Bolands and Boland store in Limerick

Dear Chrissy:  Welcome to Ireland Reaching out and thank you for your post to the message board.  

We have a local volunteer in Limerick city who may be able to share further information with you.  I will copy this post to her and you should expect to hear from her in the next 3 weeks or so (taking the Christmas holidays into account).  

If you would like to create a profile for this ancestor, by all means feel free to do so under the XO Chronicles tab at the top of the page.  You can create the profile under the “People” tab.  There may be others who are also researching this family or who may have further information.  The ancestor profiles are widely read by all of our members.  

Any problems, please email me at:  jhalloranryan@irelandxo.com.  Thank you for your interest in Ireland Reaching Out!  

Kind regards,  

Jane

Hi Chrissy, my name is Annette,  Jane asked me to take a look at this for you. Apologies for late reply but the holidays put a lot on hold. 

So we are really concentrating on James and Catherine here, is that correct?

Doing a preliminary search, I found the birth of a William  on 6 August 1868 to James Boland and Catherine Boland (nee O'Brien). The address given for them at the time is Church Street, which is just off of John St, under the tower of St John's Cathedral. James occupation at that time is "Miller". 

Am I on the right track for you?

Regards

Annette

Hi Chrissy, just to let you know that I also found a Thomas born 31 December 1869 and a Maurice born 9 May 1872 to James and Catherine. The address for these births is given as Ballyclough, Co Limerick. James's occupation at the time of Thomas's birth is "Miller" and as "Labourer" at the time of Maurice's birth

Annette

Thanks Annette! I hope you had an ejoyable holiday. Yes, you are looking at the right people. I had found the first information you gave me, but defiinitely seeing the information about potential siblings helps solidify that, so thank you! I actually had a hunch that James' parents might have been a William Boland and a Mary Meehan... I think I found one document on it, BUT after I put it in my family ancestry tree, I actually noticed a DNA match to someone decending from Mary Meehan's sister and have been in contact with those people that today reside in Limerick and Dublin. Pretty cool and pretty limited documentation.

The person who seems to be the most mysterious and that I have the least amount of information on is William James Boland actually (my great-great grandfather), James' and Catherine's son. From his birth in 1868 to his arrival to NY in 1888, I'm not finding much. Rumor has it that William joined the British military because he was wanted by the British and then made it to the US. Supposedly he was beaten pretty badly in Africa. I realize that I am on an Irish forum here, but I definitely am having trouble tracking him from one place to the other.

My father said that he spoke to a man from Limerick years back that acknowledged an old "Bolands" store in Limerick. According to the man, you could still make out the sign. I'm not sure what the connection is, but the store was mentioned enough as a family establishment that I would love to know if anyone has information on the store as well. 

Thanks for all the help with the sibling birthdates and confirmation about James' job!

Chrissy

Hi Chrissy

There was a shop in Lower Gerald Griffin St owned by Mattie Boland, it's mentioned in a book called "365 days Less 2 Days".  I can't find the date of when the premises existed but it was situated beside the Dispensary, which is now the Kingdom Hall. It would only be about a minutes walk from Church St or the Cathedral, so the area has a connection. I can't find any military records on him Irish or British, he was only 20yrs when he arrived in NY, he appears quite young!!!. 

Annette

Thanks, Annette!! Awesome.