Burke and Graley

Marie:

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

The 1855 Griffiths Valuation head of household listing shows a good number of Burkes and Grealys in the parish including a Bernard Grealy in Rabbitburrow. http://www.failteromhat.com/griffiths/roscommon/kiltullagh.htm Is Bernard the father of Bridget?

I searched on Roots Ireland from 1850-1870 and the only John Burke/Bridget Graley/Grealy marriage in Ballinlough is the one you located in 1855. The online parish register is here  http://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0102

The 1911 census for Rabbitburrow http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Roscommon/Ballinlough/… did not show any Burkes or Grealys so I assume the aunt married someone with a different surname.

Roger McDonnell

There are two baptismal records for children of John Burke and Bridget Grealy First 29 Jume 1856 Child Marie, Sponsors Thomas and Kate Goonan Second 17 0Feb 1858 Child Bernard Sponsors Bernard Grealy and Winifred Gunning. Chances are there may be descendants of Bernard Grealy still in Rattiborough. If the Burke Family went to England then your relatives in Ireland may be on the female line. You could also check records in neighbouring parishes as Rabbitborough is on the outer reach of Kiltulagh Parish. You could try Kilteevan & Castlerea(gh). You can access these records on NLI site (National Library of Ireland Site). It looks like the marriage record in 1855 referred to a different couple - both surnames were common in the area.
 

Thank you very much Martin and Roger for your help in this matter. The aunt is Margaret Lyons who shows on the 1911 census. I also found those baptisms Martin but once again this would have meant Bridget was having children at the age of ten or thereabouts!  I believe there will be relatives on both sides of the family as John Burke and his wife Bridget arrived alone in England as far as we know. Bridget was pregnant at the time of arrival and Winifred was born in 1875. The story is that John had been politically active and had a price on his head, but I have not been able to trace his story at all. The name is so common that it is a frustrating search! Thank you for the tip about looking in the neighbouring parish. That is the type of local knowledge that I lack. My father said that Winifred 'inherited' the land just before his visit in 1935 and she decided she'd better have a look before she made any decisions. She had set up a 'cook shop' in Manchester by this point. It was kind of an Irish takeaway, selling bacons ribs, mashed potatoes and cabbage. She came back from Ireland saying it might be hard work but nowhere near as hard a life as farming! I believe that what she had inherited was the right to the land rather than the land itself, athough how that worked given that there would have been two generations between Winifred and her relatives in Ireland, I don't know. If you are local to the area I would love to know what Rabbitburrow looks like now and whether it is still being farmed. I will have another look at what I have here. I suspect that Bridget's father was named Bernard, but have no proof as yet. I am very interested in the area and whether we have any living relatives left. I suspect we do. It would be fabulous to discover them and become reconnected. Xxxx

Hi Martin!

Hope you are well!

Roger

Hi Marie,

Any other bits of information that you may be able to give to us may help us in your research. e.g. Can you estimate what year John or Bridget were born. Baptismal records in Kiltullagh go back to Oct 1839. You may have this from their death records. What district were the children's birth records located in the UK? Can you tie down the year John Burke arrived in the UK. There may be articles in the Roscommon Herald - a local newspaper. There may be a Fenian record in the National Archives for John. Have you checked Find my past criminal or petty sessions records? If we knew what townland John came from we may be able to find his name in the cancelled land valuations records. As regards Margaret Lyons probate records may reveal some information. I have an example of a Margaret Lyons Probate record :

Lyons Margaret (267) 4 July 1939

Administration (with the will) of the personal estate of Margaret Lyons late of Carrick, Ballinlough, Co. Roscommon Widow who died 11 Dec 1933 granted at Dublin to John Lyons, Farmer, effects £7 15s. 

