Author Topic: Winifred and Thomas Donnelly - Barna graveyard 1881  (Read 362 times)

Offline Sairann

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Winifred and Thomas Donnelly - Barna graveyard 1881
« on: Tuesday 28 March 23 06:10 BST (UK) »
Good afternoon. This is the first time I've posted on RootsChat. My great-great-grandparents Winifred (Burke) Donnelly and Thomas Donnelly lived at Freeport (Barna) in Galway West. They ran a shop and a licensed premises. Winifred died in 1881 aged 49. Thomas survived her but I haven't found any record of his death. I'm wondering if somebody could help me find Winifred's headstone with a record of the wording on it, because Thomas might be buried in the same plot with the same headstone. I've searched on Find a Grave with no success. Can anybody suggest another resource I can use? I see on Google Street View that there's an old graveyard in Freeport but I don't think there's a Catholic church there. Perhaps it was knocked down. Many thanks in advance for any advice or help that can be offered.

Offline Kiltaglassan

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Re: Winifred and Thomas Donnelly - Barna graveyard 1881
« Reply #1 on: Tuesday 28 March 23 20:44 BST (UK) »

Welcome to RootsChat, Sairann  :)

Winifred died in 1881 aged 49.

Starting off by attaching the link of the 1881 death - 10 July 1881 at Freeport townland.

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1881/06427/4846503.pdf
https://www.townlands.ie/galway/galway/rahoon/bearna/freeport/


KG

Researching: Cuthbertson – Co. Derry, Scotland & Australia; Hunter – Co. Derry; Jackson – Co. Derry, Scotland & Canada; Scott – Co. Derry; Neilly – Co. Antrim & USA; McCurdy – Co. Antrim; Nixon – Co. Cavan, Co. Donegal, Canada & USA; Ryan & Noble – Co. Sligo

Offline Sairann

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To Kiltaglassan re: Winifred and Thomas Donnelly - Barna graveyard 1881
« Reply #2 on: Wednesday 29 March 23 03:45 BST (UK) »
Kiltaglassan, thanks for the welcome and the links. :) I had seen the death register entry. An important find. Very sad that she died of typhoid fever. The map of the townland of Freeport is interesting to see. Not having been raised in Ireland, it's hard for me to get my head around the differences between a village and a townland. I think the map shows that Bearna (Barna) is a village, and the townland of Freeport overlaps the east part of the village. I'm pretty sure that Winifred and Thomas Donnelly lived and traded in a 'humble, single-story, thatched building' on the block where Donnelly's of Barna currently sits - on the corner of Pier Rd and Barna Rd. (The quote is from The History of Donnelly's Barna on the thisisgalway.ie website). The map also shows the graveyard, which is on Pier Rd.

I hope I’ve replied to you in the correct way. LG

Offline Kiltaglassan

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Re: Winifred and Thomas Donnelly - Barna graveyard 1881
« Reply #3 on: Wednesday 29 March 23 09:39 BST (UK) »

Quote
I see on Google Street View that there's an old graveyard in Freeport but I don't think there's a Catholic church there.

Pier Road in Barna just outside the Freeport boundary.
https://www.rootschat.com/links/01s7f/

There doesn't appear to be a church marked in the older historical maps.


 
Researching: Cuthbertson – Co. Derry, Scotland & Australia; Hunter – Co. Derry; Jackson – Co. Derry, Scotland & Canada; Scott – Co. Derry; Neilly – Co. Antrim & USA; McCurdy – Co. Antrim; Nixon – Co. Cavan, Co. Donegal, Canada & USA; Ryan & Noble – Co. Sligo


Offline Kiltaglassan

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Re: Winifred and Thomas Donnelly - Barna graveyard 1881
« Reply #4 on: Wednesday 29 March 23 10:49 BST (UK) »

The 1887-1913 25" map on GeoHive Map Viewer shows a RC chapel and graveyard in the townland of Knockaunnacarragh together with Barna school.
https://webapps.geohive.ie/mapviewer/index.html

https://www.townlands.ie/galway/galway/rahoon/bearna/knockaunnacarragh/
https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/3838097#map=17/53.25564/-9.13347


Researching: Cuthbertson – Co. Derry, Scotland & Australia; Hunter – Co. Derry; Jackson – Co. Derry, Scotland & Canada; Scott – Co. Derry; Neilly – Co. Antrim & USA; McCurdy – Co. Antrim; Nixon – Co. Cavan, Co. Donegal, Canada & USA; Ryan & Noble – Co. Sligo

Offline Sairann

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Re: Winifred and Thomas Donnelly - Barna graveyard 1881
« Reply #5 on: Friday 31 March 23 01:15 BST (UK) »
Kiltaglassan, using the links you provided, together with Google Maps and Street View, I viewed the Catholic church in Knockaunnacarragh townland (Mary Immaculate Queen). I googled to find out more about the church, and discovered that the former church on the same site, St James, was built in the 1830s, and stood until replaced by the new, much larger church in the 1970s. (Apparently there was a much smaller St James Church with thatched roof on a different site close by, and it was in use up until 1839).

I also found out that in the old days there was no parish of Barna. Barna/Freeport was part of Rahoon Parish until 1952. This makes sense, it explains to me why my great-grandmother Mary Josephine Donnelly, daughter of Winifred and Thomas, was baptised in Rahoon Parish, even though the parents' place of residence was Freeport.

About locating the site of Winifred's grave, I probably now have enough information to be able to contact the Barna/Furbo Parish office and ask them for assistance.

I would have liked to attach a historic photo of the second St James Church that was used from 1840 up until the 1970s, in case it's interesting for someone else as well as me. I found the photo on the Kenny's Bookshop website. Sadly, I'm not game to attach the photo, in case I would be breaching copyright.

Here's a link to the relevant page on the Kenny's Bookshop website.
https://www.kennys.ie/old-galway/1760-15the-church-of-st-james-barna-02-03-2017

Offline Kiltaglassan

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Re: Winifred and Thomas Donnelly - Barna graveyard 1881
« Reply #6 on: Friday 31 March 23 07:45 BST (UK) »
Here's a link to the relevant page on the Kenny's Bookshop website.
https://www.kennys.ie/old-galway/1760-15the-church-of-st-james-barna-02-03-2017

Lovely article about the church, Sairann :)

Best of luck when contacting the Barna/Furbo Parish office.


Researching: Cuthbertson – Co. Derry, Scotland & Australia; Hunter – Co. Derry; Jackson – Co. Derry, Scotland & Canada; Scott – Co. Derry; Neilly – Co. Antrim & USA; McCurdy – Co. Antrim; Nixon – Co. Cavan, Co. Donegal, Canada & USA; Ryan & Noble – Co. Sligo