Share This:

Friends,

I am new to the bewildering array of resources for family research.  I will share with you what I know so far.  In 1851 my gggf Michael Pardon/Purdon leased from Mr George Friend a house or farm in the Ballyoughter townland just north of Rathcabbin.  I have a sketch of it and it is quite clear in the aerial maps.  There is also a Tithe Applotment record for a Michael Pardon in this area, which I suppose would mean that he owned a piece of property.  There is also a record for a Peter Pardon.  I have seen neither record, as they seem to crash my machine.  The family says that Michael had a brother John who eventually went to Australia, and other brothers who went to NY and PA.  Michael stayed in Ireland and lived to be 101.  His parents had been Protestants of Huguenot origin, they say, but he returned to Catholicism.  It was said that he is buried nonetheless in or next to a Protestant churchyard in Dublin.  I may have more information about that.

Michael Pardon and his wife Mary neé Hough or Howe had seven children between 1830 and 1848:  Julia 1830, William 1831, John 1833, Bridget 1836, Michael 1843 (my ancestor), James 1846, and Mary 1848.  Michael's schoolbook had an inscription saying "Michael Pardey, Gurteen National School, Ballyoughter, Tipperary."  I think there is a birth record for William from Birr, but I have not seen it.  As you can see, the names seem interchangeable.

William joined the Thirteenth Foot in 1848 under the name Wm Pardon and served for 21 years.  We have a letter to his parents sent from a barracks in India.  No address in Ireland, unfortunately.

The other brothers and sisters went to America with an uncle.  I have information about them and their children.

Family lore and some documentary evidence has it that Michael Pardon the elder owned a mill together with a man named McDermott of Killiama (spelling?), and the mill race that fed it was rerouted by the master of the estate nearby.  The mill race came from the Pallas River and rejoined the same farther downstream.  Apparently the river was dammed or the race simply cut off.  There were lawsuits over the rerouting, apparently.  Some seventy years ago a Fr Traynor wrote my grandfather that there were ruins of a mill near Pallas Bridge opposite the ruins of a church or castle (or both), and that local lore supported the re-routing/damming story re. the landlord Mr Lawlor, who had been credited with 14 evictions and was regarded as a tyrant.  Family lore had confused Lawlor with Mr Friend, mentioned earlier re. the Ballyoughter house.

I would be most grateful for any assistance, and I will God willing get to Ireland one of these days to see the area for myself and perhaps thank anyone there in person for any help.  

Simon in NY

PS the oddest coincidence:  I appraise apartment buildings in NYC for a bank, and I realized yesterday that the house my ggf Michael Pardee the younger lived in in New York was actually one I had appraised in 2013.  I have appraised a total of two buildings in that whole section of Manhattan in my career, and there are literally thousands there.  What are the chances?  I was standing in my ggf's parlor without knowing it.  In a city of 8.3M people.  S

Wednesday 22nd Feb 2017, 05:23AM

Message Board Replies

  • Simon:

    Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

    We have a parish liaison in Lorrha and I will alert him to your message.

    Roger McDonnell

    Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Wednesday 22nd Feb 2017, 04:11PM
  • Attached Files

    Tipperary North friends,

    The oral history and whatever documents obtained by my grandfather's informant Fr Traynor in the 1940s is supported by the map:  Fr Traynor reported that the landlord was already infamous for evictions and for rerouting the road which was close to his house.  Look at the aerial of Gurteen road in front of Gurteen House (attached, with my drawing) and you will see that it looks like it was rerouted to the south.

    I have also attached the Buildings of Ireland survey of the area, which shows the medieval castle and church ruins east of the Pallas, and a ruin of a mill on the west.  Here is the survey's comment on the mill:

    "Description: In the 17th century the ruins of a fulling mill and a corn mill (TN005-004----) were described as standing on the stream to the SW of the church in the townland of Gurteen on the lands of John Kennedy of Gurteen, who is described as an Irish Papist (Simington 1934, vol. 2, 321). The Civil Survey of 1654-56 recorded, 'Upon the sd lands are two decayed mills vizt., a fulling mill & a corne mill standing on a little brooke running through the sd lands onely useful in winter' (Simington 1934, vol. 2, 321). The 1838 edition of the OS 6-inch map shows a 'Mill in ruins' in this location and these ruins may have been located on or in close proximity to the site of the medieval mill. The medieval church of Dorrha (TN005-005001-) is 220m to the NE, with Pallas Castle (TN005-006001-) 105m to the SE."

    Note the "little brook running through the said lands."  What I find interesting is that from the aerial map it looks as if the Pallas has been rerouted, or as if there were a millrace.  See my arrows pointing at what looks like a ghost of a brook through the fields west and north of the Pallas (attached).  You couldn't mill a pound of flour in the summer from the way it looks today, but they mention that in winter the water flow was sufficient.

    If this is what happened to the Pallas, it or the millrace would have crossed the Gurteen Road near the cluster of buildings shown.  I wonder if there is any memory or record of such a change? 

    It seems from the mill description that there were nothing but ruins there in 1838, but oral tradition and whatever sources Fr Traynor found told of a milling operation (or plans for one), and law suits over the change.  Perhaps it postdated 1838.  My gggf Michael Pardon/Purdon/Pardey lived in the area at least from the 1830s into the 1850s.

    And did a Mr Lawlor in fact own the house and lands in the mid 19th C?  And would there be any record of his changes and any legal challenges?

    Simon

    Wednesday 22nd Feb 2017, 06:10PM

  • Adding a link showing the Lawlor/Lalor family's ownership of Gurteen House and lands at that time.  John Lawlor, nephew of the head of the family, lived there from at least 1837, probably to 1867.  The house was offered for sale in 1850, but it looks like it only sold in 1867.  He is listed elsewhere as a magistrate for Gurteen in 1862.  

    http://landedestates.nuigalway.ie/LandedEstates/jsp/estate-show.jsp?id=…

     

    From the Street View it looks unlikely that a millrace crossed the Gurteen Road farther west as proposed, because the land seems to rise a bit to the north and west.  But it is hard to tell.  It could be that the lines seen in the aerial are merely the ghosts of an old hedgerow.  The bank facing the church and castle ruins seems larger than would be indicated by the current tiny size of the Pallas.  In any case, any documentary help with the family or local history would be appreciated.  

    Simon

     

    Wednesday 22nd Feb 2017, 08:19PM

  • The historic OS map shows the "Old Millrace" just where I thought it was.  Running past ruins of a mill, on the lower-lying land.  Perhaps my ancestor planned to mill there in winter, and made an investment, only to see Mr Lawlor decide to fill in the millrace?  If anyone knows where legal records might be found, let me know.  

    Wednesday 1st Mar 2017, 03:52AM

Post Reply

Login