John Sarsfield Casey - The Galtee Boy - born Mitchelstown 1846 - died 1896

[AlanR83]

I am looking for information concerning the ancestry of John Sarsfield Casey, he was born in Mitchelstown, Co.Cork in 1846 and is buried in Mitchelstown cemetery he died in 1896. His parents names were Jeremiah Casey and Honoria Lewis. It is believed in my family that he is connected to us if this is so I believe he may have been the nephew of my Great Great Great Grandfather John Casey and his brother Fr Daniel Casey both born in Kilbehenny, Co.Limerick around 1820. I have no proof of this - I am looking to confirm that Jeremiah Casey was John and Daniel's brother. Please find a brief bio below on John Sarsfield Casey - any help on this would be appreciated.

He was born in Mitchelstown on the 2th March, 1846, and in his early years he worked in the public house of J.J. Geary’s at 27 North Main Street, Cork, where he was arrested and taken to Sunday’s Well Gaol on the 28th September, 1865. In December he was removed to the County Gaol. He was tried and convicted on the 29th December and a week later he was taken to Mountjoy Gaol. After a ten days sojourn, he was moved to Pentonville Prison, then to Portland Prison, and on the 24th December,1866, to the new Portland Prison. Finally he was put on bard a ship on the 8th October, 1867, which sailed on the 12th October and eventually arrived in Freemantle Australia on January 9th, 1868. He was sentenced to five years for treason-felony, and was one of the 62 Fenians transported to Western Australia. He was granted a free pardon on the 15th may, 1869, and he sailed for Ireland from Melbourne on the 26th October, arriving at Dublin on the 18th February, 1870.

Immediately after his return to Ireland, Casey wrote a series of articles on conditions in Australia, and he also became noted for his work on behalf of the tenants of the Galtee countryside. In his youth he came under notice of the police following letters which he wrote under the nom-de-plume “The Galtee Boy” in the Fenian Newspaper. Later he became a coroner for Co. Limerick which position he held at the time of his death, on the 23rd April, 1896. He is buried in Mitchelstown Cemetery

[wild rose]

Hi Alan,

This must be very exciting for you and I wish you luck with your search. University College Dublin Press: ucdpress[at]ucd.ie have published John Sarsfield Casey's memoirs in a book called The Galtee Boy; you might also be interested to know that Mary Casey, the Grandaughter of John Sarsfield Casey, helped with the editing. I think you should contact the university because they might be able to put you in touch with her. Please let us know how you get on.

Wild rose

[Liam Cusack]

Alan, I've just after seeing your request for information re the Galtee Boy. If you contact me via mobile phone, Removed, I should be in a position to steer you to a reliable source of information.
Liam

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[AlanR83]

Hello Liam,

Thanks for your message, however please note you cannot post a mobile number on this public forum - so it has been removed, before I had a chance to see it. Likewise I cannot post a private email here. So if you post 2 more times on this forum - you will be able to use the private message option to send me the number to contact you.

Regards,
Alan

[persimmondeb]

Hi,
I think your ancestor, John Sarsfield Casey, is my great-grandmother's older brother. I don't have a great deal of information regarding his ancestry, but I believe we may have a copy of a family tree with my grandfather's ancestry, including information on his mother, and I have found UK census records with my grandfather (Samuel Fanahan Cusack) in them.
D.C. Williams (nee Cusack)

[AlanR83]

Hello,

Thanks for your message, Just to clarify John Sarsfield Casey is not my ancestor but I do think he is a relation (first or second cousin to my Great Great Grandmother). I have done a bit of research on his family, he had 4 sisters, only 2 I found lived into Adulthood - Honora born 1862 & Hannah Casey, is one of these sisters your Great Grandmother?

Alan 

[persimmondeb]

Hi,
My great grandmother was Ellen Casey (Cusack was her married name). I always heard that she was the youngest sister of the Galtee Boy. She married Michael Joseph Cusack, a wine and hardware merchant in Lower Cork Street, Mitchelstown. My grandfather, Samuel Fanahan Cusack, was a younger son of that marriage, her first and my great-grandfather's second. My father was the only issue of Samuel's marriage, to Ellen Gorman.

D.C. Williams

[AlanR83]

Hello,

I just checked my notes and Ellen was one of the sisters I thought had died young, so I must be wrong. Ellen Casey was baptised August 22, 1855 on Baldwin Street, Mitchelstown (sponsors William & Mary Casey). Her parents the same as John Sarsfield Casey were Jeremiah Casey (1807 - 1880) and Honoria Lewis (1818 - 1874). Jeremiah died in Mitchelstown on February 3rd, 1880 (listed as a Shopkeeper on his death cert).
My Great Great Grandmother's brother was Fr William Casey born in Kilbehenny, Co. Limerick, he became parish priest of Abbeyfeale (Statue of him in Abbeyfeale for his work for tenant rights and the land league), when William died in 1907 I have found reports that the parish priest of Mitchelstown said at the Sunday mass that William was a close relation of Mitchelstown's own Galtee Boy John Sarsfield Casey. I still have not found the exact connection.
William's parents were John Casey & Johanna Kiely, so I think maybe John & Jeremiah Casey were brothers or else Jeremiah Casey or Honoria Lewis were cousins of Johanna Kiely.

Anything you know would be a great help.

Alan

[persimmondeb]

Hi,
Let me see what I can get out of my father after he's had coffee (he's nearly ninety and some of the details have gotten more than a little fuzzy). I'll also see if I can find those census records and link them here. I have relatives in Ireland who would likely know more, but I'm reluctant to call them out of the blue, since they're nearly as old as my dad and don't internet. My dad also didn't have much to do with that side of the family after he left Ireland, so it can be a bit awkward. The age and her parents sounds more or less right, but I had thought she was a little younger than that. There should, however, be a picture of her grave somewhere in the house. I should also have a photocopy of a picture of her. The trick, however, is always finding these things.

D.C. Williams