The Irish Ancestral

Research Association 2120 Commonwealth Ave.

Auburndale, MA 02466-1909

CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS – NEXT ISSUE

This picture of my mother and her siblings was taken in the 1940s. How did your family celebrate Christmas? Have you carried on any of those traditions today? Family was always the most important part of our celebrations. No matter how far-flung the family had become, they always came back for Christmas. Send us your stories of Christmases past and present.

Front L-R: Elizabeth Ward Choppa (my Mom), Anne Ward Murphy, Margaret (Peggy) Ward Bailey, Joseph Ward, Madaline (Mal) Ward Choppa (my double aunt – she was my Mom’s sister and married my Dad’s brother 6 years before my parents wed).

Autumn 2010 Volume 27, number 3

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The Irish Ancestral Research Association

2120 Commonwealth Avenue

Auburndale, MA 02466-1909

www.tiara.ie

Officers Kathy Roscoe, President Tom Toohey, Vice President Jay Lucas, Corresponding Secretary

Committee Chairs Margaret Sullivan, Publicity Pat Landry, Membership Bob Burke, Ways & Means Carolyn Jack, Webmaster Susan Steele, Foresters Mary Rita Grady, CSJ, Library Eva Murphy, Volunteers DUES Calendar year membership is (U.S.) $20 per individual &

$30 per family. Canada $25/$37.50 and Europe $30/$45 – U.S. currency to cover added postage & handling

Meetings TIARA meets monthly except for July & August at

locations throughout the New England area.

THE TIARA NEWSLETTER The TIARA newsletter is published quarterly and distributed to members in good standing. Coordinator: Mary Choppa Production: Kathy Roscoe Editor Emeritus: Carlyn V. Cox Submit all material (correspondence, Nuggets, Queries, etc.) to the above address.

Copyright All material in this publication is protected by

copyright. Permission must be obtained for use of any material and credit given, including Title, Author, Volume and Issue number.

In This Issue Cover Photo – Mary Choppa, Member 1791 The Holy Well of Castletown Conyers Dahti’s Bookshelf Thanks To TIARA The Kelly Family of Taunton TIARA Upcoming Meetings Website of Interest, Other Events of Interest Massachusetts Archives Update This & That: Old Friends, Stories & Traditions Enjoying Galway and Doing Research “Fraternity, Unity and Charity” A Tale of Three Sisters

THE HOLY WELL OF CASTLETOWN CONYERS By Pamela Holland Member #2969 (Massachusetts) I attended your writer’s workshop a couple weeks ago and was so inspired I wrote up this bit of family history for the newsletter. The workshop really helped with figuring out ways to tell a story and use all the bits and pieces of family history and information one gathers. Most of this information doesn't really fit in a genealogy program in a way that makes your ancestors come alive. I plan on writing up as many stories as I can - I guess I'll have to start a blog too. This is the story of the courtship of Patrick Kearney and Margaret Moroney. Patrick and Margaret are my husband’s maternal grandparents. At first there seemed to be very little information about the couple available from family members. Margaret died a few years after my husband’s mother was born and she had no memory of her. Patrick seemed to be a hardworking fellow but besides a few snippets of home life there was not much I could find beyond his birth and death dates. That is until I asked the right person the right question: “How did they meet?”

An aunt told me the family story. Margaret Moroney was working in Castletown Conyers at Keane’s shop and pub. Keane’s was the only shop in the village. In 1918 Patrick Kearney was a new arrival in town and became a lodger at Keane’s. He worked in the nearby creamery making cheese and butter. Every year on August 15, the date the Catholic Church celebrates the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the local people of the town go to the nearby holy well as a pilgrimage to pray for healing and help from Mary. On August 15, 1918 the shop owner asked Margaret to introduce Patrick to this practice and to “go on the rounds at the well” with him. This story captured my imagination. I could picture Patrick and Margaret as a young couple falling in love as they walked the path of the pilgrimage and taking the waters of the well. I was eager to learn more.

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On a visit to Ireland in 2006, the whole family, my husband and I, our children, his parents and his story-telling aunt, visited Castletown Conyers. The village is now simply called Castletown and is located in County Limerick, just a few miles north of the County Cork border. We found the holy well (more on this later). We saw the shop and pub which is still in business. We found the creamery which is now an abandoned building in ruins. We visited the nearby church in Ballyagran where Patrick and Margaret were married. And we reconnected with a wonderful part of Kearney-Moroney family history. Of course the story raised some questions. I still don’t know how Margaret and Patrick found their way to Castletown Conyers, since it is far from their birthplaces and families. Also, I don’t know how Patrick became a cheese maker given that various records describe his father as a gardener and horse-cart driver. However, I was able to verify much of the story. Margaret Moroney was born on the 12th of May 1891, in Ballynacourty in the parish of Glenroe and Ballyorgan in County Limerick. Her parents were William Moroney and Honora O’Grady. She grew up in Ballynacourty but I found her in the 1911 census, at the age of 19, working for the Keane family in Castletown at their shop and pub.

Patrick Kearney was born on the 19th of August 1888, in Forenaght in the parish of Castlehaven in County Cork. His parents were Patrick Kearney and Kate Tobin. Soon after his birth the family moved back to the nearby Skibbereen area, where his parents had been married, and this is where he grew up. At some point he trained in cheese making, possibly in England according to another

family story, and eventually he ended up working in the Castletown area.

Our Lady's Well in Castletown, is a spring-fed well situated in a field not far from town. Today, the well is marked with a statue to Our Lady and is surrounded by a wall with steps leading down into the well. Like other “holy wells” in Ireland, this site

has been considered to be a sacred place by the local people for millennia. On August 15th each year a Catholic Mass is held at the well and is attended by a large crowd. Well-worn paths in the grass along the border of the field around the well mark the site of the rounds of the well. Doing “rounds” at a holy well involves walking around the well, praying and reciting the Rosary in silence until your prayers and the rounds are completed. Patrick and Margaret were married on the 21st of January 1919, in the Ballyagran Church just down the road from Castletown Conyers. Margaret gave birth to five children before she died on the 31st of January 1943 in Cork City. She was buried in St. Finbarr's Cemetery on Glasheen Rd in Cork City. Patrick died on the 22nd of January 1961 in Cork City and was buried in St. Finbarr's Cemetery as well. The story of their meeting makes their lives come alive. It is a much more vivid tale than just the bare bones facts of their lives. After visiting Castletown, I can easily picture them walking down the dusty road from Keane’s shop to the holy well with all the other villagers. I can see them on the grassy path as they make their rounds. I can see them stooping down to drink from the dark, cool water of the well. And I can imagine their courtship beginning on that very day. Pam Holland recommended a free Irish newspaper archive at http://www.southernstar.ie/. They have a digital archive of their paper, The Southern Star, from 1892. It covers the Skibbereen area as well as many surrounding parts of County Cork. It is great and I've found a lot of information searching it for my Skibbereen area ancestors. If you go directly through the irishnewsachive.com site you get more papers but they aren't free. My father-in-law who lives in Cork city found this site and passed it along to me.

