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Hi there, I'm looking for any information or descendents of the Foley family from Firies,  (& possibly also Dromreag & Cloonmealane).

Daniel Foley & Mary Flynn are in a Catholic parish register as having married in Castlemaine 15 Feb 1844.

Three of their children came to New Zealand in 1875, John, Daniel & Maurice (my ancestor), and they settled in and around Christchurch.  An 1851 Census search form suggests there three additional children, Margaret, Ellen & Denis.

I'm interested in connecting with any decendents of any of the 6 siblings.

I also have a bit of mystery to solve. I have found 5 siblings in the baptismal registers, but the only Maurice I could find was born to a Patrick Foley & Margaret Breen, in 1856, which is the year of my ancestor (Maurice's) birth. Perhaps Maurice was raised by Daniel & Mary withjout knowing they were more likely his uncle/aunt. Here in NZ John, Daniel & Maurice all referred to each other as brothers.

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers

Tyrone

Tyrone

Monday 5th Apr 2021, 03:32AM

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  • Tyrone:

    I found four baptismal records for Margaret 1844 John 1847 first Daniel 1849 Ellen 1850 second Daniel 1858. Did not see Maurice or Denis. Family lived in Boolasallagh townland in Aglish civil parish. Denis had the family farm in 1901. See 1901 and 1911 census records and 1928 death record for Denis. Did Denis file for the Old Age pension?

    Roger McDonnell

    http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Kerry/Rockfield/Boolas…

    http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Kerry/Rockfield/Boolas…

    Denis died 1928  see second record daughter Margaret Hanifin was the informant  https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_retu…

    Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Monday 5th Apr 2021, 03:40PM
  • Hi Roger, thank you for the response, it was interesting to see Denis' family. Boolasallagh is something I have noticed on a few records. In 1921 Denis applied for some census extracts (perhaps that is part of the pension application process) and an extract for 1851 shows Daniel Foley and Mary Flynn of Boolasalagh with all the childrens names I would suspect to see - First Daniel (died), Margaret, Ellen, John, Denis, Maurice,Second Daniel. What I find odd is that two of them were ostensibly born well after the 1851 census, so how can they appear on it? Second Daniel was baptised 1858, Maurice always put his birthdate down (on his NZ records) as 1856.

    I think at some point the family moved from Firies to Boolasallagh. The first few batisms were at Firies and Second Daniel was at Boolasallagh. 

    Thanks again,

    Tyrone

    Tyrone

    Sunday 25th Jul 2021, 09:10AM
  • Tyrone:

    Yes, the 1841/1851 censuses were searched when an applicant filed for the Old Age pension. The names you see on the left margin were provided by Denis and also gave two possible townlands to search. It looks like WB searched the 1851 census and did not find Denis Foley in either townland A or B.  See entry showing NF for not found. I'm sure they found the Daniel Foley family but the clerk was only interested in Denis. Likely he was born 1852 or later.

    Below is the Firies/Molahiffe parish register. You may want to search for the missing baptismal records.

    Roger

    https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0646

    Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Sunday 25th Jul 2021, 11:43PM

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