Gorman

Hello mason harris

My name is Donie O Sullivan and living in county Cork and 50 miles from Dromkeen,however, i have carried out some searches in the Dromkeen area as part of my family tree and unbelievably an O Gorman featured in it ,not as a family connection but in a house connection. 

My granduncle , a John Ransford ,from Killeenavera near Dromkeen was living in a delapidated house  and he was a stone mason, In 1907 he got the contract to build a county council cottage for himself in Boherroe, this house he built to a higher specification than the normal and he lived in it until he emigrated in 1915. The house became vacant and his sister moved her 2 sons into the house to retain possession. An old relation told me that a fellow by the name of O Gorman evicted them and took possession of the house and ,naturally, O Gorman was seen as a bad apple . The truth, ,when I investigated the situation, was completely different.The 2 nephews were youths of 12-15 years old and it was a county council house and not owned by John Rainsford even though he built it. O Gorman was looking for a council house and the council moved him legally into the house, This is one small piece of history of  an O Gorman in Boherroe

You should look up the 1901 and 1911 irish census records that are on line free to search,put in Boherroe in townlan and county Limerick and you should get more information.

Another very good site is "irishorigins.ie" where you can search for births ,marriages and deaths from 1864 to about 1895 free of charge. I do not know Dromkeen area very well so may be of little assistance but do contact me again 

Donie

H Mason,

Have you any info on them? Is it their births etc that you are looking for or is it more general info?

Hi I have their births but not much else just intrigued as the headstone has the message on about being erected by sisters in New Zealand did they come back to Ireland or how was it arranged if not 

 Hi Donie

I would love to know how you went about finding out it was a council house?  Not sure if these were the right Gormans as in my research most of them had died out by 1910 and it was my grandfather heffernan who lived at bohoroe from then on   Thank you for the information 

Hello Mason harris

My grand uncle was a stone mason and built the house, A local man,a relative ,told me the full story but had it wrong about O Gorman evicting the Hayes's as it transpired they were only youths and the house was owned by the local council and not my granduncle ,he was being housed by the council and they paid him to build it so he made it a bit bigger than the standard one .I have a photo of the house.

The council build over 40,000 such houses from about 1880-1916 to house the destitute folloing the great famine.

Everybody in ireland paid a property tax and all property was valued to decide the tax payable.The records were updated on change of ownership so these can be seen at The Valuation Office in Dublin  but are not available on line.

Interestingly you mention Heffernan,I met a Heffernan initially ,when I visited Dromkeen area to research my family and he took me to meet this semi reclusive elderly man who happened to be a relation and knew a great lot about my ancestors .I had tea in this Heffernan's house and he died about 2 -3 years ago and is buried in Dromkeen cemetery.He lived in an old house that was half thatched and the other part slated and I now wonder if he was related to you

The 1901 and 1911 census records for Ireland are available on line ,free to search and another useful  site is irishorigins.ie where births,marriages and deaths from 1864 to about 1900 are free to search.Deaths may be available later than 1900.

You can also search all parish baptisms and marriages by logging into nli which is the National Library of Ireland  and parish records section.Records are difficult to search but if you have a good idea fo place and year you could find useful information.

Feel free to contact me again 

Regards-Donie