 2011 3:27 am

Thanks for posting this article. The 'old homestead' referred to would, I assume, be Kiltrellig Lodge, which was in the possession of my Pilkington ancestors until it fell into disrepair in the early/mid 1900's. It is listed as being occupied by Thomas Pilkington in the Griffiths Valuation, and I had been wondering how & when it came into the family's possession. This article gives me a lead in that direction. I am not sure about the 'large Pilkington estates' referred to - as far as I am aware the Pilkingtons were never more than small landowners.

pwaldron
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Re: Quealy of Kiltrellig and USA.

Post by pwaldron » Sat Apr 09, 2011 11:24 am

Hi Katrina

Can you tell us a little more about your Pilkington ancestors? Were the Quealys just their employees or were the two families related?

According to Houses Of Clare by Hugh W. L. Weir (Ballinakella Press, 2nd ed, 1999, p.165), Kiltrellig Lodge `was the summer residence and home of a branch of the Pilkington family, and was vacated by Miss Pilkington about 1960 when she was approximately ninety-five years old. It was subsequently sold to the neighbouring Haier family of Kilbaha cross, who removed the roof due to the necessity of rates being payable on unoccupied premises ...' It has since been demolished.

You will find two unmarried Church of Ireland Pilkington sisters in Kiltrellig in the 1911 census:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/p ... ig/362892/
and in the 1901 census, with their cousin P Wm Keane:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/p ... g/1077350/

In The Fenian Rising in Kilbaha 1867 by Mathúin Mac Fheorais [Matthew Bermingham] at http://www.aoh61.com/history/kilbaha_1867.htm, it is stated that `The drama commenced on Shrove Tuesday night at the house of Susan Hehir, known locally as Siobhán Pilkington.'

On 14 Nov 1850, at Ennis Church (Anglican), William Reynolds, Baker, of Ennis, married Susan Haire, widow, of Ennis, daughter of Thomas Pilkington, Gentleman.

Do you know anything about the links between the Pilkingtons and the Haiers? Is the Susan who married in Ennis in 1850 the same Susan who lived in Kilbaha in 1867, still known locally by her maiden name and by the name of her first husband?

Is one or other of these Susans the unnamed `beloved mother' of this tombstone inscription in Moneen from http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... ptions.htm ?
IHS Erected by Martin Haier Kiltrellig. In memory of his beloved mother who died 26th February 1909 aged 97 years. Pray for the soul of Mrs Nora Haier who died 29th Oct 1917 aged 69 years and Martin Haier who died 2nd May 1931 aged 84 years. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord and may perpetual light shine on them. John Haier Rahona died 16 August 1947 aged 73 years and his wife Margaret died 4th March 1955 aged 75 years. R.I.P. Thy will be done.
I suspect that this Martin Haier of Kiltrellig was the first to use this spelling of the surname and that he is the ancestor of all those who now spell their surname in this way.

Where was the unnamed `beloved mother' in the 1901 census? Should I be looking for her as Haier or Reynolds or Pilkington, or had she married a third time? Susan Haire signed the marriage register in 1850, so is hardly the Susan Reynolds (80) who could `read only' in Ballycorick in 1901:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/p ... k/1076396/
Could she be the Susan Fennell (85) in Kiltrellig in 1901?
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/p ... g/1077351/
Susan Fennell died aged 101 in 1909 Q1 - the very quarter in which Martin Haier's mother died.

Martin Haier of Kiltrellig was 53 in 1901, 64 in 1911, and either 76 (death index) or 85 (obituary) when he died in 1931. As he married in 1867, the older end of this range seems more plausible, and his mother must have been a very advanced age when she died in 1909.

It's always nice to have a complete family tree of an unusual surname, so any help with the above questions would be appreciated.

Paddy

katrina
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Re: Quealy of Kiltrellig and USA.

Post by katrina » Sat Apr 09, 2011 1:51 pm

Hi Paddy,
Thanks for your very interesting reply!
I do not know of any connection between the Quealy & Pilkington families, as I had not heard of the Quealy's until reading the previous post.

