James Sullivan Parteen Parish

Dear Irish Eyes16:

Many thanks for your query to Ireland Reaching Out. 

There are a number of places that you can look to try to find out what happened to the Sullivan family of Ballyglass, Parteen.

There may or may not be parish death registers.  That was not normally done until the 20th century in most parishes.  Civil Registration began in Ireland in 1864 and it may be possible to trace the Sullivan family through their website at:

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/civil-search.jsp.&…; The Registration District that you would be most interested in is that of Limerick District (Rural).  You can also use this site for births and marriages from 1864. 

However, a great place to start is the Clare County Library website which has a number of resources online that will assist you.

Their link is:

http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/genealogy/genealog.htm. 

The Tithe Applotment Books in the upper lefthand side of the screen may be useful as they cover years between 1823-1837 and record all those who were required to pay tithes to the Church of Ireland regardless of their religious affiliation. 

Parteen parish is the Roman Catholic parish but the Civil Parish is St. Patrick's and that is the name that you would need to search for as the Sullivans place.  There happen to be two Sullivan entries for St. Patrick's and both are copied below for your reference:

James Sullivan of Shanakill and Thomas Sullivan of Shanakill.  As you mentioned that Thomas Sullivan was a witness to James Sullivan's marriage, it might be that he was his father or a brother.  Both entries are in St. Patrick's North.

There is an entry for a Dennis Sullivan in St. Patrick's South. 

St. Patrick's North was that part of the civil parish where Parteen would be located as Parteen is located in County Clare and St. Patrick's included both sides of the county borders of Clare and Limerick. 

Further, you can trace the Sullivan surname through the parish via Griffith's Valuation.  This document listed all occupiers of property in or about 1852-55 (different Counties were valued in different years). 

The link for that through the Clare Library is:

http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/genealogy/griffiths_parish/st_…;

Another useful place through the library website is the Civil Parish Index located under Research Support in the lower right hand corner. 

And further, there are transcriptions done for many County Clare graveyards just above that link in the Donated Materials link. 

There doesn't appear to be any transcriptions for Parteen, it may still be worth browsing the database. 

If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.

The very best of luck with your research! 

Hello again

I found a death record I'm trying to research further. However, I can't read all of the information. Can someone help me?  It's the second entry on the attached link.

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_retu…

Please let me know  thank you!

Dear Irisheyes:

One of our volunteers had a look at the entry and she stated that it looks to be "Honora Sullivan formerly Lennon or Cuneen and occupation unknown.   She is familiar with the Ballyglass area and will look for you,.  If she finds anything, she will post it to the message board.   

All the best,               Jane

Thank you Jane. That is probably not my ancestor then. I was looking for the death record of Honora Sullivan formally Hourigan.  Her last child was born in 1847 so she died after that. I am not sure if she lived until the time of the Civil registration in 1864 but I saw this entry and the deceased was the same age my Honora would be. Unless she remarried, her maiden name would be Hourigan. 

Are there any records of people living in the workhouses?  I'm not sure how to find the ancestors who didn't leave Ireland during the famine. Any advice?

Thank you for your assistance. 

Erin

Dear Erin:  I believe that there are workhouse records for some dates in Limerick. The Limerick Cty Archives may be a good place to start your search if they left Ballyglass, they may have gone into Limerick.  The website is:  hops://www.limerickcity.ie.  

In in the meantime, have you checked Griffiths Valuation for them?   

Good luck with your research and come back to me if you have further questions.

All the best,

Jane 

Yes.  The Griffiths Valuation in County Clare was in 1855 and I don't see James Sullivan listed in all of County Clare.  His son Patrick emigrated to the US before 1860 but I don't know what happened to James, his wife Honora Hourigan Sullivan or their children between 1847 (birth of last child) and the 1855 Griffiths.  :(

Hi Jane, correction to my last post .....  I didn't find James Sullivan in the Griffiths in St. Patricks parish which is where the family lived in 1847 when the last child was born (Ballyglass) 

I did go back and searched the Griffiths for all of County Clare and there are several James Sullivans listed.  So, it's hard to know which one MAY be the right one, if any.  However, I did find a James Sullivan in Kiltenanlea which looks like it's very close to Ballyglass.  What caught my eye is that the lessor is listed as "Commissioners of Public Works."  I have a few questions:

1. Do you know anything about that organization?  Would they have been involved in assisting evicted tenants?  

2. I always assumed that James and his family were evicted, deceased or emigrated since they are not listed on the Griffiths in St. Patrick's parish where they lived in 1847.  I am sure that during that time, tenants couldn't afford the rent on their current home so it is unlikely that they moved to another home, right?  Is that a safe assumption?

3.  Are there records of evicted tenants and what happened to them? Or would the local newspapers have reported the names?

Thank you for your help!

Erin