First, thanks to Hallmark for the new websites to search.
In case you missed my update on another thread (library look-up), I'll fill you in on what I was able to find out yesterday.
I talked with a reference librarian at the U. of Chicago and she looked up the surname "Casey" in the "Millers & Mills of Ireland 1850."
There are 3 Caseys listed and they all operated corn mills. There was a Thomas Casey in Kilmanman Parish, County Queens, a Thomas Casey in Killare Parish, County Westmeath, and a John Casey in Dunlecky, County Carlow.
When I checked these against Griffith's Valuation, I found 2 of them as stated but there was no Thomas Casey in Ardbrennan, Killare, Westmeath, nor was there any indication of a mill.
I researched a little more and discovered the Valuations were taken in County Queens and County Carlow in 1851-52, but weren't done in County Westmeath until 1854. Apparently, that mill was already shut down by the time of the Valuations.
Of course, the other two could have been gone also by 1854, but I guess we have no way of knowing that, unless someone can suggest another trail for me to follow.
I'm a little confused, though. While reading a thread on this site on how to interpret Griffith's Valuation, I found that when property listed "Offices", this could have meant anything from a factory to a store or even a mill. If that's the case, then most of the hundreds of Caseys I've found could have had mills, as the majority of them were listed as having "house, off, land". I was so hoping to be able to narrow it down to just a few, but now I'm not so sure I have.
Can anyone clarify this for me?
Joyce