My 3x great grandfather was Thomas Pilkington (1742-1817) of Cragleigh. He married 1. Susanna Brew & 2. Jane Evans
With Susanna, he had son Thomas (b1784 Ennis). This Thomas married Anna Keane, daughter of Robert 'Long Bob' Keane & sister of the infamous Marcus. I have not yet found the death of Thomas, but according to 'Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland', he was still living, at Waterpark Ennis in 1855.
Thomas & Anna had numerous children, including Thomas (1822-1884) and Susannah (b1823).
This Susannah married in 1845 to Rev. John Nash Griffin.
This Thomas married in 1858 to Mary Haughton, daughter of Alfred Haughton of 'Ardreigh' Athy co Kildare.
Thomas & Mary lived at Waterpark with their family until his death in 1884. Kiltrellig was their summer home.
Their children were: Henrietta (1859-1931) married Richard Thomas Tweedy.
Thomas Henry (1860-1916) married Florence Green, lived Glenard, Clarecastle.
Francis Conyngham (1876-1943) married Eileen Molony
Annie Lilian (1863-1961) & Mary Edith (1865-1935) both unmarried, lived at Kiltrellig where they are listed in the 1901 & 1911 censuses.
4 other sons, Frederick William (b1869), Alfred Haughton (b1861), Charles Osburne (b1866) & Francis Sandham Ely (b1873) all emigrated at different times to Australia.

Now for the interesting part: there is a very unsubstantiated story within the family of an illegitimate connection between the Pilkington & Haier families, and I have a vague recollection of the name Susan being associated with that story.
I have a copy of a diary written in 1904 by Frederick William Pilkington who returned to Ireland at that time for a year or so to visit. During that period he lived at Kiltrellig with his sisters Annie & Edith, and a cousin Robert John Carbery Griffin. In the diary he makes several references to visiting 'old Susie', and assisting her with various tasks.
In my efforts to identify 'old Susie' I had narrowed her down to Susan Fennell, age 85, retired shopkeeper, widow in the 1901 Kiltrellig census, or possibly Susan Keating age 60, blind, in the 1901 Kilbaha census.
Susan Fennell would seem a good match for Martin Haier's mother, given that the same census lists him as a shopkeeper & especially if, as you say, the death dates correlate.
I hadn't come across the 1850 marriage of Susan Haire before, but possibly in view of the above, Pilkington was never officially her name, and Haire/Haier would have been her maiden name. The 'widow' bit may have just been for respectability's sake.
I will go back and re-read the diary to look for any further clues.
Katrina

pwaldron
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Haiers and Pilkingtons of Kilbaha and Kiltrellig

Post by pwaldron » Sat Apr 09, 2011 4:13 pm

Hi Katrina

Thanks for that most interesting reply.

Susan is certainly a puzzle. Perhaps we can draw some inferences from religious differences. Susan Fennell was Roman Catholic in 1901. Martin James Haier's family included a priest and several nuns. So the theory that Susan was the illegitimate daughter of Thomas Pilkington and a Catholic mother, prevented from marrying by religious differences, would be very appealing - if it were not for the 1850 Anglican marriage!

Have you seen `The Loop Head Gathering' published a few years ago? Pages 44-48 deal with your extended family, including a family group photo containing dozens of people dated to the 1870s. Are you in contact with Mrs Margaret Sides or Mrs Mary Pyle, who were the source of the family material used for this article? There are extracts from the diary of Amy Griffin, one touching piece referring to the accidental death of little Tom Haier in 1874 or 1875, aged about 6.

\pw

katrina
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Re: Haiers and Pilkingtons of Kilbaha and Kiltrellig

Post by katrina » Sun Apr 10, 2011 4:29 am

Hi Paddy,
The idea of a marriage prevented by religious differences is a romantic one! Perhaps another, yet not so appealing view, is the idea of the poor village girl being taken advantage of by the son of the local landowner! Anyway, I guess that is something we will never know.
Family history says that Annie Pilkington, the last resident of Kiltrellig Lodge, always got upset & refused to discuss this liason.
I have not seen the 'Loophead Gathering' article you refer to. However, we do have contact with the Sides family. I stayed with Margaret & Jim Sides at their Kilbaha house a few years ago when visiting Ireland. My grandfathers signature, Charles.O.Pilkington, is etched into the glass of one of the windows of their house, with the date July 13th 1883. He would have been 17 at the time.
Unfortunately, at the time I visited, I had not really been bitten by the family history bug, so perhaps did not make as much of the visit as I could have.
Katrina

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Re: Quealy of Kiltrellig and USA.

Post by pwaldron » Sun Apr 10, 2011 12:10 pm

It is clear from Amy Griffin's diary that she and the rest of the family were on very good terms with the Haiers in the 1870s. It would be interesting to get the Haier side of this story - I'll ask around whenever I meet someone from that part of the county.

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