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Photo by Kathy Roscoe (#893) DATHI’S BOOKSHELF By Thomas A. Dorsey, J.D., Ph.D. Member #2695 (Massachusetts) “Before the Famine” sounds somehow flippant but the fifty years preceding Black ’47 were formative years for Ireland. Anchored on one end by the Rising of 1798 and The Act of Union (1800) and ending with the Famine this period saw union with England, economic disruptions, emancipation of Catholics, the erosion of landed estates, and the start of national education. It was a period of great promise forever disrupted by the arrival of Phytophthora infestans - the potato blight. “The Year of the French”, bhiadhain na bhFianneach, is the key event beginning this period. You may have read Thomas Flanagan’s book of the same name. A historical view can be found in The Year of Liberty (1969) by Thomas Pakenham. The author is an historian, the son of the 7th Earl of Longford, and the brother of author Antonia Fraser. This book is a detailed chronology of the 1798 Rising told with a balanced view and not a little despair. Over 100,000 Irish, organized by the United Irishmen, rose to take arms. The British army reacted with confusion and panic, the rebels won battles and then the British regrouped and 30,000 Irish died. Parkenham quotes Lord Wycombe who said that the events “… proceeded from an union of British imbecility and Irish ferocity.” It is hard to read about, or describe, these events. Because the initial plan was disrupted, abortive risings began in separate counties led by local captains who were often Catholic priests (e.g. Father Murphy of Wexford). The inability of the local captains to control the mob led to reprisals

against loyalists, followed by British atrocities against the Irish. For example, in mid-June the rebels had taken much of Wexford. British troops at New Ross had hanged all captured rebels. Now the mob in Wexford wanted to execute loyalists barricaded in a jail. On the 19th of June the loyalists were tried by the mob in a kangaroo court and 97 of them were piked to death on the village bridge. Partly in response, on the same day, 10,000 British troops attacked rebels at Vinegar Hill and Enniscorthy killing 550 as they fled. Only the appointment in July of Lord Cornwallis as army commander began to restore order and control the bloodshed. The Last Invasion of Ireland (1937) by Dr. Richard Hayes stands in contrast to Parkenham‘s book because of his use of local sources. Richard Hayes was born in Limerick (1882) and earned his M.D. at Catholic University Medical School. He developed a strong interest in Franco-Irish history writing four books on the subject. In 1934 he won the Historical Research prize from the National University of Ireland and was later awarded the Legion of Honor by France. As Hayes explains in his preface he set out to correct a substantial amount of racial and religious bigotry in previous histories. He retraced the actual course of the battles “… incorporating whatever traditions in song or story I gathered by the wayside….” (xxv). He begins in August 1798 with the French landing at Killala Bay, County Mayo. The French arrived well after the Rising because British agents in France delayed the expedition by bribing French officials. When General Humbert arrived he found no Irish support and little hope for resupply. The result was a limited campaign which ended in a surrender in early September. Hayes discusses the final engagement at Ballinamuck, noting that “…the many accounts…” are “…so conflicting and … so fantastic…” that a true picture cannot be drawn. (p. 134) The French either voluntary surrendered (the British version) or were overcome as the result of a dishonorable ruse by General Lake (the French version). Whatever happened, various French units surrendered while General Lake advanced and redeployed his troops. Humbert was easily captured and the remaining French contingent surrendered. Once they had given their parole and left the field the British massacred the remaining 500 Irish without offering any terms of surrender.

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General Lake reported 12 losses and an equal number wounded. No French troops were killed. The 1798 Rising was at once brave, foolish, shocking to the British, a watershed in Irish legend, violent beyond reason, and the root cause of the Crown’s policy change towards Ireland. The result was the passage of the Act of Union of 1800, which involved complex maneuvering, bribery and coercion by Peel’s administration. Several books have been written on this topic but, for our purposes, the next book summarizes the issue well. Gearoid O’Tuathaigh’s Ireland Before the Famine: 1798 to 1850 is a precise, comprehensive and thoughtful overview of the period touching on the main themes of The Act of Union, Catholic emancipation, the role of Daniel O’Connell, social unrest, and economic change. O’Tuathaigh takes a higher perspective, so the book must be read with care, but it knits together the complex political and social threads of the period from all the actors’ points of view. The most significant part of O’Tuathaigh’s book is his fourth chapter on the “economy and condition of the people”. Here he lays out the complex changes in population and agricultural economics that amplified the failure of the potato crop. The serious crop collapse in 1821 in the West was addressed by private charity and state grants. By 1845, however, the Irish economy was affected by a complex interplay of “… population pressure, the availability of natural resources, the social structure, and the transformation of the market through price movement….“ and the effects of Industrial Revolution (p.126). O’Tuathaigh concludes that a resolution of the underlying problems would have required “… a gigantic piece of social and economic engineering” beyond the scope of 19th century society. A more immediate book, dealing with the difficulties of peasant life, is The End of Hidden Ireland by Robert James Scally. Here, the focus is the Townland of Ballykilcline, in Kilglass Parish, County Roscommon. Scally has studied the people and events of this 600 acre patch for the decades before the Famine. He chose it because of the “Rebellion in Ballykilcline” which occurred from 1836 to 1847, when the tenants did not pay rent. Less “rebellion” and more bureaucratic flub, due to a contested inheritance, the consequences for the tenants were disastrous. Nevertheless, a spate of litigation, investigation and enforcement of rent claims left a rich historical record for Scally’s study.

