Search Burke/Keating roots: Loughrea/Tynagh

Hello,

I looked up the Burke family in the Abbey Graveyard internment register. 

Maria died Feb 20, 1892.  I have tried to attach the photo that we took while on a trip to Loughrea in 2011, so I hope it comes out.

If not, you can try this link to www.FindAGrave.com to view other photos of the plot: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=73420703

I didn't think there would be much I could find, except Patrick and Maria's grave.  However, while looking at the photo, her parents are buried there, too!

The head stone reads (and it's a bad photo, with the lower 1/4 not visible)

ERECTED BY

THOMAS BURKE

IN MEMORY OF

HIS BELOVED MOTHER

MARIA BURKE NEE KEATING

DIED 20TH FEB 1892

AGED 49 YEARS

ALSO HER PARENTS

PATRICK KEATING

AND MARY KEATING

ALSO HIS FATHER

PATRICK BURKE

DIED --

(here's where I can't read it well, it might say 19th of ??? in 1918)

If someone who lives in Loughrea can pop over to the graveyard, they might be able to transcribe it better for you.  The plot is directly east of the Abbey Ruins, just east of the walkway that runs directly east of the Ruins.  It is right east of the large family plot that has a fence around it for the Donohue and Walsh families.

So, Maria's parents are Patrick and Mary Keating!  But the new internment register doesn't have them listed and I don't know the years they passed away.  The old register must have been damaged by water in the late 1800's, since the new one was printed in the late 1890's and the church transferred as much of the old one as they could read into the new one.  Since there is no date for her parents, it will be hard to determine when they passed.

Hope this has helped!

Mary Van Dyke

Dear Mary,

I had just written a reply to you but I lost it!  I was saying -- thank you so much!!  This information is wonderful to have.  I only wish we had known earlier.  I visited Loughrea with my mother in 2001 and she would have loved to have seen this.  Now she's 95 and I don't think she'll be able to go again.  Her mother, Mary E Burke left Ireland in May 1892 with her younger brother Patrick only 2 months after Maria died (as I know now, thanks to you!).  Her older brother Thomas had gone back to Ireland in 1910 to visit his father who was still living.  I suspect he may have had the monument erected at that time, and then later on had his father's name added to it.  It seems like the inscription lettering is not exactly the same for Patrick Burke (husband of Maria).  Somehow this information didn't get passed down to my mother, unfortunately!

I am so thrilled that you found this information for me!  I can see the stone quite well in your photo but I will look on the website as well to see what else might be visible.  Actually, I don't know where the Abbey ruins are.  I used to have an old map of Loughrea.  I'll see if I can find it or maybe find something on internet about it.

I'm also hoping to find where the family lived in 1892 or in the 20 years preceding this, to see where my grandmother (Mary E Burke) grew up.  I will start trying to find that information.  It may have been near Garacloon (Craughwell area) but I'm not sure.

Many, many thanks again.  Do you live in Loughrea?  God bless you!

Cindy Taupin

Dear Mary,

I had just written a reply to you but I lost it!  I was saying -- thank you so much!!  This information is wonderful to have.  I only wish we had known earlier.  I visited Loughrea with my mother in 2001 and she would have loved to have seen this.  Now she's 95 and I don't think she'll be able to go again.  Her mother, Mary E Burke left Ireland in May 1892 with her younger brother Patrick only 2 months after Maria died (as I know now, thanks to you!).  Her older brother Thomas had gone back to Ireland in 1910 to visit his father who was still living.  I suspect he may have had the monument erected at that time, and then later on had his father's name added to it.  It seems like the inscription lettering is not exactly the same for Patrick Burke (husband of Maria).  Somehow this information didn't get passed down to my mother, unfortunately!

I am so thrilled that you found this information for me!  I can see the stone quite well in your photo but I will look on the website as well to see what else might be visible.  Actually, I don't know where the Abbey ruins are.  I used to have an old map of Loughrea.  I'll see if I can find it or maybe find something on internet about it.

