Place name of Insenstown or Incenstown?

[PWN]

Hi all, hoping someone with local knowledge can advise me.
I am researching a Patrick Michael Burke born circa 1859/60. His parents were John Burke and Mary Sullivan and I have found a marriage on 11 Feb 1844 in Castlelyons, Cloyne, Cork which may well be them.

Patrick emigrated to USA in 1884. He was a painter and there is a passenger record of a Patrick Burke on "Arizona" from Queenstown and arrived New York on 28 Apr 1884. He settled in Boston where his descendants still live. These descendants state he "came from Insenstown" in Ireland. I have been unable to find a place of this name.

I am wondering if this is another name for 'Queenstown' and it is not clear whether the descendants mean Patrick "came from" as meaning "lived there" or "left from there"
Any thoughts would be most welcome.
Thanks, PWN

[myluck!]

There is a town in West Cork named Inishannon
I wonder if this is where is being referred to?

Sullivan is a very common name in Cork and would need supporting evidence to prove any records found

[Sinann]

You can try out the name here
http://www.swilson.info/db/townlanddbs.php

Queenstown's other name is Cobh pronounced cove.

[PWN]

Thank you all for your input and advice. I appreciate that John Burke and Mary Sullivan are common names and more research is needed to corroborate the one marriage which I found.

Thank you "Sinann" for the Townland search site. Very useful for me! Being Scottish and unfamiliar with Irish parishes, townlands etc it is most helpful to try and understand the localities. 

As I said it was one of the American descendants who stated that Patrick came from "Incenstown" and I don't know where they got this information from. He appears on a passenger list which sailed from Queenstown in 1884 and I now wonder if this info had been written down and misread as Incenstown. I found HMS Naval history log books for HMS Jessamine, Queenstown Command, for 1915-1918. Minesweeping in the Southern Irish waters in WW1. In the original log books the name 'Queenstown' is recorded frequently but on the transcriptions it has been mistranscribed on numerous occasions as 'Incenstown' or 'Insenstown'. From the original handwriting and the fancy 'Q' you can see why it has been misread. I am inclined to think the same may be true of the American info and they may just have seen it written somewhere and made the same error. It would appear that there is no actual place named 'Incenstown'.

Which now leaves the question of where Patrick actually originated from as if he only departed from Queenstown he may well have lived outwith County Cork. More research needed!
Thanks again for all you help.
Regards
PWN

 

[josey]

I agree with PWN that Incenstown is a misread Queenstown from some badly written document  ; lots of common letters.Second letter 'n' & 'u' often indistinguishable as well as third letter 'i' & 'e'....if so then only the 'I' & 'Q' which are both florid in cursive manuscript. Capital 'Q' used to be written a bit like a 2 with a loop to begin with like a capital 'I'.

ADDED: DO you know Patrick's birthdate? And what were the names of his children - may indicate parents' names?

[PWN]

Thanks, Josey. That's exactly how the HMS naval log books showed the 'Q' written. It would appear that this family info has been due to the name having been misread but thanks for your input as it corroborates what I was thinking.
PWN

[josey]

Can't find a Patrick B(o)urk(e) birth registered on https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie or a baptism to those parents but found one on http://ifhf.rootsireland.ie [I have a month's subscription] on 7 Dec 1861 in Inisdoorus, Clonbur, Co Galway sponsors Walter Butler & Bridget Sullivan. Strangely, I cannot see the entry on the link to the parish registers at http://registers.nli.ie/registers wonder if the date has been mistranscribed. Cannot find a marriage for this couple but only the baptism register seems to survive for this parish.

Josey

Other baptisms in CLonbur for this couple are Michael 14 Sep 1858 & Bridget 16 Feb 1860; there is another John Burke/Mary Sullivan couple having children baptised in Conna, Co Cork [Honora 1849, Michael 1852, Johanna 1856, Ellen 1858, Margaret 1860]. Cannot be same couple as baptisms of Ellen in Cork 1858 & Michael in Galway in 1858 are only 2 months apart.

[PWN]

Hi Josey,

Patrick's birthdate is not known exactly. On his marriage Sep 1890 he stated he was 32. On 1900 Census he stated born June 1859 and on his death certificate 4 Sep 1912 he was recorded as having been 60 years and 6 months.

His 2 sons were named John Arthur and William Lawrence.  His 2 daughters were Mary and Alice Bridget.  William and Alice Bridget were after maternal grandparents and John and Mary after paternal grandparents. Doesn't help much!
PWN

[josey]

There is a civil registration of marriage in Galway on https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie
Name   MARY SULLIVAN
Date of Event   1855
Group Registration ID   N/R
SR District/Reg Area   Galway
Returns Year   1855
Returns Quarter   1
Returns Volume No   6
Returns Page No   53
but no corresponding John Burke