Inquiry regarding Hayes family from Ballinagough:

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O'Brien_Hayes
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Inquiry regarding Hayes family from Ballinagough:

Post by O'Brien_Hayes » Fri Apr 13, 2012 5:37 pm

Hello, from the Bay Area of California,

Thank you very much for this valuable forum!

I’m trying to contact relatives I may have living in a village called: Ballinagough.

The location of the house I think they are still living at is:

House 2 Boleynagough North (Drummaan, Clare)

I want to ask: is that sufficient information to place on a letterhead to get it there?

Do I need any other codes or numbers, does anyone know?
(In the US we have zipcodes and things like that.)

I am trying to correspond with any descendants of John Hayes – Catherine Madden.

They had 15 children; Patrick, one of the 2 sons, stayed in Ballinagough and of his children, a Michael Hayes (who just passed away) had his own children there; some of them may still be at that address. They would be “Hayes”.

Any advice to help insure correct delivery of a letter containing my inquiries would be greatly appreciated.

I hope to get over there next year.

Of John and Catherine’s 15 children, one was Ann Hayes. She married a John O’Brien Sr. They had 2 sons, John Joseph O’Brien Jr. and William Cornelius O’Brien.

Jonh had 6 children, I am the 5th of those 6: Michael

Thank you for any help!

Paddy Casey
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Re: Inquiry regarding Hayes family from Ballinagough:

Post by Paddy Casey » Fri Apr 13, 2012 7:18 pm

Michael,

It's possibly quicker to simply call the Hayes in Ballinagough, Co.Clare, and see whether they are "yours".

There's a Kathleen Hayes listed in Ballinagough, Whitegate, call 011 353 61 927049 from the US,

and

there's Dermot and Colette Hayes listed in Ballinagough, Whitegate, call 011 353 61 927371 from the US.

Remember that they are 8 hours ahead of you.

Do get back to us and let us know if you are successful.

Paddy

mcreed
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Re: Inquiry regarding Hayes family from Ballinagough:

Post by mcreed » Fri Apr 13, 2012 9:37 pm

Generally, in County Clare, if you have someone's name and a townland or village you will be able to send them a letter or card. Postmen in rural areas of Ireland are founts of local knowledge, as there are no postcodes or zipcodes to help them. It takes a lot of training to become a rural postman. They know exactly who lives where (and who's related to whom also). They are a neglected resource in my opinion.

To give an example of how easy it is to send a letter to someone in Clare, Stefan Unglert (he's German), co-proprietor of Unglert's Bakery in Ennistymon (makers of wondrous cakes as well as breads) once showed me a card he had received from an admirer abroad. It was addressed to
'Uncle Bert's, Ennistymon, County Clare'!

miriam scahill
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Re: Inquiry regarding Hayes family from Ballinagough:

Post by miriam scahill » Fri Apr 13, 2012 9:43 pm

Hello - after you make contact with your cousins - as per Paddy Casey's info - you should go to http://www.clarelibrary.ie - Genealogy - Research Support - Civil Parish Index - and select Clonrush - No. 81 (which is in top right corner of Co. Clare - lots of info on it - emigrants list showing Hayes family - also on page 14 of the photos you will see headstone for Michael Hayes. There is also a photo of old Church. Miriam.

O'Brien_Hayes
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Re: Inquiry regarding Hayes family from Ballinagough:

Post by O'Brien_Hayes » Fri Apr 13, 2012 10:06 pm

Oh wow, what great replies!

Well, the initial problem for me was I simply do not know what the [first] names of the relatives are .. aside from guessing, which I can give it a shot and probably get one or two right;

I did find some directory for Clare online ... it didn't have email addresses though.

I'm going to go ahead and try mailing a letter to the address I quoted, (which another member of my family many years ago did actually visit) and just see who responds.

Thanks for those names/numbers shared earlier in the thread!

There's a good chance those people are related to me!

Thank you sincerely,

Michael Patrick ["Hayes"] O'Brien

O'Brien_Hayes
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Re: Inquiry regarding Hayes family from Ballinagough:

Post by O'Brien_Hayes » Fri Apr 13, 2012 10:24 pm

Miriam !!!!!!!!!

Yes, that gravestone photo is my family!

The father Patrick (my great uncle) was one of 15 children -13 girls; 2 boys

(The other brother was Michael)

It is these two men I was named after when I was born - Michael Patrick O'Brien (me)

Michael Hayes, the son (d.2006) is to me is what's called: "1st Cousin once removed"

I'm deeply touched to see this photo!

