Cornelius O’Mealey/Conchubhar O Maille

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Sduddy
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Cornelius O’Mealey/Conchubhar O Maille

Post by Sduddy » Wed Jul 27, 2011 9:02 am

Cornelius Mealy is listed in the Irish Education Enquiry, 1824, as having a school in “a good thatched house” in the townland of Dough, in the parish of Kilfearagh, and later in Slater’s Directory, 1846, as having a school in Chapel St., Kilkee.

Ignatius Murphy, in his book “Before the Famine Struck”, says “As well as teaching Irish in his school, he was also a transcriber of manuscripts, and two examples of his work are preserved in the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth (under the name Conchubhar O Maille)”. Eilis Ni Dhea* says that he was from Co. Kerry, that he worked for the Irish Bible Society, and that seven of his transcriptions have survived.
He is in Griffith’s Valuation as Cornelius O’Meally, as a lessee in the parish of Kilfearagh, (Dough: Kilkee Town: Chapel St.).

Is it reasonable to assume that this is the same man as Cornelius Mealey who is leasing two plots of land in the parish of Kilmaley, plot 1 in the townland of Cappalea North and plot 1 in the townland of Gortaganniv?

There are very many more Maleys, Malleys, Malys, Mealys, Mealeys, O’ Mallys, O’Meallys, O’Mealys and O’Malleys (plus one Melia) in both the Tithe Applotment Books and Griffith’s Valuation, than I expected to find, but only the man in Kilfearagh and the man in Kilmaley have Cornelius as first name. Griffith’s shows an Edmund Malley leasing in Islandgar, in Kilnamona, next parish up from Kilmaley, but Tithes does not show any form of the surname in any of these three parishes.


Sheila

* Eilis Ni Dhea, “Scriobhaithe Lamhscribhinni Gaeilge i gContae an Chlair, 1700 – 1900”, in Clare History and Society (ed. Matthew Lynch and Patrick Nugent).

pwaldron
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Re: Cornelius O’Mealey/Conchubhar O Maille

Post by pwaldron » Thu Jul 28, 2011 7:26 pm

Hi Sheila

In the time of Griffith's Valuation, unlike the present day, it was very unusual to find one individual occupying two or more houses. Cornelius Mealey in Gortaganniv occupied a house and offices valued at 25 shillings and Cornelius O'Meally in Chapel-street occupied a house, yard and small garden valued at 70 shillings. That suggests to me that they were different people.

Cornelius Mealey's holdings in Gortaganniv and Cappalea North adjoined each other. There was no house on the Mealey holding in Cappalea North in Griffith.

I would suggest that you check the cancelled books in the Valuation Office in the Irish Life Centre in Dublin and see when and by whom the two Corneliuses were replaced as occupiers. If the same person succeeded in each parish at the same time, then it is more likely that the two entries represent a single individual.

If it appears that either Cornelius lived until 1858, then you might check for a mention in the Calendars of Wills and Administrations in the National Archives, and likewise if he lived until 1864, check for a death certificate.

I came across the Mealeys in Cappalea North a few months ago when searching for Merritts in the same townland (Mealey in Griffith, Maley in 1901, Malley in 1911). There is nobody of the name in Gortaganniv in either census, so the family may have moved to a new house on the Cappalea North part of the holding.

For completeness, here is what I found on the Merritt/Mealy family:

From familysearch.org:
Samuel Marrett/Merritt and Anne Maly/Mealy/O'Maly of Killanin had
Kate Eliza b. 4 Dec 1867
George b. 3 Jun 1869
Thomas (I) b. 11 Nov 1870
Margaret Anne b. 6 Jan 1874
Thomas (II) b. 8 Nov 1875

I suspect this must be the Merritt family in Cappalea North (Killanniv, Clare) in the censuses of 1901 and 1911. The births were registered in Ennis PLU.

Misprints in Griffith's Valuation are not as widely recognised as they should be. The famous Fr Michael Meehan of Little Ark fame appears as Fr Michael Sheehan; even Hugh Weir, who regularly stayed with Rachel Burrows in Kilbaha and should have known better, reproduces that particular error in Houses of Clare.

In Cappalea North in Griffith, we have Samuel Manett [sic], surely another typographical error.