This book focuses on land use and ownership, the social rank and relationships of the residents, clearances and forced emigration. Here you find the landlords, their greedy heirs, the “squireens”, the “drivers” and bailiffs, the hedge priests and shebeen keepers, and the tenant leaders and followers. The book looks at the resistance of the residents who actually won a lawsuit against the Crown over their rent obligations. It examines the knowledge of the residents and their isolation from the outside world in education, finances, politics and individual liberties. Finally, it examines the ejection of the entire Townland - to Dublin, then to ships and finally to New York City where most became lost to history. Indeed, a fascinating discussion is Scally’s inability to account for 179 of 525 of the evicted residents as they are recorded by the Crown agents boarding the five ships contracted to take them to America. A central theme of Scally’s book is debt - the influence cotter, tenant, and landlord debt had on the economic status of the Townland. This factor is not emphasized in other works but cumulating financial stress affected tenancies, rents and relief in the years before the famine. Often these stresses interplayed strongly with the religious faith of the tenants. S.J. Connolly’s Priests and People in Pre-Famine Ireland (2001) speaks to these issues. Connolly is Professor of Irish History at Queens University Belfast. As the title suggests this is a study of the role of the Catholic Church in Irish society before the Famine. The laity was viewed by priests as crude, superstitious, ignorant and in need of discipline. Fairies and fairy doctors, holy wells, wakes and pattern, keening, and wake games were all viewed with distain. Connolly reconstructs these activities and discusses them objectively and with interesting details. Indeed, if you don’t know the meaning of “keeping company”, “couple-beggars”, “tackems”, and “runaway matches”, you have missed a rich part of your ancestors’ daily lives. The Church was second only to the British in trying to “civilize” the Irish. Unfortunately, the laity was only slightly more accepting of religious rules and fees than they were of the “cess”. The Church’s role did not ease growing unrest. Anticlerical agitation grew as the 1800’s progressed and by the Famine it had reached the level of county-wide passive resistance. As Connolly points out, the Church preached against opposition to the Castle and the fermenting of revolution. “Vile and wicked

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conspiracies “were denounced from the pulpit and parishioners were told to respect “their superiors” and were reminded of the “tolerance” of the government(p. 209). However, in 1834 Fr. David Croly, a dissident Cork priest, complained that:

“ The country priest now copes with the country squire, keeps sporting dogs, controls elections, presides at political clubs and sits “cheek by jowl” at public dinners and public assemblies with peers of the land and members of parliament.”

A number of other books have been written about specific parishes before the Famine. If your family came from these locales this can be interesting. These studies, however, run the gambit from statistical analysis to charming discussions of village society. Two books illustrate this difference. Family and Farm in Pre-Famine Ireland, the Parish of Killashandra by Kevin O’Neill is a study of a Cavan parish which seeks to produce an economic and social model of agriculture change in the mid-1800’s. If you like economic models with multivariate analysis this is your cup of tea; for others - not so much. Despite the technical focus the book has a number of useful discussions and insights. O’Neill’s discussion of tenants’ rent (p.46-50) is telling. We think of “rent” as a payment to the landlord for the use of land, but Irish tenants paid much more. Tenant rent involved fees, surcharges and “bribes”. As O’Neill explains tenants paid the landlord a 33% premium for milling grain (the landlord usually owned the sole local grain mill). If he sold the grain unmilled he got a price below market. Lease payments [the “gale” day] usually fell on November 1st, when grain [oats] was still green. If the tenant reaped and sold green oats he got a lower price; if he waited he was in arrears. Similar problems applied to cattle and pig sales since the fixed payment date caused a glut on the market with correspondingly reduced prices. In some estates a new tenant was required to pay the delinquent rents of the prior occupant. He might have to pay the agency fee (often 5%) from his own pocket and, on some estates, tenants were required to provide “day duty” or manual labor during the harvest, thus neglecting their own crops. A final insult was the requirement that the tenant pay the estate agent a fee for telling him his rent was coming due. In some places they also made payments to the agents family members. Thus, the concept of “rent” was not straightforward and it is easy to understand why “the gale” was so hated.

In contrast to the O’Neill book Monsignor Ignatius Murphy’s Before the Famine Struck, Life in West Clare 1834-1845 is drawn mostly from primary sources [newspapers]. This comprehensive, readable reflection on folk life in the Parish of Kilfeartagh, includes Kilrush and Kilkee out to the extreme tip of Clare. In brief paragraphs Murphy talks about laborers, beggars, food, poor law politics, education, hurling, faction-fights, recreation and other topics. He also authored A Starving People: Life and Death in West Clare, 1845 - 1851. There are other books addressing other parishes and counties. Among them are: Roscommon before the Famine: the parishes of Kiltoom and Cam, 1749-1845 by William Gacquin; Drogheda before the Famine: urban poverty in the shadow of privilege, 1826-45 by Ned McHugh and The land and people of County Meath, 1750-1850 by Peter Connell. NEXT: Famine (Pt. I.) Suggestions/requests to: dathi2010@gmail.com.

THANKS TO TIARA By Judy Henderson Member #3144 (Virginia) Thanks to TIARA and Google, I have been able to chip some big chunks out of one of my brick walls! While on the TIARA trip to Salt Lake City in May 2010, I purchased the book, Google Your Family Tree. There is a lot of great information in there, much of which I still don’t really understand, but in one chapter it talked about a website called Random Acts of Genealogy Kindness. (raogk.com) Here you can find folks around the country (and the world) who have volunteered to do such things as look up obituaries, photograph tombstones, etc. Most folks do ask for reimbursement of expenditures, but mostly it’s free! Thanks to a Random Acts of Genealogy Kindness volunteer in Florida, I got two obituaries emailed to me a couple of days after making my request. It may have been years before I got down to the St. Petersburg area to look these up myself. The obituaries were for a great-uncle, John Joseph Buggle (1902-1980) and his son John Patrick Buggle (1925-1973). The great-uncle’s obituary did not mention his first wife – Annie O’Connor Buggle, who was my maternal grandfather’s sister – but did mention a second wife and the year they were married. Information new to me. I knew that the family had lived in a

