Library Forum

Hi Sheila I just stumbled upon Mark's excellent article on the Feakle ambush and Patrick Guilfoyle. There is a further connection between the Guilfoyles and Rodgers later in Patrick's testimony to the Commission. Patrick mentions the Scariff Martyrs shot on the bridge in Killaloe during the War of I...

Hi Margaret,

I'm coming to this a bit late so you might have figured it out already.

I've been looking at the army records for John Lawrence Lingard - he enlisted in a place called St. Paul's Churchyard which is in London.

Whitechapel Road is around 1.5 miles east of here.

Regards,

Darren

Hi again Kerry, the four men mentioned in the article https://roundaboutshannon.clareheritage.org/new-contributions/the-cearnach-mcmahon all appear in the National Archives Irish Transportation Database: Pat Hickey - http://findingaids.nationalarchives.ie/index.php?simpleSearchSbm=true&searchDescTxt...

Glad you enjoyed it Sheila.

Credit for the map and presentation to John O’Brien on the site.

Darren

Thanks Kerry. Is there a possibility you might have connections to some of the people mentioned in the article? I first became interested in the story as my mother is a McMahon whose folks came from that area and I was trying to prove a link to the Cearnach - which I haven’t been able to do :( Darren

Hi Sheila, the piece about plunder and piracy that I referred to in my previous post was recently published on the link below. Unfortunately the article was submitted before you solved the puzzle of Smith’s Island so it hasn’t been amended to reflect your detective work! Thanks again for your help i...

Hi Sheila, That’s some incredible investigative work you have done there! I’ve found some more references to a John Greene living on Smith’s Island in 1867 in the Petty Sessions and two references to a John Smith living on Smith’s Island in 1841 and 1843! I also found this from the Clare Journal of ...

Thanks Sheila,

I hadn't considered that translation. I will investigate further.

Regards,

Darren

Hi Folks, I've come across some references in the newspaper archives (1840s) to a Smith's Island in the River Fergus. I know some islands were often named after those families living there at the time (eg. Melican's Island, Nix's Island) but Smith's has me stumped. One suggestion is that it's not an...

I also have ancestors who moved counties. In my case my great-grandmother and her sister moved from Caherciveen in Co.Kerry to Cratloe in the late 1800s to work as domestic servants. At the risk of repeating Blondie's original question, how common was it for people to move such a long distance (in t...

Not sure about your second question but in relation to your first there are two interesting Irish surnames both of which may show evidence of Irish clergy having wifes and indeed children: McTaggart (Mac an tSagairt) meaning 'son of the priest' and McAnespie (Mac an Easpaig) meaning 'son of the bish...

Thanks to all for your replies. This is becoming very interesting. Just a bit of background on the Cearnach - I'm doing a bit of transcribing for Duchas on the School's Collection and came across a story about the Cearnach McMahon in Ballycalla during the famine who shot the cable of a ship on the r...

Thanks Paddy. I had heard of Conal Cearnach and the word appears on various sites as meaning 'victorious' etc. But it doesn't explain why this McMahon in Ballycalla was called Cearnach. I guess what I'd really like to know is what his real first name was but there's nothing that looks like it on Gri...

Hi Folks, have been reading through the Irish Folklore Commision and came across a reference to a 'The Cearnach McMahon' in the Ballycalla area near Newmarket on Fergus. As I'm pretty sure 'Cearnach' wasn't his first name I'm just wondering could anyone explain what Cearnach means - could it be a ni...

No problem. Let me know if you need any help.