These appear to be the parents' deaths:

Name: Samuel Merrett
Registration District: Ennis
Event Type: DEATHS
Registration Quarter and Year: Jan - Mar 1891
Estimated Birth Year: 1827
Age (at Death): 64
Mother's Maiden Name:
Film Number: 101596
Volume Number: 4
Page Number: 167
Digital Folder Number: 4200678
Image Number: 00315
Collection: Ireland, Civil Registration Indexes, 1845-1958

Name: Anne Merritt
Registration District: Ennistimon
Event Type: DEATHS
Registration Quarter and Year: Oct - Dec 1910
Estimated Birth Year: 1833
Age (at Death): 77
Mother's Maiden Name:
Film Number: 0101604
Volume Number: 4
Page Number: 137
Digital Folder Number: 4201708
Image Number: 00655
Collection: Ireland, Civil Registration Indexes, 1845-1958

I suspect that they may have married before 1864.

George seems to have died as a teenager:

Name: George Merrett
Registration District: Ennis
Event Type: DEATHS
Registration Quarter and Year: Oct - Dec 1886
Estimated Birth Year: 1869
Age (at Death): 17
Mother's Maiden Name:
Film Number: 101593
Volume Number: 4
Page Number: 123
Digital Folder Number: 4200675
Image Number: 00516
Collection: Ireland, Civil Registration Indexes, 1845-1958

Cappalea North is in Kilmaley parish and in Killaniv DED and dispensary/registration district.

\pw

Sduddy
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Re: Cornelius O’Mealey/Conchubhar O Maille

Post by Sduddy » Fri Jul 29, 2011 9:48 am

Thanks Paddy – for your advice about the next steps, which I definitely intend to follow, and for your advice on what was usual at the time of Griffith's.

When I was young I was given the barest outline on this O’Malley family from Kilmaley, but, with the help of the Clare Library website and the advice given on this forum, I have been able to locate public records that confirm what I was told.

I am very interested to hear about Anne Mealy – she had not been included in my “bare outline”. Thank you for taking the trouble to give the birth dates for her children - they are very much in line with the births of the children of her sisters, Bridget, Mary, Eliza and Kate, and of her brother, Daniel, “the boy at home” who married “a girl of the Dwyers from Kilshanny” (familysearch.org shows a Cornelius Meally born to Daniel Meally and Ellen O’Dwyer, Killaniv, in 1865 - I think this child may have died before 1901).

Also the date of Anne’s death, 1909, tallies with the date for Bridget (1909), Mary (1907, aged 80) and that of another brother, Rev. John O’Malley (1913). I have no dates for the deaths of any of the others. The 1901 census shows that Eliza’s husband was a widower.

See, I’ve already grafted Anne into the family. I need every cautionary remark I get!

Sheila.

The headstone inscriptions for Kilmaley parish, donated to clare library by John Mayer, shows a photo of an O’Malley headstone, but the inscription is illegible.

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Re: Cornelius O’Mealey/Conchubhar O Maille

Post by pwaldron » Fri Jul 29, 2011 11:44 am

Are you sure Anne was a sister? Could she have been a cousin or other more distant relative? Or just a coincidence? Are there Clare Champion obituaries or funeral reports for the deaths between 1907 and 1913 that confirm the relationship?

\pw

Sduddy
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Re: Cornelius O’Mealey/Conchubhar O Maille

Post by Sduddy » Fri Jul 29, 2011 12:41 pm

No, I’m not a bit sure of course - just thinking of her as a possible other sister, and will be keeping her in mind.

Sduddy
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Re: Cornelius O’Mealey/Conchubhar O Maille

Post by Sduddy » Sat Jul 30, 2011 10:08 am

If Anne Merritt should happen to be one of the Cappalea North O’Malleys, then her mother’s maiden name was Mungovan, or so I was told long ago. I doubt if there is any record that can confirm this, unless Cornelius Mealey and Ms Mungovan appear as parents in baptismal records that go back to the 1840s. I don’t know if such exist for either Kilfearagh parish or Kilmaley parish.

Sheila

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Re: Cornelius O’Mealey/Conchubhar O Maille

Post by pwaldron » Sat Jul 30, 2011 12:13 pm

There are Kilfearagh records dating back to 1837, although they have not been microfilmed.