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small town in upstate New York and sometime after 1965 moved to Florida. I have been unable to find any information on Annie’s death, which state, a date, nothing. The son’s obituary had the name of his wife (Sylvia Buggle) and their children, also information new to me. Neither obituary mentioned where they were buried. First, I searched the internet for John Joseph Buggle’s second wife and found a obituary for her stating she had been living in Colorado at the time of her death with her daughter-in-law, Sylvia Buggle. YES! Next I searched for Sylvia Buggle and found an address I hoped was still good in Colorado, wrote her a letter and waited. Only a few days later (June 23, 2010), in my email, I found a wonderful and long letter from Sylvia Buggle. YES! Among the information Sylvia gave me was that her husband John Patrick Buggle had been married with no children, prior to marrying her. She told me that John Patrick was buried in Calvary Cemetery in Clearwater, Florida, next to HIS FATHER AND MOTHER, John and Annie Buggle! YES YES YES. She also told me John Patrick’s sister’s married name – Van Nostrand – that she has passed away and the names of her husband and children. She told me that she thought John’s brother Richard was still living in Florida and had done extensive research on the family years ago. I ran right over to RAOGK and found a volunteer in that area of Florida and sent her an email asking if she could get me photos of these headstones. I then searched for Richard Buggle and found that he unfortunately had died in 2008. The obituary I found online gave the names of his wife and children and where they were living at the time of his death. I did some searching for the VanNostrands in upstate New York and found some possible addresses. So more letters went out. Unbelievably, a couple of days after mailing my letters the phone started to ring. First on Thursday, July 1 Richard’s wife Dorothy Buggle (who is about 80) called me from Florida and we had a lovely chat. Later that same evening Dorothy’s son John Buggle called me and we were on the phone for a long time. Then on Sunday,

July 4, I got a phone call from Barry VanNostrand in Irondequoit, NY. So since the trip in May I have been able to find a “missing” great aunt and add a few names to my family tree and confirmed some stories I had heard a long time ago about Annie and how she was known as Nurse Annie during the Irish Civil War until she had to leave the country from people who heard the stories directly from Annie herself. I have also received photos of the headstones. I have some information to type up and mail out to these newly found second cousins and hopefully we’ll be in contact again very soon. A big Thank You to Claire Smith, Pat Landry and Geri Cox who all recommended the book Google Your Family Tree from personal experience. I’ve already gotten more out of that book then I ever expected. I have listed myself as a volunteer on RAOGK.com. So far I have looked up an obituary for one person and for another found a will inventory in the courthouse records from 1783 (very detailed). No one in my family arrived until 1900, so searching American records in the 1700s was new to me. I found it very hard to stay on task and not get caught up in reading everything.

THE KELLY FAMILY OF TAUNTON By John Moriarty Member 3124 (Maryland) I once asked my mother: ”What were your mother and her parents like?” The answer I got surprised me. She said: “My mother, Margaret Kelly McCaffrey, died when I was about three years old and her parents, John and Annie Kelly were gone before I was born. We all were residents of Taunton but I don’t really remember my mother or hearing stories about my grandparents.” As I got older, my curiosity about the Kelly’s got the better of me and I had to try and find out what kind of family were they. The first step in my quest to learn about them was to go to the 1880 Federal Census where the Kelly’s appear living in Taunton as I suspected. I then jumped to the 1900 Federal Census for Taunton and found no listing for John Kelly. What happened to the family? I next went to the Taunton Public Library and Aaron Cushman, a Reference Assistant, kindly agreed to help me find an Obituary for John Kelly. He found it in the March 17, 1898 edition of the Taunton Daily Gazette. It stated that: “The late

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John Kelley (notice the different spelling) was a member of Taunton Court, No. 73, M. C. O. F.”. Another most important clue was it said: “Within a year he had lost his wife and two children making four deaths in the family within a brief period. He leaves four children.” This means that Census information will not help and I must look elsewhere for answers. I asked around to find out where the Forrester’s data was stored and I was told that the place to find it was The Irish Ancestral Research Association (TIARA) and their Forrester Project. I sent away for John Kelly’s papers and found more clues. Some of the information was extraneous to my current search but will be very valuable for other trails to follow. He applied for membership on January 5, 1895 and at that point in time, his wife Annie was still living but both of John’s parents were gone. His death certificate states that he died March 16, 1898 at age 51 of heart problems. The duration of sickness was five days. This date is important because it establishes a time window for the other deaths. I sent for Annie’s death certificate at the City Clerks Office in Taunton and got it back learning that Annie died January 25, 1898 in Taunton from Pneumonia Paralysis. She was just about to turn 45 when she died. That’s only about two months between deaths and he died of heart problems. The Forrester physical said he was in excellent condition with no sign of heart problems. The Forrester report also lists the surviving children of John Kelly as: Mary J. Age 25 Margaret C Age 20 Agnes B Age 18 Cornelius J Age 14 Sarah Age 10 Charles J Age 1 year The Obituary said he leaves four children but the actual count is six. Notice that Charles would have been born in March 1897 and if Annie became pregnant right after Charles was born, she would have come to term in December of 1897. So I have one possible window of December 1897 to March 1898 to be within the year framework. The second child would have to have been born before Charles. There is a large time gap between Sarah and Charles so it would have been possible for a birth to have occurred in the window March 1888 to February 1897. To deal with this I used the Mass

Archives Index for an initial search. I began by looking for deaths within the first window and located four individuals who died in that time period. The next step is to see if you can match these individuals to their birth records. Out of 19 hits, I found only one match to the death record. That was for Catharine Kelly of Taunton who died on November 9, 1897 and was born was born on November 5, 1897. Once you find someone of interest in the Archives, you ask the Archives for a copy of the microfilm for the particular individual. There is a small fee for this service. When I got back the details on the microfilm, it gave the names of Catharine’s parents, which were not John and Annie. I expanded the window to include any Kelly child who died between March 1897 and March 1898. Again the same thing happened. I located one William Kelly who was born in 1890 and died in 1897 but his parents were not John and Annie when I got the microfilm back. I suspect that the Obituary is wrong and its account of leaving four children and losing two really adds up the Forrester’s count of leaving six children and the Obituary is in error. At the time of her father’s death, Mary J. Kelly was 25 and the only adult child. My grandmother, Margaret was 20 and was still living at home. Since Mary was the only child not a minor, she applied to the Probate Court to become administratrix of the estate and guardian of the minor children. A letter in the Forrester’s file from the Probate Court states that on April 15, 1898 the court granted Mary all of her requests. The next step was to obtain a copy of the court papers to see if there are more clues that will help in my search. I requested a copy of the Bristol County Probate Court records for John Kelly. It turns out that the court papers also listed the same six children as the Forrester’s did so this reinforces the idea that the Obituary was in error. The court appointed two individuals to appraise the estate and submit their findings to Mary who in turn must submit her accounts and appraisals to the court. Most of the court papers were about the estate, its value, and how much money was owed to whom after John’s death. A surprise petition was filed with court on July 12, 1898 asking that the court make Mary render an inventory of the estate and an accounting of her administration thereof. The big surprise for me wasn’t that she was late in filing the court papers but the petition states that Mary J Kelly is now Mary J McAndrews. So as of June 8, 1898