Thank you!

Paddy Casey
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Re: Inquiry regarding Hayes family from Ballinagough:

Post by Paddy Casey » Sat Apr 14, 2012 6:20 am

mcreed wrote:Postmen in rural areas of Ireland are founts of local knowledge......They are a neglected resource in my opinion.
Amen to that ! Rural postmen/-women have several times helped me find people by phone. In one case the person I was looking for wasn't on the phone but the postman at the local office said "I'll be going by their place tomorrow, what shall I say ?". So I put my genealogical questions to him, he relayed them the next day, and when I called him that afternoon he had the answers. It floored me.

I'm not suggesting that the post people be systematically misused as genealogical gofers but.....

Paddy

miriam scahill
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Re: Inquiry regarding Hayes family from Ballinagough:

Post by miriam scahill » Sat Apr 14, 2012 4:58 pm

Hi - delighted to help !! I am only giving you some of the great info on www.clarelibrary.ie Genealogy Page. Don't forget to put 'Whitegate' which is the name of the village. You have the Census address - District Electoral Division - DED - and there is no reference to Whitegate in it. Paddy Casey's tele. nos. are poss. a Mrs. Hayes and her son and daughter-in-law. Let us know how you get on. !! Miriam.

Paddy Casey
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Re: Inquiry regarding Hayes family from Ballinagough:

Post by Paddy Casey » Sat Apr 14, 2012 6:26 pm

Michael,

This isn't an answer to your original question but am I right in assuming that you saw the Hayes/Ballinagough emigration records transcribed by that Clare genealogy transcription diesel Tom McDowell and published at http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... grants.htm ?

Paddy

pwaldron
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Re: Inquiry regarding Hayes family from Ballinagough:

Post by pwaldron » Sat Apr 14, 2012 7:05 pm

Another example of a misaddressed letter surprisingly delivered:

Back in the mid-1970s when I lived in Dublin I was on a family holiday in Kilkee, Co. Clare, for a couple of weeks. A senile cousin wrote to my mother using the address: `Mrs. Waldron, Kilkee, Dublin'. The letter was delivered!

Paddy Casey
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Re: Inquiry regarding Hayes family from Ballinagough:

Post by Paddy Casey » Sat Apr 14, 2012 7:46 pm

Many years back there was a short BBC TV report or documentary on a Post Office department in London that was solely devoted to routing poorly or bizarrely addressed letters. Listening to the clerks recounting examples and how they had managed to correctly address them I came to suspect that the department, by design or chance, had accumulated a high percentage of gifted mental oddballs, some of them possibly medically diagnosable as autistic, with prodigious memories of placenames and capacities for knights-move thinking. They have probably been "rationalised" since then and replaced by computers which don't have a fraction of their capacity for creative thinking.

Paddy

O'Brien_Hayes
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Yes, I did see those emigration files! Thanks!

Post by O'Brien_Hayes » Sat Apr 14, 2012 11:16 pm

Yes, I just did discover those emigration documents recently; sure enough, there's my grandmother, Annie Hayes. (along with some sisters)

Oh, we knew anyhow she was listed in the Ellis Island records; they've maintained a good database.

Funniest thing about that woman, when I was 6 or 7 or 8 years old, (my grandkids love this story; they they don't dare let me try this on them!) But every Sunday, when we dressed up to go to church, just 5 houses away, "Nana" (Annie Hayes) would grab me and spit in my hair and press it, to try to assist it to lay down better. (I had curly hair)

URGHGHG!! No wonder I'm so bald today ! hahahaha

I guess they didn't have those weird gooey creams and salves and "hair-putty" or whatever that long ago ... (Years later, they marketed something here in the U.S. called "Brylcream" ... yuch! you could paste a tractor back together with that stuff ....

Can't wait to get replies from my letter(s) to Hayes family members in Ballinagough!

I so appreciate all the replies and info!

Michael

Munseypark
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Re: Inquiry regarding Hayes family from Ballinagough:

Post by Munseypark » Wed Nov 04, 2015 6:37 pm

Hi Michael;
My name is Kevin Barry , My grandmother was Celia (Hayes)Barry, your grandmother's sister. I remember your Grandmother very well, we would visit her and her sister Liz Donnelly in Edgewater NJ,near Palisades amusement park.
I have been to the Hayes home in Co. Clare and our other relatives Hayes at the Furnace. Stay in touch and I'll try to fill you in on what I know.

Sincerely.
Kevin

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