Hi Christie,
I hope you enjoyed your trip to Clare last summer and it was great success in researching your Irish roots.
Sheila and I have been researching further Captain Charles George O'Callaghan of Ballinahinch, in relation to James Halpin, Jr., and his connection to a mysterious Michael McNamara. In researching the newspaper archives, I've come across the below article which relates to your Whelan ancestors:
THE LAND LAW OF VICTORIA
Mr. James Whelan, of Ballynahinch, has kindly supplied us [the editors, presumably] with a copy of the Hon. Gavan Duffy's "Guide to the Land Law of Victoria," forwarded to him by his son, who is a resident in that important part of Australia. We have gone over the book very carefully, and we find that it contains some useful and entertaining information; and, as the tide of emigration to Australia still flows on with unabated rapidity, we shall give an extract from this work, and continue to do so from time to time, believing that they will prove serviceable to intending emigrants. The annexed extract will be read with interest . . .
Clare Journal, and Ennis Advertiser, Monday, 29 September 1862
This James Whelan, I am quite confident, was your great-great-great-grandfather, originally from Newgrove. His son referred to in the above article must be either his son John or Thomas who both immigrated to Australia — as you are aware from your own research and also supported by the below Australian news reports:
WHELAN: - On the 13th August, at his father's residence, Bank Street, Richmond, James, the eldest and beloved son of John and Eliza Whelan, and grandson of the late Mr. James Whelan of New Grove, and the late Mr. Michael Sheedy M'Namara of Tomerla [Fomerla], County Clare, Ireland, in the twenty-fourth year of his age. R.I.P.
Illustrated Australian News, Melbourne, Victoria, 30 August 1878, per trove newspaper archive
WHELAN.—On the 6th July, at his late residence, Waterloo-street, St. Kilda, after a long and painful illness, Thomas, the dearly beloved husband of Catherine Whelan, second eldest son of the late James Whelan, Newgrove, county Clare, Ireland, age 42 years, late of the Victorian railways. R.I.P.
Leader, Melbourne, Victoria, Saturday, 13 July 1889, per trove newspaper archive
Your great-great-grandfather, James Whelan, Jr., (1846 - 1897), land steward to Charles George O'Callaghan, was the son of the James Whelan who married Margaret McNamara (≈1800 - 1887) in 1857 — see details of marriage in first posting above by Sheila. Margaret [McNamara] Walsh was living in Plot 2 in Ballynahinch townland in Griffith Valuation, in a house valued at £2, much higher than her neighbors. I am fairly certain that she was the widow of Michael Walsh who was murdered in 1847. Margaret [McNamara Walsh] Whelan, as noted in the above posting by Sheila, died in 1887 and was reported as "widow of a Land Steward". The informant was James Whelan on the civil death record, not reported but her step-son. This now makes perfect sense how James Whelan, Jr., obtained the position of Land Steward — the position was passed down from his father.
According to the Australian obituary of his grandson and namesake, James Whelan of Newgrove (at least orginally) had died prior to 1878. A James Whelan died in the second quarter of 1869, at the age of 63 (Tulla on-line record not yet available).
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/ ... t%3DSearch
Obtaining the civil death record (for £5, see instructions in above link) for this James Whelan, especially the location of death, his occupation, and the informant, will provide further evidence that your James Whelan, Sr., married Margaret McNamara in 1857, left Newgrove and became land steward to Charles George O'Callaghan of Ballynahinch, which upon his death in 1869 was passed down to James Whelan, Jr., your great-great-grandfather.