Donnelly, Kerrisk(aka Healy)

Where is the Donnelly connection?

Julia Donnelly was my 4x great grandmother, she was the wife of James Kerrisk/Healy.

My other 4x great grandmother is Ellen Donnelly Foran of Teernaboul. I have a marriage certificate for James Healy/ Julia Donnelly's son Daniel to Nora Foran daughter of Cornelius Foran/Ellen Donnelly. There was a dispensation , it stated there was a 3rd degree of separation. I assume the 2 Donnelly women Julia Donnelly Healy and Ellen Donnelly Foran were related.

Both Julia and Ellen Donnelly would have been born late 1700's.

My original question was for the family of Julia Donnelly and James Kerrisk/Healy but since you asked specifically for Donnelly's I have 2... 4x great grandmothers who were Donnelly's.

Helen

Hi Helen,

Kerrisk is an unusual surname. I did a search on the Irish Times ancestor page. You can information about the frequency of the name in the mid-19th century and any other variant spellings of the name here: http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/index.cfm?fuseaction=Go.&UserID= As you can see, they were found exclusively in County Kerry.

There are Roman Catholic church records available for Killeentierna. These date from 1801 for baptismal records and 1803 for marriage records. You can find these at the Church of Latter Day Saints, film 0883740 item 4, 0883818 item 18. If you have any difficulty, you could try writing to the parish priest for more assistance. http://www.dioceseofkerry.ie/parish.php?parish=Killentierna

You could try checking the land records called the Tithe Applotment Books (1823-38). Microfilm copies of the books for all of Ireland are available at the National Archives of Ireland (NAI) http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/tithe-applotment-books-and-the-primary-griffith-valuation/ or the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS). The Tithe Applotment List might be of use to you, or at least interesting for you. These lists constitute the only nationwide survey for the period, and are valuable because the heaviest burden of the tithes to the Established Church, the Church of Ireland, fell on the poorest, for whom few other records survive. The information in the Tithes is quite basic, typically consisting of townland name, landholder's name, area of land and tithes payable. Many Books also record the landlord's name and an assessment of the economic productivity of the land. the tax payable was based on the average price of wheat and oats over the seven years up to 1823, and was levied at a different rate depending on the quality of land. For Parishes where the registers do not begin until after 1850, this information can be useful, as they are often the only surviving early records. They can provide valuable circumstantial evidence, especially where a holding passed from father to son in the period between the Tithe survey and Griffith's Valuation.

Here are some books you could take a look at:

Barrington, T.J., 'Discovering Kerr', 1976

Denny, H.A., 'A Handbook of Co. Kerry Family History etc', 1923.

Farrell, Noel, 'Killarney family roots book: exploring family origins in Killarney', 2000.

O'Connor, Michael, 'A Guide to Tracing your Kerry Ancestors', 1994.

Don't forget to consider checking estate records. Landlord: John Viscount Crosbie: 1805-12 rent ledger. Includes Killeentierna. National Library of Ireland (NLI), Ms. 5033.

Landlord: F.T. Fitzmaurice: sets of rentals 1742-86. Major tenants only. Includes Killeentierna. NLI Pos. 176-7 (Paris Archives Nationales).

Landlord: Richard Townsend Herbert: Account book 1709. National Archives of Ireland (NAI), M.1854. Includes Killeentierna and Killarney.

Landlord: Herbert: Rent rolls, 1760, 1761. NAI M.1864. Includes Killeentierna and Killarney.

Please make sure you link anyone else in your family who is interested in their Irish heritage to our site - and indeed anyone else you know of Irish heritage.

Kind regards,

Sinead Cooney

Genealogist (Ireland XO)