The Bunaw McCarthys of Cappacluherane, Ardgroom

There are records for your Jack (John) McCarthy and Nell (Ellen) Hartnett at the FamilySearch database [https://www.familysearch.org], along with their son Patrick (born 1 January 1875), though they don't have info further back than that.  If you create a (free) account there, you can find Jack at ID # M5D1-YF1, and can access the other records from his record, as you will see.  As for Patrick's birthdate, your record of 1874 could well be correct.  Births were sometimes registered civilly well after they occurred.  There was a fine for registering more than a certain number of days after the birth, so if people were late in complying, they would often lie about the actual birthdate, to avoid the fine.

The records are shown as having been created by the FamilySearch team, most likely based on research or data input done by Mormon volunteers (it's their database, but free for all to use).  It is the largest genealogical database in the world, and the site automatically locates other potentially relevant documents and offers them to whoever is using the record..  Right now, it's offering several of them for that family, one of which is a 1911 census record showing Patrick living in Cork with his parents.  Another being offered relates to a sister named Margaret, born in 1869.  Some of the records one finds are actually transcriptions from the original, and one being offered re Jack seems to indicate that he was born in Westmeath, but I suspect that is a transcription error, because it also mentions Ardgroom.

You may already know this, but Kilcatherine civil parish is essentially identical in boundaries with Eyeries Catholic parish.  The Catholic parish records for Eyeries which are available online can be found here:  https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0050  They go back far enough that you should be able to find baptismal and marriage records for Jack and Nell, and possibly marriage records for their parents.  If you go through all the pages (which can be very interesting, as I know from my own research) you should be able to fill out records for all of their siblings, too, which you could add at FamilySearch.  That might then result in the database locating other relevant documents for you, or you making contact with relatives who come acros what you've input (I've located a number of living relatives as a result of doing that for my own family).

And here is a link to info about Kilcatherine civil parish:  https://www.townlands.ie/cork/kilcatherine2/

That site contains a list of the townlands in the parish, with links to more info about them, and you can see Ardgroom Inward and Outward there.  When you go to the page for a given townland, you can see further links there to the 1901 and 1911 census records, as well as Griffith's Valuation (mid-1800's).

Hello Lesley B.

     I happily saw your post about the McCarthy's from Bunaw, Ireland. I am also descended from the Bunaw McCarthy family.  My great grandfather was Daniel McCarthy (b: 1870 -?) who married Julia O'Connell in Boston, MA in 1900.  A few years later they would later return to the family farm with thier daughter Mary McCarthy (b. 1902). Thier first son was Patrick McCarthy (1906-1990) was my grandfather. 

      My great grandfather Daniel McCarthy was the son of Patrick McCarthy (my gg grandfather) who I believe was the brother of John "Jack" McCarthy (your gg grandfather).

      Thier father was also named Daniel McCarthy (b.? - d.?) his wifes name is unknown.  

     Most of my McCarthy family history information was obtained from Riobard O'Dwyer who my father, Patrick McCarthy, had the pleasure of meeting during a trip to Ireland in 1996 when he visited the Ardgroom & Bunaw area. Mr. O'Dwyer prepared a family geneology history for my father.  It is a detailed hisotry from the research that Mr. O'Dwyer has done over the many years and his published. His geneology reputation is well regarded for his research of the Eyeries Peninsula area so I trust its accuracy.  I wish I had more to help with you on your specific McCarthy family line.  

     Mr O'Dwyer wrote that the Daniel McCarthy came with his family to Cappacluherane from Bunaw, Co. Kerry (about 8 miles away) either during or towards the end of the famine 1145-18848 approx.)  He wrote that there were two brothers and two sisters of this family that can be traced  (2 sons and 2 daughters of Daniel McCarthy.)

Patrick, John (Jack), Ellen and Margaret.

 He states that Patrick m. Kate Dunne (6 children) and Jack m. Nell Hartnett (9 childen) each settled down in one-half of the family farm. 

 b  I am sorry that I cannot provide any further information on your family line...as I have also hit some brick walls doing McCarthy family research.  I also have old family photos that have been difficult to identify.  I believe some of these photos are rom my grandfather McCarthy's family in , Cappacluherane, Upper Ardgroom, Ireland but am unable to positively identify anyone.  

  I hope my family hisotry was not confusing and showed our family connection. Please feel free to reach out if I can be of any help as this is a work in progress for me as well.

Take care, Brian

A big thank you, Brian - and Kevin (with apologies for being slow to do so!)   I did finally figure my way around the familysearch.org site - and found reference to John (Jack) and Ellen (Nell) and several of their children, including Patrick. I do think the 'Co Westmeath' references might be an error - they also say Castletown, which I am thinking may be Castletownbere on Beara more likely. I am learning that specifics of names, dates and places can all be a little bit fluid!

Very excited to see the link with your family tree, Brian. I have read the Annals of Beara references by Riobard O'Dwyer, but you have linked some of the elements of it and answered a few questions - such as when they moved from Bunaw to Cappacluherane (I did wonder if it was related to the famine); and who John (Jack)'s father and siblings were - a brother being your ancestor Patrick. Emigrations to the USA go back some way. It seems all of Jack and Nell's children, except my g grandfather Patrick, emigrated. Some might have sought out the family of your Patrick? And even my g grandfather Patrick spent many years living in Butte, Montana - making two trips out there, but returning home to Cappacluherane. I don't know if he married my g grandmother Mary before or between his two journeys out to Butte. We believe he actually became an American citizen - and I think I have found him on a US census living in lodgings for miners in Butte around 1920 - but he did return, when my grandmother and her brother were still children. Tragically they only had about two years with him home before he died in 1926. Their baby sister Margaret died just a few days after Patrick did. What a terrible time that must have been for them.

My grandmother intended to emigrate to the USA, but got waylaid by my grandfather working at a relative's pub in England to earn some money for her journey. Her mother Mary and brother John lived the rest of their lives at Cappacluherane. My mother and her sister inherited the cottage and farm - and my aunt only just sold it a year or two ago. I visited once in 1992 - but knew much less about the family history then. I was planning to go back again last year - around the time Covid emerged. 

Thank you for sharing information, tips, resources, etc!

with best wishes 

Lesley (attaching a photo of me visiting Cappacluherane in 1992)

Leslie,   

     I would be very interested in keeping intouch and sharing any McCarthy family research old or new.  I also would like to return to that Ardgroom / Cappacluherane area, as I have not been there since a child in 1969.  

   I have read two versions of Patrick McCarthy going to Butte, Montana returning and marrying Mary Harrington.  I also read that after thier marriage he was gone for long periods of time and died shortly after returning the last time. It could be a combination of both stories with him returning to Butte for better pay. His youngest daughter Margaret died shortly after her father returned and died in 1926.  How old are the photos you mentioned and are they from the Ardgroom / Cappacluherane area?  

     My great grandfather Daniel McCarthy and his wife Julia ( O'Connell) returned from Boston and remained in Cappacluherane the rest of thier lives. I stil do not know when Daniel died or where he is buried. I know many of the McCarthy ancestors were buried in the Kilmakilloge Cemetery, Bunaw on R573.  

Nice photo.. was that the family cottage?  

Take care,

Brian McC