Burchill in Skibbereen

[jaymack]

Hello:

I'm interested in the Burchill family that came from Skibbereen, County Cork. The townland is Gorteenalomane. My great grandmother Kate Burchill came to Philadelphia in the 1870s and never returned to Ireland. She eventually helped to bring a brother and three sisters over to Philadelphia, but there was a brother and a sister who stayed home on the family farm in Ireland. In the 1901 Irish Census the Burchill family lists three children in the U.S., but not Kate. They seemed to have lost touch with her, and she with them. I'm interested in tracing the history of the Burchills who remained in Ireland because I'd love to connect with them. Kate had a brother Samuel Burchill (born in 1879) who may have had children. There doesn't seem to be any Irish Census data after 1911, so I can't locate him. Does anybody have advice or tips on a situation like this? Also, I can't find any information on Kate's husband Peter O'Farrell, who my mother says also came from County Cork. Any help would be appreciated it.

[Sonas]

Take a look at the phone book for possible relative: www.eircomphonebook.ie. Be sure to click Residential at top right.

Can you link to the census entry for the family please? Where did Kate and Peter O'Farrell marry - Ireland or the US?

[jaymack]

Here's a link to the 1911 Census: http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Cork/Castlehaven_South/Gorteenalomane/442433/

Ellen and Hannah left for Philadelphia the next year, leaving Samuel and Nora at home. Kate Burchill married Peter O'Farrell in Philadelphia in 1888. It gets complicated after that, because he used variations of his name on official documents. He's variously listed as Peter J. O'Farrell, Joseph Peter Farrell, Joseph Farrell, and Peter Farrell. His birthdate is around 1870. My mother says his mother was named Rose Guilfoyle, but we don't know the father's name, or where in Ireland they came from. Peter/Joseph Farrell left Kate around 1900 and remarried, but there's not much information about him from that point on. He did have a sister named Delia Farrell Webb, or Welb, who's listed in the U.S. Census of 1900 in Stamford, Connecticut.

[skibbgirl]

I just took a peak at the Creagh parish tithe applotment, from around 1831 (I will publish a transcription online later this year) and there were the following Burchills in Gurteenalomane:

John & Richard Burchill
Samuel Burchill (with Patrick Harrington)
Samuel Burchell & John Burchill

I am not seeing a Samuel Burchill in civil registration in Skibbereen in 1879 - though there are a few others a few years off.  Samuel Burchill birth

[Sonas]

I think this might be Samuel in 1871 - http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/details/ff34250056026

Jaymack, I think your best bet of a living relative is the person listed in the phonebook.

[miggs 191]

Burchills still living outside Skib. Also related to me.

Same name you are looking for! Could be a family link!

[jaymack]

I'm not sure we're the same Burchills. Mine are from Gorteenalomane, outside Skibbereen. They owned two farms, but only one is still in the family. I'm related to the people who sold the farm. Going back to an Abraham Burchill, born in 1833. Someone suggested looking them up in the Skib phone directory, but I feel it's hard to explain all this in a phone call. I'd love to make contact first through email.

[Sonas]

It was me who provided the phonebook link but it was to show that there is still someone of that name in that townland rather than any suggestion that you phone them which I too think would be a bit much. In the absence of an email address, I would write a letter...

[cazza7]

I am the great great granddaughter of Samuel Sr. Abraham's brother. Abraham is Samuel 1871's dad. I am related to the remaining Burchills in Skib.