Coolgreany Evictions

[SanTelmo]

Hi Kath,

I wasn't aware of the connection between the Darcy / Greene families.

My 3x great-grandfather was Terence Darcy.  His parents were Simon Darcy and Mary Keogh.  These are Simon and Mary's children:

Mary              1823      
Thomas      1824   
Ellen              1825   
Terence      1828   
James      1829      
Patrick      1831      
Simon      1833      
John              1836      
Elizabeth           1837
Thomas            1840

Terence Darcy married Mary Byrne of Rathshanmore Co. Wicklow and had the following children:

Mary              1865
Laurence     1866
Ellen            1868
Elizabeth     1870 (my 2x great-grandmother)
Catherine    1872
Bridget        1875

I have the Cantwell Memorial listings for Ballyfad Graveyard where there are many Darcys and Greenes buried.  Do you have these listings?  I can send them to you if you like.  They may be helpful in tracing the different branches of your family.

I have also been reading some newspaper articles from the time of the evictions.  One of the articles has a very interesting account of the family of Patrick Greene of Askinch. 

Thanks,
Shane

   

[Kath nee Greene]

Hi Shane

Great to hear from you.  Yes I have found all the Green/e burials t Ballyfad and Kilenor.  Thank you for the offer. Simon, also spelt as Crean, was my 3x gt grandfather and father to John of Ballyfad and Patrick of Knockgreany.  John was my gt gt grandfather.

Patrick who married Bessie Kinsella, took over Ballyfad when his father John died and he was the one who was evicted along with Michael Green of Knockgreany, son of Patrick and Catherine Fowler.

Although I am not sure, I think Mary Darcy was from the Ballyfad area.  I do not know what happened to her and her children.  Daniel was last heard of in 1876, when his daughter was born and then nothing until my grandad, Patrick was born in 1902.  Daniel went on to marry Bridget Byrne, my gt grandmother in approximately 1892 and they had three children - John, Patrick and Elizabeth.  Patrick was my grandfather.  It would seem a bit strange for Daniel to call his children the same names as the children he had with Mary but that appears to be what happened.

I have been trying to work out if the Green/e's buried in Limberick and the Arklow or and the Holyfort Green/e's are all connected.

The tenant records of the Coolgreany estate are in the records office in Northern Ireland. Not sure if you knew this.  Most of the tenent books etc., were taken up there when the Rev Forde sold the estate to Brookes and moved back to Northern Ireland.  The Brookes family, incidently, originate from about 3 miles from where I now live!

I too have read the awful accounts of Patrick.  I was not sure if the Patrick of Askinch was the same Patrick in Ballyfad.

I wonder if the Mary Darcy, dau of Terence, is the same one who married my gt grandfather! I know she had a brother Thomas.  My thoughts were that if her first child was born in 1864 and Mary was born in 1823, then she would have been about 41 and 53 when the 'female' was born in Dublin.  Of course this is possible but for this reason I imagined she would not be this Mary but she could have been.

Look forward to hearing your thoughts on the above.  Or you may know someone who knows about the Green/e's who might be able to help me unwind all this!!!  Unfortunately, the Green/e's were scattered after the evictions and ended up all over the place!!

[SanTelmo]

Hi Kath,

Thanks for your message.

I didn't realise the Coolgreany tenant records were in Northern Ireland - I was trying to find this out.  I see that the records for the Brooke Estate are in the NLI in Dublin but these are only for the 1880s period.

I was actually at the PRNI in Belfast back in June researching another branch of my family from Blessington.  It's a great facility and the staff are very helpful so I'd love to go back to take a look at the Coolgreany records.

I'd say there is a very good chance that Mary Darcy is from Ballyfad.  According to rootsireland there were 30 Mary Darcys baptised in the Kilanerin parish.  I agree that the Mary Darcy from my branch would have been a bit too old to be the first wife of Daniel Green. 

There are only 6 Thomas Darcys baptised in Kilanerin - in the years 1791, 1807, 1824, 1827, 1840 and 1887.  I'd say only 2 or 3 of them would be in the right age group to be the brother of Mary so you'd probably be able to trace the family that way.

The next time I'm home I will see if I can find out anything about the Greene connection.

Thanks again,
Shane

[powerwicklow]

Hi All.

In reading this posting I realised that I have a couple of books covering the Coolgreany Evictions. The first is " Croghan to the Sea" which is a local history of Castletown, Coolgreany and the surrounding areas. Amongst other reading there is a 16 page article titled " The Coolgreany Evictions 1887" , a contribution by Peggy Doyle . Lots of pictures.

The other book is a new book just out by Jim Rees titled " Split Personalities". Chapter seven which is about twenty pages is about the Coolgreany Evictions. I only purchased today so I have yet to read it.

John.

[SanTelmo]

Hi John,

Thanks for your message.  I've been planning to check out Peggy Doyle's book myself.  Does her book contain the photos from the Evictions that were taken by Mr Mallacy?

These photos can be seen on the NLI website (if you search for 'Coolgreany' in the main catalogue it will bring them up).  I've read reports of my ancestor Mary Darcy who was very elderly and bed-ridden at the time of the evictions.  On the NLI website I can see photos of an old woman in her bed, but she is unidentified.  I was wondering if Peggy Doyle has named the people in the photos?

Here is one of the photos that I mean:

http://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000225678/Image?lookfor=http://www.nli.ie/npa/coolgreany/cool881b.jpg

Thanks for the information on the other books also, I will have to hunt them down!

Shane

[Kath nee Greene]

Hi Shane and John

I understand the photo's with names on, in Peggy's book, actually had the names written on the negatives.  The photos in Peggy's book that do not have names on are because they were not written on the negatives. I guess at the time of printing nobody knew who they were.

[Kath nee Greene]

Hi Shane

Do you happen to have the name of the newspaper and the date for the article on Patrick of Askinch please?  I think he is my gt grandfather's brother of Ballyfad.

I will see what I have on the Darcy family.

Interesting to see there were not many Green/e's listed in Kilanerin.  I did get most of my information from the Arklow Parish records in Dublin Library. Mary Darcy married Daniel Green/e (my gt grandfather) 16th Feb 1863, Kilanerin.

Thanks Shane

[SanTelmo]

Hi Kath,

The article I read was in the Freeman's Journal, dated 9th July 1887.

I found it on the British Newspaper Archive website.

Re the photos on the NLI website, all the people in the photos are down as unidentified.  However I know from other websites that the identify of many of those people is known - so it would seem the NLI didn't bother adding the names (yet).

The records for Arklow RC Parish can also be found on the LDS books website - the book is a downloadable PDF, you just have to search for Arklow records:

http://books.familysearch.org

Thanks,

Shane

[powerwicklow]

Hi all.

Just back to the two books I mentioned. In Croghan to the Sea the article I mentioned I presume is only an extact from the original book by Peggy Doyle or was it in its self only a short history. Croghan to the Sea came out around the year 2000 and I suppose at this stage one would want to be in or around Coolgreany to find a copy. The other book, Split Personalities, Arklow 1885- 1892 by Jim Rees is only out in the last week or so and I think Jim has his own web site to purchase from if you are not local.

John.