Will:  I Margaret Lyons of Carrick Ballinlough, Co. Roscommon declare this to be my last will and testamen. I hereby revoke all former testamentary dispositions. After my death I will bequeath and devise all I die possessed of to my son John Lyons and my son Bernard and to my grandaughter Mary to be divided equally between them to the exclusion of all others whatsoever all my property both real and personal I bequeath and devise to John, Bernard and Mary with an equal share to each after payment of all my just debts and testamentary expenses. Dated this 18th day of October 1933. Signed Margaret X (her mark) Lyons. There are a few official documents with the will - mentioning John Lyons of Clooncan, John Lyons of Clooncrim and Thomas Lyons of Cloonbunny, Loughglynn.

Can you give us information on how you knew of Rabbitborough, etc. 

I have a contact in Australia that may have already researched the Bernard Grealy/Lyons side that you mention, but I will wait to see if you have any further information before contacting him.

Regards,

Martin.

Hi Roger,

I am still alive and kicking, - pulling the devil by the tail - (a local expression here). I have been out and about on my bicycle more than sitting in looking at the PC Screen this last year.

Cheers,

Martin.

Hiya Martin, and once again many thanks for your help on this!

This is a very brief response for now. I've just finished work and need by sleep, but am so excited by the new information I had to respond.

I believe that this Margaret Lyons is related to our family based on the memories of my father as he visited as a young boy with his Grandmother Winifred Burke, daughter of Bridget and John. My father told me about the visit many times and spoke of Bernard Lyons as his cousin - I realise that this is a broad term! He also seemed to think that Bernard may have had a brush with the law as a result of political activity. I have a photograph somewhere of Margaret and Bernard at their cottage with my father when he was a young boy. He remembered the place being Rabbitburrow as his young imagination was fascinated by living in a Rabbit's Burrow! My father died 2 years ago and I so I cannot quiz him further, but I am pretty sure he gave me as much information as he had.

Winifred, the daughter of John and Bridget was born in Manchester (Collyhurst or Ancoats) in 1875. I was told that they arrived days before she was born. The 1901 census gives Bridget as a widow aged 54, living with Winifred and her husband John Richard Allcock. This would give us an approximate birth year of 1847, which is why the marriage in 1855 doesn't seem to fit.

I will dig out ​my notes to see what other information I can come up with and get back to you in the next few days!

Many thanks, Marie

Hi Marie,

The above mentioned Margaret Lyons was my great-grandmother and I have more information on her and her family if you are interested. I would love to see the photo you have of her. If you can please contact me we can share our findings.

Below is the information contained on her marriage certificate.

Thanks GERRY CULLEN gcgraphicdesign@optusnet.com.au

JOHN T. LYONS and MARGARET GREALLY were married at Granlahan Catholic Church, County Roscommon on the 16th June 1866. John’s residence at the time was listed as Carrick and Margaret was listed as being from Rabbitboro. The marriage was performed by Fr. P. McLoughlin and John Greally was the groomsman with Mary Greally was bridesmaid. John Lyons was listed as aged 23 and Margaret was 20 years old. John’s father was named on the certificate as John Lyons and the father of the bride was named Bernard Greally, with an occupation of Tailor.

It has been two years since I posted a reply to a post from Marie Murrie in relation to her own initial post "Burke and Graley" in which she refers to her father visiting Ireland in the 1930's and having a photo of Margaret (Graley) Lyons and her son Bernard at their cottage in Rabbitboro, Roscommon, together with her father when he was a young boy.

As I previously stated, this Margaret Lyons was my great-grandmother and I have researched the family extensively and have some information that may be of interest to Marie and I would love to have a copy of that photo and to see what notes she may have so we can combine our reserch.

As she never replied to my last post, I am hoping that she did not see it at the time and that she is being kept in touch with such follow-ups by the site's moderator and I may be lucky this time as I would be very happy to hear from her.

My personal email is listed in my initial reply (above) should she wish to contact me and/or if she would prefer to use these pages instead. If the moderator and/or any other member knows her contact I would be grateful if they would share it with me or contact her on my behalf.

Thanks in anticipation
GERRY CULLEN