Collins,Roche,and Nagle from Annakisha/Clenor, Doyle from Castlekevin

Jeremiah Collins (ca 1785-1852) and his wife Catherine (Roche) Collins (1791-1872) were married in 1808, presumably near Clenor.  He and his family were clearly living in Clenor in 1832 and his name shows up in the Tithe Applotment Books for the area.  All of his 17 children were baptized at the old church in Annakissy, Killavullen Parish so I am presuming the modern Parish of Clenor is the closest one to that.   He immigrated to Sydney, NSW with 12 of his children aboard the Elphinstone in 1840.  He had been evicted from the Pierce Nagle Estate at Clenor even though he had paid his rent on time.

We have found five historic letters from the 1840's to the 1850's, two in Sydney and three in California, that relate the saga of not only the Collins family but also several other families from the area as well.  The families mentioned in the letters are either related or in some cases were simply friends of the extended families. They all immigrated to Australia in four ships, the convict ship Earl St. Vincent in 1823, the Elphinstone in 1840, the Isabella in 1840, and the Kate in 1850.  The brothers Joseph and Richard Nagle and their families were from Clenor and they arrived on the Elphinstone and the Kate.  The Doyle brothers were convicted of insurrection and deported to Australia in 1823 and that family was from Castlekevin.  Thomas Ring and family were from the area and immigrated on the Elphinstone.  Jeremiah Hartnett and family were from nearby Glanworth and immigrated on the Isabella as did William Roche.  All of these families intermarried either in Ireland or in Sydney.  In 1849, two of the Collins sisters and their families, immigrated to San Francisco at the height of the California Gold Rush while most remained in various areas of NSW.

I maintain a private family tree on Ancestry.com that currently has 876 names of people who can trace their origins to the general area.  Today there are roughly 200+ names in Northern California who can trace their origins to either the Collins or Nagle families and about the same number in either Sydney and Melbourne who can trace their origins to the Collins and Ring families.  I am from Northern California and I am in contact with branches of relatives in Sydney and Melbourne.

Obviously, if anyone in the area feels we may be related I would love to talk with you but even if we are not directly related I would love to talk with people from the area and share what I know.

-Phil Michelson