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she was Mary J Kelly and as of July 12, 1898 she was Mary J McAndrews. Sometime during those two dates she obviously got married. I looked at the 1900 Federal Census again, this time under McAndrews and found the family. As a footnote, my grandmother got married in the fall of 1900. So she stayed around to help her sister with all of the children. The Kelly story is really a tragedy in the fullest sense of the word. The one I feel most sorry for was Mary. Imagine trying to plan a wedding when the bride’s mother and father both die a few months before the big day. She also had the responsibility of a ready-made family and all of its costs. both physical and mental. Some honeymoon!

TIARA UPCOMING MEETINGS Tom Toohey has announced the upcoming meetings starting this Fall. Friday, September 10th 7:30pm at BC - Mary Lee Dunn, author of Ballykilcline Rising October meeting TBA Sunday, November 14th 12pm the banquet at The Wayside Inn - Mary Pat Kelly, author of Galway Bay Friday, December 10th 7:30pm at BC - Elyse Luray from the PBS TV Series The History Detectives Thursday, January 13th at 7:30pm John McEneny, former NY state historian

WEBSITE OF INTEREST From Carolyn Jack, Member 2902, MA: http://ancestorsearch.blogspot.com/2010/07/geocities-reocities.html

OTHER EVENTS OF INTEREST

Massachusetts Society of Genealogists 35th Annual Meeting Saturday, November 6, 2010 Courtyard Marriott, Marlborough MA http://www.massog.org/35index.html Massachusetts Society of Genealogists Merrimack Valley Chapter

October 22, 2010 10:00am Massachusetts State Archives Speaker: Janis Duffy December 4, 2010 9:30am Registry of Deeds, Lawrence MA

MASSACHUSETTS COMMONWEALTH ARCHIVES From Janis Duffy

The Archives will be opened only on the second Saturday of each month starting in September. Sept. 11th, October 9th, November 13th and December 11th.

THIS & THAT: OLD FRIENDS, STORIES & TRADITIONS WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER? From Leonard Lucas Member #3148, Illinois

The attached article is from an old slip of newspaper that has been pinned to the message board at Arlington Heights Memorial Library Genealogy for at least ten years.

Some Commandments of Our Ancestors

Unknown Author

1. Thou shalt name your male children: James,

John, Joseph, Josiah, Abel, Richard, Thomas,

William.

2. Thou shalt name your female children:

Elizabeth, Mary, Martha, Maria, Sarah, Ida,

Virginia, May.

3. Thou shalt leave NO trace of your female

children.

4. Thou shalt, after naming your children from

the above lists, call them by strange

nicknames such as: Ike, Eli, Polly, Dolly,

Sukey, Molly – making them difficult to trace.

5. Thou shalt NOT use any middle names on any

legal documents or census reports, and only

where necessary, you may use only initials on

legal documents.

6. Thou shalt learn to sign all documents illegibly

so that your surname can be spelled, or

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misspelled, in various ways: Hicks, Hics, Hix,

Hixe, Hucks, Kicks.

7. Thou shalt, after no more than three

generations, make sure that all family records

are lost, misplaced, burned in a court house

fire, or buried so that NO future trace of them

can be found.

8. Thou shalt ALWAYS flip thy name around. If

born James Albert, thou must make all the

rest of thy records in the names of Albert, AJ,

JA, Bert, Bart, or Alfred.

9. Thou shalt name at least five generations of

males, and dozens of their cousins with

identical names in order to totally confuse

researchers.

10. Thou shalt leave NO family Bible with records

of birth, marriages, or deaths.

ENJOYING GALWAY AND DOING RESEARCH By: Marie Dorsey Member #2695, Massachusetts My paternal grandparents were born in western County Galway. My grandmother kept in excellent communication with her family, now continuing into the fourth and fifth generations. This summer my husband Tom and I went to Galway for our fourth visit. It centered on family and research, a good combination, with a bit of traveling around the edges. The trip produced some information that those interested in researching in Galway might find helpful, especially because the places mentioned are within walking distance of the centre city and are also reachable on line. Before setting out on foot, visiting the websites for their content and directions, as well as to see the buildings, is highly recommended. We did not have a picture of the buildings that we were trying to find, even though we had good ideas of their holdings. This omission caused us to walk much more than we really wanted. Another problem is that Galway City’s population now includes many Irish who are not native Galwegians. To the question “Where is St. Joseph’s Community Centre?” (home of the Galway Family History Society West), five people answered, “I live here, but I am not from here, but