I have posted more on this and links to relevant lists in an old thread at http://www.ourlibrary.ca/phpbb2/viewtop ... f=1&t=1907

Sduddy
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Re: Cornelius O’Mealey/Conchubhar O Maille

Post by Sduddy » Sat Jul 30, 2011 7:38 pm

Thanks again for your help. I’ve looked at the Irish Times website as suggested and gather that this is the situation:
Kilmaley baptismal records go back to 1828, and all those for the years 1828 - 1880 are included in the familysearch.org records and are also available for research in the National Library of Ireland;
Kilfearagh baptismal records go back to 1837, but those for the years 1837 – 1869 are available, by commissioned research, at the Clare Heritage Centre only.

Never mind, I have plenty to be going on with: I find the Kilfearagh Cornelius was still alive in 1863 (Hogan’s Directory for that year lists him as C. O’Maley, Petty Sessions Clerk, living in Chapel Street).

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Re: Cornelius O’Mealey/Conchubhar O Maille

Post by pwaldron » Sun Jul 31, 2011 6:41 pm

There is another query about these families over at
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/t ... 1311724064
posted just the day before this thread was started.

Spooky coincidence or something else?

Sduddy
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Re: Cornelius O’Mealey/Conchubhar O Maille

Post by Sduddy » Sun Jul 31, 2011 6:55 pm

Very spooky. I very rarely look at that website. The information is a bit mixed up, I reckon. Will try to be of some help - but, just now, I'm flabbergasted by the coincidence.

brendan
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Re: Cornelius O’Mealey/Conchubhar O Maille

Post by brendan » Sat Aug 18, 2012 12:18 pm

Hi Sheila,

It seems to me that Cornelius Mealey (son of Daniel and Ellen O’Dwyer) had not died before 1901 but had immigrated to the US. According to Family Search he died in 1937.
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N3GW-DQ9

The given information throws up another interesting item about Cornelius. His occupation is given as that of a retired minister. This fact might also link him to Cornelius Mealey of Kilkee, who it seemed may have worked with the Irish Bible Society.

Brendan

Sduddy
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Re: Cornelius O’Mealey/Conchubhar O Maille

Post by Sduddy » Sun Aug 19, 2012 11:45 am

Brendan

Thank you for letting me know about Cornelius - I'm glad he did not have the early death I had decided for him!

But I do not think that he was a descendant of Kilfearagh Cornelius. I checked the cancelled books (revisions of Griffith's Valuation) as advised by P Waldron and found that the passing on of the lease held by Kilfearagh Cornelius occurred at a different date from the passing on of the lease held by Kilmaley Cornelius: this suggests different dates for the death of each.

The family of Cornelius Meally of Kilmaley were Catholic and included the Rev. John O'Malley, so their nephew, Cornelius of Maywood, Cook, Illinois, would have started life as a Catholic.

I gave up on researching Cornelius of Kilmaley when it began to appear that there might be two of him! - the birth dates of the children, stretched from about 1828 to 1859. The early dates I inferred from the 1901 census, and of course these might have been just guessed at, but the 1859 date I inferred from a marriage cert. (which gives Cornelius as the father) and concurs with the 1901 census.

I will, however, straightaway amend my O'Malley notes and extend the life of this Cornelius to 1937.

Sheila

brendan
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Re: Cornelius O’Mealey/Conchubhar O Maille

Post by brendan » Sun Aug 19, 2012 7:42 pm

Sheila,

Cornelius seems a bit like Mark Twain: Reports of his death have been exaggerated.

Thanks for clarifying that each Cornelius was distinct and separate. I came at the post through the O'Dwyer connection and I will also follow Paddy's advice and further explore the Kilshanny land trail.

Brendan

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Re: Cornelius O’Mealey/Conchubhar O Maille

Post by pwaldron » Thu May 23, 2013 6:02 pm

I just came across this in a quote from Michael Ó hAnnracháin of Kilrush on pp.75-6 in the following article:

author = {Alf MacLochlainn},
title = {Social Life in {C}ounty {C}lare, 1800-1850},
journal = {Irish University Review},
year = {1972},
volume = {2},
pages = {55--78},
number = {1},
month = {Spring},
comment = {TCD Call number: PER 891.6}
Cornelius O'Maley late of Kilkee wrote a copy of Keating's
history for Joseph Kett for which he gave him two barrels of potatoes of
96 stone each when they were 5d or 6d per stone.

Sduddy
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Re: Cornelius O’Mealey/Conchubhar O Maille

Post by Sduddy » Fri May 24, 2013 9:46 am

Thanks Paddy. Must read that social history of County Clare.

Sheila

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