Ryan's from Bunratty Clare

Genealogy, Archaeology, History, Heritage & Folklore

Moderators: Clare Support, Clare Past Mod

Post Reply
Fran
Posts: 20
Joined: Wed Nov 28, 2007 8:11 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Ryan's from Bunratty Clare

Post by Fran » Fri Nov 30, 2007 3:35 pm

Looking for information on the Ryan's of Bunratty Clare. All the information we have is that: Thomas Ryan b.1835 m (in 1855) Mary Anne Connors b.1836 He arrived in Australia in 1856 he was a free settler and paid his own way.
His parents were Thomas Ryan and Sara/Nora Hickey.
If anyone has any information that would be great, as time went by all has been forgotten of our Ryan's here in Australia.

Thanks,

Fran :P
Last edited by Fran on Tue Jun 10, 2008 12:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Paddy Casey
Posts: 743
Joined: Wed Mar 28, 2007 3:53 pm
Location: Внешняя Громболия
Contact:

Ryans of Bunratty

Post by Paddy Casey » Sat Dec 01, 2007 5:59 pm

Fran,

Have you checked out the Ryan/Bunratty entries on the Clare County Library website at http://www.clarelibrary.ie ? Just go to that site, click on "Search this site" and type in Ryan AND Bunratty and hit Enter. There is quite a long list.

Happy hunting !

Paddy

Fran
Posts: 20
Joined: Wed Nov 28, 2007 8:11 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Ryan of Bunratty

Post by Fran » Sun Dec 02, 2007 3:23 pm

Hello Paddy,
Thanks for the tip I have searched that section you mentioned with only a maybe for (Thomas Ryan) it is hard to connect as I myself have no dates for Thomas Ryan 1st. I need to establish the year of his marriage to Sara/Nora Hickey and that should help, but I have not been lucky so far.
Australia is a long way from Ireland and the record searching is slow.
Thanks for your email any other clues would be greatful.

Fran

P.s My Dads name was Paddy! (Patrick)

Paddy Casey
Posts: 743
Joined: Wed Mar 28, 2007 3:53 pm
Location: Внешняя Громболия
Contact:

Ryans in Bunratty

Post by Paddy Casey » Thu Dec 06, 2007 3:55 pm

Fran,

Here's a tip if you are not finding much in the old archives: work both forwards and backwards.

It's been my experience that if early records appear to be lacking it is worth trying to locate family members who may be still living in Clare (i.e. who didn't emigrate in the 19th century) so that one can contact them and interrogate them. Ofttimes they can tell you what happened to the emigrated family members and even where they live. Old family letters and other ephmemera can often be found in their kitchen drawers and on mantlepieces. Just one example: when chatting to a cousin in Clare he mentioned that he had had a letter from the descendant of a family member who had emigrated to the US 100 years ago. I contacted that person in the US and found a whole (elderly) family cluster there who were able to give me the full story about the family who had emigrated from Tubber.

Present-day relatives can be located by going round the locality and talking to elderly residents and jogging their memories. This is clearly not a trivial undertaking if you live in Australia but there are two workarounds in this situation, both of which have brought me success in the past. You can phone the local post office and ask about Ryan families in the locality - local postmistresses and -masters can be surprisingly helpful here - and you can trawl the Eircom phone book. There is at least one Ryan listed under Bunratty, for example.

And in the meantime you can plan your trip to Bunratty.

Just a couple of ideas for what they are worth.


Paddy

Fran
Posts: 20
Joined: Wed Nov 28, 2007 8:11 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Post by Fran » Sat Dec 08, 2007 2:34 pm

Paddy,
Thanks for the tips, I am in the process of sending a letter to the only Ryan in the book for Bunratty, so hope to find something. I have been to Bunratty many years ago but did not know that some of my family came form there just my luck! I'm planning a trip in early 2009 if all is well so I will visit the area, trying to get a bit of info before this trip.

Thanks,

Fran :?

Post Reply