James Morrisroe of Tondragee near Ballaghadereen

[taramcdsmall]

Hi Seamiuse,

It appears that you are doing this a long time, and most likely know the following, but I shall type it up just in case.

In the time period that you are referencing the church has very few burial records for. I have read numerous accounts on this which give varying reasons, the main seem to be that records wouldn't be written up 'til fees were paid, and sure with major poverty around fees often weren't paid. How true this is I don't know, but may explain the shocking lack of burial records.

The article below may be of some help, which states that very few Roman Catholics churchs have maintained burial records  

irish church records explanation

In one branch of my family in rural Galway, I was amazed to look through their church records and find so few burial records for my family in their books. I know for a fact that they lived, died and would have been buried in the area but there were only a handful of them to be found. What was surprising (or not - depending on how you look at it) was that those that WERE found were mainly on men, very few women, and even less children. What women were recorded, most were written as Mrs....no christian name given.

Again with graves, it would seem that, unless you had a few bob, you would have been buried but very few had a headstone.

I have family that were buried as late as the 1950's and were not given headstones.

You have mentioned that Anne emmigrated about 1889, which would have made her about 15, fairly young. It MIGHT suggest that she was orphaned about this age.

I presume that you have looked for death certs for Patrick and Mary for this time period. Although they could have passed away when she was younger and she may have been reared by relatives.

As I said, you most likely know all this, but it might be of some help.

Tara

[Lisacul Rosie]

Hello Seamuise,

Firstly Ballaghderreen is not one of the two currently being indexed in Northwest Roscommon and the Parish Priest has made no approach to have it done as yet.

On the subject of your post on the 21 July 2012 at 21.03 BST, I am having trouble in joining up the dots.
You claim to have been in touch with Ballaghderreen Library in the late 80's and I am surprised  you were unable to obtain details of the Derrinacartha/Tongragee school centenary in 1985 and the souvenir book which was published in 1985. A comprehensive history of the schools with a host of pictures of past pupils and teachers written by Jackie Henry, complemented by anecdotes from locals and past pupils is invaluable. My memories more recent is that Ballaghderreen was supplied with a big blue mobile library bus which served the town and local villages and operated out of Castlerea and Boyle. A permanent Library didn't open until 2002. If you were I do not understand your post http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,499584.msg3563631.html#msg3563631 .
As for the caretaker at Kilcolman cemetery you appear to have started on a theme and continued it.
Ann Ryan a volunteer who is in the area and would be aware of any unpublished cemetery indexing even offers her email address for you to contact her.Not sure how you have tied my comment into the fact that her existing published work may have details of your Morrisroe family.

You have offered up that you made a personal visit to four of the graveyards.
Your posting on Genforum on the 21 July 2012
http://boards.rootsweb.com/authorposts.aspx?uname=oBruadairAboo&uid=009225cb-0001-0000-0000-000000000000&uem=&rurl=http%3a%2f%2fboards.rootsweb.com%2fsurnames.towey%2f178.1%2fmb.ashx
clearly word for word the same as your posting on this forum, which together with your other postings would suggest your personal visit was within the last 18 months. You are still trying to identify cemeteries in the area and sourcing maps
As you will know the Irish Civil Registration Indexes after 1874 are more accurate than pre 1874 records and why I feel your James did not die in Ireland. Why you have chosen not to obtain James parents marriage certificate baffles me, after all it is only the cost of an inflight sandwich. To have three individuals birth or ages and full details of James grandparents would be a minimum requirement before I'd even consider the expenditure of traveling to Ireland.
I myself have just this week rented a house south of Ballagh from a couple living in Ballaghderren for a wedding in Sept.. In passing I mentioned the Morrisroe family of Tongaree and within five minutes learned that the last remaining member was currently in a residential care home and though childless, was also told where his extended family were living which is just off the R293 in Sligo. God bless them,who needs the internet to get information. A meeting with the old boy and his family with all their stories would have given your webpage the authenticity it sadly lacks.
Finally I would have liked to see some authentic pictures from your visit rather than those using picture capture. You will no doubt be aware the Griffiths Valuation townland map you have used is subject to copyright and though there is a ''fair dealing'' agreement in relation to the use of these images you may wish to speak or write to Joan Ward or Annette Kelly at An Chomhairle Leabharlanna, 53/54 Upper Mount Street, Dublin 2 Tel 00 353 6761167 to avoid any misunderstanding.

[Lisacul Rosie]

Having got all that nonsense out of the way all you have is a Baptismal cert for anna, the workhouse reference and a reference to a Bishop Morrisroe.
You appear to be applying Annas life events(workhouse) to the rest of the family which may be a mistake, in addition your reliance on the FHS microfilms is not aiding your research. A copy of Annas/James parents  marriage cert is a must to establish a better understanding of the family grouping, whether they emigrated and where they died.
The Francis Xavier school in Ballaghderreen was an Industrial school/Workhouse for boys/girls set up about 1874. It is probably this institute that your records refer to . It is unlikely that Bishop Morrisroe  or even the local priest would have been such a big influence on the future of Anna had the family had been confined to the regular workhouse.
Depending on the life events of the parents and when Anna entered the Industrial School, it is most likely Bishop Morrisroe may have taken an interest in her future being loosely speaking of the same clan.
As for James,being male and young his life events in the Industrial School structure may have been totally different. Adoption may be a reason for the lack of any death or emigration records in the name of James Morrisroe.
It was not uncommon for the church/state to intervene where child neglect/cruelty existed. A Michael Morrisroe born in Ballaghderreen was convicted in 1909 for child neglect and illtreament and jailed at Castlebar. As the school in Ballagh was only 3/4 years into its existence the need to crack down on and justify their existence, the consequences may have been adoption for James and a childhood of work for Anna.

[pmorrisroe]

I just signed into this site out of curiosity so I'm probably way late to the party. I'm a MorrisRoe from Tondragee, now resident in Chicago. Yes, the last Tondragee resident  MorrisRoe has now passed away (referred to in a post). He was like an uncle to me but no relation. My father emigrated to Tondragee (after 20 years in the Royal Navy) from Bockagh next door. There are still resident MorrisRoes there (my cousins).

My tips:
- There's a lot of census data from way back in Ireland available online now. I've used it to track my Mom's history.
- Ballaghaderreen used to be in Mayo back in the day. If you do any archive searches that could be relevant.
- Kilcolman cemetery has lots of MorrisRoes (including my Dad. The older headstones are on the south side.
- I had the pleasure of attending Tondragee school for a few years (100 yards away and technically in Bohalis) before it closed. I've seen roll books there dating back a 100 years or more. I don't know where they've ended up but some Department of Education person might.
- The only native MorrisRoes I knew in Derrinacartha owned a pub north of the church. It's closed now.

Hope this helps. I can probably provide more data if anyone is still interested.

[Seamiuse]

o my goodness. I've not been here in way to long. My apologies. Life intervened.
I'd been doing a search for Tondragee and this post popped up.

Several bits of information have been acquired and documents as well. Stick with me, I'll gather them up and post soon. Hope all is well with everyone.
S