Mary McCarthy, DOB 1837, Fountainstown, Co. Cork

Hello David,
I found the baptism record for your Mary McCarthy as well as the baptism records for two of her siblings. I will get these to you in the coming days. I want to do a little more research to see what other information I can find about Mary's family. I especially want to look at land records to see if I can find her father or mother recorded in these land records in, or around Fountainstown, Cork, as the baptism records do not necessarily tell you what town the family had been living in, but only where the baptisms took place.

Thank you David.

Kind Regards,

Dave Boylan

hi Dave,

Thank you very much.

Look forward to hearing from you soon.

all the best, David

Hello David,

Sorry it’s taken so long to write back, but in my reply of April 14, I had mentioned that I found the baptisms for Mary McCarthy and two of her siblings. But since that time I did some additional research and actually uncovered the baptisms for five of her brothers and sisters. All of the baptisms took place in the Tracton Abbey, County Cork Catholic Parish.

The names and years of baptisms for the children of John McCarthy and Bridget Riordan are:

Mary McCarthy, 1835
Johanna “Carthy,” 1838
John McCarthy, 1841
Callaghan McCarthy, 1843
Denis McCarthy, 1845
Bridgt (Bridget) McCarthy, 1847
____

I originally found the Tracton Abbey, County Cork Catholic Parish baptism transcriptions for Mary McCarthy, and her brothers and sisters at the Find My Past (FMP) website. FMP is actually a subscription or pay-as-you-go website, with the exception that it doesn’t charge to search Irish Roman Catholic baptisms, marriages, and burials/deaths. Most of the transcriptions at FMP are for Catholic registers in the 19th century, though there are records that do go back to the 18th century, and some even back to the 17th centuries, especially in the larger cities of Ireland such as Dublin.

You have to register with FMP to search for baptisms, marriages and burial transcriptions. Registration is free.

The search engine for the FMP baptism transcriptions can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/jnmqmuv

The search engine for Catholic marriages can be accessed at: http://tinyurl.com/jzylkjy

For Catholic Parish burial transcriptions go to the search engine at: http://tinyurl.com/j9qe5p9

MARY MCCARTHY BAPTISM

The FMP transcription shows that your Mary McCarthy was baptized in the Tracton Abbey Parish on 19 October 1835.

As you’ll see the baptism transcription shows that Mary’s father was John McCarthy and that her mother was “Margt” Riordan. You’ll also see that an alternate name for the Tracton Abbey Catholic Parish was Kinalea. See the baptism transcription at:
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=IRE%2FPRS%2FBAP%2F1046040

A copy of Mary’s original baptism in the Tracton Abbey registers can be found at the National Library of Ireland link at: https://registers.nli.ie//registers/vtls000635324#page/183/mode/1up

There are two facing pages to the baptism register. Mary’s baptism is on the right-hand page, 4th entry below the October 1835 subheading. Her godparents are, “Jams” (James) Ahern and Mary Hanlon. The priest who baptized Mary was Father T. O’Connor.

You can enlarge the page by means of round icons in the upper center/ right of the screen. The icons are white with green backgrounds. You can also access the full-screen function by clicking on the last icon on the right with the two arrows pointing northeast and southwest.

The Catholic Parish Church of Tracton Abbey was not actually located in a place called Tracton Abbey or in the townland of Tracton itself, but in the nearby town of Minane Bridge. A Google Map shows that Minane Bridge is 3.1 miles southwest of Fountainstown, and just east of Tracton: https://is.gd/fEVZHg

An enlarged Google Map of Minane Bridge shows that the Catholic Church is called Sacred Heart, which I believe is now closed due to the Coronavirus: https://is.gd/pCcRa5

For a Google Street View of the Sacred Heart Church in Minane Bridge, go to: https://is.gd/y8EZrM

You can view a color map of the “R.C. Chapel” in Minane Bridge on an Ordnance Survey Map from the 1837 to 1842 time period from the GeoHive website link at: https://bit.ly/3cuC4hT

According to the Tracton Abbey Parish website, the Sacred Heart Church was constructed in the year 1755: https://corkandross.org/parishes/tracton-abbey/

But, according to the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage/Buildings of Ireland website, the Minane Bridge church was constructed circa 1830 and remodeled in 1890. For information and a slide show of the church go to the Buildings of Ireland link at: https://is.gd/pvcZuw

For a Buildings of Ireland map of Minane Bridge, and the Sacred Heart Church and graveyard, go to:
https://webgis.buildingsofireland.ie/HistoricEnvironment/?REG_NO=209099…

In any event, no matter which year it was constructed, the church would have been in existence when Mary was baptized in 1835.

