Searching Palatine Irish

You may want to contact Austin Bovenizer in Rathkeale.  He is the owner of the Piper Cottage just on the outskirts of Rathkeale (enquiry@pipercottage.com) and is very involved in the Palatine Museum.  I think that he has ancestors named Piper who lived in this cottage.

There is also a book "People Make Places" by Patrick J. O'Connor about the Irish Palatines.  On page 150, he mentions a James Piper of Tuogh who had 26 acres.  Apparently, this was on the Dunraven estate in Adare Parish in about 1852.

Thanks. I actually spoke with Austin when I was in Rathkeale. We found all sorts of Pipers but not mine. My James Piper left Ireland in 1849 and his youngest son was born in Massachusetts in 1850 which I have documentation of so he couldn't be in Ireland in 1852. I have that book too.My James Piper was a shoemaker who moved to farming in Illinois in 1851 and, as his obituary states, "It was the mistake of his life as he had neither the experience nor the inclination for farming". So I doubt he owned acreage in Ireland. But I will check through that book again and see if I find any clues. In the Hank Z. Jones books, there is a generation of Pipers missing right around the time my James Piper would have been born. I'm also open to thinking he might originally have been Jacob as there are many Jacob Pipers floating around. Just none that married a Frances and had 8 kids there. Thanks for your nudge to get my books out and digging again.

I am just curious where in Illinois your great grandfather settled.  My great grandfather Timothy Sullivan was also born in Rathkeale in the 1840's and moved to the US in the 1860's.  He got married in Springfield, Illinois in 1870.  I wonder if he selected Springfield because there were other immigrants from Rathkeale.

One other thought.  The information in O'Connor's book probably came from Griffith's Valuation, and 1852 could have been the publication date.  The data could have been collected in the late 1840's prior to James' departure.  A local historian would know the actual date.  Also, O'Connor was focusing on page 150 on Palentines with large landholdings.  If your James was a shoemaker, he may have only had a house.  Have you checked Griffith's for all the James Piper's in the area?  Griffith's is available online. 

Our family history has the Pipers moving to Illinois to..... wait for it...... Piper City which is about an hour and half drive from Chicago. We had thought there must have been other Pipers there they were moving to be near. But upon digging thru census records, that whole Piper City story seems to be wrong as they were in Grand Rapids, Illinois, also near Chicago most of their lives. James did die near Piper City so maybe had property there. Thanks for the tip on Griffiths valuation.  I will look into that too.