let me ask this person.” We finally had to resort to a cell phone, or “mobile”, and the researcher at the centre, to reach our destination. But just as the cell was running out of minutes, we found St. Joseph’s. Google maps would have helped, but as we set out, everything seemed simple. It wasn’t. Google maps wouldn’t have helped with Island House, location of the Galway County Library Archives, because we were at the right building, but signs were lacking. No one in the street knew where it was. Only when we entered Island House, climbed to the third floor and walked into the Galway municipal offices, did we meet anyone who was able to tell us that the library was on the first floor. All we had to do was walk down the stairs, go outside and find a large wooden door that we had passed several times, and ring the bell. Three other areas should be addressed before talking about our experiences in the actual research centres. First, is the time chosen for the trip. By accident, we were in Galway for the Arts Festival and the Galway Races, one week after the other. I recommend both as they give you plenty to enjoy as well as the research. Use the local calendar when making plans. If you want to be in the City Centre for your research, look at the apartments available, as well as the hotels and B and B’s. But be aware, if you are an early to bed person, when there are festivities in Ireland, everyone is out late, enjoying them and each other. Galway Centre is not quiet during the Arts Festival or the Races, but there are quiet places available just beyond downtown. Finally, dining. The Bunch of Grapes, a pub recommended by my cousin Mary, was our choice for most of our lunches. Mary knew the owners and we ate there quite a bit, filling up on soup, brown bread, toasties, tea and Guinness. Going after the lunch hour, the food is just as good and it is not crowded. The Bunch of Grapes is on Shop Street, right in the middle of the shopping area. There are plenty of other choices, up and down the street. For dinner, we also followed Mary’s lead, as she prefers good food, service and places that she knows. Our first dinner was at Sonny’s right next to The Bunch of Grapes. Sonny’s used to be called The Front Door, and everyone still calls it that. Even its back door still says “The Front Door“. Whatever you call it, Sonny’s is a good place for food and conversation. No one rushes you, even though the clientele changes to a dating crowd as the evening goes on. The Latin Quarter, on Quay Street, is restaurant mile. We went to two Italian

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restaurants there, one was pseudo Italian-American, but the other, Il Folletto Ristorante, was the kind of Italian restaurant that Americans look for when they really want good food. We went there with Mary and she recognized another patron as the man who owned the best butcher shop in the city. We decided that all the ingredients, not just the meat, were coming from excellent sources. We were not disappointed. The night before we left, we asked Mary to choose a restaurant. She chose The Malt House, a place that she goes to for special occasions. A bit more formal than the rest, it was perfect. One bit of advice, make reservations for dinner, at any of these places, as they are popular. Now to get to the serious genealogical content of our trip, read on. Galway County has a combined City County Library system. The Galway City Library on St. Augustine Street is the most convenient. It is a good start, as going there is as comfortable as going to any library at home. Having a librarian bring you to the shelves with copies of the Griffith’s Valuation for your personal perusal is lovely. Afterwards, stop in and see St. Augustine’s Church nearby. Galway City Library, St. Augustine Street, Galway, Ireland Library catalog at: http://ipac.galwaycoco.ie/

E-mail: info@galwaylibrary.ie The Galway County Library was our next stop. This library houses the Galway County Council Archives, an extensive collection of texts on local history. The library is located in Island House, which is in Cathedral Square. Among other holdings it has a typed transcription of John O’Donovan’s Ordinance Survey Letters relating to County Galway. They were written between workers in the field and the central office in Dublin, with comments by O’Donovan. The letters are indexed by estate name, parish and Townland. The librarians were expert in providing us with all the specific references we wanted. Again, as at the City Library, there is magic to seeing the words as they were written, and not on a computer or on microfilm. You are also near the places that were being described almost two hundred years ago, places that you may have just seen or to which you can go. The location is a bonus as you can easily visit the Cathedral, which has beautiful artwork, fantastic stained glass and four rose windows. The catalog is available on line.

Galway County Libraries, Island House, Cathedral Square, Galway, Ireland E-mail: info@galwaylibrary.ie Website: wwwgalwaylibrary.ie Our third stop was a longer walk from city centre, but the Galway Family History Society West is worth the trek. It has efficient, knowledgeable and friendly researchers who have a microfilm library of most Church registers, Griffiths Valuation and other materials of a genealogical thrust. We requested a search for several early 19th century marriages in Galway. The information that we provided was sparse and combined with the availability of records from that era, we were fortunate to receive a report, which had some substance. However, the report was fast, given with an obvious understanding of the history of the time and place. The cost was also reasonable. I believe that we had good results because the researcher interviewed us before hand and we were able to give her information and history, which she was able to integrate into the research. The address is: Galway Family History Society West St. Joseph’s Community Centre, Ash Road, Shantalla, Galway, Ireland E-mail: galwayfshwest@eircom.net Near the History Society is the Western Health Board, which contains civil records since 1864. We did not have time to get information here but my cousin says that they are quite efficient. The address is: Western Health Board, Newcastle Road Galway, Ireland Tel: 091-546145 The Galway County Archives has produced a pamphlet which is entitled Family History and Genealogy: A Brief Research Guide. Only 11 pages long, it is valuable for anyone going to Galway in particular or Ireland in general. For the beginner it is a starting place, and for the more experienced, a review. A copy will be placed in the TIARA library. Online you can look at the Galway catalog to find what is available on the internet and make plans to go to Galway and see the rest.

“Fraternity, Unity and Charity” By Susan Steele Member 1025, Massachuetts This article was originally published in the January 2009 issue of The Septs, the quarterly journal of the Irish Genealogical Society International. A number of articles have appeared in TIARA’s Newsletter since the inception of the Foresters Project in 2005. The Foresters Project will

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reach a new milestone in the fall of 2010 when digitization of 20,000 policies will begin. This article (some updates included) presents a comprehensive outline of the history of the Massachusetts Catholic Order of Foresters and the rich genealogical source material contained in the records of this organization.

Who Were the Massachusetts Catholic Order of Foresters?

Members of the Captain Dennis F. O’Sullivan Court. “An Order that seeks to relieve, assist and elevate our fellowmen” – this is how High Chief Ranger Captain Dennis F. O’ Sullivan described the Massachusetts Catholic Order of Foresters. In February 1879, a letter was circulated among Catholic men in Boston calling for a meeting to establish a “Catholic Mutual Benefit Society”. The initiators of this letter were a group of businessmen who saw the need to form a “Catholic organization to provide for material relief in illness, distress and death.” The institution that was founded became the Massachusetts Catholic Order of Foresters (MCOF). The symbol the order adopted was a shield and cross, emblazoned with the words “Fraternity, Charity and Unity.” A majority of the first fifty-six MCOF members were Irish men who were concerned about a population not served by other fraternal orders such as the Ancient and the Independent Orders of Foresters. There were thousands of Irish immigrants and their descendants who were not enrolled by these largely Protestant groups. When these Irish wage earners died, there were few resources for surviving family members. The Massachusetts Catholic Order of Foresters became the first Catholic fraternal insurance society in Massachusetts when it was founded in July 1879. The MCOF enrolled Irish and other Catholic immigrant groups. Although the MCOF