JOHANNA CARTHY BAPTISM

Next, the FMP website transcription for Johanna “Carthy” shows she was baptized in the Tracton Abbey Catholic Parish in February of 1838. The day in February in the transcription is not recorded, but is represented by a question mark (?). See the transcription at:
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=IRE%2FPRS%2FBAP%2F1043871

Johanna’s mother’s first name is abbreviated at “Margt.” The surname Carthy or even “Carty,” would be an alternate spelling to McCarthy in a time in Irish history when names were not standardized. What this means is that in the future, when you are searching for your McCarthy ancestors, also look for them under the alternate surnames Carthy and Carty. You’ll see another example of this later in this email.

A copy of Johanna’s original baptism record is the first entry at the top of the left-hand register page at:
https://registers.nli.ie//registers/vtls000635324#page/197/mode/1up

Johanna’s godparents are Wm (William) Spelane and Kate Crowly. The first initial of the priest who baptized Johanna is either C or G. His last name is O’Flynn.

JOHN MCCARTHY BAPTISM

The FMP transcription that follows shows that John McCarthy was baptized on 18 January 1841:
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=IRE%2FPRS%2FBAP%2F1044547

John McCarthy’s baptism is the 9th entry down from the January 1841 subheading of the left-hand register page at: https://registers.nli.ie//registers/vtls000635324#page/212/mode/1up

John’s godfather is Timothy Coughlan. The first name of her godmother is Ellen. I could not make out her last name. The initial of the priest who baptized John looks like M. I could not decipher with any certainty, his last name.

CALLAGHAN MCCARTHY BAPTISM

Callaghan McCarthy was born a little over two years after John. Callaghan was baptized on 2 March 1843:
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=IRE%2FPRS%2FBAP%2F1045060

The baptism record for Callaghan can be found on the left-hand register page, 2nd entry below the March 1843 subheading at: https://registers.nli.ie//registers/vtls000635324#page/226/mode/1up

His godparents are “Timy” (Timothy) Crowly and Johanna Hanlon. The priest who baptized Callaghan was J. Horgan or Hogan.

DENIS MCCARTHY BAPTISM

The baptism of Denis McCarthy took place on 25 March 1845 according to the FMP transcription at:
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=IRE%2FPRS%2FBAP%2F1045537

A copy of Denis McCarthy’s original baptism record is on the left-hand register page, 3rd entry below the March 1845 subheading at: https://registers.nli.ie//registers/vtls000635324#page/239/mode/1up

This baptism register is a bit of a challenge to read because it is faded. The name of Denis’s godfather appears to be Timothy Nugent. The godmother’s name looks like Ellen Carroll. The name of the priest who baptized Denis was J. Horgan

BRIDGET MCCARTHY BAPTISM

Bridget McCarthy was baptized on 26 March 1847. The year 1847 is considered to be the worst year of the Great Famine in Ireland by many historians. In the Irish language the famine is known as, “an Gorta Mór.” For more information about the famine go to the Wikipedia article at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland)

Bridget McCarthy’s baptism record is the first entry on the left-hand register page at: https://registers.nli.ie//registers/vtls000635324#page/252/mode/1up

Her godfather is Michael McCarthy, who may have been John’s brother. The first name of the godmother is Catherine. I could not make out her last name. The initials of the priest who baptized Bridget looks like J.Jt, but I can’t be sure about that.

According to the National Library of Ireland website, baptisms in the Tracton Abbey Catholic Parish begin on 12 December 1802, while marriages commence on 6 June 1840. There are no parish burial/death records. Because John McCarthy and Bridget Riordan had children in the 1830s, there will not be a marriage record for them if they had married in the Tracton Abbey Parish. For more information on the availability of Tracton Abbey baptisms and marriages, as w ell as a map of the Tracton Abbey Catholic Parish in southeast County Cork, go to the National Library of Ireland link at: https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0098

John and Margaret may not have married in the Tracton Abbey Parish. Irish marriages traditionally took place in the Bride’s parish, and so I searched the FMP website to see if they may have been married in another Cork Catholic parish, but did not find a record for them. This is an indication that they did marry in Tracton Abbey, though unfortunately there are not marriage records for the parish that predate 6 June 1840.