I'm also hoping to find where the family lived in 1892 or in the 20 years preceding this, to see where my grandmother (Mary E Burke) grew up.  I will start trying to find that information.  It may have been near Garacloon (Craughwell area) but I'm not sure.

Many, many thanks again.  Do you live in Loughrea?  God bless you!

Cindy Taupin

Dear Cindy,

You can find the Abbey on the map right here on IRO's main page for Loughrea.  It's on Abbey Street, and runs north off of Main Street.  Just zoom in a little on the map, and you'll see the street. 

You can also use the "google walking man" to scroll through the town.  When you click on the main photo/map found just above the regular map, you can "move" through the streets by putting your cursor "down the road" a bit, and the images move with you.  As long as there is a circle showing on the street, the map moves to that spot.  I don't think I'm explaining it correctly, so if you need more directions on this, please let me know.

If all else fails, you certainly can find a lot about "The Abbey Loughrea" if you google those words.  You'll even find the OCD website for the "Discalsed Carmelite Friars" which have an extensive description of the Ruins and Graveyard.

I actually live in New Mexico, USA, and have visited Loughrea twice now, each time I spent 2 weeks just in the town.  When I first found out that my gr gr grandmother was buried in the Abbey (but didn'd find a headstone for her),  I was compelled to photograph the whole cemetery.  I didn't get very good pictures in 2009, but when I went back last year, my husband and I took a photo of every stone in the yard.  We were also allowed to photograph the internment register, and have since uploaded most of the names from both the register and the headstones onto www.findagrave.com.  There are over 2300 names uploaded now, but there are MANY more names from the photos that we are still working on!  That's why I'm a volunteer here, I just keep checking for people like you, seeing if I can find anything from the graveyard register.

There are more Burkes listed in the Abbey on FindAGrave (about 25 names), and you might have luck with Patrick's family, too.  By the way, I show that Patrick and Mary Burke's son, Michael is also in their plot, died 21 Apr 1943.

Good luck!

Mary Van Dyke

Hello Mary,

I am very happy to have the information that my great-uncle Mike is buried there too.  I have tried to log in and check out the info on Find a Grave but so far it hasn't worked very well.  I would like to look at all the Burkes in the cemetary.

I thought you might be interested in knowing why Michael Burke is buried there since I had said in my first post that all of Patrick & Maria's children had emigrated to the U.S.  In fact, Michael is one of the rare ones who ended up going back to Ireland.  After arriving in the U.S. (c1891) he settled in the Salem, Mass area (starting in Peabody) where his other family members also settled.  He married and had 5 children.  However, his oldest child (Michael James) was killed in the terrible battle of Verdun, France (WWI, of course), in 1918.  After his wife passed away, probably in the 1920's, Michael went back to Loughrea.  His daughter, Mary, went to Ireland sometime after with the intention of bringing him back to the U.S. but he refused to go.  I heard that he died after a very bad fall in Salthill, Galway, which coincides with what is said in the register.

Many thanks again.  I hope I can get into the site you gave me!  If you happen to run across any other info about this family, I would be very appreciative to know of it.

By the way, Michael Burke's birthdate is supposed to be Sept 1, 1871 according to some research I did in the U.S.

I was wondering, also, what your own Loughrea gr gr grandmother's name was ?

Sincerely,

Cindy

Cindy, my great great grandmother was Bridget Mary Callanan Sweeney.  She died in Nov 1922.  I found an obituary for her online, showing that the funeral procession went from St. Brendan's to The Abbey for burial.  No one else in the family knew where she was until that obituary was posted.  I went to the Abbey and Fr. Bernard allowed me to see her page, but it didn't have a plot location listed, and there is no stone.

My original intention of photographing the whole graveyard was to see if I couldn't determine, by process of elimination, where she might be.  After reviewing the photos, I realized that was impossible.  Her son and grandson are in a plot several rows behind the Burke's headstone, also just east of the other Abbey wall.  I think she's there, but have no proof.

Feel free to email me at mnajpa@aol.com and I will send you a link to the cemetery on FindAGrave, and give you instructions on how to search for all the Burkes listed there.

Thank you,

Mary