had a significant German population early on, it remained a predominantly Irish group well into the 1930s. Women were admitted to the Foresters in 1894. Local chapters of the MCOF were called Courts. Courts were often organized around church parish lines. There were separate men and women’s courts as well as mixed membership courts. The organization grew from one small group in Boston to branches in cities and towns throughout Massachusetts. In 1930 there were 299 courts in Massachusetts and one court in Providence, Rhode Island. Total membership was about 60,000. As in many fraternal groups, rituals were part of monthly meetings. An important Foresters ritual was the recognition of a member’s death. Foresters marched in funeral processions and wore black mourning badges. The badges had a reverse side with the colors of the Court. The MCOF also offered social, spiritual, educational and charitable activities. Social events included dances, teas, picnics, and dramatic clubs. A youth division was added in 1939 and included various athletic teams. In 1960 the Massachusetts Catholic Order of Foresters was renamed the Catholic Association of Foresters (CAOF). The CAOF still exists primarily as a fraternal life insurance society. The Foresters headquarters building in Boston was sold in 2005. New office space provided no storage for almost one hundred years of insurance policies. These policies were headed for the shredder when TIARA acquired them. What Records Did the Massachusetts Catholic Order of Foresters Create? Each prospective Forester applying for life insurance coverage completed an application. The application included personal data, family information and a physical examination. Subsequent death benefit disbursements named beneficiaries. Any additional correspondence regarding beneficiaries was also included in what the MCOF termed the Mortuary Record. An examination of the various sections of Mortuary Records follows. Additional research comments are included.

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Mortuary Record Envelope for Mrs. Anna Toomey

The materials for each Foresters policyholder were placed in a Mortuary Record envelope and given a number according to the date the policy was paid out. Mortuary Record 2089 was for Mrs. Anna Toomey, who belonged to the Annunciation Court, Cause of Death-Tuberculosis of Lungs, Duration of Disease–about 6 months, Date of Death-February 19, 1905, Age at Death-34, Beneficiaries of the policy-husband and son, Length of membership in the MCOF-7 year, 6 months, 28 days.

Research Comments: The length of membership did not limit the beneficiary amount. The total beneficiary amount was $1000. A bonus for researchers is the signature of a beneficiary that appears on a receipt or a cashed check included in Mortuary Records. Two checks were noted in Anna Toomey’s Mortuary Record. Anna’s husband, Patrick Toomey, endorsed one check for $500. He endorsed a second check for $500 as the appointed guardian for four-year-old son, John. Researchers will find the policyholder’s signature on the application.

Application for Membership for Anna M. Chinnery

Inside the Mortuary Record is an application for membership. From about 1881 on this was a four-page document with about 50 questions. Before this time period, the application was a small two-sided document with scant information. First Page - The envelope for Mortuary Record 2089 was created at the time of death so it reflects Anna’s married name. Inside Mortuary Record 2089 is an application for Anna M. Chinnery. When Anna applied for membership in the Annunciation Court in 1987, she was a single woman, age 26. She lived in a place called Asylum Station, Danvers, Massachusetts and worked as a seamstress. Anna’s place of birth was Shanakiel Place, County Cork, Ireland. The next section asks about Anna’s parents. Her father was alive. Her mother died in childbirth on the 28th of September 1884 at age 39. Anna resembled her mother and was thirteen when her mother died. Anna had seven brothers, three were alive, four died very young. Of six sisters, three died young. Anna gives the causes of death for her siblings: croup, measles, and whooping cough. Information about Anna’s grandparents states that they “All died at advanced ages.” Anna has no other insurance and has “always been of sober

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and temperate habits.” The name of “one intimate friend” was Patrick Hines of Danvers, Mass. This was someone who already belonged to the Foresters. Research Comments: Vital & Church Records - The first page of the application asks for dates and places for births and marriages. Although it only asks for date and cause of death of a family member, some applicants also give a place of death. Other applicants name the church where an event took place. Church records (including baptismal records from Ireland) and vital records (birth, marriage) are sometimes included as proof of age. Other vital records often appear in the Beneficiary section of the Mortuary Record Location & Social History - Addresses given in MCOF applications have helped researchers locate families during previously “unaccounted for” periods of time. Many Foresters’ applications have led to researchers to material on the history of a specific area. Anna’s address, Asylum Station, was an area surrounding the railroad station outside the grounds of the Danvers Insane Asylum. Anna worked as a seamstress. She may have been employed at the Asylum. Anna’s application did not give the name of an employer but some applications do.

Application for Membership for Teresa McAvoy

The first page of the 1897 application of other another MCOF member, Teresa McAvoy, gave information on the cause of death of her parents “Both parents were burned to death in the St. John’s fire…” Teresa’s age at the time of the fire led to research on the Great Fire of 1877 in St. John, New Brunswick. A note about date and cause of a brother’s death “Killed in Prizefighting at Lynn” led to newspaper articles about athletic exhibitions being held without licenses and a possible charge of manslaughter for the boxer who delivered the fatal blow.

Medical Exam for James Sweeney

The first page of the medical exam includes the applicant’s height and weight. A doctor listened to the applicant’s heart and lungs and tested the urine for sugar. Questions were asked about previous illnesses, injuries, scars and whether the applicant had been vaccinated. Women were asked about pregnancies (confinement) and miscarriages. James Sweeney was 5 feet 7 and1/2 inches tall and weighed 158 pounds at the time of his medical exam in 1905. He stated that he had smallpox about ten years before and was sick for one month. He was never vaccinated. He has a smallpox scars on his arm and on his chin.

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When James Sweeney died during WWI in the sinking of the “U.S.S Jacob Jones” a Report of Death from the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Navy Department was included in his Mortuary Record. This record gave additional information about James Sweeney when he enlisted in 1916. He had a scar 1/2 inch long of the side of his forehead, another scar 1/2 inch long on his index finger, a tattoo of a star and wreath on his right forearm and a tattoo of a star of his right hand. Research Comments: James Sweeney’s Mortuary Record contains an unusually large amount of physical description detail. Researchers who have no photographs of ancestors will find height and weight information of interest. Upon the recommendation of legal counsel, TIARA is making Mortuary Records available (with medical exams) consistent with federal privacy laws related to the release of census data. TIARA has made Mortuary Records for deaths from 1880 –1935 available in a pilot program for research requests.