I suspect, but can’t prove, that John McCarthy and Margaret Riordan had married sometime in the 1830s before the birth of Mary in 1835. If they were born in Fountainstown or a nearby town, they would likely have been baptized in the Tracton Abbey Catholic Parish. That means they could have been born sometime in the 18 teens or even before. But, without knowing the names of their parents, it will be impossible for you to identify with certainty John McCarthy or Margaret Riordan in the Tracton Abbey baptism registers. This especially applies to John McCarthy, who had one of the most common Irish surnames. For example, I looked for the Tracton Abbey baptisms at FMP for children named John McCarthy/Carthy/Carty between 1800 and 1820, and uncovered 29 baptism indexes for children named McCarthy. See the FMP link at: https://is.gd/kNUZ1U

I then found the FMP baptism indexes for 9 children named Carthy baptized in the Tracton Abbey parish for the same time period: https://is.gd/8zkYDZ

There is only 1 child named Carty in the FMP Tracton Abbey baptism indexes, but this is for a Mary Carty baptized in 1803: https://is.gd/ca4D7V

Concerning Margaret Riordan, there are three FMP Tracton Abbey baptism indexes for a child by that name recorded between 1800 and 1815. Two of those are for 1813 and one for 1814. See the indexes at: https://is.gd/KLbl4a

One of those three indexes possibly does refer to your Margaret Riordan, but again, you would need to know the names of her parents to identify the Margaret Riordan in your line.

All three of the children named Margaret Riordan in the FMP baptism indexes would have been old enough to have married John McCarthy before the birth of their daughter Mary in 1835.

I now wanted to see if I could find a record that shows that a John McCarthy, Carthy, or Carty was living in Fountstown in the 1820s or 1830s. To do this I searched an Irish land record known as the Tithe Applotment Books. Irish farmers in the Tithe Applotment Books were enumerated in the 1820s and the 1830s.

For a very good explanation about what the Tithe Applotment Books entail, go to the following National Archives of Ireland links:

http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/home.jsp
http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/about.jsp
http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/aboutmore.jsp

I found that a John “Carty” of Fountainstown was recorded in the Tithe Books in the year 1833, only two years before Mary McCarthy was born. I suspect this John Carty refers to your ancestor. See the index at the following link: https://is.gd/10dcI5

Once the page downloads you’ll see that John Carty’s first and last names are highlighted in blue. Click on either his first or last name and you’ll be brought to the original tithe record for him and others in Fountainstown. Or just click on this next link to bring up a copy of the original tithe record: http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/reels/tab//004625685/00…

Once you enlarge the page you’ll see that John Carty is the second entry on the page, just below James Ahern and just above Morris Murphy.

Reading from left to right over two pages, this record shows that John Carty leased an acre of land, and that he paid a rent of 4 Pounds a year. The real value of the land however, was only 1 Pound. The tithes he was required to pay for this property amounted to 1 Shilling, 7 and ½ pence. Under the “Observations” heading, the tithe record also shows that John Carty was a “tenant at will,” What this basically means is that John Carty did not have a lease on the property, and could be evicted at anytime by the owner without prior notice. As you know, evictions happened a lot during the Great Famine. Some landlords or their agents would evict the poor tenants, and “tumble” their houses, and then use the same area to graze cattle. See the following from the “Annals of the Famine in Ireland,” written in 1851. This was found at the LibraryIreland website: https://www.libraryireland.com/annals-famine-ireland/pulling-down-house…

The 1 Shilling and 7 ½ pence that John Carty paid in tithes would not have been very agreeable with him, not only because it took income away from him, but also because the money went for the upkeep of the local Protestant Church of Ireland, and not the Catholic Church to which he would have been a parishioner.

I next wanted to see if any Riordans were recorded in Fountainstown in the Tithe Applotment Books, but found none by that spelling, though I did find a “Jen Reardon,” leasing property in the town. See the index from the National Archives of Ireland: https://is.gd/MRDtb3

On a copy of the original Tithe Page, you’ll see that the Reardon landholder is the 5th person recorded down from the top of the page: https://registers.nli.ie//registers/vtls000635324#page/239/mode/1up

If you enlarge the tithe record sufficiently, you’ll see that Reardon’s first name isn’t Jen, but “Jerr,” which stands for Jeremiah. He leased over 6 acres of land. I cannot be sure if this entry pertains to Margaret’s father, or one of her Riordan/Reardon relatives, though there is the possibility it does, with the alternate surname spelling of Reardon.

With Best Wishes David,

Dave

hello Dave,

A hugh thank you for all your information.

I very much appreciate how comprehensive everything was, and especially the inclusion of the links and references.

Thank you.

all the very best,

David

You're welcome David.

Kind Regards,

Dave