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Finally, if no one else gets sick (!) we are coming to Ireland next year for our first visit.  I plan to incorporate some ancestry research time into our trip and am narrowing down the places I need to go.

We know some of our ancestors came from Clerihan/Clonmel, as my grandmother spoke often of those two towns.  She was born in the U.S. and her dad was from Co. Mayo, mother was from "the North", but her mother-in-law lived with them for 15 years until her death, (my grandmother was her caretaker for the last 5 years of her life.)  We believe my g-grandmother must have told her of these two towns.  I find Clerihan to have special significance due to it's small size and because it isn't really known here in the states.

So I'll be searching for information on my Casey/Ryan lines in that area.  They were Catholic, and my g-grandmother was Elizabeth Casey - she same to the U.S. through New York around 1860, prob. 15-20 years old, went first to Cincinnati and then to Louisville, Ky.  Her parents, according to her death certificate, were Catherine Ryan and Edward Casey.  I have no information on them, I don't know if they stayed (or died) in Ireland.
Where would I most likely begin my search there?  We will stay several nights in either Cashel or Clonmel and devote the days mainly to research.

I've exhausted my online search.  I've been on Ancestry.com for 6 years, have had my DNA tested and have purchased various search results from rootsireland with no success.

If one of them was indeed from Clerihan, is there a church that might have records from that time and is it accessible online now?   Would Bru Boru have any records that might help me?

Thanks for any help you can give me.

I erroneously posted this in "The Common Room" so am re-posting here.

I would so appreciate it if someone could do a lookup for me at the National Library in Dublin.

It would be in the book "Millers & the Mills of Ireland, 1700 - 1900" by William Hogg.

After years of thinking that my Casey ancestors were somehow associated with a cornmill in Ireland before the famine, research has led me to the discovery that it was more likely a different line of ancestors.

I would like to know if there were any Cooneys, Carrolls or Murphy names attached to a cornmill in Carrowgallda or Laghtmacdurkan, County Mayo.  This would have been prior to 1850 and would have gone out of business around the time of the famine, late 1840's.

I see a number of corn kilns and a corn mill on the river separating the two towns named above in Griffith's Valuation done in 1856.  However, there is no mention of the cornmill in either town, it just shows up on the map.  My Cooney ancestors' home is still partially standing in Laghtmacdurkan.  Many of them were stonemasons and I found something recently that at least one may have been a millwright.

It's disheartening to think I've spent the past five years on a wild goose chase with the Caseys, but nothing in genealogy research comes easy, unless you're on "Who Do You Think You Are."

Anyway, if any of you happen to be visiting the library soon, I would certainly appreciate the lookup.
Joyce Hagan

Alicia,
I can't believe I'm really no further along than I was 5 years ago!  I thank you for sharing your information, but I really don't know if there's a connection or if there's anyway I can pursue it.

We don't even know what type of mill - grain or textile.  The grain (corn mills as they were called) were much more numerous than the textile ones, but in any case, any mill they had would have been defunct by the time Griffith's Valuation was done in the mid 1850's.

The only immigration details that I have been able to document with any certainty is that my g-grandparent, Peter Casey, took the first step toward naturalization in Cincinatti, Ohio, on Oct. 20, 1858, and stated his age as 23, making birth year 1835.  Of course, I know that they usually had no clue when they were born, just guessed at it and the age changed with every later census.  In these initial papers, he says he arrived in the US from port of Liverpool on May 9, 1853, but this was also just a guess because I searched and he wasn't on any ship that day.  There's a Peter Casey who arrived the end of May that year, one who arrived mid-June that year, and one who came in 1854, any of whom could have been my ancestor.  His witness for naturalization was a Patrick Casey, and I'm thinking that was most likely a sibling.
I still haven't made it over to Ireland but am hoping to go next year.  I sure do wish I could "find" him, and although I keep searching, doubt I will.
I wish you luck in your search and we'll keep in touch and hopefully be able to share more information!
Joyce

Thanks to all.  I will be going to the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City next month and I want to be armed with as much information as possible when I get there.