Beneficiaries

Power of Attorney for Mary Bogue, sister of James McCarey

Beneficiaries were designated at the time of application. However, a change in beneficiary designation was not unusual: women married, beneficiaries (parents, husbands, wives or other family members) died. Other conditions such as alcoholism, desertion or mental instability could cause a change in beneficiary designation. Many Mortuary Records contain additional correspondence regarding the status and location of beneficiaries at the time of death. In his 1887 application, James McCarey designated his wife, Annie, as his beneficiary. He gave his place of birth as “Ireland”. James also stated that he had two brothers and six sisters. When James died in 1905, his wife had predeceased him. The couple had no children. The MCOF searched for the siblings indicated in James’ application. Foresters located two siblings in Massachusetts, one in England, and four in Ireland. Addresses were given for all McCarey siblings who were found. Three of the siblings in Ireland provided Power of

Attorney documents for payment of the beneficiary amount. These forms gave the names of townlands in adjacent areas of Tyrone and Fermanagh. Research Comments: At the time of death, the entire family was often enumerated. This family enumeration can include information such as sisters’ or daughters’ married names. The addresses of James McCarey’s siblings in Ireland provide essential clues to determine place of birth. Power of Attorney documents were used to make payments to beneficiaries living at a distance – often in Ireland. Guardians were appointed for minor children named as beneficiaries. These court documents are also included in Mortuary Records. The submission of a vital record to prove the death of a beneficiary was also required by the MCOF. Mortuary Records contain death records from cities and towns in Massachusetts and beyond. Researchers have discovered at least two dozen Irish Death Registrations in the1880 –1935 Mortuary Records. Some of these registrations were for policy beneficiaries who died in Ireland. Others registrations were for policyholders who were in Ireland at the time of death.

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MCOF Death Certificate for Frederick McGroary

The Massachusetts Catholic Order of Foresters created their own death certificate. The bottom of the certificate had spaces for names of members of the order who viewed a body to identify it. The Foresters required this procedure except when the death occurred at a distance or in war. Four members of the Griffin Court of Franklin, Massachusetts identified the body of fellow member, Frederick McGroary, upon his death on March 5, 1891. The court physician certified that the cause of death was “a blow on the head from lever used on snow plough”. The certificate also stated that Frederick McGroary made his endowment (beneficiary amount) payable to his father, James McGroary, age 55, of Meenawilderg, County Donegal, Ireland. Additional correspondence between the Griffin Court in Franklin, the High Standing Committee of the MCOF in Boston and family members in Franklin and in Ireland is included in the Mortuary Record. A letter from the Franklin Court to the High Standing Court outlined the circumstances surrounding Frederick McGroary’s life and death. “You will see that the endowment is payable to his father in Ireland. I enclose also bill of expenses of funeral. He was buried by the Court as his sister with whom he boarded has a family of small children and is quite poor. What little money he had saved, he sent to Ireland a week or two ago to bring out his brother and sister, leaving no means to meet an unexpected event as his death proved to be. This is our first death and I hope we have done nothing but what is right. Yet it seems to me that if it is possible that there should be something over and above the bill enclosed, deducted for endowment to reimburse his people for the incidental expenses of funeral.” An itemized bill from a Franklin funeral director included a High Mass as well as a casket, robe, candles, hearse and a grave lot. After $147 was deducted for these expenses, $62.07 was sent to Frederick’s sister for “expenses incurred by death and burial”. After James McGroary received the remaining $790.95 (161 pounds and 2 shillings) he had the following written on his receipt, “I wish to return my sincere thanks to you and through you to the Society you represent.”

Summary

The actions of the Franklin Court – making sure that James McGroary received a proper burial and as well as providing for family in Franklin and Ireland - exemplify the Massachusetts Catholic Order of Foresters logo of “Fraternity, Unity and Charity”.

I hope that the Mortuary Record of Frederick McGroary and the other records cited in this article reveal some of the richness of the material that can be found in this collection. One of the recipients of a successful research request called the MCOF Mortuary Records “a treasure trove”. TIARA volunteers knew they had discovered “a treasure trove” when we began packing up these records in a dusty basement in early 2005. Five years later we continue to be amazed by the wealth of information in these records! What are the current and future plans for the Forester Project? In March of 2006 a pilot program for research requests was made available to TIARA members. An index to 1880 – 1935 deaths was completed and added to the TIARA website in early 2010. As of August 2010 over 500 individual searches had been completed. Over 400 Forester ancestors were “reunited” with researchers. The Genealogical Society of Utah will begin digitizing the MCOF Mortuary Records in the fall of 2010. Sometime after digitization is complete, these Mortuary Records will be added to the website familysearch.org.

PRONI UPDATE Interruption to PRONI service: 6 September 2010 – April / May 2011 In preparation for PRONI's forthcoming relocation to Titanic Quarter, from 6 September 2010 there will be no public access to PRONI's Balmoral Avenue site.

PRONI@Cregagh

Self-Service Microfilm Facility to Open

8 September 2010

A self-service microfilm facility will be operated by PRONI at Cregagh Library from Wednesday 8 September 2010 until April 2011. 10 microfilm readers (5 of them pre-bookable), a microfiche and a reader printer will be available for researchers.

Advance bookings for microfilm readers may be made after 6 September by telephone (02890 255900) or after 8 September in person at the Cregagh Library facility.

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TIARA & The Irish Festivals By Kathy Roscoe

Over the last several years I have been privileged to work with many of our TIARA members at the local Irish Festivals. Our members are truly outstanding – they make our tent, booth or table a great place to visit. You are caring, interested and the best advertisement that TIARA could have. Below are some photos from some of the recent Irish Festivals. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped. You make me very proud to be a member of TIARA. I have watched people come into our tent and leave excited about getting to know their own family. To me, this is what makes volunteering fun.

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The Irish Ancestral Research Association, Inc. 2120 Commonwealth Ave. Auburndale, MA 02466 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

DATED MATERIAL

Non Profit Organization Presorted Standard Permit No. 106 Sudbury, MA 01776