Darby Keefe and Bridget Healy/Haly

Hi Maureen,

RootsIreland givis baptisms in Tipp for 8 children of Jeremiah and Bridget starting in 1829.  Edward was said to be born c1815. They were born in the parishes of Drom and Thurles.

If this is his family, there must have been children born from 1815 - 1829, but if so, the baptismal records are not at RI.

Hi, Any chance you can post the handwritten record that says "Bincher"?  It might be helpful for locating your family.

This article will be of interest to you as it speaks of your ancestor Edward Ned Keefe 1815-1874 and his wife Mary Tracy 1832-1895. Ironically it mentions Bincher Parish, C. Tipperary.

https://biloxihistoricalsociety.org/okeefe-family

thank you Patricia & Eileen, I appreciate your comments.  I’ll comment from latest to earliest:

>our family (and it’s ambiguous clues) is the source for that article, written by someone in our local area who’s a big fan of our family.  He doesn’t have any independent info other than the transcribed info given to the parish by Ned’s wife at the time of his death.

>we’ve been trying for several years to get copies of the original handwritten entry in the parish register.  At first they were refusing; very recently theyve done a search but frustratingly they’ve got handwritten records for others in the family in surrounding years but not for Edward/Ned’s death.  They say they’ve got all the historical registers but can’t find the one we need.  Am going to try once again on Monday, but am discouraged.

>we seem to have missed several of Darby/Bridget’s children.  thanks for finding them.  do you remember when the last child was baptized and whether it would have been within or out of any reasonable childbearing span starting at Ned’s 1815?  There’s 18 years between Ned and Thomas in 1833 which is certainly possible (I’m eldest of 13 born in 17 years), but if there are more children after 1833 I’d be very skeptical.  I’d heard from my cousin that the civil birth records for 1815 & surrounding years were destroyed by fire, but that efforts have been made to reconstitute the data via church data.  Presumably the Rootsireland database is that collection.  Is the database for Drom/Inch and Thurles now complete on rootsireland?  is there any reason for data from 1815 and surrounding years to be missing??  In other words, how discouraged should we be as a result of the fact that none of us have been able to find a record for Edward in this family — or elsewhere in Tipperary with a sibling named Catherine??  Again, thanks for your help so far!

I was able to find on RootsIreland the following 6 (not 8)  baptisms for children of Jeremiah and Bridget.  The last was born in 1839.

There was a Jeremiah born to a Bridget Healy in 1842, but his father was said to be Edmund Keefe, not Jeremiah.

I hope this is helpful.

Church Baptism  Keeffe   John       1827      Co. Tipperary     

  Church Baptism  Keeffe   William 1829      Co. Tipperary     

Church Baptism  Keeffe   Catherine            1831      Co. Tipperary     

  Church Baptism  Keeffe   Thomas 1833      Co. Tipperary     

   Church Baptism  Keeffe   James    1837      Co. Tipperary     

  Church Baptism  Keeffe   Mary      1839      Co. Tipperary

Maureen,

Perhaps the Keefes were from the area of Tipperary called BANSHA, which includes the townlands of Bansha East and Bansha West. 

"Bincher" may have been how the person writing it down heard it. Or how it sounded when said with an Irish accent.

https://www.townlands.ie/tipperary/bansha/

Patricia,

It’s so interesting that you mention Bansha —  I’d identified it as the most probable candidate until my cousin came up with the ‘by Inch’ analysis.  I haven’t gone back to check my long ago searches of rootsireland, but I’m sure I hadn’t found a family with both an Edward and Catherine.  I don’t remember if I had round any families with one or the other of those names in the right time frame.  My last search was a number of years ago . . .

Re the Inch Keefes, here’s a wild hypothesis.  It seems unlikely (though not impossible) that our Edward could be a child of Darby/Bridget with a 24 year childbearing span. What if Edmund was in fact our Edward (b 1815) and, after Darby dies, he marries Bridget and fathers the Jeremiah you found, naming him in Darby’s honor?  In some cultures it’s quite common and even expected that a brother would marry his brother’s widow and support the family - but I haven’t ever associated that practice with Ireland. . . . If that were the case, though, I wonder why Edward would leave family behind and bring only Catherine to the US?  Had the others — or at least Bridget — died? When was the height of the famine in that area?  perhaps some of Bridget’s older children were old enough and wished to remain in Ireland, but what about the younger children born in the late 30s?).  What are your thoughts??  

Maureen,

Do you know when Edward and Catherine emigrated?

Famine years were 1845-1850.

Brother marrying another brother's widow or sister marrying sister's widower--I have seen both and more than once.

I think Bansha is more likely than "by Inch."

Hope this helps!

Patricia, Thank so very much.  I got pulled away on some far less interesting tasks and wanted to circle back and let you know how much I appreciate all of you valuable input and efforts.  I really appreciate them! 

to answer your question about when they immigrated to the US, we know that Catherine Jane married a Mississippi man in New Orleans in 1953; Ned took out a marriage license and posted a marriage bond in New Orleans in 1854.  So presumably one or both of them arrived before 1853.  One of my cousins has found an Edward Keeffe immigrating into the Port of New Orleans in 1851, so that could have been Ned.  We're still trying to study the hard-to-find ship logs for New Orleans and the Port of Mississippi City along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

In addition to Bansha, I found there's a place called Breansha, Emly, also in Tipperary.  I've got that on my list of places to check too.

Question for you:  the Jeremiah born to Edmund Keefe and Bridget Healy - was he also in Bouladuff?? 

Also, can you think of any records or methods we could explore to see if there are living descendants of the Darby/Bridget family or the Edmund/Bridget family still in the vicinity of Bouladuff?? 

Thanks so much for all of your patience and assistance!

Best,

Maureen

The birth register does not give townland info for Jeremiah.  It does say he was baptized in the parish of Thurles.

To see if there are relatives in Bouladuff...Perhaps join the Tipperary Genealogy Group on FB: 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/192538540891717/

Also, consider hiring a professional genealogist (e.g., www.apgen.org) to assist you.

Good luck.

Great suggestion about joining the FB group.  And I did recently hire a genealogist to help ln the Irish side and as one of my first acts provided her with all of the wonderful information you provided.  Again, I really appreciate all of your help.  Have also joined the Irelandxo bansha group . . .  Fingers crossed!!

Good luck, Maureen, and maybe you will let us know what you find.