Parish of O'Callaghan's Mills RC records newly transcribed
Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2015 12:00 pm
I am pleased to report that the first decade of baptism records for this parish are now online, thanks to the Clare County Library. Here is the link:
http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... rberry.htm
If you have used a prior, limited database by a different transcriber, please check the records again. I found that there was a major date error at the start of the recorded baptisms. I also tried very hard to discern place names and surnames, for which I used my 20-year experience with this parish. There remains the issue of dark areas on the edges of pages, caused by poor filming. There is only one filming for this parish, so both the National Library's and LDS images are impacted. The only remedy is to obtain the actual parish book. This transcription is taken from the online images placed online by the National Library, Dublin.
Really appreciated is the second formatting of the database, by surname. This is where analysis can be done, to determine widowers who remarried, which couples moved around the parish, etc. For instance, I think I see why my family's Patrick Carberry was involved in two Driscoll baptisms: in Feb 1835 Patrick's apparent brother Peter Carberry and his wife Catherine Tynan had a child, and in the same month a Patrick Tynan and his wife Bridget Driscoll had a child, indicating that these Tynans had perhaps a sibling relationship. It also becomes apparent that the Driscoll families of this parish resided solely in the Kiluran area. Spellings become easier to check with this surname formatting. Many thanks to the Library staff who had to add approximate date information for those surname-format entries where the chronological listing has a question mark for unknown dates.
The surname formatting also reveals some families that otherwise are known as Protestant, such as Vandeleur. There are others that are associated with West Clare, such as Garry, Crowe, Bugler, and O'Shaughnessy. At some future time, estate records may show that men of those surnames were brought into the area for work purposes.
When reading the images for yourself, remember that I have had the benefit of becoming familiar with the priest's handwriting, which had a unique style for the beginning letters of a name and also for some endings. What appears in this new database is the best rendering of each name, after factoring in this handwriting style and surnames known to appear in other reliable East Clare records of this era.
Transcription continues for the remaining decades. The map that appears on the database online page shows the Parish of O'Callaghan Mills in this time period. It's outlined on the left, a rough crescent shape. The only village is Kilkishen, but the database shows clearly that the surrounding countryside held the majority of families living in the parish in this time period. This was a ruggedly rural area. There are several instances in which a number of baptisms occur on the same day, which runs counter to the practice of obtaining a baptism within a day or two of birth. Also, as time goes by, I think I saw more and more instances when the priest took time off from doing baptisms - whether he was ill or away on other business, I don't know. I do see times when someone else must be doing entries for a week or two, and a different handwriting style appears, often meaning less information on a line. I think it was the regular priest (Fr. Patrick Quaid) who tried using individual name spellings for his parishioners, so that Pat, Patt, and Patk. will all appear in the same week. A father will be shown as Rodger and his son will be noted as Rody.
I am happy to answer any questions that arise. The only wording not transcribed is where occasionally the priest noted that two children were twins; that fact is otherwise evident. It is my hope that more families can be knit together with this resource.
Sharon Carberry
http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... rberry.htm
If you have used a prior, limited database by a different transcriber, please check the records again. I found that there was a major date error at the start of the recorded baptisms. I also tried very hard to discern place names and surnames, for which I used my 20-year experience with this parish. There remains the issue of dark areas on the edges of pages, caused by poor filming. There is only one filming for this parish, so both the National Library's and LDS images are impacted. The only remedy is to obtain the actual parish book. This transcription is taken from the online images placed online by the National Library, Dublin.
Really appreciated is the second formatting of the database, by surname. This is where analysis can be done, to determine widowers who remarried, which couples moved around the parish, etc. For instance, I think I see why my family's Patrick Carberry was involved in two Driscoll baptisms: in Feb 1835 Patrick's apparent brother Peter Carberry and his wife Catherine Tynan had a child, and in the same month a Patrick Tynan and his wife Bridget Driscoll had a child, indicating that these Tynans had perhaps a sibling relationship. It also becomes apparent that the Driscoll families of this parish resided solely in the Kiluran area. Spellings become easier to check with this surname formatting. Many thanks to the Library staff who had to add approximate date information for those surname-format entries where the chronological listing has a question mark for unknown dates.
The surname formatting also reveals some families that otherwise are known as Protestant, such as Vandeleur. There are others that are associated with West Clare, such as Garry, Crowe, Bugler, and O'Shaughnessy. At some future time, estate records may show that men of those surnames were brought into the area for work purposes.
When reading the images for yourself, remember that I have had the benefit of becoming familiar with the priest's handwriting, which had a unique style for the beginning letters of a name and also for some endings. What appears in this new database is the best rendering of each name, after factoring in this handwriting style and surnames known to appear in other reliable East Clare records of this era.
Transcription continues for the remaining decades. The map that appears on the database online page shows the Parish of O'Callaghan Mills in this time period. It's outlined on the left, a rough crescent shape. The only village is Kilkishen, but the database shows clearly that the surrounding countryside held the majority of families living in the parish in this time period. This was a ruggedly rural area. There are several instances in which a number of baptisms occur on the same day, which runs counter to the practice of obtaining a baptism within a day or two of birth. Also, as time goes by, I think I saw more and more instances when the priest took time off from doing baptisms - whether he was ill or away on other business, I don't know. I do see times when someone else must be doing entries for a week or two, and a different handwriting style appears, often meaning less information on a line. I think it was the regular priest (Fr. Patrick Quaid) who tried using individual name spellings for his parishioners, so that Pat, Patt, and Patk. will all appear in the same week. A father will be shown as Rodger and his son will be noted as Rody.
I am happy to answer any questions that arise. The only wording not transcribed is where occasionally the priest noted that two children were twins; that fact is otherwise evident. It is my hope that more families can be knit together with this resource.
Sharon Carberry