Stones families of Fearboy, 1847 - 1901

[Pete Millington]

I'll have a look through all of this stuff the Irish Midlands Ancestry centre sent me. For starters I can see a death record indexed for 3 year old Joseph Stones on 18/5/1881 at Fearboy, farmer's child who died of bronchitis. Also Thomas Stones of Fearboy died on 14/12/1877, a farmer aged 59 - cause of death was 'decline'. (I've finally found a medical diagnosis for myself there!) Also Bridget Stones from Fearboy died on 18th March 1876, farmer's wife and widow aged 77 also died as a result of 'decline'. Hope these are relevant. 

[tucson mike]

Your research: Your book at Calameo is very well done. It will take me a while to get through it.

Geography: Yes, the townland of Fearboy is in northernmost Offaly. My grandmother Mary Anne Stones was born in Fearboy but baptized in the R.C. Church in Tubber & Rosemount in Co. Westmeath. That's also where her parents were married on 22 July 1879.

Irish Midlands Ancestry data: My grandmother Mary Anne had no siblings I know of. The Joseph Stones who died at age 3 on 18 May 1881 would have been born prior to Mary Anne's parents' wedding, if the dates are correct. So that's probably a cousin of hers.

The Thomas Stones who passed away in 1877 was old enough to have been Patrick's father. Perhaps Patrick married after inheriting the farm, but that's just speculation at this point. Thomas was also old enough to have been listed in Griffiths; I'll have to check.

My research: Mary Anne's mother was Ellen Maguire. The 1901 census for Fearboy lists a Patrick Stones married to a Marcella. There was a marriage of Patrick Stones to Marcella Eagney in 1884 in Co. Westmeath, parish of Kilcleagh. I have been assuming Ellen Maguire Stones passed away sometime between 1880 and 1884, and Patrick remarried. But you if have no death record index for her I may be mistaken.

I'm attaching Mary Anne's civil birth certificate. I'm confident it's hers because all the details agree with her baptismal record, except one: the year. This certificate was produced after the records were computerized, and I'm sure someone typed "1890" for "1880".

Edit: I deleted the birth cert attachment as it might violate copyright.  Please send me a PM if you would like to see it.

I've not been to Ireland yet; I hope to make it there someday.

[tucson mike]

Pete,

Griffiths (I used the version at AskAboutIreland) for Fearboy lists Thomas, John, and James Stones. Presumably Thomas is the same as the one in your Midlands Ancestry records. On the other hand, there were four more STONES listed for the parish of Kilcumreragh in townlands other than Fearboy. There are 24 listed in Co. Offaly as a whole, and another 20 in Westmeath. Easy to go wrong.

Mike

[Pete Millington]

This is a list (attached) of all relevant references to the Stones family of Fearboy (also spelt Feerboy) from the centre at Tullamore. Most are baptisms at Tubber church of James Stones and Mary McCormack (various spellings of McCormack but it's undoubtedly the same person). James seems the right age to have been the James mentioned in the Griffiths Valuation. I'm under the impression they married late back then. I'm wondering if the Bridget Stones who died as a widow aged 77 in 1876, therefore born 1799, might have been the matriarch of all of these and therefore possibly your direct ancestor.     

[tucson mike]

Pete,

Thank you for the list of references.

I'm having trouble telling if you and I are talking about the same "Tubber" and the same church. Your David Stones married Mary Duffy in Tubber in 1880, according to your book. My Mary Anne Stones was baptized in 1880 in the parish of Tubber & Rosemount in Co. Westmeath, according to a church baptism record I obtained.

I have Brian Mitchell's atlas in front of me but still can't decide if these are one and the same church. Can you help?

Mike

[Pete Millington]

I think the answer to that question is that Tubber (also spelt Tobber) & Rosemount is the name of the Parish, but the parish is served by two churches. The Church of St Thomas the Apostle in Rosemount and the Church of the Holy Family in Tubber. The two churches are a few miles apart, my wife's ancestors at Lurgan would have attended the church at Tubber whereas I'd guess your ancestors attended the St Thomas church at Rosemount. I think the reason it gets confusing is that the records from both churches all ended up at the main parish house, normally the head priest's abode which is close to Tubber. The church at Rosemount was probably served by his Curate which in the 1880s were Rev Joseph Carey (1878-84), Rev. James Duffy (1884-86) and Rev. William Healy (1886-93). This is further complicated by the fact that I think the Parish crosses a border between the counties of Offaly (formerly Kings County) and Westmeath, so Rosemount might sometimes be identified as Westmeath and Tubber as Offaly. Its still confusing to this day as the area is very rural and you can drive along a country lane passing from one county into another and back again in the course of a couple of miles.

[Pete Millington]

I seem to recall my mother-in-law also telling me there is Church of Ireland church at Rosemount with some Stones buried there. Which adds weight to the theory that the Stones originated from the protestant tradition with some families converting to Catholicism perhaps in the 18th and 19th centuries. That might purely have been due to mixed marriages, with the wife getting her way and bringing up the children as Catholics, as opposed to any radical allegiances to one or the other. I will check that out though about there being a protestant church at Rosemount.

[Pete Millington]

I've just searched for Church of Ireland churches in Offaly but there isn't one at Rosemount, I think the nearest is at Tyrrelspass, about 10 miles up the road. However, I have noted down at some point my mother-in-law saying 'there are Stones buried in the protestant cemetery at Rosemount', so there could be a cemetery without an adjacent church.

[tucson mike]

Pete,

I did a little more research before reading your latest posts. I think we agree about everything. I didn't know about the two RC churches in the same parish.

I find the Placenames Database of Ireland at logainm.ie very useful. If I read it right:

My Fearboy is listed at http://www.logainm.ie/42129.aspx It's in the barony of Kilcoursey and the civil parish of Kilcumreragh, in Co. Offaly. Its coordinates are N 22715 39286. Your Lurgan or Lorgan is at http://www.logainm.ie/42073.aspx It's also in Offaly and the barony of Kilcoursey, but its civil parish is Kilmanaghan and it's at N 19898 36033.

Mitchell's A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland then confirms your other point, that the RC parish of Tubber spans the Offaly/Westmeath border.

Looking at those great hybrid maps for Griffith's at AskAboutIreland: it appears Fearboy is east of Moate between the R446 and the railway line, while Lurgan is south and slightly east of Moate, south of the M6.

There is a Rosemount northeast of Fearboy in Co. Westmeath, in the opposite direction from Lurgan. Since my church records mention Co. Westmeath, perhaps that's where my grandmother was baptized. That's what you said too: St. Thomas.

By the way, if there was a Stones fortune, I haven't seen it on this side of the Atlantic either.

Mike