Hi I'm trying to search for the roots of my GGGmother who I believe may have come to Australia from Garden Blake in Co Galway. This has been a long and so far on going search for any possible clues.
I will be visiting Ireland in November this year. So I am hoping that with a bit of luck and some help along the way I may be able to locate some records that will confirm some of my guess work.
The difficulty is of course that as Bedelia, Bridget or Biddy Mackanany was illiterate. the documents that I already have provide conflicting dates of birth and dates of arrival in Australia.
She consistentlyr gives her place of birth as Garden Blake Co Clare. I can only find a Garden Blake in Galway.
Her parents were James Isaac Mackanany or perhaps Mcinerney and Margaret (No maiden name). I have done a number of searches in the various Griffith indexes etc but have had no luck to date. I have now begun to wonder how I go about searching the poorhouse registers and emigration lists from about 1853 to 1857.
Any ideas or suggestions would be very much appreciated.
Lee Norris
Wednesday 17th Aug 2016, 08:12AM
Message Board Replies
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Lee,
You can use this site to see where there were Workhouses in Galway and Clare. They usually say what records exists and where they are stored:
With Griffiths bear in mind that it is not a list of every household in Ireland. It lists the head of household. Farmers and those with a proper dwelling are listed in Griffiths but lodgers, servants, children and those with very poor houses (ie too poor to be worth taxing) are not listed. And of course they need to be alive. (You describe Bridget as an orphan. If her parents were dead and she was lodging with someone else, she won’t show up in Griffiths).
Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘
Wednesday 17th Aug 2016, 08:38AM -
Lee:
Here is a theory. The civil parish for Gardenblake is Kilthomas and the parish borders Co. Clare. Gardenbalake is about 10 miles from the Clare border so maybe that is where the confusion started. Unfortunately the RC records for that parish start in 1854 http://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0631
Roger McDonnell
Roger McDonnell
Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘
Thursday 18th Aug 2016, 01:11AM -
Thank you Elwyn and Roger, I'm also guesing that the family moved around a bit and could have spent time in Co. Clare. James was a farm labourer, a famer and possibly a farm manager.
After a late night last night and joining some possible links across records I think that I may be able to be about 80% convinced that Bridget Mcinerney came to Australia in 1853 on the Derry Castle sailing from Liverpool 8 Feb 1853 and arr 22 May 1853. I have found a prison record in Melbourne that is a pretty good match. The Derry Castle had about 250 single Irish women on board ranging in age from 20-35 years.This was a ship sponsored by the Australian govt.
This still leaves a few unanawered questions. How did she get to Liverpool and where did she live before she left ireland for Liverpool. There were a large number of single emigrant women at that time who made the journey to Australia. So tracking them can be difficult and so I'm still looking for ideas on how to do that.
Lee
Thursday 18th Aug 2016, 04:21AM -
Hello Lee. Ships travelling to America and Australia left Liverpool or Southampton and usually called to Queenstown in Co Cork (now Cobh) to collect more passengers. The listing usually only gives the point of departure and arrival. So ports of departure in Ireland were rarely listed as the ship wouldn't have originated there. Hope this helps.
Anne Dennehy
Thursday 18th Aug 2016, 10:43AM