Walsh family in Parish Gallen

Hi David

Welcome to IrelandXO. The following records appear to relate to the family post 1911.

Paul Walsh death 1957, Lock Keeper, Daughter Josephine present

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1957/04400/4145459.pdf

Name:  Josephine Walsh 

Event Type: Birth  Event Date:  Jul - Sep 1942

Event Place:  Birr, Ireland

Registration Quarter and Year:  Jul - Sep 1942

Registration District:  Birr

Mother's Maiden Name:  Buckley

Volume Number:  3

Marriage Paul Walsh & Margaret Buckley in 1934  https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1934/08956/5241594.pdf

Fabulous! Thank you so much! This is really helpful, and with your inspiration I was also able to trace Paul's sister Mary forward another generation using civil records. 

Once I have potential living cousins identified, how would you suggest looking for them? Local churches? Facebook? Are there websites for finding living people in Ireland, like there are in the USA, e.g. https://www.familytreenow.com ?

Thanks again, 

--David Welsh, San Diego, California, USA, welshdk@ucsd.edu

Hi David

Can be quite difficult due to privacy regulations in Ireland.

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/civil-search.jsp&n…;  Has Births to 1919  (100 year rule). Marriages to about 1945. Deaths to 1970 are quite useful as often give next of Kin if they died at home.

https://www.rip.ie/mbr/login.php    Free registration, records from about 2006 to date.

https://www.eirphonebook.ie/             Telephone Directory

Regards

Thank you! I was also thinking of contacting local churches and the current lock-keeper. --David Welsh

David

Hello and Welcome

Have you tried

https://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/a-river-to-hel…

https://www.waterwaysireland.org/about-us/archive

https://csorp.nationalarchives.ie/search/index.php?category=27

https://www.iwai.ie/lock-keeper-contact-numbers/

With regard to living people have you done your DNA - there is an Offaly DNA Genealogy group on Facebook.

Lockkeepers mostly work now for Waterways Ireland but if you do a general search for Lockkeepers in Ireland you might have some luck there.

Geraldine

Thank you, Gerard and Geraldine, for the very helpful leads and interesting links! From Waterways Ireland, I got the phone number of the delightful current lock-keeper Alan Wynne, who knows the Walsh family still living in the lock-keeper's cottage at Ballingowan/Belmont, and agreed to put me in touch with them! He believes this family served as lock-leepers there 1803-1964. I hope to learn more soon!

So, with your help, I have traced James Walsh, the only Walsh listed in the 1854 Griffith's Valuation in Parish Gallen, to his living descendants. If my great grandfather Patrick Walsh was indeed from Parish Gallen, born about 1811, how likely do you think it is that Patrick and James were brothers? Do you agree that a DNA match may be the best evidence for this? 

Regards, --David Welsh, San Diego, California, USA, welshdk@ucsd.edu

Hello David and sorry for not replying sooner.

That is great news that Alan Wynne knows the Walsh family and will put you in touch with them.

It is great that you have traced James Walsh to his living descendants but I do think that DNA might link you to more decendents in the Offaly area.  

If Patrick was born in 1811  he could easily be James's brother.

I am going to read through all your message at the weekend and try to link them up.  The only thing that jumps out at me is the Cush and Belmont are a good few miles apart.  The Cush is in Lemanaghan Parish and Belmont is in Gallen Parish, that is not to say they could not have moved to work as lock keepers on the Canal in Belmont.

Also there is a group on Facebook called Pullough Golden Oldies and I might post your query there, if that is ok with you.  The Cush is beside Pullough.  Its actually called 'The Cush' and is a very small area near Pullough and Ferbane.

Anyhow I will come back to you

Geraldine

Thanks for your reply, Geraldine! Since my last message, I have been in contact with the Walsh family descended from James Walsh of Ballysheil & Cush East in the 1854 Griffith's Valuation. One still lives in the lock-keeper's house at Ballingowan Glebe (near Belmont). Another lives on or farms the same plots of land occupied by James in 1854. Birth/marriage/death records also document the connection. So I am quite certain that this family is descended from James. DNA testing is pending to see if they are cousins of mine.  

I believe "The Cush" you refer to is different from Cush East, which is in Gallen Parish. Ballysheil is adjacent to both Cush East and Ballingowan Glebe. See the townlands database here.

We also hope to find more information about the Walsh lock-keepers in the archives of Waterways Ireland, although we might have to wait until the pandemic subsides for that. 

As for the earlier generation of the Walsh family in Gallen Parish, I found on RootsIreland.ie a new census substitute "Landholders King's County 1824", which lists Michael Walsh and Thomas Walsh in Noggusduff. Michael also appears in the 1823 Tithe Applotment Books in Glyn, but Thomas is very interesting, because my great grandfather Patrick's first son was named Thomas. If Thomas is Patrick's father, that would fit with the naming convention at the time, I believe.

Any further suggestions would be most welcome! Thanks for your help!

--David Welsh, San Diego, California, USA, welshdk@ucsd.edu

Hi Geraldine: Sorry, your reply dated 8 Dec appears blank. Did you intend to reply? Thanks, --David Welsh

David I have a first cousin a Priest in San Diego - in Magnifica San Diego

Geraldine

Hi Geraldine: Could you please suggest how best to find other Walsh DNA relatives in Co. Offaly? Unfortunately, I am not a match to the Ballingowan/Belmont lock-keeper Walsh family on AncestryDNA, so I would like to explore other possible relations in Co. Offaly, especially those named Walsh and/or with roots in Parish Gallen. I've joined the Facebook and GEDCOM groups for Offaly DNA, but I'm not sure how to proceed from there. Thanks very much! --David Welsh, San Diego, welshdk@ucsd.edu

Hello David you uploaded your dna to Gedmatch.com did you get a kit number

If so when you log into gedmatch on the right hand side DNA Applications - at the bottom of this list Ancestor Projects and you pick the Offaly one.  When it has compared the kits to your kit it will give you a list of names who you match with.

Then you 'snip' the results and post them in the Offaly DNA group.  (if you dont have the snipping tool you can download it

My kit number is A054058 if you want to run yours against mine.

Let me know how you get on 

Geraldine 

Hi Geraldine: Thanks for the tips. I ran the comparison with Offaly DNA group members on GEDMatch, and the closest match is only 11.9 cM. I don't see any Walsh surnames in trees of any of my closest matches, either. I'm beginning to wonder if the Boston Pilot newspaper ad was misleading. Perhaps there was another Patrick Walsh in Tunnelton in 1854, and my Patrick Walsh was not from Parish Gallen, Co. Offaly after all. I will keep looking! Thanks for your help! --David