Seeking descendants Walkins/Horne(Horan)/Browne/O'Dwyer

Hi

Thank you for your message.

I have forwarded your request for assistance to volunteers in County Tipperary who may be able to offer some advice or assistance.

Kind regards,                    

Genealogy Support 

My great great grandfather, Timothy WALKINS lived and worked on Sharragh Farm, Lorrha, Co Tipperary, and left there in 1856 for Victoria, Australia.  He had a sister Bridget who had already gone there and another sister, Mary, went there in 1858. Mary travelled with and eventually married a James HEENAN who also had a brother, Daniel, at the Victorian goldfields. 

Timothy's father was John Walkins and mother Mary Walkins nee HORAN.  We can't find any info about a marriage or death of either John or Mary.  We did find Timothy's baptismal record when a cousin visited Ireland a few years ago.  There is a Mary Walkins, Widow, listed in Griffiths as living in Lissernane. We have also found a John Walkins who was imprisoned at Tipperary gaol being pardoned and released in 1856, we think this is Timothy's father as the dates seem about right. 

Timothy's wife, Ellen BROWNE, came to NZ via Australia in 1868 and had only been in the country 3 weeks when she met and married Timothy.  She had a brother Matthew who also came to NZ with his wife Bridget.  Mary hailed from Emly.

Any help with finding our Irish ancestors would be appreciated.  We are writing a book about Timothy and I am spending many a frustrating hour searching the Irish records.

Roz McKechnie

Roz,

My great grandparents John Smith and Mary Darcy were married in Braidwood NSW in 1866 and both were from the Lorrha/Terryglass area. On the transcript I received regarding their marriage it noted that John was born in Abbeville, near Lorrha, that his mother was Catherine Wilkinson and father John Smith. However when searching through the baptismal registers for Lorrha around the time of John's birth, 1843, I can only find a James Smith born to John Smith and Catherine Walkins.

I'm now fairly certain that this James Smith is actually my great grandfather John Smith (must have changed his name) and that his mother's surname was Walkins but has been incorrectly transcribed to Wilkinson somewhere along the line. Because of this I started searching the Walkins name and stumbled upon your post. Do you have any information on the Walkins family - I have a withness at the marriage of John Smith and Catherine Walkins in 1841 as Dolly Walkins... I wonder if Catherine and Dolly are related to Timothy in some way?

Kind regards,

Mario

Hello Mario - Hmm, could be, and the reason I think so is because Dolly is sometimes used as an abbreviated form of Dorothy and Timothy had a sister Dorathy who married a James Luckey(Lukey).  I know in Irish naming traditions that the first born children are named after their grandparents. Our Dorathy was born around 1830 so would have been too young to have been a witness at a wedding but I am thinking your Dolly might be the grandmother; and if so, then Catherine Walkins may be Timothy's Aunt?  As I said we haven't been able to find anything to date re Timothy's parents John and Mary other than that John was incarcerated in prison in 1836, aged 26 which would have made him born around 1810; or at least we are pretty sure it was Timothy's father as the other John's that we have found don't seem to 'fit'.

I'll follow this up - thank you and keep me informed if you find anything further as will I.

Regards

Roz

Roz,

I've been working through my Smith/Walkins family and believe I have worked out who Catherine Walkins' father is.

While I was doing research on my the Smith line I discovered that most of the time they are known as Smyths. Whilst searching the Tithe applotments from the mid 1820's for Smyths in Lorrha, I came across a Thomas (I'm pretty sure it's Thomas) Walkins who owned a property know as "Walkins Farm" in the townland of Redwood. Interestingly this does not come up if your search the applotments using the surname Walkins.

Also in my search I discovered that my great grandfather john Smith - parents John Smith and Catherine Walkins - appears to have had a brother Thomas Smyth - parents John Smyth and Kitty Walkins - who was baptised 3 years after John in Lorrha. Using the naming convention of the time, then the second born son should be named after Catherine's father which would make Thomas Walkins her father.

Therefore, I believe that it is possible that Catherine, John and Dolly are all siblings whose father was Thomas, although having said this there was a "Mrs Walkins" who owned a property at Lissernane at the same time (1824). How she fits into the picture is unknown at this point in time.

Another point of interest - on Thomas Smyth's baptism, one of the sponsors was Mary Walkins - John's wife perhaps?

Anyway, I thought I'd pass this info on to to you for interest sake...

Cheers, Mario

Thanks Mario - the plot thickens!  

The Mrs Walkins at Lissernane is Timothy's mother Mary, her husband was John. They farmed at Sharragh.  So it may well be that your Catherine, John and Dolly are related.  There is nothing that I can find mention of any sisters called Catherine from either Timothy or Mary and Bridget in Australia however I am in contact with the Australian cousins so will follow that up.  There is only the correspondence that confirms Dorathy as a sister (Lukey that is).  

Will keep looking though.  

Are you in Ireland?

Regards

Roz

Roz,

I'm in Brisbane but born and bred in Sydney. Recently my best friend went through Lorrha with his wife while they were over in Ireland visiting her family and while they were there they called me on the phone. That's the closest I've been to Ireland... but it's on my bucket list! I'd love to get in contact with any others of the Walkins clan... please pass on my email address of mario@vecchi.com.au to them and please use this for future communication rather than posting her.

As an aside, I've put together a map of where the Walkins and Smith/Smyth families were around Lorrha in the 1820s and 1850s that might interest you...

Cheers, Mario

Roz,

In the reply  I just posted it should read "posting here" not "posting her".

Cheers, Mario

Roz,

I thought I'd share with you a timeline of Walkins in Lorrha that I put together for my extended family - it does incorporate a little Smith and Darcy information. It also includes some new information which I found for a Moses, born 1796, and a Thomas, born 1799. Both ended up joining the 82nd Regiment of Foot - Thomas deserted after 8 months while Moses ended up dying in Mauritius in 1822. If you'd like the original documents please just drop me an email as they're quite large jpgs.

Anyway, here's my little write-up...

Cheers, Mario

The Walkins of Lorrha...

I thought I’d best put down on paper everything that I know about this family in the hope of working out a decent timeline in which relationships would become clearer. For those that might not be up to speed, Catherine Walkins was Clem Smith’s grandmother, my great great grandmother.

Having done a fair amount of research I’m absolutely sure that there were no Wilkins or Watkins in Lorrha, there were only Walkins. I’m also absolutely sure that when I see the names Loura, Lurra and Lurragh, those names are referring to Lorrha, the small town in the northern part of Tipperary, close to the border with the counties of Galway and Offaly.

What struck me was the absence of males from the records in 1824 and 1852. Hopefully I can work out what happened. I have asked the Lorrha Historical Society via Facebook if they might know of any information on the Walkins Farm – they said to give them a couple of weeks and they might be able to shed some light on it. Anyway, here’s the Walkins timeline as I see it...

1796: Moses Wilkins/Watkins from Lurra/Lurragh is born.

1799: Thomas Wilkins from Loura is born.

17 June 1817: Thomas Wilkins of Loura enlists in the 82nd Regiment of Foot in Birr, Co. Offaly (18kms from Lorrha).

26 January 1818: Moses Watkins of Lurragh/Moses Wilkins of Lurra enlists in the 82nd Regiment of Foot in Birr, Co. Offaly.

15 February 1818: Thomas Wilkins deserts. There is no mention that he has rejoined the regiment.

7 April 1822: Moses Watkins from Lurragh dies in Mauritius whilst serving with the 82nd Regiment of Foot.

1824: Tithe Applotments - Thomas Walkins is noted as the landlord of “Walkins Farm” at Redwood (Lorrha). However, as far as I can tell, he is not living there.

1824: Tithe Applotments -  “Mrs Walkins” is a landlord of a property at Lissernane (Lorrha). She is also living there.

1830: Dorathy Walkins is born to John Walkins & Mary Horan/Horne in Lorrha.

1832: Bridget Walkins is born to John Walkins & Mary Horan/Horne in Lorrha.

1835: Timothy Walkins is born to John Walkins & Mary Horan/Horne in Lorrha.

1837: Mary Walkins is born to John Walkins & Mary Horan/Horne in Lorrha.

1841: Catherine Walkins marries John Smith in Lorrha. Dolly Walkins is a witness.

September 1843: James/John Smith is born to John Smith and Catherine Walkins in Lorrha.

18 January 1846: Thomas Smyth born to John Smyth and Kitty Walkins in Lorrha. Mary Walkins is the Godmother.

1850: Griffith’s Valuation – Margaret Walkins living at Garryard, Terryglass (the parish next to Lorrha and where Mary Darcy was baptised)

1852: Griffith’s Valuation – Mary Walkins living at Lissernane.

185?: Bridget Walkins goes to Australia.

1856: John Walkins pardoned from prison.

1856: Timothy Walkins goes to Australia.

1858: Mary Walkins goes to Australia.

1864: John Smith goes to Australia.

1866: Mary Darcy goes to Australia.

So the questions raised are:

How do Thomas and Moses Walkins fit into the picture?

What happened to Thomas Walkins?

Is this Thomas Walkins Catherine’s father or her brother?

How are John, Catherine and Dolly related  – are they siblings?

Are Dorathy, Bridget, Timothy and Mary Walkins John Smith’s first cousins?

Is it a coincidence that Timothy Walkins and John Smith both went looking for gold?

So many questions, and after all that I don’t think it’s become any clearer! What I am certain of is that our Smith/Smyth line is related to all the people mentioned through Catherine in some way, except Margaret Walkins and Mary Walkins (Horan) as they - well at least Mary - has taken Walkins as their married name.

Roz,

Further to my post of 11 July, I have found a "Watkins" in the area. How Arabella fits in to the Walkins/Wilkins/Watkins timeline I'm not sure yet - here's how I explained it to my family...

Yesterday I said that I was absolutely certain there were no "Watkins" in Lorrha... except I've now found one in Redwood in 1853. Arabella Watkins leased land from Lord Bloomfield and then re-leased it to others. However if I do a search on Arabella Watkins on Ancestry the only one I find is buried in St. Mary's Church of Ireland in Dublin on 28 September 1852. This date discrepancy (1852/1853) could be due to the fact that there would be a lag from when the records were taken, ie records taken in 1852 but not published till 1853.

I went back to the 1824 Tithe Applotments and found a "Watkins" who was a landlord in a townland called Lisballyard in Dorrha which is not too far from Redwood in Lorrha. Talk about a spanner in the works...